Tak Toyoshima is running a fill-in-the-thought-balloon contest at SecretAsianMan.com -- check it out! The winner gets a big 8" vinyl die cut sticker.

The current AsianWeek cover story features three Asian American cartoonists who have been published by the paper over the years, including Tak Toyoshima, creator of the syndicated strip "Secret Asian Man." Here's an excerpt:

Secret Asian Man has appeared in AsianWeek since 2002, and since July 2007, the mouthless, bushy-eyebrowed Asian American cartoon has been syndicated in daily newspapers nationwide, challenging stereotypes and provoking thoughts about race while making readers laugh. The series is based on Toyoshima's life and regularly deals with Asian American issues in a hip, refined manga style.

Before it became syndicated and read by a mainstream audience, the strip dealt mainly with Asian American issues. Early strips were angrier in tone, but as time went on and Toyoshima matured as an artist, the tone lightened. He raised questions in his strips for readers to ponder rather than merely venting. But he's not afraid to still tackle heavy subjects like Vincent Chin, the Chinese American who was beaten to death in 1982 by two white autoworkers who believed they had lost their jobs to the Japanese.

Tak Toyoshima, the cartoonist behind "Secret Asian Man," went to the Adrian Tomine presentation in Boston -- and wrote about it in his blog! Here's an excerpt:

The best thing I walked away from the presentation (besides a signed copy!) was a better insight into Tomine's views on being Asian American. Artistically he doesn't make it a mission to infuse every story with typical AA issues. Characters may be AA but that does not define them. It may add depth to his characters but beyond that, it's not an issue. He spoke a bit about the expectancies that many AAs had of his work and how he felt pressured to represent the community, like it was his duty.

Shortcomings, as the graphic of a ruler under the book jacket implies, does have some AA themes in it and it seems these themes are increasing. It's like he's going through the opposite experience as me. I started off out of the gate spewing out strips about lack of AA media representation, kung-fu stereotypes and xenophobia. Now I've come to embrace a far wider range of topics which I aim at a broader audience. It'll be interesting to see how Tomine's work progresses in terms of subject matter. All that being said, he has a new fan.

(And many thanks to Toyoshima for adding AsianAmericanComics.com to his links page!)