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| American comic book writer Amy Chu speaks during the 2018 Culture Communication Forum hosted by the non-profit group Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Monday. Chu has been selected by CICI as one of nine cultural leaders who played a role in bridging cultures. / Courtesy of CICI |
Amy Chu decorated for bridging cultures
By Kang Aa-young
Renowned American comic book writer Amy Chu has unveiled her plan to capture Seoul in her new comic.
"I've been thinking about putting Seoul into one of my comics," she said in an interview with The Korea Times at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Monday. "I did a similar thing with the Green Hornet, for example. I did part of the story in Istanbul and then I took it to Hong Kong."
Some episodes for her "Green Hornet" series were written about Hong Kong.
Chu declined to give any details of her forthcoming comic about Seoul, saying at the moment she is working on four comic projects and one of them will be about Korea's capital.
Chu, the founder of comic imprint Alpha Girl Comic, visited Seoul for the 2018 Culture Communication Forum hosted by the non-profit group Corea Image Communication Institute. The Chinese-American has been selected as one of ten cultural leaders of the year.
She has written "Poison Ivy" and "Wonder Woman" for DC Comic, "Ant-Man" and "Deadpool" for Marvel.
The super hero film "Ant-Man and the Wasp" attracted nearly 6 million viewers in Korea and became a box-office hit.
Despite Koreans' love for superhero movies, little is known about comic book writers, who write original storylines about the internationally beloved hero characters.
As a Chinese-American woman and mother of two, Chu is considered a successful comic writer.
Unlike some writers who draw at the same time, Chu said comic books in the U.S. are mostly a collaborative team effort of an artist and a writer.
Chu began her current "unexpected" career as a comic book writer in a roundabout way.
She earned double bachelors' degrees in East Asian studies form Wellesley College and architectural design at MIT with an MBA from Harvard.
She then built a career working in management consulting and business.
Trying out a number of different jobs, she became involved in commercial comics. She said when she helped out her good friend, her friend asked her if she could set up a comics publishing business. She accepted the challenge because she said she thought it was an opportunity to learn new things.
"I can always go back to what I was doing before. I still have the skills from all my previous jobs. I have the degrees," Chu said.
"When I first started in comics, it was very male-dominated."
She managed to survive and thrive in the industry.
"Now we have more women getting into comics, not just reading but also writing and drawing," Chu said, "I think that's really important because the writers control the representations and the characters."
According to her, there are about 450 female professionals in the industry, which she said is progress. "And that has made a difference."
Regarding the success of the box-office hit "Crazy Rich Asians," Chu said the film is a good example to break the stereotypes about Asians as the all-Asian-cast romantic comedy shows the diversity of Asians.
"What we're missing in the United States is more diversity in the portrayals of Asians. Stereotypes are not 100 percent of the (Asian) culture and if you're only getting a very limited amount of information then it is easy to fit people into stereotypes," she explained.
"Obviously, all women are different. We're all different sizes, shapes and all have different interests."
She said there are stereotypes about Koreans as well in the United States. Little is known about the cultural side of the country, she said. "I think people hear about business, people who are working hard, studying for exams but nothing else," she said.
After being back in the United States, she said she may work to better inform Americans about Korea.
Chu made the remarks before she was presented at the CICI Awards as one of ten cultural leaders.
The other eight people who were recognized by CICI are Eran Katz of Israel, art director from Japan Sebastian Masuda, founder and director of Multimedia Art Museum Olga Sviblova from Russia, first female professional jamon slicer Esther Sobrino from Spain, French director and actor Noemie Nakai, celebrity chef Janice Won from Singapore, curator, writer and art critic Qilan Shen of China and CEO of Bangawon & Jungyookpo Kim Jung-ja.
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