So… because our nanny suddenly got sick, I spent the past 2 days at home taking care of Yakuza Baby (our rambunctious nearly-four year-old daughter, so nicknamed because she was born while the Wife and I were watching a Japanese gangster movie). 

It was a little nerve-wracking since I had a heap of deadlines to meet, especially before the Chinese New Year holidays.  So I got a little crafty – literally! – and came up with a single solution for all three issues: (1) doing something Dim Sum Warriors-related so I didn’t feel like I was loafing; (2) commemorating Chinese New Year; and most important of all, (3) keeping Yakuza Baby occupied with something other than Sailor Moon reruns!

And now we’re sharing it with all of you! Thanks to the brilliant suggestion of Simon Siah, here are our awesomely auspicious DIM SUM WARRIOR DIY CHINESE NEW YEAR HONGBAOS* (with an actual BAO** on it)!

1. Click on the thumbnail of the image of your choice to open a large, printable template.
2. Right-click to download the template
3. Print out in colour (grey packets are not so auspicious)
4. Cut, fold and glue according to the guidelines
5. Give your loved ones a unique red packet they’ll remember for a long time!
6. Don’t forget to add money! (Empty hongbaos guarantee ill-will for many years)

Date: Sunday, January 6th, 2013

Location: Yakun Kaya Toast, Orchard Central

We also just learned that Fast Company named Dim Sum Warriors as one of the Top 10 Coolest Original Digital Comics of 2012, alongside heavyweight titles like Batman: Arkham Unhinged, Avengers vs X-Men and xkcd. We’re deeply, deeply honored!

We were also privileged to have been invited to speak about Dim Sum Warriors at a conference on Global Sinophonia (global Chinese culture) organized by the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s most prestigious research academy.

Also, Dim Sum Warriors Volume 1 – Enter The Dumpling is now available in print and digital formats on Amazon, the App Store, Apple’s iBookstore, and select bookstores.

For our readers in Singapore, we’ll be holding a special event at Kinokuniya on Saturday, 5 January 2013 at 2 pm, and another at Books Actually on a date to be determined. Do drop by and say hi!

We have big plans in 2013, and we hope you’ll all join us for the journey!

Thank you once again – and have the happiest of new years!

Yen Yen Woo and Colin Goh
Creators, Dim Sum Warriors

Colin Goh

I thought that after reading comics all my life, and drawing them professionally for over 20 years, that I pretty much knew the medium inside out.  Well, this old dog certainly learned some new tricks at our book talk at Teachers College last Thursday, 6^th Dec 2012.  In fact, my mind was so blown away that it took me a whole week to collect my thoughts in order to write about it.

Our talk was graciously sponsored by the Curriculum & Teaching Department and the Gottesman Libraries at Yen Yen’s alma mater – Teachers College, Columbia University, one of the world’s great graduate schools of education.  It felt very appropriate to launch our book here, since it was TC that gave Yen her first big breaks in New York – first, by awarding her the Spencer Research Fellowship, then a lecturer’s position, and in general, for expanding both our views of what education can mean.

The event was an examination of the potential of comics in education, and was hosted by Yen’s mentor and friend, Prof. Nancy Lesko, who holds the prestigious Maxine Greene Professor’s chair at TC.

Yen began by sharing our personal journey, from coming to New York and then embarking on TalkingCock.com, our films and now Dim Sum Warriors. To kick off the discussion, she showed a short video we’d cobbled together of our 3½ year-old daughter Kai Kai playing around with the Dim Sum Warriors iPad app for the first time, figuring out the tappable word balloons and switching languages.  For us, it vindicated our earlier hypotheses about the educational usefulness of the app. For instance, even though Kai Kai can’t read properly yet, because of the interactive features and the interplay with the drawings, she could figure out the narrative. She was also drawn to tapping every word balloon and text box, and then repeating what she’d heard.  We also witnessed her controlling the pace of her engagement (going back and forth between pages, double-checking on a balloon she’d tapped earlier), something not truly possible with, say, a TV show.

Yen’s colleague from Long Island University, early childhood education expert Associate Professor Efleda Tolentino reminded us later in the session, that children are born with a hundred languages - they communicate through action, visuals, tone, etc, exactly as we see in Kai Kai’s responses and interactions. But as they grow up, we tell them that some languages are more legitimate than others, and they begin to lose those ‘other’ languages.

After the video, we invited two friends to share their perspectives as education experts.

First was Nick Sousanis, who teaches the comics in education course at TC. Nick’s a passionate advocate for comics in education through his academic journal publications and national conference presentations. He’s also undertaking a mammoth task – rendering his doctoral dissertation entirely in comic book form, making it not just a scholarly treatise but a real work of art.

Like many comic geeks, I thought the last word on comics theory was Scott McCloud’s seminal Understanding Comics. But Nick’s thesis shows that McCloud’s theory is actually incomplete.  For McCloud, the comics medium is defined essentially by its narrative quality.  Nick, however, demonstrates (through both his arguments and his gorgeous page layouts) that there is also an element of simultaneity between panels and pages.  This really raised my eyebrows. I felt the same rush of realization I had when I first made the jump from writing linear documents to designing web pages with hyperlinks.  Comics is the only medium I know that comes closest to being able to replicate the controllable, interconnected nature of the Web.

Next up was Robert Price, Yen’s old TC classmate.  Bob’s the Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Northern Valley Schools Consortium in New Jersey and a board member of the New Jersey Business/Industry Science Education Consortium (NJBISEC). He also taught science at the high school and middle school levels, computer studies, and also in Gifted and Talented programs. He is a Panelist for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, (NAEP), and a Governor’s Teacher Recognition Honoree. He also has an awesome collection of comics and toys that makes my brain bleed with envy.

I’ve always thought of Bob as some sort of Jedi Master, and his presentation didn’t disappoint. Bob gave an account of the prejudice with which the comics medium has been treated by schools, often because the teachers never really understood it.  This made me recall the sense of injustice I felt when a primary school teacher ripped up my copy of Fantastic Four #200.

The fact that pictures accompany the text in comics immediately led to its dismissal as merely something for kids who can’t get by on prose alone. That the pictures could serve as both an aid as well as an asset in and of itself just didn’t occur to many folks in earlier generations.  Bob also talked about the underlooked merits of even simple superhero comics – for instance, how comics are probably the first place that kids learn to manage and navigate the complicated relationships of a massive cast of characters. I found myself nodding furiously in agreement when Bob said, “War and Peace has nothing on the sheer scale and complexity of the X-Men.”

Bob also discussed comics in the wider context of how narrow perceptions of technology and media can hobble creativity.  He began by sharing an anecdote that I’m sure is the single most memorable takeaway for every single one of the 30 or so attendees in the room. He said that in his district this year, all the kids entering kindergarten exhibited the loss of a particular skill – a skill that every single cohort of kids over the last seven years had no problems with. He invited us to guess what this sudden missing skill might be.  Someone (Paul) guessed – correctly – that the new batch of kids didn’t know how to manipulate a mouse.  There was a gasp in the room, followed by giggles.  Bob described how the first thing most of the kids did when approaching the computer was to tap its screen. He said before that, many teachers had been dismissive of tablets as a mere fad, but the sudden paradigm shift had made them sit up. I’ve been convinced of the touchscreen’s inevitable dominance ever since one night, while reading a bedtime story to Kai Kai, she sat up, tapped the book and said, “Pause, Papa. I need to go to the potty.”

It reminded me of something I learned during my law and technology classes at Columbia Law School a few blocks away. Whenever there is a new advance in the communications technology, a certain predictable cycle begins.  First, during early adoption, the full extent of the technology’s possibilities are still unclear, so there is an incomplete understanding of its role.  Meanwhile, the new technology is met with resistance by those who profit from the status quo, who then seek to characterise it in a way that is more advantageous to them.  When such things invariably come before the courts, the judges and regulatory agencies who have to navigate the various interests find themselves having to apply analogies from the past in order to make sense of the new technology. This is why, for instance, a lot of internet law involves cases about the railroads.  However, the new technology may develop in an entirely new way, but remain hidebound by inexact analogies. As the great social scientist Ithiel De Sola Pool wrote, “Technical laymen, such as judges, perceive the new technology in that early, clumsy form, which then becomes their image of its nature, possibilities, and use. This perception is an incubus on later understanding.”

Initially, because I was the least credentialled of the panelists, I thought I’d just revert to schoolboy mode and hide at the back of the class, praying no one would call on me.  Well, maybe I’d help click on the Powerpoint slides.  But I was so moved by Nick and Bob’s contributions that I felt compelled to say something.  Nick and Bob didn’t just lend an intellectual patina to comics. I really felt that they’d vindicated my entire life and career; that I wasn’t just some developmental throwback playing with kids’ stuff, that there really was something unique about the comics medium, and that our work extending it into the digital realm was worthwhile.

I thought the book talk would turn out to be a simple dog and pony show, garnished with a sprinkling of academic theory, but it turned out to be much meatier than that. (As you can tell by the analogies, by this time, I was also becoming quite hungry.) I should have known better.  What else should one expect at Teachers College except to be taught something?

Yen and I would really like to thank Nancy, Bob, Nick, Marjorie Siegel, Jennifer Govan, the Curriculum and Teaching Department and the Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College for their generous support, and to Soo Lee, Kevin Hsi and Dion Sandy, our hardworking and talented crew, as well as everyone who came to attend. Thanks also to Rose O’Connor for helping us take pictures!

Kinokuniya @NgeeAnn City @Bugis Junction @Liang Court
Times @Plaza Singapura @Cenrepoint @Jelita @Marina Square @JCube @Tampines One Paragon
MPH @Robinson Rd @Raffles City Millenia Walk Parco

And on Amazon.com everywhere else!

One of the promises that we are absolutely delighted to fulfill is to spend 8% of whatever we received beyond our initial goal of 8K on Occupy Sandy’s needs.

So we found the perfect opportunity when Occupy Sandy called for backpacks with stationery for the children and schools affected by Sandy in the Rockaways. With the help of our art assistant, Dion Sandy (yes, that’s his last name) and our office mate, Min Jiang, we made it happen yesterday, 12/5.

48 backpacks packed with markers, notebooks, pens and pencils, pencil sharpeners, and delivered to Occupy Sandy quarters at 520 Clinton in Brooklyn. Colin and Yen dropped it off personally.

Damien from Occupy Sandy made a very official looking receipt for us.

So all backers, it was a lot of fun working on this with you! And you are gorgeous!

Check out all the pictures on this Flickr page: Project Backpack

At the Museum of Chinese in Americas and posing silly at Marvels and Monsters – the exhibit on stereotypes of Asians in U.S. comics.

Together with Finn, Kyla, Nick Sousanis, Colin Goh, Yen Yen Woo and Patrick Cox of course.

We’re going to be on international radio! It’s a good thing I wore a bright color.

See all the pictures on the Flickr page here.

-Yen Yen

So, we managed to pay the printers after our successful Kickstarter campaign! A huge, steamy kiss to all our awesome supporters!  And now, Dim Sum Warriors Volume 1: Enter the Dumpling is making its way to be distributed.

And now, thanks to the kind sponsorship of the Curriculum & Teaching Department and the Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College, Columbia University, we have a launch event and book talk!

It’s extra meaningful because that’s where I spent 5 wonderful years of my life as a doctoral student and lecturer. And, my mentor and friend, Professor Nancy Lesko, Professor of Education & Maxine Greene Professor, will introduce the session.

Come and join us for the launch of Dim Sum Warriors Volume 1: Enter the Dumpling in New York City at the Gottesman Library in Teachers College, Columbia University.

We will talk about publishing across multiple platforms, getting your own children’s titles published, and of course, about most important, the role of comics in education. Joining us to talk about comics in education will be our very dear friends, Nick Sousanis and Dr. Robert Price.

After the talk, I’ll also be signing books together with Colin Goh and our amazing illustrator, Soo Lee! See you there!

DATE: Thursday, 12/6

TIME: 7.30-9.00 pm (with snacks from Flushing, Queens!)

VENUE: 305 Russell, Teachers College, Columbia University. 525 West 120th St. (Between Broadway & Amsterdam).

Please RSVP by 12/4

Come and hang out LIVE with Yen Yen Woo & Colin Goh on the Dim Sum Warriors Facebook page and ask us any questions you want about our Kickstarter campaign during the following times:

Friday November 30th 9-10am (Eastern Time in the U.S.)/ 10-11pm (Singapore)

Monday December 3rd 10-11pm (Eastern Time in the U.S.)/ Tues December 4th 11am-12noon (Singapore)

It would be really helpful if you could “Like” the Facebook page and RSVP by emailing Yen Yen at yenyen@dimsumwarriors.com