Comic-Con pop culture convention in full swing

Global Business

Comic-Con pop culture convention in full swing

North America’s largest pop-culture convention is under way in the city of San Diego. Comic-Con features big stars and colorful characters.

As CCTV’s Mark Niu reports, the artists and the writers have stories of their own.

Around every corner at Comic-Con, there’s a spectacle sometimes exciting, sometimes strange but always entertaining.

TV franchises like Ash vs. Evil Dead often steal the scene, as do massive exhibits from movie studios.

But as Comic-con blossoms into this multi-media and sensory extravaganza, there are still concerns about the little guy. I’m here at artist’s alley, which has gotten smaller and smaller over the years.

Some artists say they’re losing clout, while others still feel fortunate to be here.

Edwin Huang remembers making below minimum wage as an artist, until getting hired to draw the Street Fighter comics for publisher Udon.

“For comics, it’s pretty rough, man. It has to be passion, because the pay isn’t too great, but I’m doing what I love and that’s all that really matters,” Huang said.

Doing what you love motivated writer & illustrator Gene Luen Yang, too.

“I started doing Comics in the mid to late 90’s the American comic book scene was almost a wasteland,” Yang said.

Once a computer science teacher, Yang followed his passion and wrote and illustrated ‘American Born Chinese’-the first graphic novel ever to be nominated for a National Book Award.

“American Born Chinese that really marked a turning point in my career. Before that every time I put out a comic I would lose money.”

Yang writes for comics, too, including Superman. And just last week he released the all New Superman-a Chinese hero from Shanghai.

“A lot of the reasons why we have problems connecting across cultures with people who look differently from us is that we forget that those people are also three-dimensional, the picture we have them is a 2-D picture, so by creating a three dimensional character of people of color I think we can further empathize.”

Yang says overall the reaction to his new work has been great with old and new fans alike star struck on meeting the creator of the New Superman.


One More Question for Gene Luen Yang

Mark Niu asked One More Question of Gene Luen Yang the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and writer of New Superman.
How did the idea of a Chinese Superman come about?

One More Question for Gene Luen Yang

Mark Niu asked One More Question of Gene Luen Yang the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and writer of New Superman. How did the idea of a Chinese Superman come about?