There's this guy we know--quiet, unassuming, with black hair and thick glasses. He's doing his best to fit in, in a world far away from the land of his birth. He knows he's different and that his differences make him alien, an outsider--but they also make him special. Yet he finds himself unable to reveal his true self to the world. . . .

For many Asian Americans, this chronicle sounds familiar because many of us have lived it. But it also happens to be the tale of mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, better known as Superman. And the parallels between those stories help explain why Asian Americans have become such a driving force in the contemporary comics renaissance as artists, writers, and fans.

Yet there's one place where Asians are still underrepresented in comics: between the four-color covers themselves. That's why, in "Secret Identities," top Asian American writers, artists, and comics professionals have come together to create twenty-six original stories centered around Asian American superheroes--stories set in a shadow history of our country, exploring ordinary Asian American life from a decidedly extraordinary perspective. Entertaining, enlightening, and more than a little provocative, "Secret Identities" blends action, satire, and thoughtful commentary into a groundbreaking anthology about a community too often overlooked by the cultural mainstream.