CORRECTION APPENDEDWe all have heard it, or at least most of us Asians have heard it: the comments that run along the lines of "Oh, you're Asian. That's great, just great. We absolutely love Orientals. Gotta catch 'em all, right? We, uh, we love Jackie Chan. And uh . oh! We loved Memoirs of a Geisha." All right. I love Jackie Chan, and I loved Memoirs, too. But what the hell do I have to do with them? In every case though, I just laugh it off. I love a good Asian joke just as much as anyone else. Actually, I'm usually the one making them. But in the back of my mind, I always did notice the lack of a normal Asian hero in American pop culture. It seems that all we have as representatives in the public media are Jackie Chan, the evil Fu Man Chus and Hello Kitty. They wouldn't even cast an Asian actor to play Goku, the protagonist in the Dragonball: Evolution movie last year. Goku, the most heroic, the most awesome and the most Asian hero ever was played by the very not-Asian Justin Chatwin-he's from Canada. Canada! When the heck can Asian superheroes get a break?

This is where Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology comes in. Jeff Yang, the book's editor in chief; Keith Chow, its education and outreach editor; and Jerry Ma, the art director, came to Brandeis on Thursday to talk about their new graphic novel that features only Asian protagonists-really awesome Asian protagonists that are not just regurgitations of Bruce Lee. And the turnout at the Hassenfeld Conference Center was a mix of races, albeit with a bit of an Asian majority.

It was a relaxed but still engaging atmosphere as the three of them talked about the origins and the goals of their graphic novel. Jeff and Keith were just chatting about the dearth of Asian representation in the media when the idea of creating a comic with solely Asian superheroes as the protagonists came up. Jerry Ma was at a comic book convention when he was approached by Jeff (And yes, apparently you can like comics, love Spiderman, go to conventions and still get girls; Jeff and Keith are both married with kids). They showed sketches of their comics, some PowerPoints on the history of Asians in the American media and some motion comic videos, introduced by the required baritone declaiming with an overly exaggerated affectation. The comic book art itself was surprisingly dramatic and gritty, perfect for some of the intense storylines set in backgrounds of WWII or futuristic dystopias. For some reason, I expected the art to be solely of the "manga" or "anime" variety, of the bug-eyed, pink-haired, squeaky-clean sort. But no, the art of the book is a symbol of its own purpose. It is a combination of both Asian and American influences, a depiction of the tension and struggle that plagues all Asian-American teens at one point in their lives, in a painstakingly worked and realistically interpreted little volume. And though it has heaps of drama worked into the storylines, there is still humor that sneaks its way in there. Have you ever heard of superhero outsourcing?

They even had an interactive portion of the conference where they helped the assembly create its own Asian superhero. And at the end, Jerry Ma drew a sketch of the character we created. We came up with a teenage student at Brandeis with impossibly large amounts of charisma who uses it to make promises he can't keep so he can help others feel better about themselves. To me, it sounds suspiciously like a commentary on the nation's disillusionment with the rhetoric from Washington. But what do I know? I'm just an Arts writer.

The event was sponsored by the Brandeis Asian American Student Association, the Intercultural Center, the Dean's Office and the American Studies department. The graphic novel can be purchased on Amazon or on the book's homepage at secretidentities.com.

Correction: The article originally misstated the name of one of the event's sponsors. The sponsor was the Intercultural Center, not the International Cultural Center.