The Good Asian

The Good Asian #1-2

by Pornsak Pichetshote, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Diego de los Santos (Translator)

Novela gráfica ganadora de múltiples premios (como el Harvey o el Einser), presente en más de 20 listas de lo mejor del año.

En The Good Asian seguimos a un detective chino-americano atormentado y lleno de odio hacia sí mismo que va tras la pista de un asesino en el San Francisco de 1936. Este noir del barrio chino está protagonizado por la primera generación de estadounidenses que alcanzaron la mayoría de edad bajo la prohibición de la inmigración china, asediados por una ola de asesinatos, policías maltratadores y un mundo que parece que nunca va a cambiar.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Historical Fiction, Noir, Mystery, Comic Book

312 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2025

About the author

Pornsak Pichetshote was a Thai-American rising star editor at DC’s Vertigo imprint where he worked on such comics perennials as The Sandman and Swamp Thing. His books have been nominated for dozens of Eisner awards—be it the award-winning Daytripper, the New York Times bestseller The Unwritten, or critical darlings like Sweet Tooth and Unknown Soldier. He left Vertigo to become an executive in DC Entertainment’s media team, where he started and oversaw DC TV’s department. Infidel marks his first major comics work as a writer.

Reviews

[Marcos GM · Rating 4 out of 5]

[ESP/ENG]

Porque el pasado...tiene poder. Y somos sus esclavos.

Este cómic me ha llegado por una recomendación, estaba totalmente fuera de mi radar y no lo conocía de nada aún a pesar de que el género me gusta bastante. Debo decir que ha sido una gran lectura y que me alegra que me lo hayan recomendado.

Es 1936, en Estados Unidos rige todavía la ley que segrega a los inmigrantes chinos. Mientras otros inmigrantes llegaban a Ellis Island y ese símbolo les recibía, los chinos entraban por California, eran obligados a permanecer en Angel Island por periodos de incluso más de un mes y superar diversos exámenes que certificaban quiénes eran. Esto hizo que las diversas barriadas de China town en el país fuesen mal miradas, y sus habitantes maltratados por todos. ¿Por qué cuento esto? Porque nuestro protagonista, Edison Hark, es uno de esos chinos, de los primero policías chinos del país. Es mirado mal por todas las partes implicadas, salvo por los Carroway, familia adinerada que le cuidó como uno de los suyos. Cuando los Carroway le llaman para que investigue una desaparición Hark acude sin demora. Esta situación dará lugar a situaciones peliagudas, tiroteos, gente peligrosa y la ocasional femme fatale. Vamos, lo que es un noir de manual.



El introducir ese hecho histórico le da un plus a una historia de por sí bien escrita y bien elaborada. No va a inventar nada nuevo, pero es reconocible por sí misma gracias a este elemento. La narración del autor está muy bien, aunque usa flashbacks durante la obra y no se diferencian con ningún aspecto gráfico, lo que hace que en algún momento no sepas muy bien qué está pasando. Pero todo queda claro durante la obra ya al final, no hay nada que no se explique.

En cuanto a los personajes, tienen mucho del género. Está el detective torturado, el asesino misterioso, la chica en apuros, la femme fatale, el policía corrupto...Lo bueno es que aunque te lo ves venir, están bien escritos en general. No hay ninguno que tenga incongruencias ni que aparezca cual deus ex machina, todo tiene coherencia y sentido.



Toca hablar del arte. Por un lado, el dibujo principal está bien, no es para tirar cohetes pero cumple. También diré que no es mi estilo favorito, y que a veces con las caras cuesta un pelín saber quien es quien. El color está bastante bien, y aunque en una viñeta no puedes ver esos neones brillando, el efecto que consigue muchas veces está muy bien logrado (para ejemplo ver la primera imagen). Quiero mencionar de manera muy destacada las portadas de Dave Johnson, son una absoluta maravilla. El tomo también trae portadas alternativas, con mucha variedad. Aquí ya iría en gustos personales.

Y que hablo del tomo, le he pillado al menos un par de errata en algún diálogo, que puede ser algo puntual pero en una en concreto es un fallo muy gordo porque da otro sentido completamente distinto al diálogo en que aparece. Por lo demás un tomo muy completo, con varios concept art de personajes, varios script de alguna escena y un resumen final con más información sobre el momento histórico.




🌏🕵🏻🕵🏻‍♂️🕵🏻‍♀️👲🏻🌏🕵🏻🕵🏻‍♂️🕵🏻‍♀️👲🏻🌏🕵🏻🕵🏻‍♂️🕵🏻‍♀️👲🏻


'Cuz the past--it has power. And we're slaves to it.

This comic came to me through a recommendation. It was completely off my radar, and I wasn't familiar with it, even though I quite enjoy the genre. I must say it was a great read, and I'm glad it was recommended to me.

It's 1936, and the law segregating Chinese immigrants was still in effect in the United States. While other immigrants arrived at Ellis Island and were welcomed by that symbol, Chinese immigrants entered through California, were forced to stay on Angel Island for periods of even more than a month, and pass various exams that certified who they were. This led to the various Chinatown neighborhoods across the country being frowned upon, and their inhabitants mistreated by everyone. Why am I telling this? Because our protagonist, Edison Hark, is one of those Chinese, one of the first Chinese police officers in the country. He is frowned upon by all involved, except for the Carroways, a wealthy family who cared for him as one of their own. When the Carroways called him to investigate a disappearance, Hark arrived without delay. This situation will lead to messy situations, shootouts, dangerous people, and the occasional femme fatale. It's textbook noir.



Introducing this historical fact adds a plus to an already well-written and well-crafted story. It won't invent anything new, but it's recognizable thanks to this element. The author's narration is very good, although he uses flashbacks throughout the work, and they aren't differentiated by any graphic elements, which means that at some points you don't quite know what's going on. But everything becomes clear throughout the work and at the end; nothing remains unexplained.

As for the characters, they have a lot of the genre's roots. There's the tortured detective, the mysterious killer, the girl in trouble, the femme fatale, the corrupt cop... The good thing is that even though you can see it coming, they're generally well-written. There aren't any inconsistencies or deus ex machinas; everything is coherent and makes sense.



It's time to talk about the art. On the one hand, the main drawing is good; it's not amazing, but it does the job. I'll also say that it's not my favorite style, and sometimes with the faces, it's a bit difficult to tell who is who. The coloring is quite good, and although you can't see those neon lights shining in paper, the effect achieved is often very well done (for an example, see the first image). I want to give special mention to Dave Johnson's covers; they're absolutely wonderful. The volume also includes alternate covers, with a wide variety. This is a matter of personal taste.

Speaking of the volume itself it's a very complete volume, with several character concept art, several scripts for some scenes, and a final summary with more information about the historical moment.

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving this 1.5 stars, because I do appreciate the unique setting and the interesting historical context given in the book (and I basically disliked everything else).

I have to admit, that neither historical settings nor crime mysteries are my favourite genres, but this book receives a lot of praise, so I was curious how I would like it.

I didn't like the artwork, as I was mixing up faces throughout the story, but I especially hated the colouring. Every page is washed in a single colour with different shades of said colour. It just looks icky and bland.

In addition, the story was very boring for me, a lot of characters are introduced and it's hard to keep track of their relations. Getting through the first half of this book was a chore. Then the action picks up and you get your usual twists and revelations, but they didn't really excite me.

The book makes it very clear that the main character does not like himself and neither does the reader I suppose. Not a recommended read.

[Lucille · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5
J’ai beaucoup aimé le contexte qu’explore ce comics (intégrale des tomes 1 et 2 d’origine), l’enquête m’a parfois un peu perdu par ci par là je dois avouer mais c’est quand même un bon polar se passant dans le Chinatown de San Francisco des années 1930.

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most forewords don't do a whole lot to adequately contextualize the books they're introducing, but David Choe absolutely hits it out of the park with his no-holds-barred examination of what it meant to be a Good Asian in the West in the 20th century. In short: when you have nothing, you keep your head down, work hard and accept whatever abuse you must take until you're rich and powerful and can fuck up all those people who tried to hold you down. The opening scene of worldwide phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians tells you the exact same thing, but plunges forward into a beautiful present day where that wealth and power has been achieved, for some of the protagonists at least. This graphic novel, on the other hand, is squarely situated in an era where equality, never mind anything more, was still a distant dream.

Peppered with the historical anecdotes that inspired the series, this stylish noir comic follows the travails of the fictional Edison Hark, perhaps the only Chinese police detective in America as the story opens. In San Diego as a favor to the rich white family who brought him up after the death of his mother, Edison is on the trail of a missing maid whom the Carroway family patriarch has tender feelings for. Ivy Chen abruptly disappeared after going to meet her mother one evening, and Edison has been flown in from Hawai'i to help find her. Unfortunately for Mason Carroway, Edison's investigations are revealing an Ivy who seems far from the innocent maidservant the older man knew and adored. As Edison delves deeper into Chinatown's seedier side, aided by his appearance as a local instead of an "American" (and boy did that hurt to read every time this historically accurate if no less racist assumption that "American = a certain kind of white person" was brought up in the text,) he discovers that little is as it seems, and that the Carroways are even more deeply involved in what happened to Ivy than he'd ever thought possible.

As if the conflicting feelings Edison still has for the Carroways isn't complicating matters enough, a serial killer who seems ready to set the political landscape ablaze by feeding racist fears has also begun to terrorize the community. When a climactic face-off results in a terrifying inferno, will anyone be left to bring the bad guys to justice?

The end of the book promises that Edison Hark will return in future comics, but honestly I want more Lucy Fan! Whether assisting Edison or investigating on her own, our intrepid amateur sleuth stole every darn scene she was in, and I adored her for it. Plus, I preferred her and Terence's visions of the future to Edison's nihilistic nonsense. I know that none of them can see into our modern world, but life does get better. That's because of people like Lucy and Terence, and frankly in spite of self-hating naysayers like Edison. Maybe this just means character growth for Edison in future installments, which I'll definitely be reading regardless of my ambivalence towards this series' main character so far. The historical context and parallels with modern-day issues are too strong to resist, especially in Pornsak Pichetshote's incredible storytelling hands.

I also have to give mad props to Alexandre Tefenkgi's art here, which I thought was even better than his terrific work on Outpost Zero. The script here gives him so much more direction, even if there were parts where I had to backtrack to make sense of what was happening, particularly in the action sequences. I do not lay the blame for this entirely on the creative team, as Edelweiss and the publishers, in their wisdom, decided to distribute ARCs of this title via the trash fire that is Adobe Digital Editions. I've ranted about this garbage program before, and while its ongoing inability to support two page spreads was detrimental as always to my enjoyment of this graphic novel, even more egregious was its weird and arbitrary choice to skip over multiple pages when I hit the navigation controls for next page. I had to type in individual page numbers in order to advance through the story correctly. That was deeply irritating, and really took me out of enjoying the story.

Those of you lucky enough to experience this graphic novel through other mediums are in for a treat though, with a smart historical noir that reminds Asian Americans of how far we've come and how far we can still go as equal citizens without completely murdering our senses of self-worth. Highly recommended anti-racist reading.

The Good Asian -- Deluxe Edition Vol. 1: 1936 by Pornsak Pichetshote & Alexandre Tefengki was published today June 6 2023 by Image Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!

This review first appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

[Joe Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edison Hark is one of the first Chinese-American police detectives, working the mean streets of 1930’s Honolulu, when he gets an urgent request from his surrogate brother to come home. Hark was “adopted” by a rich, white family after his mother, who worked for them as a maid, passed away. Now history threatens to repeat itself: The family patriarch has fallen into a coma, and the family’s maid, another Chinese-American, has gone missing. The case is further complicated by the appearance of Hui Long, a mythical boogieman who begins killing his way through the Asian criminal underworld.

As a man who stands in two worlds but lives in none, Hark is a fascinating character. The whites don’t trust him because he is Chinese, and the Chinese don’t trust him because “Who would give a badge to the Chinese?” as one woman tells him. Even the cops don’t trust Hark, instead using him as an undercover informant or to roust drug addicts from opium dens. He’s quiet, brooding, and self-loathing, made all the worse by living in a time when the U.S. Government has banned Chinese immigrants from entering the country.

The glimpses behind the scenes of a little-discussed piece of history were fascinating and probably my favorite part of the whole story. Author Pornsak Pichetshote wisely includes a historical supplement at the end, which provides more context for the time and places where the story is set. For a closeted history buff like myself, it was pure gold.

The mystery itself, however, I liked, but did not love.

The story takes a few strange dog legs into another character’s point of view. Both times this happens, it unfolds without warning and left me wondering if some pages were missing. Transitions are a useful narrative tool.

A bigger problem, though, is that the large cast of characters is hard to follow through the twists and turns of the plot. There’s quite a few names to juggle. This isn’t helped by artist Alexandre Tefenkgi’s simple and unadorned style, which makes a lot of characters—I really hate to say—look the same. It rather undercuts the drama when the story drops an important name or a character reveal and you are left asking, “Wait, who is that again?”

Despite these hangups, I had a good time wandering the streets with Edison Hark. The Good Asian is a nice slice of comic book noir that’ll also teach you a thing or two along the way. What more could you ask for? There’s also a tease in the back of the book that the character will return. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The book picked up an Eisner Award for best limited series and there’s rumblings afoot that a movie or TV adaptation might be on the way.

Count me in.

Also posted on my blog thing.

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKulturowy Kociołek:

Listonosz zawsze dzwoni dwa razy, Dama z Szanghaju, Sokół maltański, Asfaltowa dżungla. To tylko kilka tytułów zaliczanych do grona klasyki noir. Fani gatunku nie muszą się jednak ograniczać tylko i wyłącznie do medium filmowego z dawnych lat. Na rynku od czasu do czasu pojawia się bowiem jakaś komiksowa perełka, która również jest warta ich uwagi. Tytułem takim jest album The Good Asian wydany przez wydawnictwo Lost in Time.

Akcja albumu rozgrywa się w Chinatown (San Francisco) lat 30. XX wieku. Fabuła skupia się na Edisonie Harku, chińsko-amerykańskim detektywie, który bada sprawę zniknięcia azjatyckiej pokojówki, która pracowała dla jego adopcyjnej bogatej białej rodziny. Zadaniu temu nie podołali nawet ludzie Agencji Pinkertona. Bohater szybko przekonuje się, że sprawa ta nie będzie prosta. Każdy nowy ślad odsłania bowiem przed nim mrok, który potrafi być zabójczy dla nazbyt ciekawskich osób. W miarę odkrywania kolejnych sekretów rozwija się również jego skomplikowana relacja z przybranym ojcem i rodzeństwem, ukrywającymi również swoje tajemnice.

Noir, jako gatunek dość często opiera się na pewnych dobrze znanych stereotypach. Jeśli są one tylko dobrze podane, to nie wpływają one negatywnie na jakość danego dzieła. Tak właśnie jest w przypadku albumu The Good Asian. Scenarzysta Pornsak Pichetshote sięga po sprawdzone schematy, jednocześnie dodając do nich coś nowego. Chociażby w postaci azjatyckiego głównego bohatera, który funkcjonując w USA lat trzydziestych, musiał borykać się z naprawdę wieloma problemami.

Warstwa czysto sensacyjna jest więc tu tylko jedną z wielu części składowych historii, która przeplata różnorakie wątki. Dzięki temu album to nie tylko kryminał noir, ale również dawka literatury historycznej, romansu, przygody, dramatu obyczajowego i akcji. Scenariusz płynnie przeplata każdy z tych literackich elementów, zapewniając czytelnikowi porcję różnorakich intensywnych doznań. Nie tylko zanurzamy się tu w niebezpiecznym światku przestępczym, ale również poznajemy azjatycko-amerykańską rzeczywistość tamtego okresu, która delikatnie rzecz pisząc, była bardzo trudna. Twórca wykorzystuje każdy moment, aby wzbogacić więc utartą, ale bardzo przyjemną w odbiorze formułę noir nowymi ekscytującymi warstwami, powiązanymi z ciekawie zaprezentowanymi bohaterami....

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/the-g...

[Tymek · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is my sincere believe that all the raving quotes on the back of my hardcover were based on the first couple of issues - because they are truly great. It's got everything a proper noir comic book should have - a morally ambigous protagonist, atmospheric, near suffocating setting and most of all an intriguing,
if typical, mystery. Moreover, the chinese-american perspective is something new to me, which further served to spike my interest.

The exploration of said culture is truly the greatest strength of the book. It feels really in-depth, and it must come from the depth of author's heart. This unique point-of-view makes Edison Hark one of the more compelling protagonists I've read in a comic book in a while. The first half of the book paints a memorable portrait that will not leave my consciousness anytime soon.

Unfortunately, the great setup and chatacter work is soiled by the lacking latter half of the comic. What started as a rather simple mystery soon evolved into a convoluted mess of plotpoints and characters introduced on a whim. We learn things about people in one issue, only to be told it was all a hoax in the next. This wouldn't necesserily be a bad thing if it happened organically, but as it is the latter half loses its way in the myriad of flashbacks. The themes of identity and culture get muddled too, although to a lesser extent. The pacing also grinds to a halt, and each issue in the back half feels as long to read as the entirety of #1-#5.

By the time the book ends, instead of that disctinct satisfaction associated with witnessing a good mystery unfold, I'm left with a rather less pleasant feeling of befuddlement. Even though the sociocultural aspects of the book remain solid throughout, ultimately this is a crime noir story. A one that just could have been better.

The potential is there. I'll be very curious to read a sequel.

The art is magnificent throughout though, and would almost warrant buying the book even if the whole story was utter nonsense. Simply gorgeous.

[Mr. Lavender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needlessly confusing. Too many swerves that didn't go anywhere or felt inconsequential. Too many of the characters' motives boiled down to deception, wanting another character to think something that wasn't true. And too many insignificant characters were introduced rather suddenly, only to be dismissed in the same manner.

I really appreciated the concept. And I enjoyed the content about the climate surrounding Chinese Americans, Chinese immigrants, and other Asian American/immigrants at the time. The first three or four issues are really strong. But things start to fall apart in the second half. I would say this is not a rewarding read unless you just want something that's a bit different and provides some really strong historical context. Hopefully the author's next pulp story is a bit tighter.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie Chan if it was written by Raymond Chandler with all the appropriate historical and cultural context in tact…

The Good Asian is the story of Honolulu detective Edison Hark…sent to San Francisco to investigate a personal case where even the authorities barely give him the time of day…badge or no badge.

Edison Hark has lived a life of compromise. His mother, the businessman he owns much of his life to, his “childhood friends”, being Chinese in the United States (even in Hawaii) has certain rules…even for one that has a bit contort…

This wonderful historical mystery captures the Chinese American experience in the early 20th century, with story and back matter hilighting the historical events that shaped the rough world…

Hatchetmen, blackmailers, family secrets, revenge…face it, Edison Hark…it’s Chinatown…

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fantastic mystery story and even more fantastic examination of Chinese-American life in the late 1930's. Overall. This first issue of ‘The Good Asian' sets the world and story up brilliantly. You can enjoy it for its detective story alone. But, it's the details that really build out the issue and series. It had times that felt like you missed something but, by the end it all makes sense of whats going on and its actually pretty solid. The ending isn't quite the thrill ride the rest of the story is, but as someone who loves noir detective stories, I can confirm that that's true of 90% of the classics of the genre. Overall, this series was a joy, the conclusion is satisfyingly tidy, and "Edison Hark will return" were just the words I was hoping to hear.

[Victoria Niro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eu não estava esperando que fosse tão bom!! As artes são lindas, a edição está maravilhosa, a história é ótima e o estudo sobre o contexto histórico está muito bem fundamentado. Aliás, gostei muito de no final do livro ter uma parte explicando as referências usadas. Isso fez com que fosse possível entender melhor a história e o contexto em que ela estava inserida e, como eu não conhecia muito sobre a história dos asiáticos nos Estados Unidos, foi muito interessante. Me lembrou um pouco "A Noite Passada no Telegraph Club", o contexto histórico dos dois se complementam bastante. Além disso tudo, o mistério da história me fez ficar presa buscando a solução.

Enfim, vale muito a pena a leitura. Livro belíssimo.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Edison Hark will return.”

Edison Hark is one my favorite characters I’ve read in some time. The complexity of his character make this book a must read.

This is wonderful noir, with many twists and turns that I know I will continue to appreciate with future readings. This book is more than just a great detective story though. It focuses heavily on the history of immigration in America and the difficulties Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans faced and continue to face.

The art by Alexandre Tefenkgi is pitch perfect with eye-melting two page spreads and creative layouts and the colors give it a great noir feel.

I am eager for the next Edison Hark mystery.

[Bus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues no me ha gustado tanto como esperaba. Es verdad que es una obra de envergadura. Es una historia compleja en línea con las novelas de Raimundo chandler y otros autores ya clásicos. Pero es confusa, más compleja que interesante, fluye a trompicones y tiene algunos giros que tampoco te levantan de la silla. Personajes estereotipados como en este género pero con los que cuesta conectar. El dibujo, siendo verdad que consigue crear atmósfera, es feote. Quizás no resta pero tampoco suma. En fin… que lo peor es que el disfrute que me ha generado es justito.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful work that effortlessly blends noir with the struggles of a Chinese American during the deeply racist 1930s.

Make no mistake - this is classic noir. I binged the whole series over the course of an afternoon, and I can't say I ever fully grasped the plot. That's OK - in fact, that sort of a thing is a hallmark of detective literature. The very best pioneers of the genre had so many twists and turns that sometimes even their authors couldn't follow them.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and all of the awards that it has received. There were parts of it that were very engaging and exciting. There were also times that I found it very difficult to follow what was happening in the story. It was hard to keep track of all the characters and their angles. The art fit the theme of the story. Perhaps a re-read would shed more light on the story and help me make more sense of its twists and turns.

[Victor Robieux · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 pour les qualités formelles, mais 2,5 au niveau du ressenti personnel. Vraie déception, je ne trouve pas que quoi que ce soit se dégage de l'œuvre, je n'aime pas le dessin que je trouve trop simple, avec une intrigue très dense que le format bd rend brouillon, ça a vraiment entaché mon expérience de lecture et je pense que j'aurais préféré en roman ou en film.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book - it's a cracker of a noir murder mystery, but layered with incredibly detailed period-specific details about Chinese immigration into the States. Really powerful writing. The art is wonderful as well - clean, precise, and dramatic.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the artwork (some excellent panel compositions and good action) and setting, but the convoluted nature of the plot combined with the book wearing its heart on its sleeve made it a less-than-exciting read.

[Nathaniel R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that speaks to the history of Chinese Americans, the power racism has over us and how it influences the society we live in, and how it hurts everyone involved.

Its also a great noir graphic novel.

[Lucas Soc · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4

[Julio Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh! Overrated

[frumpburger · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I generally enjoyed this, but I did have some difficulty following the story at times.

[Olivia Park · Rating 3 out of 5]

its all because of wasians...

[Catherine Liu · Rating 2 out of 5]

genuinely ridiculous plot development in the second half

[Marice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Alexandria Ganger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid start and middle, the end of the mystery kinda lost me. But overall an excellent read and enjoyable noir graphic novel.

[Lisandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,67 estrelas

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the plot very hard to follow.

[Anne Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai pas tout compris mais c’était cool.

[David Sanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reconozco que me he perdido un poco al final con tantos giros de guion ^^U