{ "item_title" : "The Shadow Hero", "item_author" : [" Gene Luen Yang", "Sonny Liew "], "item_description" : "A New York Times bestsellerIn the comics boom of the 1940s, a legend was born: the Green Turtle. He solved crimes and fought injustice just like the other comics characters. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding something more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity... The Green Turtle was the first Asian American super hero. The comic had a short run before lapsing into obscurity, but Gene Luen Yang, the acclaimed author of American Born Chinese, and Sonny Liew, the author of the New York Times-bestseller The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, have finally revived this character in Shadow Hero, a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the Green Turtle. This gorgeous, funny comics adventure for teens is a new spin on the long, rich tradition of American comics lore.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers3.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/59/643/697/1596436972_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "19.99", "online_price" : "19.99", "our_price" : "19.99", "club_price" : "19.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "19.99" } }

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A unique teenage superhero

Set in the Chinatown neighborhoods of the fictional California city San Incendio, The Shadow Hero is the tale of a young man’s discovery of his noble and ancient powers. Hank, the 19-year-old son of two Chinese immigrants, is content to work in his father’s grocery store and lead a quiet, uncomplicated life. When his mother is saved by the local superhero, she starts scheming to make Hank into a superhero as well. Out of respect for his mother, Hank trains in martial arts, but on his first night as a superhero, he bumbles into a fight with members of the Tongs gang, the Chinese organized crime ring that controls Hank’s town. Failing to wear a mask, Hank exposes his identity and puts his whole family at risk. Luckily for him, a kind, ancient spirit has been watching over Hank for years, and it makes him a promise that changes his life.

With The Shadow Hero, National Book Award finalist Gene Luen Yang revives and reinvents the story of the Green Turtle, the first Asian-American superhero. Accompanied by Sonny Liew’s epic artistry, the story captures the familial, racial and criminal tensions of a time, place and people as old as they are new.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.