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Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Used Japanese Pseudonym to Pretend to Be Japanese
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Hey, if Marvel really wants diversity, then I'm in, right?The Talking Katana by Alex Sato
Oh wait. Something's wrong.
I know!
The Talking Katana by Akira Sato
Links to articles: Bleeding Cool | io9 | Vice
Apparently Marvel Comics had a policy about editors not being allowed to write or illustrate comics without permission from the publisher, and Cebulski, who was an editor at the time, wanted to pivot his career into writing. So, he used the pen name "Akira Yoshida" to get his first writing gigs at Dreamwave and Dark Horse. A Marvel editor eventually approached Yoshida for a project, unaware that Cebulski was Yoshida, and the charade continued. Cebulski went on to write high-profile comics including Thor: Son Of Asgard, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, Elektra: The Hand, Wolverine: Soultaker, and more.
One of the disturbing factor about this story is that Cebulski's comics are influenced by Japanese culture and not exactly in a good way, as you can see below.
To make matters worse, Cebulski gave interviews posing as a Japanese person. Under the guise of Akira Yoshida, he told journalists that he had grown up in Japan reading manga and described how he first learned English from American comic books that his father would bring him from his business trips.
Note: Cebulski does have family in Japan and has lived in the country on and off since he was 20 years old. He even has experience editing manga, but all of this does not make him Japanese!
When reporters reached out to Cebulski about rumors of him being Yoshida this week, the new editor-in-chief acknowledged it and said the following:
Personally, I can't believe that Marvel promoted Cebulski despite knowing about his Yoshida facade for years. It's particularly frustrating because Marvel boasted in the past about how diverse they are with Yoshida as one of their writers. I wonder how many Asian and Asian American comics writers were denied opportunity because of Cebulski.