Marvel Comics has made some great strides with Asian-American representation in the last few years, with series like Ms. Marvel, Silk, and The Totally Awesome Hulk putting Asian-American superheroes in the spotlight. Writer Greg Pak is celebrating this progress in next week’s The Totally Awesome Hulk, which unites Marvel’s Asian-American heroes for the first time in a new storyline pitting them against an extraterrestrial enemy. Hulk, Silk, and Ms. Marvel are joined by Shang Chi, Jake Oh, and Jimmy Woo for “Big Apple Showdown,” and this preview of next week’s The Totally Awesome Hulk #15 brings the group together for a good cause that has nothing to do with beating up aliens: getting other Asian-Americans to donate bone marrow.
The demand for this new arc is high, and a tweet from Pak promoting “Big Apple Showdown” went viral earlier this month, garnering over 2,000 retweets and nearly 5,000 likes. As the only Asian-American writer of those three aforementioned series, Pak is the right person to handle this team-up, and these preview pages show that he’s having a lot of fun with this big event. Artist Mahmud Asrar returns to the series after a brief break, and he brings an exhilarating energy to these pages, whether he’s drawing Hulk fighting an alien prince or the group of heroes charging into a charity assembly. Colorist Nolan Woodard amplifies that energy with a vibrant palette, and the full-page splash of Hulk and company appearing before a crowd of fans captures all the excitement of seeing a new superhero team debut. There’s a lot of joy in these pages, and the creative team has a clear understanding of what this moment means for readers hungry to see more Asian-American representation in comics.