''Secret Asian Man'' is a discontinued weekly
comic strip written and drawn by
Tak Toyoshima
Tak Toyoshima (born April 11, 1971, in New York, New York) is an American art director with the Weekly Dig and the author of the comic strip '' Secret Asian Man''.
According to an interview with AArisings, Toyoshima is a second-generation Japane ...
. The strip covers the author's biography and
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...
issues. ''Secret Asian Man'' often centers its discussion on what it means to be Asian American, as well as other race- and ethnic-related issues. Its title is a
mondegreen
A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...
referring to the song "
Secret Agent Man".
Publication history
The strip appeared weekly starting in 1999, and was published in ''
Boston's Weekly Dig
''DigBoston''—formerly known as the ''Weekly Dig'' and known colloquially as ''The Dig''—is a free alternative newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. It covers news in the Greater Boston area and offers commentary on music, arts, politics, busin ...
'', ''
Metro Silicon Valley
''Metro'' is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California, based Metro Newspapers. Also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', as well as ''Metroactive'' online, the paper serves the greater Silicon Valley area. In addition to prin ...
'', ''
San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'', ''
RedEye
Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to:
Related to the eye
* Red-eye effect, in photographs
* Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury
* Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism
* Red eyeshin ...
'', ''
Nichi Bei Times
The ''Nichi Bei Times'' (日米タイムズ ''Nichi Bei Taimuzu'') was a Japanese American newspaper headquartered in San Francisco. As of 2009 it was the oldest Japanese American newspaper in Northern California. Historically the ''Nichi Bei Times ...
'', ''
AsianWeek
''AsianWeek'' was America's first and largest English language print and on-line publication serving Asian Americans. The news organization played an important role nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area as the “Voice of Asian America”. ...
'', ''
Georgia Asian Times
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
'', ''
The Everett Herald
''The Everett Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Everett, Washington, United States. It is owned by Sound Publishing, Inc. The paper serves residents of Snohomish County.
History
''The Daily Herald'' was first published on February 11, 19 ...
'', and on the internet.
''Secret Asian Man'' was picked up for syndication by
United Feature Syndicate
United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along ...
(
United Media
United Media was a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its ...
) for its daily run on comics.com, which ran from July 16, 2007, to September 19, 2009.
On May 12, 2013, Toyoshima announced that the strip was going on hiatus.
Characters and story
All episodes of ''Secret Asian Man'' feature Osamu "SAM (Secret Asian Man)" Takahashi, who is a
Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest As ...
artist modeled after the author. SAM has three major friends: Richie, a white man; Charlie, a black man; and Grace Patterson, an East
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...
who was adopted by white parents. Along with them, SAM also has a cynical and sarcastic spiky-haired cousin named Simon. SAM's wife Marie is Italian, and they have a son named Shintaro, and a newborn son, Bob.
See also
*
Badmash.org
Badmash.org was a website which hosted animations, sketches and video clips, as well as a regular webcomic. A weekly email and print-media newsletters reached over a million people. The works on ''Badmash.org'' had a mix of political and social sa ...
*
Angry Little Girls
''Angry Little Girls'' is a webcomic by Lela Lee. The comic was launched by 2000 and is based on Lee's animated series, '' Angry Little Asian Girl''. It challenges gender and racial stereotypes. The main character is six-year-old Kim, an angry Ko ...
*
Single Asian Female
''Single Asian Female'' is an American webcomic depicting Asian Americans. Ethan Lee, an Asian American, created the storyline, and Lanny Liu, a Chinese American freelance illustrator, created the artwork.Pang, Angela.New Comic Strip Seeks Singl ...
*
Da Vinci's Notebook
Da Vinci's Notebook (or simply DVN) was a comedic a cappella singing group. Former Artists-in-Residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, they performed specials on Comedy Central and PBS, and spent time as the "house band" ...
References
External links
*
Interviews with Toyoshima
*
Attitude: The New Subversive Cartoonists
IMDiversity.comCurrentVine.com
1999 comics debuts
2009 comics endings
Male characters in comics
Humor comics
Satirical comics
Autobiographical comics
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