Derek Kirk Kim
First Second relaunches Derek Kirk Kim’s webcomic Tune
The webcomic Tune, by Derek Kirk Kim (The Eternal Smile, Same Difference and Other Stories), has been out there for a while, but now First Second is taking it under their wing and relaunching it with a new artist, Les McClaine, a new website, and new content. The comic tells the story of art school dropout Andy Go, who somehow ends up doomed to a life of incarceration in a parallel universe and has to figure a way out. It’s a classic sort of story but very nicely handled by Kim, who illustrated the first ten chapters. Although the comic is being relaunched this week, there are already quite a few chapters up from its earlier incarnation, so settle in for a good read. The comic will be updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and although the press release doesn’t say so, I’m guessing that if First Second is taking it over, they will eventually publish a print edition.
- June 22, 2011 @ 07:22 AM by Brigid Alverson
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves | First Second’s Fall 2011 catalog
from Americus
First Second sent out their latest catalog earlier this month, highlighting all the graphic novels they’ll be releasing in the fall. This is the imprint’s fifth anniversary, so congrats to Mark Siegel, Gina Gagliano and the rest of the crew for five great years of making awesome graphic novels.
Here’s a rundown of what to expect from the publisher later this year:
Americus, by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill: Tim spoke with Reed about this one last year; it’s about a teenager fighting to keep his favorite fantasy series on library shelves when it’s targeted by “Christian activists.” You can read it online here.
- April 19, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Help out Derek Kirk Kim by buying some of his original art
The Eternal Smile
In the comments section of one of our posts last week, someone pointed out that comics creator Derek Kirk Kim is selling off some of his original art from The Eternal Smile, the Eisner-winning book he did with Gene Yang, in order to pay for an unexpected bandwidth fee for his website.
“I’m in a financial crunch right now, so I would really, really appreciate the support,” he wrote on his LiveJournal. “Besides everything else, I got linked on reddit last month and got hit with a fat bandwidth fee which I can’t afford.”
You can check out all the auctions here.
- October 18, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Robot Reviews: The Eternal Smile
The Eternal Smile
The Eternal Smile
by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
First Second, 176 pages, $16.95.
Ah the “twist” ending. Who can forget their first encounter with that well-used narrative device? For you perhaps it was The Twilight Zone or the films of M. Night Shyamalan. For me it was the revamped Alfred Hitchcock Presents back in the mid-80s. I stayed up late that night, expecting your usual man-accused-of-crime-he-didn’t-commit-type tale only to discover at the end that — OMG, Ned Beatty really was the killer all along! That revelation threw me into a paroxysm. Why, everything I had assumed up till then about the story was untrue! Now I had to completely re-examine my preconceived notions about genre fiction! Black was white! Up was down! Stories aren’t supposed to do that sort of thing, are they?
But of course, stories do that sort of thing all the time. Take for example, The Eternal Smile, the latest graphic novel from Gene Yan (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference). It’s a collection of three short stories that, in one way or another, all rely upon some sort of twist ending or surprise reveal. How much you enjoy the book, therefore, really depends upon how fresh that narrative conceit is to you.
- May 12, 2009 @ 08:44 AM by Chris Mautner
Where can I get me a mask like that?
Derek Kirk Kim’s “assistant” takes you on a tour behind the scenes of The Eternal Smile, the new First Second graphic novel he did with Gene Yang, in this video:
- May 4, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Derek Kirk Kim on The Last Airbender‘s cast
Comics creator Derek Kirk Kim comments on the casting choices for the The Last Airbender movie. While the setting of the cartoon the movie is based on is “wholly and inarguably built around Asian (and Inuit) culture,” white actors have been cast in the roles of the four main characters:
Avatar
Before I go any further, it behooves me to spill some information on “Avatar, the Last Airbender” for those people who have no idea what it is. 1) It’s the greatest, most ambitious animated action adventure TV series ever hatched in the U.S. A cartoon series for kids in which one epic story actually spans 3 entire seasons. A kid’s show in which the characters actually grow and change and evolve! A cartoon which actually respects a kid’s intelligence and vast imagination. Imagine that! 2) It’s wholly and inarguably built around Asian (and Inuit) culture. Everything from to the costume designs, to the written language, to the landscapes, to martial arts, to philosophy, to spirituality, to eating utensils!—it’s all an evocative, but thinly veiled, re-imagining of ancient Asia. (In one episode, a region is shown where everyone is garbed in Korean hanboks—traditional Korean clothing—the design of which wasn’t even altered at all.) It would take a willful disregard of the show’s intentions and origins to think this wouldn’t extend to the race of the characters as well. You certainly don’t see any blonde people running around in “Avatar.” (I’m not saying that would have necessarily been a bad thing, I’m just stating the facts of the show and the world in which it is set.)
Read Kim’s entire statement at his site.
- January 22, 2009 @ 09:57 AM by JK Parkin