Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "shadow-hero"

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Shadow Hero is based on the golden age Superhero, "The Green Turtle." The creator of that hero Chu Hing wanted to make the Green Turtle a Chinese superhero but received pushback from the company so instead he drew the character in ways that always obscured his face. The character lasted only five stories and wasn't heard from for 70 years until this book.

Writer Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew present the untold origin story of the Green Turtle and it's quite amazing. The Green Turtle is Hank, the son of two Chinese immigrants with a mother who is a it aloof from him and his dad since she only married his dad because her parents told her to. One day, Hank's mom is rescued by a golden age superhero and gets the idea that she wants her son to be a superhero to and she sets out to make it happen in hilarious ways, though his true super powers only come after tragedy strikes.

This book is truly funny and heartwarming. There's an undertone of dealing of the racism of the 1930s and 40s in regards to Chinese Americans, but that never causes it to become a heavy self-conscious book. The creative team clearly understands this superhero story and it should be fun and this book is an absolute delight and incredibly accessible to all readers.

At the same time, our hero goes through a believable emotional journey including a major tragedy hitting him hard and making him become a real hero as opposed to more of the joke he is in the first few issues. He faces tough moral choices about what type of hero he'll be.

I also have to credit Yang for drawing on minor clues from the original stories (one is actually included in this book) to help create the world. Including the mystical turtle that gives the Green Turtle his one power as well as some (occasionally sarcastic advice.) It's definitely idea that fits well within the Golden Age of superheroes.

The six issue mini-series is nearly perfect. It's focused, fun, and occasionally poignant. If I had one complaint about the trade, it would be the original Green Turtle story. It would have been nice had there been some restoration and clean up work done on it. As it is, it looks like someone printed up a copy from the Digital Comic Museum and slapped it in a book. To be fair, this book wasn't printed by Marvel or DC where such a restoration is expected, but by a much smaller press that may not have been able to afford the process. Still, this is a great superhero book for kids 10 and up.



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