My Little Green Turtle: 

A Superhero in the Making

(小緑亀)

I utterly adored The Shadow Hero written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Sonny Liew. Whoever thought that a single work could encapsulate my love of Golden Age superhero comics, Chinese martial arts lore and the Asian American immigrant experience? I can't wait to read the follow-ups to the debut volume.

Completely by  chance, I dressed my son Jack in a onesie today that appeared to be the exact shade of green worn by the Green Turtle, the long-forgotten Chinese-American superhero revived in The Shadow Hero. Feeling inspired, I placed him on a green beach blanket I found (an acceptable shade), and taking a green bandanna sitting in my bureau (not really the right shade or pattern, but it worked), I dressed him up to serve as an appropriate tribute to the Green Turtle. Even better, without any coaching or prompting, baby Jack brought his hands together in a rough approximation of the kung-fu hand salute.

One of the memories this image stirred up was the fact that when I was five, my mother indulged my Superman fixation and sewed a little cape for me to wear saying "Super Dwight." But funny enough, that cape wasn't done up in the Man of Steel's trademark red, white and blue.

It was green.

Coincidence?