Acclaimed children's author/illustrator Mike Curato (Little Elliot, Big City; Flamer) delivers his first book 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; he's still unemployed and is hoping to "find something that looks a little less like a crime scene" to call home. His plight triggers K's maternal instincts--"I just wanna scoop him up, little lost lamb"--and she connects him to both 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." Its members prove eager to educate the "sweet little baby gay" about dating, yes, but also offer lessons (and warnings) about Seattle's "white-centric" gay community and the need for a space of their own.
While revealing AJ's coming-of-age, Curato also provides intimate windows into the lives of AJ's found family: Steven's tortuous childhood escape from Vietnam, his countless hook-ups, his surprisingly symbiotic bond with an elderly patient at the care home where he works; the constant microaggressions John endures, his warm but culturally disconnected relationship with his Black mother and white father, his overwhelming loneliness and longing; and Japanese American K's boundless giving of time and self that turns debilitating as she struggles to live authentically.
Curato writes with open empathy, developing each of his characters with nuance and complexity. He draws mostly in bordered panels, occasionally adding scenes that bleed beyond boundaries and pages. 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
Shelf Talker: Children's author/illustrator Mike Curato's adult debut is a gorgeously vulnerable graphic novel about the joys and challenges of finding family among Seattle's gay Asians.