This Thursday at the Brattle Theatre, Gene Luen Yang discusses Boxers and Saints, his latest two-volume work from First Second Books. Joining him for the discussion is author M.T. Anderson. The two books tell the story of the Boxer Rebellion from the different perspectives of Bao and Four-Girl. Boxers and Saints illustrates how how Eastern and Western spirits can color the experience of those growing up and getting involved in a conflict of different cultures. Gene was kind enough to tell us a bit about the book, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Green Turtle, and what we can expect on Thursday.
DIGBOSTON: Hi Gene! Thanks for joining us today to talk about Boxers & Saints. Why revisit The Boxer Rebellion in comic book form?
Gene Luen Yang: The Boxer Rebellion is a war fought on Chinese soil just over a hundred years ago, in the year 1900. It was the first global conflict involving both Western and Eastern nations. Many historians believe it to be a harbinger of the World Wars that followed.
It was also the first military conflict in the age of mass media, the first conflict that people all over the world followed through their newspapers.
On one side of the conflict were European and Japanese soldiers, Europeans missionaries, and Chinese Christians. On the other was an army of poor, uneducated young people from the Chinese farmlands. These Boxers, as they came to be known, believed that they could call the Chinese gods down from the heavens by performing a mystical ritual. The gods would possess their bodies and give them superpowers. Given the fact that superheroes have been the dominant genre in American comic books for decades, the Boxer Rebellion and comics are a great fit. To me as a comics fan, the Boxers seemed like a Chinese version of Shazam!
You’re most well known for American Born Chinese but also most recently Avatar: the Last Airbender for Dark Horse. For Avatar, are you incorporating real Chinese history into those books as well?
I’m part of a team that produces Dark Horse’s graphic novel continuation of Nickelodeon’s popular Avatar: The Last Airbender series. The team includes Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the original show, and Japanese art studio Gurihiru.
I’m a huge Airbender fan, so it’s been a dream come true for me to work on the comics.
We’re really trying to stay true to the original source material. Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in a made-up fantasy world, but it’s a fantasy world based on real Asian and Inuit cultures. Mike, Bryan, and their team drew heavily from not just historical Chinese cultures, but many different historical Eastern cultures. I was thrilled to be able to use some of my research for Boxers & Saints in my Airbender writing.
Both books are related to each other, though not in a traditional sense. There is a small bleed over of characters and certainly themes. Tell me, did you write and draw both volumes at once?
I outlined the books together and figured out the connection points between the two. Then I wrote Boxers. I wrote Saints as I was drawing Boxers. Finally, I drew Saints.
Boxers – Gene Yang
Bao and Four-Girl both escape chores and responsibility by seeking the storytellers in their villages. How important was it to capture the imaginative nature of the children?
One of the things I wanted to address in Boxers & Saints is the importance of story. Bao, the protagonist of Boxers, is inspired by the Chinese opera he watches. He wants to become a hero of the opera. Four-Girl, the protagonist of Saints, can’t find a place for herself in mainstream Chinese culture, so she turns to the stories of the Other, to the religious stories of the West. In both instances, stories fill their imaginations and become cornerstones to their identities. I think that’s true of most of us. That’s why the storytelling arts are so popular.
That’s why we get upset when someone messes with our favorite shows, favorite movies, and favorite comics.
We feel like they’re messing with a piece of us.
Bao harnesses warrior spirits in the Eastern sense, and in a way, Four-Girl seeks strength in Western martyrs and Joan of Arc. Are the boy and the girl juxtaposed in the stories to be seen as having similar motivations but with different methods?
Both Bao and Four-Girl draw inspiration from stories. They both want to imitate the heroes of their stories. And you’re right, they have similar motivations, but they come from different cultural contexts. Bao defends a traditional understanding of China. Four-Girl finally arrives at an identity within the East-West blend of Chinese Christianity.
Saints – Gene Yang
In my research I was constantly struck by the parallels between European and Chinese culture. At the time, the two cultures had the most horrible kind of relationship two cultures can have with one another. They were the oppressor and the oppressed, but they still reflected one another. For instance, back then the Chinese believed that the Europeans would pluck out human eyeballs and grind them into medicine. This was taken as evidence of how inhumane the Europeans were. Yet, the Chinese have a story about how Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion, plucks out her own eyes and grinds them into medicine for her father. The rumors they had about the other were reflected in their own religious stories.
The dynamic was true on the other side as well. The Europeans believed that the Chinese would sacrifice their own children to the heathen gods. This was taken as evidence of how inhumane the Chinese were. Yet, the central European religious story is about Jesus Christ, a child sacrificed by his own father.
Again, the rumors they had about the other were reflected in their own religious stories.
How do you work on your cartooning? We love your simplicity and storytelling, especially by use of expressions. Do you work digitally?
Thank you! Every page begins on paper. I sketch, pencil, and ink on paper. Then I scan the pages in. I do clean up and lettering on the computer. They’re also colored on the computer, but I don’t do my own coloring. Boxers & Saints was colored by Lark Pien, an amazing Bay Area cartoonist. She’s the author of Long Tail Kitty, a wonderful children’s graphic novel.
What can we expect at the Brattle with your discussion with M.T. Anderson?
I’m fortunate enough to be friends with M.T. Anderson. I’m also a big fan. We’re going to talk about writing, history, comics, and Airbenders. He’s a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, too.
Are you working on another project we can expect soon?
My next project will be out next year. It’s a graphic novel called the Shadow Hero, written by me and drawn by an immensely talented Singaporean artist named Sonny Liew.
We’re reviving a forgotten superhero from the 1940’s called The Green Turtle, who is rumored to be the first Asian American superhero.
I grew up reading superhero comics so I love superheroes. Superheroes are a quintessentially American genre. They were invented in America and they’re most popular in America. They’ve expressed both the best and the worst of America. Sonny and I want to use this quintessentially American genre to explore the quintessentially American experience, the immigrant experience.
Boxers – Gene Yang page 133
For the latest, check out Gene’s site, and follow on twitter @geneluenyang.
@HarvardBooks | 01FirstSecond | @leaguepodcast
Gene Luen Yang
GENE LUEN YANG DISCUSSES BOXERS & SAINTS
IN CONVERSATION WITH M.T. ANDERSON
THURSDAY 11.21.13
BRATTLE THEATRE
40 BRATTLE ST.
CAMBRIDGE
6PM/$5
EVENT PAGE
HARVARD BOOKS: (617) 661-1515
BRATTLE THEATRE: (617) 876-6837
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