Article By Jin Kim
Photo by Niko
Thousands swarmed to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Hell’s Kitchen this Saturday to attend the New York Comic Con, the largest pop-culture event in the East Coast. The fans, estimated to surpass 100,000 in number, gathered to interact with each other and with artists, content creators, merchandisers and businesses catering to the comic-book, fantasy and gaming consumer demographic.
- Yun is a character in the Street Fighter series
Asian pop culture was a significant presence at the show. There was one spurt of PSY‘s world-famous Gangnam Style dancing, and also fans dressed as some of their favorites characters from Japanese anime and U.S. comic books. When I asked one fan who was dressed like Naruto why he participated in cosplay, he said, “it’s a chance for kids to be kids again.”
- Sisters Michelle and Stephanie Eng dressed as Black Widow and American Dream
Catwoman
Asian-American and Asian artists were also present as artists and content creators. We spoke with: Stanley Chou.
Stanley Chou
Stanley Chou writes and draws about awakening and the unleashing of creativity. In “Mystacoleus,” his first comic book, he uses six-panel pages to illustrate the unleashing of his own. His work is available at stanleychou.com.
- Alexandria Lomuntad
Alexandria Lomuntad, a young artist from Seattle, was first inspired to create her art after watching Pokemon and Digimon. After five years, her art has evolved from a style closer to comic books to what she calls “Asian RPG,” a style closer to realism, using pencil, watercolor and OpenCanvas. Lomuntad draws inspiration exclusively from her feelings and refuses to create fan art because she “can’t see the life behind it,” she said. In this picture, she holds a piece called “Please,” created after an amorous rupture. Her work is available at akirakirai.deviantart.com
Marcio Takara
Marcio Takara grew up reading comic books in Brazil. After some time working as a graphic designer in North America, he left his lucrative position to pursue comic-book art full time in 2006. Today, he is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is the monthly pencils and ink artist for the “Blue Beetle.” <http://www.dccomics.com> His work is available at marciotakara.com.
Ryusuke Hamamoto
Ryusuke Hamamoto, the Japanese artist behind the Nintendo DS game “Dungeons & Dams”, presented his work for the fifth time at the NYCC. He cites American comics and the legendary Mike Mignola from “Hellboy” as one of his strongest influences, and hopes to one day come and work in the U.S. His work is available at ryusukehamamoto.deviantart.com.
- Peter Nguyen
Peter Nguyen, a freelance artist based in Honolulu, Hawaii, works for both DC Comics and Marvel, and some of his most famous work includes pencils for the Gotham City Sirens. More of his work is available at his Tumblr account.
Jay Gatchalian
Jay Gatchalian is the editor and founder of Geeks & Goddesses, a portal that acts as both content discoverer and curator of pop culture.
Noa Ikeda
Noa Ikeda is a freelance artist from New Jersey who illustrates cards for video games. She draws mostly illustrations of women, and she cites Zhang Lu of CGHub and Adam Hughes as her influences.
Christopher Ra
Christopher Ra has been drawing for nine years, always more interested in analog rather than digital. He is from Southwest Virginia, but he currently studies Linguistics at Cornell University. He cites Yilee, Guilty Gear and Rae & Elna as his inspirations.
For more about New York Comic Con, please visit: www.newyorkcomiccon.com
Follow us for more event coverage and giveaways at https://www.facebook.com/AsianInNYFans
Leave a Reply