Origins of American Born Chinese – part 3
Some folks who’ve flipped through American Born Chinese have asked about the star of the third storyline, Cousin Chin-Kee.
What would possess a self-respecting Asian-American cartoonist to draw a character like that?
Several years ago, just before my wedding, I spent an afternoon organizing things in my childhood bedroom. I came across an old notebook filled with gag cartoons I drew in second grade.
Here’s one example:
Here’s another:
I was startled. I couldn’t remember where I’d heard the joke, or if I understood that it was directed at me. I wondered if my second-grade self identified more with the Chinese caricature at the top of the page or the blonde character at the bottom. (Perhaps that question is answered by the stories I wrote in elementary school, all of which featured white protagonists.)
I’ve been told that Jeff Smith, the genius behind the cartoon epic Bone, first created Fone Bone and Company in kindergarten. In many ways, Cousin Chin-Kee is my Bone. He’s a character conceived in childhood who’s stayed with me ever since, consciously or not.
American Born Chinese is an exploration of WHY Cousin Chin-Kee is my Bone. And just as Fone Bone now looks much the way he did in Jeff Smith’s kindergarten sketches, so Chin-Kee’s current design remains consistent with that initial second grade drawing. I’ve got to stay true to the source material.
There is always the danger, of course, that by making a comic book about Cousin Chin-Kee I’m helping to perpetuate him, that readers – especially younger readers – will take his appearance in American Born Chinese at face value. I think it’s a danger I can live with. In order for us to defeat our enemy, he must first be made visible. Besides, comic book readers are some of the smartest folks I’ve ever met. They’ll figure it out.
I must admit that Gene Yang’s caricature of the negative Asian stereotype really drives home a point… But should he really place that much faith in his readers? “Comic book readers are some of the smartest folks I’ve ever met. They’ll figure it out.”
不要高估了他人啊…
Wonderful news! I just bought this book finally last week. I read a lot of it when it was on ModernTales.com, and loved it then, but to read the finished book, and in colour… It is truely deserving of the attention it’s getting.
今天買了你的書,在廣州!特此來帖 haha!
Haha1 xd thats funny! ☻
今天買了你的書,在廣州!特此來帖~
I really appreciate the comments made by Gene Yang these past three days; his sentiments have been funny, humble and very honest. I’m really looking forward to AMERICAN BORN CHINESE.
-J