Marvel will celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month this May with a second installment of their Marvel Voices anthology. Marvel Voices: Identity #1 2022 will honor the franchise’s AAPI superheroes in new stories created by AAPI writers and artists.
The anthology is set to publish May 25 and will feature four new stories. Additionally, Isabel Hsu, Senior Manager of Creative Development at Marvel Games will be writing an introduction. There will be an exclusive interview with Janice Chiang, comic book letterer known for her work in Iron Man and Ghost Rider, as well.
The first story, Secrets, will feature superheroes Shang Chi and Jimmy Woo. The second story, Fool Me Twice will feature Ms Marvel and Shang Chi. Written by Sabir Pirzada, Pirzada said he is excited to explore the two superheroes, in particular their relationships with their families.
“I could not be more excited to be back … this time pairing Ms. Marvel with Shang-Chi, two of the most iconic heroes among Asian Americans who have very different life experiences, especially when it comes to relationships with their families,” Pirzada said. “How that might inform their value systems at this specific point in their lives was a question I had to explore.”
The third story, The Primeval Paradox, features Mantis. Kei Zama, who worked on the art for the story, said that it was a cool experience to be able to collaborate with writer Jeremy Holt, who is also a non-binary Asian creator.
The last story, While You Were Out features Wong, who writer Emily Kim describes as a character always known as a sidekick.
“Wong is a fan favorite character, but we don’t actually know much about him. He hasn’t had a lot of story devoted to just him,” Wong said. Everyone thinks of themselves as the main characters of their lives and I wanted to explore that idea with a character who has always been known as a ‘sidekick.’ I also realized that feeling like a sidekick is closely tied to Asian American themes.”
Marvel is also celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with a new variant cover series by artist Dike Ruan and colorist Neeraj Menon.
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