Marvel Voices: Identity

Marvel's Voices

by Gene Luen Yang (Writer), Jim Cheung (Cover Art), Marcus To (Illustrator)

Collects Marvel's Voices: Identity (2021) #1; Amazing Fantasy (2004) #15, Incredible Hulk (2000) #100 (Amadeus Cho stories); Magnificent Ms. Marvel (2019) #13; Shang-Chi (2020) #1; Marvel (2020) #5 (Wong story); Demon Days: X-Men (2021) #1; Silk (2021) #1; Asian Voices variants.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Anthologies, Fantasy, Superheroes, Race

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2022

About the author

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. His most recent books are Dragon Hoops from First Second Books and Superman Smashes the Klan from DC Comics.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice selection of stories featuring Asian characters by mostly Asian American creators. The short stories up front were fun and the reprint of Silk (2021) #1 makes me want to check out that series. I'm already following and enjoying the Shang-Chi series that is highlighted, but didn't much care to re-read the selection from Demon Days Treasury Edition, a book that failed to wow me. The Ms. Marvel comic was okay, but I'm taking a break from that series right now, though I am in the midst of streaming the Disney+ show.

Good stuff.


FOR REFERENCE

Contains material originally published in magazine form as Marvel's Voices: Identity (2021) #1, Amazing Fantasy (2004) #15, Incredible Hulk (2000) #100, Magnificent Ms. Marvel (2019) #13, Shang-Chi (2020) #1, Marvel (2020) #5, Demon Days: X-Men (2021), and Silk (2021) #1.

Contents:

Introduction / by Rina Ayuyang

Marvel's Voices: Identity (2021) #1
• Introduction by Paul Bae
• What Is vs. What If [featuring Shang-Chi] / Gene Luen Yang, writer ; Marcus To, artist ; Sunny Gho, colorist
• That One Thing [featuring Jubilee] / Christina Strain, writer ; Jason Loo, artist
• Jimmy Woo 1959 [featuring Jimmy Woo] / Greg Pak, writer ; Creees Lee, artist ; Brian Reber, colorist
• Seeing Red [featuring Ms. Marvel and Red Dagger] / Sabir Pirzada, writer ; Marshal Ahmed, artist ; Neeraj Menon
• Personal Heroes [featuring Wave and Bishop] / Alyssa Wong, writer ; Whilce Portacio, artist ; Jat David Ramos, colorist
• Singular/Plural [featuring Silhouette] / Jeremy Holt, writer ; Alti Firmansyah, artist ; Irma Kniivila, colorist
• Traditional Pink Sushi [featuring Armor and Silver Samuria] / Ken Nimura, writer, artist & colorist
• New York State of Mind [featuring Amadeus Cho and Silk] / Maurene Goo, writer ; Lynne Yoshi, artist ; Sebastian Cheng, colorist
• An Interview With Marvel Creative Larry Hama by Angelique Roche
• Identity [reponses from the creative team to the question, "What does identity mean to you?"]

Amazing Fantasy (2004) #15 [back-up story only]
• Mastermind Excello / Gene Pak, writer ; Takeshi Miyazawa, artist ; Christina Strain, colorist ; Dave Lanphear, letterer

Incredible Hulk (2000) #100 [back-up story only]
• Planet Cho / Greg Pak, writer ; Gary Frank, Penciler ; Jon Sibal, Inker ; Chris Sotomayor, colorist ; VC's Randy Gentile, letterer

Marvel (2020) #5 [back-up story only]
• A Day in the Mystical Life of Wong / Gene Ha & Zander Cannon, writers ; Gene Ha, artist & colorist ; Zander Cannon, letterer

Magnificent Ms. Marvel (2019) #13
• [Introducing: Amulet!] / Saladin Ahmed, writer ; Joey Vazquez, Penciler ; Juan Vlasco, Inker ; Ian Herring, colorist ; VC's Joe Caramagna, letterer

Shang-Chi (2020) #1
• Brothers and Sisters, Part 1 / Gene Luen Yang, writer ; Dike Ruan, artist ; Philip Tan, flashback artist ; Sebastian Cheng, colorist ; VC's Travis Lanham, letterer

Silk (2021) #1
• [Threats and Menaces, Part 1] / Maurene Goo, writer ; Takeshi Miyazawa, artist ; Ian Herring, colorist; VC's Ariana Maher, letterer

Demon Days: X-Men (2021)
• [The Tale of Kirisaki Mountain] / Peach Momoko, writer, artist, colorist ; Zack Davisson, English Adaption ; VC's Ariana Maher, letterer

Marvel's Voices: Essays
• Afterword: Afterward . . . and Onward by Greg Pak
• Essay by Alyssa Wong
• Essay by Christine Dinh
• Essay by Preeti Chhibber
• An Interview with Ronny Chieng by Angelique Roche
• An Interview with Saladin Ahmed by Angelique Roche
• An Interview with Kimiko Glenn by Angelique Roche
• An Interview with Jacinda Chew by Angelique Roche

Variant Cover Gallery by InHyuk Lee, Mashal Ahmed, Rian Gonzales, Peach Momoko, Philip Tan & Sebastian Cheng

[Meepelous · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated T+

Characters featured include Shang-Chi, Jubilee, Jimmy Woo, Ms. Marvel, Pearl, Crystal, Silk, Brawn, Amadeus, Hulk, and x-men among others.

Flipping it over to the back, it is described as "Some of the best super heroes in comics get the spotlight in action-packed and heartfelt tales - including Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, Jubilee, Silk, Wave, Wong and Jimmy Woo! These amazing and legendary heroes star in stories from new and established Asian creators who will surely expand "the world outside your window"! Plus: Thrill to the start of brand-new storytelling eras for both Silk and Shang-Chi, revisit classic tales featuring the brilliant mind of Amadeus Cho, join Kamala Khan in welcoming a new hero to Jersey City and prepare for a very different look at the X-Men."

TLDR a book that needed to happen for obvious reasons, decent enough in many ways but a real mess as far as it being an anthology goes.

Of the things I appreciated about this book it did feel like they got a decent diversity of characters. Ideally I probably would have avoided repeating characters, but the repeats were separated enough to not feel too redundant. Of the different intersections I try and highlight it felt like class and ability vs disability were the least explored.

The bigger problem I thought was the real diversity of introductions to each story. Some (particularly later stories) were pretty well set up, but others didn't even have a cover page or anything. Not sure if that was a divide between reprints and new stories as I am only really familiar with Ms Marvel.

Swinging back to the more positive side, there was also a variety of art styles (not just the obvious super hero stuff). And I thought the stories did largely feel connected by the theme of identity and culture.

The inclusion of interviews and essays was potentially interesting, although I read comics because I have a hard time doing large blocks of text. So some of my meh feelings towards them is my fault. That said, obviously no one in this collection is going to say anything bad about Marvel's treatment of Asian characters and creators no? There was discussion of racism outside of Marvel though. I'm not an expert on Marvel work culture, but there was that time that it came out that the current white Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski had written previous for marvel under a Japanese pseudonym. Not a great look in my opinion anyway.

To conclude, I think I'm going to go with three stars. Lots of technical skill individually, but still really bugged by the lack of skill in compiling an anthology!

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second one of these Marvel Voices I’ve read, the first being about girls and women of Marvel. I think I rate them the same with some interesting issues in both as well as some less interesting ones. I think I may rate this one higher slightly because it may have been on average a funner read than the other one.

Either way, love this initiative.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really nice anthology, and I'm glad to be already familiar with multiple titles and creators featured, though more than a couple of the issues included were ones that I've already read.

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

2022 Eisner Award finalist - Best Single Issue/One-Shot: Marvel’s Voices: Identity #1, edited by Darren Shan

This collection includes not only the Eisner nominated book, but several earlier issues of various comics featuring Asian characters (created largely by writers and artists of Asian descent) such as Ms. Marvel and Shang-Chi. It's a good way to dip your toe into the waters of Marvel and perhaps find a new series to pursue. Because of the nature of the collection, we only get snippets from longer story arcs. The writing is good to very good in all of the stories and the artwork is uniformly excellent throughout. The best story is Demon Days: X-Men (2021) by Peach Momoko which recasts several X-Men and the Hulk into a traditional Japanese folktale. The book ends with some essays by some of the creators detailing their experiences as Asian artists and a cover gallery by Inhyuk Lee.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being an anthology that can only dedicate a few pages to each character, the stories feel alive. Most were vignettes that could only give us a morsel of the vast richness of diverse Asian cultures. The little things included sharing a meal, Han, and grave sweeping, just to name a few, give me hope for more stories in the future with nuanced Asian characters that will be inspire people everywhere. This is only the beginning of diverse creators telling diverse stories with diverse characters!

More than the stories themselves are the interview with Asian creators and their reflection on their history and identity. They captured the importance and significance of seeing characters like ourselves in stories of the superhero genre. One creator commented on how representation is like suddenly being able to see your own reflection in the mirror. I felt that. So happy all these Marvel Voices and DC anthologies are published and that these amazing creators are getting support to create these stories.

4.8/5 stars.

[Vail Chester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will NOT make light of how important it is for representation in our media.
As many of the essays/interviews within this book pointed out, it's essential that readers connect with the characters they see in these books. Connection makes you care. Connection makes you realize more & more how international the world has become, even in fictional worlds. Connection inspires the creatives to make things more like them, when before all they had was "it's not been done before."
HOWEVER
There is more weight in the essays by the aforementioned creatives than there is in the smattering of comic panels they decide to use to showcase that indeed, Marvel has diversity.
If they could've actually crafted a coherent story WITH said characters, that would have been fine & dandy. But no, just a collection of one-shot stories showing they exist.
Some great ones, some not-so-great ones, and overall, the goal was letting the audience know that the recent years one of the most influential comics companies have been (relatively) good to people who look like me.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A companion volume to Marvel Voices: Legacy, and a much better attempt. Like Legacy, Identity is still half reprints. Where Identity beats out Legacy is that the short stories that make up the meat of the book are longer. That gives the writers room to do more with their characters and say more about their experiences. It's really nice. There's a decent range of characters, too, from obvious choices like Ms. Marvel and Shang Chi to slightly more obscure characters like Amor and Silk. I'd still like these books to have more original stories and less reprints, but this was a step in the right direction.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really appreciated all of these Marvel Voices collections. It strikes me that this is the first set the I have read that seems to have multiple stories about the same characters like Amadeus Cho and Kamala Khan. Not sure if that highlights the lower degree of representation of Asian Americans. The articles and interviews were really good, and the history of Asian Americans as a broad multicultural group is an interesting and important thing to keep learning about. Glad to see it celebrated here.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good collection of stories that didn't need to be bundled with the first appearances to make it a larger collection.

Grab the title when it hits the shelves at your comic shop and enjoy it for what it is. It's a glimpse at voices and identities that were seldom used in the Marvel Universe. They're getting their chance in the spotlight.

[this_eel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I really enjoyed this and it exposed me to some Marvel characters and storylines that I wasn't aware of (being well out of my depth in Marvel these days), but it can't help suffering a little from being scraps of bigger stories with no clearly printed directions on how to get the rest.

[Mark Katerberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find these kinds of collections jarring. Jumping from a fun bop to a moody classic Japanese Oni story is hard. But there are lots of things I am curious about reading, so if you’re looking for a sampler pack to try new things, this is perfect.

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Collection was much better than Marvel Voices: Legacy.

I really liked this collection.

Good reading.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not all that into superhero comics because they just don't interest me enough, but I do really enjoy the Marvel Voices collections. My favorite in this one was definitely the issue that reimagined several characters including Wolverine and Venom (and characters I don't know) in a Japanese mythology landscape.