RicePaper Magazine - 11/04

He’s received death threats for his controversial comic “Fuck God” printed after 9-11.

His comic strip, Secret Asian Man, has been developed into its own apparel line.

He slaps the word “ASIAN” in the middle of his comic strip and is unafraid of alienating mainstream audiences.

Meet Tak Toyoshima, art director of the Boston’s Weekly Dig magazine and creator of the “Secret Asian Man,” one of the most successful American comics featuring an Asian main character. While there’s no Toyoshima biography yet entitled Becoming the Secret Asian Man, we’re sure we can imagine some of the chapter headings in advance…

1. BUILD CHARACTER EARLY ON
Toyoshima received an early education in race relations. Born and raised in New York City, on the borders of Chinatown, SoHo and Little Italy (which he describes as being “scan from Bladerunner”) Tak remembers being beaten up by the Italian kids, being accepted by his Chinese playmates but rejected by their parents. His memories of being the only Japanese kid in his school (apart from his brother) taught him to ruminate over questions on culture and identity that would later surface in his comic series.

2. KNOW YOUR LYRICS
When I asked Toyoshima how he came up with the name “Secret Asian Man”, he probably groaned in his Boston office that Ricepaper staff didn’t know the oldies. But he explained good-naturedly that it’s mostly a play on the 60’s song, “Secret Agent Man” by rock legend Johnny Rivers. What started off as a mere song title, however, has come to represent much more for S.A.M. fans: for some, the “Secret Asian” is the “condition of being an invisible minority,” and to others, it’s about “a man on a mission to spread the word of Asian American culture,” At any rate, know your lyrics: it demonstrates cultural savvy and inspires your audience.

3. KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN
Back in eighth grade, the future cartoonist had actually dreamed of being an advertiser, and did freelance illustrations as a side project. He graduated from the advertising program at Boston University, but after learning about the “cut-throat” nature of the job, Toyoshima switched to illustrating and worked as a pre-school teacher for six years. During this time, he landed a demanding—but “freaking cool”—job as the inker for The Tick comic series, and eventually came up with his own comic series, Secret Asian Man, in 1998.

4. BE PERSISTENT
Overnight success stories don’t happen unless you’re Clay Aiken. Toyoshima would probably be the first to tell you that it takes a lot of elbow grease to make things happen. When Secret Asian Man started off as a 2-page monthly comic, it was featured in Shovel, an arts magazine that he started with his wife and a few friends. In its early years, the artist and his crew went around store-to-store in Boston, distributing copies of their magazine. Since then, Shovel has morphed into the Weekly Dig with a circulation of 30,000, and readers of Secret Asian Man can be found nationwide. These days, Toyoshima has time to focus on the art direction of his magazine (and his now-weekly comic), but none of this would have ever happened without the first few years of gruntwork.

5. STICK TO YOUR GUNS
With the success of Secret Asian Man, Toyoshima has occasionally been pressured to make his comic more mainstream and less “Asian-theme focused.” Though he had no intention of turning S.A.M. into the next Gap ad, when Toyoshima consulted his fans, he was flooded with e-mails and letters from across the country (and abroad) for the comic strip to remain what it was. This response only confirmed his belief that a comic with a distinctly Asian American voice and still appeal to a wider audience.

6. GET POLITICAL
For Toyoshima, part of not “selling out” to the mainstream is to keep expressing his views, no matter how unpopular they might be. In his “Fuck God” strip, Toyoshima questioned the monolithic notion of “God” in America after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. “Let’s face it,” he argues, “the ‘God’ in ‘God bless America’ is not Buddha, it’s not Krishna…it’s the big bearded white dude in the clouds.” Although the strip got him death threats and lost a few advertisers, it definitely dispelled the myth of a-political Asians in North America.

7. REPRESENT YOURSELF, THEN YOUR COMMUNITY
Although S.A.M. is often seen as representing a larger Asian community, Toyoshima admits that he doesn’t necessarily want to be a spokesperson for them. Asians are the most diverse people in the world, he argues, and it’s that it’s not only impossible, but also unfair to lump their experiences under one umbrella. Ultimately, his comics can only reflect his own personal experiences, which is why he declines the offers he’s received to create a “Secret Asian Woman” comic.

8. PROMTE YOURSELF
The slogan, “Early morning, early rise, work like hell and advertise” was invented for a reason—a great idea or product means nothing if people don’t know about it. S.A.M. has gone from humble comic format to street fashion, turning up on sexy T-shirts and cute vinyl stickers under the label BlackLava (www.blacklava.com). “Exposure is a key in the success of creative endeavors,” he explains, noting that his education in advertising and marketing has helped him deal with the business side of the comic.

Ricepaper caught up with S.A.M. for his views on comics, being an Asian artist, and having Doraemon)-shaped fish sprinkles with his rice.

So tell us the story behind the name “Secret Asian Man.”
Secret Asian Man is mostly a play on the song “Secret Agent Man” but over the years it has taken on different meanings to different people. To some it describes a man on a mission to spread the word of Asian American culture, to others the condition of being part of an invisible minority in this country. I kind of like the fact that it has taken on several meanings.

What was it like to grow up along the borders of SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy?
Kind of like it must sound. Pretty artsy, tons of Chinese folks around and Italian kids to come around and beat us up. I grew up on the corner of Broadway and Canal Street. For anyone who hasn’t been down there just imagine any street scene from Bladerunner and that would be pretty accurate.

I was generally accepted into the Chinese culture. That is until my Chinese friends found out I was Japanese and had a weird name. Actually, my friends were actually fine. It was some of the parents that didn’t like their kid hanging out with a Japanese kid. I had no clue why. Later in life it makes a little more sense.

How did you start drawing cartoons, and had you always aspired to become a professional cartoonist? If not, what were your other career options? (You graduated from Boston University with an advertising degree: are there lessons in advertising that apply to your art?)
In junior high school I told my class I wanted to be in advertising. They looked at me like I had two heads. But I kept at it as my career goal, the whole time continuing to draw and even do some freelance illustration stuff when I was in high school.

When I got to college at Boston University into their advertising program, I was psyched. But the closer I got to graduation and the more I heard what a cut-throat job it was I started having second thoughts. I went back to my freelance illustration mode and did that, the whole time working as a pre-school teacher, for the next 6 years or so.

During that time I landed a job as the inker for The Tick comic book series for New England Comics. I loved comics as a kid and started to think that this would be a good career in an art field. I did that for a few years and started to burn out. There were long hours and only modest pay. But it was hard to complain about it at the time because, hell, I was a professional comic book artist. That was pretty freaking cool to me.

The inspiration for Secret Asian Man in a comic strip medium (very different than the comic book medium) only came up after I started to get involved with a monthly arts magazine called Shovel Magazine. I did a monthly 2-page strip for that, then eventually we turned into a weekly newspaper and when I felt confident enough to produce a weekly strip, Secret Asian Man was born.

As for career options, my day job is being the art director for Boston’s Weekly Dig, the weekly paper that came from Shovel Magazine. I deal a lot with advertising. Funny how things come around.

I definitely learned a lot about advertising and marketing in college and try to apply it to the business end of doing the strip. But at the end of the day I think I’m a horrible businessman and end up doing lots of things for free. I like to let things grow organically.

In ”Asian American Political Clout,*" you describe the current situation of Asians in America as having no real political identity to distinguish them from Caucasian voters. Does this mean that Asian-Americans are apolitical (this is often said of Japanese Canadians north of the border), or that they share the S.A.M.e values and economic status as Caucasians?
I think Asian Americans are definitely political, it’s just the rest of the political world doesn’t seem to give two shits. It’s as if we are bucking to get the S.A.M.e attention as black voters by defining ourselves in an almost unnatural way. Should race matter in how we vote? What if political candidates did start courting the Asian American vote? Would it be as artificial and posed as it is when they cater to black and Latino voters? Probably. Is that progress? I guess to some people it is.

On the other hand, it is very important that the Asian American (and Canadian) community be recognized as a vital part of the political landscape. Very mixed feeling on this one.

What are your favorite comics of all time (North American/Asian)?
For manga I loved Dr. Slump, Robocon and Doraemon growing up. Even had that fish stuff you put on your rice that came in those character shapes. I also loved Raydeen, Kamen-Raida and Go-Renja.

For American comics I was into Daredevil, Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Power Man and Iron Fist, the Hulk. Pretty much the whole Marvel Universe. Never got into the DC stuff. Always thought Batman was weak until the Frank Miller Dark Knight series came out.

How do you feel about the idea of "representing" the Asian American arts community? Do you feel that there is such a need in today's multi-racial, culturally inclusive America?
I would never say that I represent the Asian American arts community. But I realize that there will be people who will think I do. The Asian American community is (I think) still in its infancy and is trying to figure out what it is. Asians are the most diverse race in the world. To lump them under one huge umbrella is a daunting task. I would say I represent my own views fueled by my own experiences and guided by my own interpretations of them.