DC Comics Asian-American superhero anthology celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- The DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration anthology features characters like Monkey Prince, the son of Journey to the West’s Monkey King
- Anti-Asian bigotry, induced by Covid-19, was raging in the US when it was being produced and the book includes xenophobic episodes that Asians can relate to
On the surface, Marcus is a socially awkward Asian-American kid who doesn’t have many friends – but, like Batman, whose life as playboy Bruce Wayne hides his superhero identity, Marcus has a superhero alter ego.
Marcus is Monkey Prince, the son of Monkey King from the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West . And, like Batman, Monkey Prince is hell-bent on taking down villains.
The newly minted Asian-American superhero is part of a comics anthology published by DC Comics to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. The DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration features new characters like Monkey Prince, as well as sequels and the origin stories of various DC superheroes.
Sounds, written by Mariko Tamaki from Canada, stars Batgirl alias Cassandra Cain as a taciturn girl with a speech impediment who thinks words and sounds are a distraction in her mission to rid the world of deviants.
In Masks, written by the current Catwoman series author Ram V, a girl named Shoes becomes the protégé of Catwoman. Shoes sports a mask with a Cheshire cat smile when she fights her enemies.