Picking Up with Gene Luen Yang

Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang joins Gita and Alex for an interview, covering Superman’s place as a sci-fi immigrant story, how to write through a historical stereotype instead of around it, the thematic differences between Superman and Batman, and his pick for the actual smartest man in the DC universe.

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

• 52
• Gene Luen Yang
• New Super-Man
• Superman Smashes the Klan
• Monkey Prince
• American Born Chinese
• Superman
• The Thing
• Rom the Space Knight
• Batman
• Jerry Siegel
• Joe Shuster
• “For the Man Who Has Everything”
• Krypton
• Action Comics 1
• Detective Comics 27
• The Curse
• X-Men
• Captain America
• Hulk
• Spider-Man
• Vertigo Comics
• Lois Lane
• Clark Gable
• I Ching
• Peng Deilan
• Wonder Woman
• Grant Morrison
• Vishnu
• Kurt Busiek
• JLA/Avengers
• Astro City
• Lazarus Planet
• Lazarus Planet
• Inferno
• Batman: Knightfall
• Death and Return of Superman
• The Trial of Superman
• Superman Red/Superman Blue
• Alpha Centurion
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
• Frog-Man
• Nightcrawler
• Jack Kirby’s Fourth World
• Forever People
• Jack Kirby
• Greg Pak
• Planet Hulk
• Mark Waid
• Geoff Johns
• Jim Lee
• Another Thin Man (1939)
• Great Ten
• Justice League of China
• Higher Brothers
• Wu Mei-Xin
• Starro
• Power Rangers
• Fantastic Four
• Kong Kenan
• Paul Kaminski
• Avery Ho
• Flash
• Wang Baixi
• Simon & Garfunkel
• Skeets
• Robinbot
• The Night Gwen Stacy Died
• Wolverine
• Hank Pym
• Wonder Girl
• Clash of Clans
• Lunar New Year Love Story
• LeUyen Pham
• Peter Tomasi
• Evan Narcisse
• Jeff Lemire
• The Terrifics
• Metamorpho
• Plastic Man
• Mister Terrific
• Tom King
• Mice Comics

52 Pickup is an Aftermath production, created by Gita Jackson and Alex Jaffe, and edited by Esper Quinn, with original music by Jon Ehrens. If you’d like to follow along, you can check out 52 at your local comic book store or library, or the DC Universe Infinite subscription service. The views and opinions expressed on this show are solely those of the show’s personalities, and do not reflect those of DC Entertainment or Warner Bros. Please rate and review our show wherever you can, and send your questions and comments to 52mailbag@gmail.com. Never stop reading comics.