The Secret Origins of Level Up

Next month Gene Luen Yang, author of Prime Baby and Eternal Smile among other things, has a new graphic novel coming out: Level Up. It?s the story of a young man whose parents have a plan for him: he?ll go to med school to become a gastroenterologist. His father dies and he?s haunted by some cartoony angels who arrive to keep him on the right path ? but all he really wants to do is play video games.

Although the story, charmingly illustrated by Thien Pham, has a lot of fantasy in it, at the heart is a very real and familiar story, perhaps especially Asian-Americans or other children of immigrants. Expect a full review of the book soon. (Short review: it?s good. You should read it.)

For now, you can enjoy this excellent cartoon by Yang explaining the ?secret origin? of this book. Click on the image to see the entire comic.

Click on the image to see the rest of the cartoon!

Jonathan Liu is a stay-at-home dad, Etch-a-Sketch artist, community agitator, board game geek, and a voracious reader.
Follow @jonathanhliu on Twitter.

Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/05/the-secret-origins-of-level-up/

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