Within Green Lantern: Legacy there is an immigrant and refugee story in there because the main character, the grandmother, had a refugee experience. And for me it was an opportunity to kind of revisit the narrative around refugees and immigrants because to me there is, there are very few instances that are, that show a greater heroism than, than the refugee experience. I know that personally from my family, you don’t have to look very far to see examples of true heroism because they went through these unimaginable circumstances, right? And they emerged on the other side.
As a kid growing up, it’s like you can have all your problems, but then I’d always be like, but anything that I’m facing right now is nothing, pales in comparison to what my, my family had gone through. So, when I was thinking about this story it was like there’s this young kid who has a challenge of becoming a superhero himself, but within his family he has this example of heroism that he can, can look to.
Is that something you’re going to draw strength from or is that something that you’re going to turn away from?
When I was writing this story it felt very natural. A lot of people asked me when I was writing, they said like, ‘Is it strange to write a superhero story for kids?’ And for me I was like it’s the opposite. It feels like the most natural thing in the world because in the origin story is almost exactly the same and follows the same beats as a coming-of-age story.
You know, you’re trying to figure out how you fit in with the world, how you use your new-found powers to navigate the, the spaces around you. So it was, it was a great opportunity. And the refugee story in the book comes full circle because that was something that I learned about my grandmother after she passed away
I was at her services, and I had just delivered a eulogy for her, and this family came up, and they said, ‘You know, when we came to this country your grandmother showed up to our door with bags of food and like ingredients and chopsticks, and things from Vietnam that we couldn’t find. And she very much like gave us the opportunity to kind of settle her.’ And she was very much about paying it forward in that way.
For me I feel like in the Vietnamese experience immigration, the refugee experience is something that’s historical or in the past, but there are so many people that are living that experience now, and I wanted to just kind of show that an example of heroism would be to, to be there for people when they, when they need it. So that was something that I thought was very important for me to have the opportunity to kind of pay tribute to that style and that kind of heroism that doesn’t always get the same kind of shine as other superhero attributes.