Acclaimed comic book creators Pornsak Pichetshote (Infidel) and Alexandre Tefenkgi (Outpost Zero) are teaming up to launch their latest Image Comics series, The Good Asian, this May.
With its debut coinciding with Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the upcoming comic series follows a hardboiled Chinese-American detective named Edison Hark as he hunts for a serial killer in 1936 Chinatown. With systemic racism running rampant, Hark and the characters face the harsh realities living under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first immigration ban in American history. An exclusive preview shared by Image and the creative team showcases the pulpy noir adventure, written by Pichetshote, drawn by Tefenkgi, colored by Lee Loughridge and lettered by Jeff Powell.
Pichetshote's Infidel, launched in 2018 with co-creator Aaron Campbell, is currently in development as a feature film while Tefenkgi received acclaim for his Skybound Entertainment miniseries Outpost Zero, co-created with Sean Kelley McKeever in 2018. For both creators, The Good Asian is an especially personal story that unearths an ugly side of American history.
"The Good Asian isn't just writing what I want to read—it's writing what I want to exist: a story incorporating the Asian American history unacknowledged in textbooks to make a thriller that's just as much about gangland murders, lust, and plot twists, as it is about immigration bans, police brutality, and Asian American identity," Pichetshote observed.
"From Vietnamese descent, born in Africa and raised in France, I've always felt that I was somewhere in between different communities," Tefenkgi adds. "One foot inside, the other outside, the narrative can easily become complex. That's why this book has a special resonance to me."
Written by Pornsak Pichetshote and illustrated by Alexandre Tefenkgi, The Good Asian #1 goes on sale May 5 from Image Comics.