Celebrate Asian Superheroes from across the Marvel Universe written by Asian creators! Marvel Comics presents us with a unique comic called Marvel’s Voices: Identity #1!

**You can purchase this issue via the comiXology affiliate link**

MARVEL’S VOICES: IDENTITY #1

Writer: Gene Luen Yang, Christina Strain, Greg Pak, Sabir Pirzada, Alyssa Wong, Jeremy Holt, Ken Niimura, and Maurene Goo
Artist: Marcus To, Jason Loo, Creees Lee, Mashal Ahmed, Whilce Portacio, Alti Firmansyah, Ken Niimura, and Lynne Yoshii
Colorist: Sunny Gho, Christina Strain, Brian Reber, Neeraj Menon, Jay David Ramos, Irma Kniivila, Ken Niimura, and Sebastian Cheng
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Darren Shan
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: August 25th, 2021

Previously in Marvel’s Voices: Marvel continues their mission to feature characters of different ethnicities in their Marvel’s Voices series!

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE

Marvel’s Voices: Identity #1 features short stories that talk about diverse heroes. This is a large book, so I’ll only go over a few things that caught my attention.

Jubilee was at her parent’s grave and looking at her phone for traditional grave cleaning practices. She says a few words before being joined by Jono and Shogo. I think about that moment a lot as a Chinese American because I do the same thing. I try to respect my heritage and often I’m looking at the internet to tell me about what my grandparents once told me, but I ignored in favor or being more American. This is an experience I didn’t know I could relate to others with, and it was kind of amazing to see that on the page.

Silk and Amadeus are in New York visiting the Statue of Liberty when they noticed that people were arguing a lot. Suiting up, they realize that Scarecrow is affecting their minds. Scarecrow on the other hand is upset that the Avengers weren’t here and that he was a second-rate villain. This upsets Silk and Jimmy as Asian American who beat him up and rant about the Asian American experience. I admit this was a little on the nose, but I enjoyed seeing their experiences verbalized in such a great way.

WHAT IT IS TRULY LIKE

Ms. Marvel is in Karachi, Pakistan saving Red Dagger from certain death. After a battle, the two heroes talk a bit about Ms. Marvel staying in Pakistan because of her heritage. Kamala though believes that she belongs in Chicago. The two fight and Kamala runs off and realizes that people know she doesn’t belong here because she is American. I’m of mixed heritage and I sometimes have trouble fitting in being both Chinese and Caucasian.

This book also included an introduction essay, an interview, and a group of Asian creators what “identity” means to them. And these large blocks of text are meaningful and shed light on Asian creators. If you take the time to read the comic, I recommend you don’t skip the blocks of text.

BOTTOM LINE: GREAT READ

This is exactly what I wanted. A chance to see relatable content to my experience as a Chinese-American. Marvel’s Voices: Identity #1 gives us a chance to explore characters that don’t normally get the limelight. This is a 4.5 out of 5 for me. These small moments create an excellent comic and a high recommendation from me.

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