Acclaimed children's author/illustrator Mike Curato (Little Elliot, Big City; Flamer) delivers his debut for adults: Gaysians, a poignant graphic novel about a young East Coast transplant to Seattle in 2003, where he finds a welcoming community of gay Asians. Curato opens with introductions to his primary players--newly out AJ at his first gay bar; Korean adoptee and gamer John; lothario Steven; and activist, seamstress, drag queen K.
For AJ, spilling his drink on K turns into a fortuitous entry to gay Seattle life, which is like "nothing I've ever experienced before." Biracial Filipino AJ left upstate New York to escape his violent, unaccepting father. His plight triggers K's maternal instincts, and she connects him to work and subsidized housing in Seattle's Capitol Hill "gayborhood." Most importantly, she invites him out for dim sum, where he's warmly welcomed into the "Boy Luck Club."
While revealing AJ's coming-of-age, Curato also provides intimate windows into the lives of AJ's found family. Curato writes with open empathy, developing each of his characters with nuance and complexity. He favors mostly monotone (blues) and duotone (blues and magentas) washes, with glimpses of the past muted in black, white, and grey; full-color is reserved for spectacles and the spectacular, including AJ's first Pride parade and the Lunar New Queer Festival.
"We are not a monolith," Curato writes in his afterword, "and it would be impossible for me to write a story that captures the essence of every queer Asian person." His notable gift here is to discover a myriad of gay Asian stories, with the heartfelt invitation to "add to the story [and] create volumes together." --Terry Hong