The first Asian American superhero returns in 'Shadow Hero Comics' #1

Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew partner with Panda Express for an exclusive new Green Turtle comic.



The Green Turtle returns! Award-winning comic book creator Gene Luen Yang has partnered with Panda Express to release an exclusive new comic featuring The Green Turtle -- the first Asian American superhero and star of the acclaimed graphic novel The Shadow Hero, in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and the restaurant chain's salute to underdogs and unsung heroes.

Yang, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, has reunited with artist Sonny Liew to revisit their re-imagining of the obscure Golden Age comic superhero The Green Turtle in Shadow Hero Comics #1. Created by artist Chu Hing in 1944 for Blazing Comics, the character is believed to be the first Chinese American superhero. Yang and Liew revived the character in 2014 with an all-new Asian American origin story.

Fund This: Green Turtle Action Figure with Artist Edition Card

Part of the Amazing Heroes Wave 1.5 Retro Super Hero Action Figures



Fellow action figure nerds! If you are a fan of Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's magnificent graphic novel The Shadow Hero, and you even shelled out some cash for an Amazing Heroes Green Turtle action figure, aaaaand you're an obsessive collector like me, you might be interested in the Amazing Heroes Wave 1.5 Retro Super Hero Action Figures, now winding down its fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.

Amazing Heroes is a 4.5" retro inspired Vintage Superhero Action Figure line that is reminiscent of the action figures from the '80s that feature colorful and iconic classic heroes. So what makes Wave 1.5 different from the first Kickstarter round? This wave of figures, including the Green Turtle, include Artist Edition cards featuring original art commissioned exclusively for the Amazing Heroes line.

Here's a video with more information:

Fund This: The Green Turtle Action Figure!

The star of 'The Shadow Hero' joins the Amazing Heroes retro-style action figure line



Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Shadow Hero resurrects an old, obscure Golden Age comic book hero, The Green Turtle, and re-imagines his origin story as the first Asian American superhero.

The book is fantastic, and I can't recommend it enough. If you're a fan of The Shadow Hero, and you're as geeky as I am, then you'll be pleased to hear that a Green Turle action figure is in the works. Yes!

Amazing Heroes is a series of 4.5" retro-style super hero action figures based on obscure comic book heroes of yesteryear, created by the Fresh Monkey Fiction. If you've never heard of characters like Stardust the Super-Wizard, The Black Terror or Silver Streak, I can't blame you. But they're part of a small collection of superheroes getting the action figure treatment -- and the Green Turtle has been included as part of the lineup.

They're currently in the middle of Kickstarter campaign to get the figures produced. Check it out:

27 artists celebrate the first Asian American superhero

Epic fan art gallery dedicated to Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's 'The Shadow Hero'



Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's fantastic new graphic novel The Shadow Hero is the revival of an obscure Golden Age comic book character known as the Green Turtle. Originally created by artist Chu Hing for the short-lived Blazing Comics, he is arguably the first Asian American superhero. In The Shadow Hero, the Green Turtle is given a proper origin story and re-imagined as a young Chinese American crimefighter.

To celebrate the recent release of The Shadow Hero, Gene and Sonny enlisted the help of twenty-seven different artists who each offered their own awesome, unique take on The Green Turtle throughout the month of July. So, I present this gallery compiling all of their Green Turtle fan art. Check it out:

The Green Turtle (who?) returns in 'The Shadow Hero'

New graphic novel tells the story of the first Asian American superhero



At long last! Evildoers cower and flee! It's the triumphant return of the masked crimefighter known as the Green Turtle! Wait... who? What, you mean you've never heard of the first Asian American superhero? Then you must read The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew, on shelves this week from First Second.

Okay, if you've never heard of the Green Turtle, I can't really blame you. He's an obscure Golden Age character that briefly appeared in the pages of Blazing Comics during the 1940s. While the character's run was short-lived, what makes the Green Turtle interesting is his creator, Chinese American artist Chu F. Hing.

The Heroic Return of the Green Turtle

Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew's six-issue miniseries revives the first Asian American superhero



Look out, criminals! Beware evildoers! Fear the fist justice. This city is protected by the Green Turrrtllllle! Wait... um, who? The Green Turtle. Believe it or not, he's the first Asian American superhero, sort of.

Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Shadow Hero re-introduces the Green Turtle, an obscure Golden Age comic book character that has fallen into public domain. Created by Chu F. Hing in the 1940s, and first appearing in the pages of Blazing Comics, he is arguably the first Asian American superhero.

Legend has it, Chu Hing wanted the Green Turtle to be a Chinese American superhero, but his publishers didn't find that idea very marketable. So Mr. Hing conveniently got around this by drawing the character so that we never saw the Green Turtle's face -- we could imagine the hero as the artist intended: Asian American.

Reintroducing the First Asian American Superhero

Read a preview tale of Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew's The Shadow Hero



This is so cool. You know I love the work of graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, author of award-winning works like American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints. His forthcoming graphic novel with illustrator Sonny Liew, The Shadow Hero is the untold story of The Green Turtle -- the first Asian American superhero!

They Came Here Not to Save Us, But to Live Among Us

The story behind character is pretty fascinating, and kind of subversive. The Green Turtle was an actual obscure Golden Age comic book hero (first appearance: Blazing Comics #1). According to lore, The Green Turtle's creator, Chu Hing, intended for the character to be Asian, but was prohibited by his publisher. So he always drew him masked or with his face partially obscured, so one could imagine he was Asian.

The Green Turtle's run was short lived, but Gene and Sonny have resurrected and reinvented the character to explore the immigrant experience through the genre of superheroes. In their take, Hank Chu, the son of Chinese immigrants, circa 1930s, dons the mask of The Green Turtle -- the first Asian American superhero!

Tor.com has posted the first seven comic strips, originally published in black-and-white in the Shattered comics anthology, in color for the first time: