Description
This thesis is an examination of Asian American identity and the image of the superhero in Marvel comic books. I examine the authorship and depiction of the Asian American superhero in Marvel Comics focusing on representations of gender, race, class, and sexuality, and my intent is to uncover postcolonial themes in the creative works of the writers and artists. This research is a unique contribution to Asian American Studies and Comics Studies be examining contemporary means of cultural productions of the Asian American body as superhero in light of issues of race, class, and gender. My research focuses on mainstream publications of the superhero while many Comics Studies scholarship focuses on independent autobiographical narratives. For my research I focused on three contemporary Asian American Marvel superheroes: the nuclear powered Hazmat, the "Hypermind" Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo leader of a former criminal organization. I made the decision to focus on these three characters to focus on representations American superheroes of Asian ethnic background and to focus on ethnic characters that played prominent roles in contemporary Marvel comics. Throughout this work, I highlight how Marvel writers and artists use a tactic called the Trojan Stereotype to subvert hegemonic representations of the Asian American body within the same Orientalist tropes used to characterize the Asian American body. I present how Hazmat, Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo become sites of rhetorical space to expand the narrative and imagination of the Asian American body politic in American media. I conclude this thesis by noting that these comic book creators challenge the authority Orientalist stereotypes by subverting the very imagery which constitutes them
