Gene Luen Yang's Blog, page 6
November 12, 2015
An Evening with Me
On November 19, the Society of Illustrators is hosting “An Evening with Gene Luen Yang,” which, I know, is a kind of pretentious-sounding title. But it’s crazy that they’re doing this for me!
I’ll be there 6:30pm – 8pm. I’ll be discussing the making of Boxers & Saints, giving previews of my latest books, and dishing some advice for aspiring writers and cartoonists.
Tickets are $15 General, $10 for Society of Illustrators members, and $7 for students/seniors.
More info here.
If you’re in the New York City area, please come! I’d love to get the chance to talk to you.
The event is in conjunction with an exhibit of pages from Boxers & Saints.
Superman #44 Giveaway Winners!
Congratulations to Dan of Pasadena, CA; Lucia of San Jose, CA; and Timothy of Murfreesboro, TN! They each won a signed copy of Superman #44!
Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list. Interested in the next one? Sign up for my mailing list below. I’ll even give you a free digital comic!
October 12, 2015
Secret-Coders.com
The companion website to the Secret Coders graphic novel series! Puzzles! Games! Video tutorials! Art contests! Fun beyond your wildest imaginings!
Secret Coders
illustrated by Mike Holmes
published by First Second Books
recommended for Fifth Grade and Up
Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Paths & Portals) AVAILABLE NOW!
Volume 3 (Secrets & Sequences) available on March 7, 2017!
Volume 4 (Robots & Repeats) available on October 3, 2017!
Visit the Secret Coders website!
I love comic books and I love coding. For years, I taught high school computer science by day and made comic books by night. During that time, comics and coding felt like two separate worlds.
Comics and coding have finally come together for me in the form of Secret Coders, a graphic novel series that teaches coding! This is something that I’ve had in mind for a long, long time. It’s great to finally be able to get it out into the world.
And one of the best parts of this project is that I get to work with the supremely talented Mike Holmes. Mike’s stuff has a Saturday morning energy to it — once you see it, you’ll know what I mean.
Mike and I tell a story that’s a bit like Harry Potter: A group of kids find a secret school, only in our books the school teaches coding instead of magic. You know there’s a problem with Harry Potter, right? You read about all these kids becoming wizards, but when you try the same tricks at home, you don’t get to be a wizard. Secret Coders doesn’t have that problem. After reading about how our heroes become coders, you can try the same things at home and become a coder yourself!
Secret Coders Book 1
illustrated by Mike Holmes
published by First Second Books
recommended for Fifth Grade and Up
I love comic books and I love coding. For years, I taught high school computer science during the day and made comic books at night. During all that time, comics and coding were two separate worlds.
Comics and coding finally have come together for me because Secret Coders is a comic book that teaches coding! This is something that I’ve had in mind for a long, long time. It’s great to finally be able to hold it in my hands.
And one of the best parts about this project is that I get to work with the supremely talented Mike Holmes. Mike’s stuff has this Saturday morning energy to it — once you see it you’ll know what I mean.
Mike and I tell a story that’s a bit like Harry Potter: A group of kids find a secret school, only in our book the school teaches coding instead of magic. You know there’s a problem with Harry Potter, right? You read about all these kids becoming wizards, but then when you try the same tricks at home, you don’t get to be a wizard. Secret Coders doesn’t have that problem. After you read about our heroes become coders, you can try the same things at home and become a coder yourself!
September 27, 2015
Sakura Pen Set Giveaway Winners!
About a month ago, I spoke at the San Jose Public Library’s Graphic Novel Contest awards ceremony. Sakura was a sponsor and one of their representatives was there. We got to talking, I told him about my mailing list giveaways, and he graciously offered to donate three pen sets for my September giveaway.
Sakura pens are the industry standard. I use them on my own comics, and pretty much every cartoonist I know uses them. A great product.
Congratulations to Jamie of Freehold, NJ; Robyn of San Jose, CA; and Tammy of Galt, CA for winning my September giveaway! Each of them will receive a pen set from Sakura!
Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list. Interested in the next one? Sign up for my mailing list below. I’ll even give you a free digital comic!
July 2, 2015
JUNE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!
Congratulations to Leila of Washington, Dawn of Wisconsin, and Elizabeth of Alberta for winning my June giveaway! Each of them will receive a signed copy of all three of my Free Comic Book Day 2015 books: Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, DC Comics’ Divergence, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund book.
Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list. Interested in the next one? Sign up for my mailing list below. I’ll even give you a free digital comic!
June 16, 2015
The Art of Superman
Superman #41, my debut issue, comes out Wednesday, June 24!
I’m only handling the script. This art team they’ve got me working with? Dude.
Let me show you our process. It’ll give me an excuse to tell you about the artist behind each phase.
1. SCRIPT. This is me. For my first script, I followed the Dark Horse Script Format Guideline, a habit I developed writing Avatar: The Last Airbender comics for the last few years. The formats of my Superman scripts have been evolving ever since.
2. PENCILS. These are done by the legendary John Romita Jr. He doesn’t like it when I use the word “legendary,” but that’s what you get for producing consistently amazing work for over two decades.
John spent most of his career at Marvel. You know that Daredevil show on Netflix everyone’s freaking out over (including me)? Chunks of it are lifted straight out of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a classic miniseries by John and Frank Miller.
When I was a college kid, my favorite of John’s works was a graphic novella called Hearts of Darkness, starring the most nineties superteam ever assembled: Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and the Punisher.
3. INKS. This is Klaus Janson’s wheelhouse. Klaus is most well-known as a co-conspirator on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the Frank Miller graphic novel that changed the face of superhero comics forever. But Klaus has done many, many comics besides that. Klaus’s stuff is just a joy to look at: clean and strong and true.
He does a lot of inking — A LOT — but he’s also handled pencils and inks. He and John have worked together for a while now. Hearts of Darkness, that nineties fever dream I mentioned earlier, was his.
4. COLORS. Dean White is doing the colors. I first encountered Dean’s work in Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick Ass, a graphic novel my prudish self found uncomfortable and compelling all at once. Appropriate, too, because Dean kicks ass. He truly does. He can wring things out of color — emotion, action, danger — that you didn’t know were there.
Let me tell you, I am astounded by the finished product. I’m proud of my story, don’t get me wrong, but THAT ART! You need to get Superman #41 just to see three masters of comics do their thing. Your jaw will drop, guaranteed.
Superman #41, available at comics shops everywhere on Wednesday, June 24, 2015!
June 15, 2015
The Man of Tomorrow
There’s a reason why folks call Superman the Man of Tomorrow.
When he was created in the late 1930′s, he really did embody that era’s ideas about the future. Back then, progress was seen in largely physical terms: our technology would make us stronger, faster, more invulnerable. And that’s what Superman was: the world’s strongest, fastest, most invulnerable person.
But in the decades since, our imagined future has changed. Nowadays, when we think of tomorrow’s technology, we don’t necessary think about physical power — we think about information. We think about knowledge. Our dreams of the future are as much about bits as they are about atoms. Maybe more.
So how does Superman, a character whose “tomorrow-ness” dates back to the 1930′s, deal with the “tomorrow-ness” of today?
That’s a major thread in “Before Truth,” the first Superman story arc I’m doing with the inimitable John Romita Jr. The Man of Tomorrow goes up against an enemy who wields information like a weapon, who’s as comfortable in bits as he is in atoms.
Superman’s secret identity has always been a cornerstone of who he is. But the very notion of a hidden second life represents information that’s been contained, that’s under control. In the era of Edward Snowden and Wikileaks and doxxing, is a secret identity even viable any more?
And more importantly, will Superman’s most timeless character traits — his selflessness, his grit, his compassion for the underdog — survive such a drastic change to his status quo?
For a superhero geek like me, writing the world’s first superhero has been the thrill of a lifetime. Being part of a team that includes John and inker Klaus Janson and colorist Dean White is icing on the cake. If you had told fourteen-year-old me that this project would be in my tomorrow, I’m pretty sure I would’ve leaped a tall building in a single bound.
It all goes down in Superman #41, available Wednesday June 24, 2015!
Hope you’ll join us! And if you want to know what life is like for Superman after “Before Truth,” check out Action Comics #41, Batman/Superman #21, and Superman/Wonder Woman #21!
February 27, 2015
Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference
On Saturday 2/27/16, I’ll be joining the line-up for this year’s Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference! I’ll be there with Peter Brown, Cynthia Lord, and Melissa Sweet! It’s gonna be SUPER FUN.
Western Washington University
516 High Street
Bellingham, WA
More info here.
