This year, we wanted to try something a little different for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We'll moderate a wide-ranging, month-long discussion about Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage in comics and our community. And the thing we're most excited about... we can include you!

If you've never used Padlet, it's pretty straightforward; you don't even need a login. Just select the board you want to participate in or press the plus button in the bottom right corner of this screen to start your own! From there, just follow the prompts.

This month, I wanted to share one exercise from chapter 7, "Opening the Window: The History We Carry." Jewell asks,

"Pause for a moment. Give yourself some time to write out your history.

What is your history? Where are you from? What stories of your life have shaped you into who you are at this moment?

What is the history of your family? What are the stories you are always told? What are the stories you don't know enough about and would like to know more of?

Write your history!"

If you choose to respond publicly, please write as if you are speaking in front of the flock at the shop. We all have different experiences and opinions, but must be able to hear one another out. Please keep your language respectful and be open to new perspectives.

Kwannon was first created by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee in 1988. Claremont and Lee introduced Psylocke as an adversary of the X-Men and as she developed in the 1990s, she became a full-blown superhero. She is a trained psychic and assassin with a shadowy past.

Guanyin, goddess of mercy, is a Bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are akin to Saints in Buddhism, but Guanyin is especially revered among her kind. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara, a supreme being closely associated with the Buddha. People pray to Guanyin to embody mercy and compassion.

Show us what you've done at Blackbird!

In the spring of 1982, I was in transition as a boy growing up loving Star Wars and everything that was attached to Star Wars, most specifically the action figures. However, that summer there was about to be a cataclysmic shift in my buying...err my parents and grandparents buying habits. Hasbro launched the 3-3/4" line of GI Joe action figures. Immediately in my world the Star Wars actions figures would become obsolete. This was a new era, the character profiles for Stalker, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Rock-n-Roll, and even the Cobra soldiers just sucked me in...I wanted to get them ALL to read everything about these incredible characters. Those character files were known as "file cards", they could be cut off of the action figure card and collected and stored in an index card box. Unknown to me at the time, they were written by Larry Hama. I had no idea what was around the corner for me that summer when school let out.

Summer 1982; Marvel Comics obtained the license to produce comic books based on the exploding popularity of the toy line. After ever Marvel writer turned down the project, Larry Hama said yes! He would transition the book from a 22 page ad for the toys into one of the deepest narrative and best character study comics on the rack. Month in and month out he did this for Marvel Comics. Outside of 5-6 issues, Larry has written every single issue of the Legacy title run and that continues today...as we are currently at issue 307 albeit with Skybound comics as opposed to Marvel.

Larry wrote a book that championed the Joes for most of the final resolutions but the subtext and storylines for characters on both side of the war were the magic of his run. He was lauded for making the female characters, not damsels in distress but functioning and most times the most competent parts of either team (GI Joe and Cobra). He built in a level of history and connection that simply cannot be replaced...as every single publisher whom has obtained the license to make GI Joe comics has also brought on board Larry Hama to script and dialogue the books.

There stands to this day what is considered in most circles to be one of the finest single issue comics ever made...the "silent issue" GI Joe #21. The story, in summation, involves the top assassin of Cobra abducting Scarlett and Snake-eyes must rescue her from the Cobra stronghold with minimal interaction with the base to avoid alerting the entire Cobra military. This mission is completed without a single sound effect or work bubble. At the end during his escape, a tattoo is exposed on the arm of Snake-Eyes and is seen by that top Cobra assassin (Storm Shadow). He recognizes it since it is the same as his own arm tattoo and that only he and his long lost brother were given these marks. This is in a comic aimed at pre-teens...the level of respect that Larry showed his readers and their comprehension level was just the absolute highest compliment from a creator to his fans.

This creative work of Larry Hama still stands one of the top reads fin my entire comic reading life. I owe a massive amount of incredibly happy childhood memories to Larry. His work got me through many lonely Friday nights as a comic nerd in the era that didn't welcome comic nerds.

For me, Larry Hama is my Real American Hero.

-David