As we announced here a few months back, United Features recently picked up Tak Toyoshima's Secret Asian Man comic strip for daily syndication—which is sort of like hitting the big time in the comic strip world. I got to hang out with Tak for a bit the last time I was in Boston, and he was pretty excited. It's a shot at a larger audience, if newspapers choose to run it. That makes Secret Asian Man the first ever nationally syndicated comic strip featuring an Asian American leading character. That's pretty damn cool.
The strip departs from Secret Asian Man's weekly format, instead now being adapted for the daily thing, with a starring cast of characters and ongoing storyline. It's a partly autobiographical strip, based on Tak's own career and personal life. According to the press release:
Osamu "SAM" Takahashi is a struggling comic strip artist who dreams of hitting the big time. A second generation Japanese American who grew up in a big city surrounded by people from all walks of life, SAM is fascinated by what makes us the same as well as different. SAM is a laid-back guy who has a wife and young son. Although secure with his identity, he is a member of a frequently marginalized group and is therefore reminded by the world around him of the many unresolved issues regarding race, gender and orientation. SAM navigates through this cultural minefield with with and humor and through it all remains an optmistic dreamer.Secret Asian Man starts running in newspapers worldwide and on the web at www.comics.com on July 16. For those of you in Los Angeles, Tak tells me that the strip just scored a big group sale with Los Angeles Newspaper Group. For the rest of you, if you'd like to see Secret Asian Man published in the comics section of your local paper, contact the editor and let them know what's up. They won't know if you don't tell them...
