The Shadow Hero

Yang, Gene Luen and Sonny Liew. The Shadow Hero. 2014. 158p. ISBN 978-1-59643-697-8. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

In 1944, a Chinese American illustrator named Chu Hing was asked to create a superhero for a series titled Blazing Heroes. Wanting to appeal to a White audience, the editors requested that the main character be White. Chu Hing acquiesced, but hid the features of his hero, the Green Turtle, who is never seen from the front and only from the back. Green Turtle defended China, the United States' ally during the Second World War, against the Japanese invaders. Green Turtle had no obvious special powers aside from an uncanny way to avoid bullets, and his adventures only lasted five episodes before the series was cancelled.

All of this is background to explain what The Shadow Hero is. Yang and Liew tell the origin story of the man who became the Green Turtle. Growing up in a city on the West Coast, Hank helps his father run their small grocery store. His mother, who married without much enthusiasm, wishes he would be so much more, and when she is saved from a car jacking by a superhero named the Anchor of Justice, she decides to help her son find his true calling, that of a superhero.

At first Hank plays at being a superhero, but he gets beat up and discovers there is a very dark underside to Chinatown. A criminal organization dominates the neighborhood, and the local police is not interested in solving crimes that only affect Chinese folks. When Hank's father doesn't pay the gang, Hank takes it upon himself to recoup the money that had to be paid. This result in the death of Hank's father. Determining to avenge himself, Hank commits to the role of the Green Turtle, and discovers that his father did in fact have a superpower of sorts. Now with a new outfit and logo, can the Green Turtle restore peace and eliminate the criminal syndicate from Chinatown?

Reminiscent of the superhero comic books from the 1940s and 1950s, The Shadow Hero connects some of the dots behind the Green Turtle's origins, and provides a look at a community that is underrepresented in history and in today's comic world. Fans of graphic novels will appreciate the art work and the tight story.