A review by robertrivasplata
The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang

5.0

Great comic! Uses superhero genre to comment on whitewashing, the immigrant experience, and Chinese and American history. However, what struck me most about this book was the ending, claiming that it was based upon a real, short-lived, 1940s wartime propaganda superhero comic set in China, that was created by a Chinese American artist, who was forbidden to portray his superhero as Chinese, and so mostly avoided showing the main character's masked face! When I first read the ending section detailing this history of the Green Turtle, I wondered if it was fictional; a story within a story of Asian American agency and portrayal in white-dominated media. It was crazy enough to be true, and true-sounding enough to be fictional. I'll let YOU be the judge *dah-duh-duh*!