The award-winning sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book writer shares their Marvel picks! Read Alyssa’s STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA (2020) and IRON FIST (2022) today, and read more about their “mirror moments” in media, and creative influences, on Marvel.com!
My absolute favorite. I love that it's a fun, real story about a group of Asian and Asian American Super Heroes hanging out. It's really clever, and the character dynamics are so good.
The spam feast scene alone is a masterpiece. But it's a great callback to WAR OF THE REALMS: NEW AGENTS OF ATLAS #1, and speaks to the power of bonding over food.
My first Marvel story, co-written with Greg Pak. It was awesome to delve into Wave's backstory and family in Cebu, Philippines, and getting to create Sea Hunter, an older, queer Filipina character, was really special.
Whenever I think of quintessential Doctor Aphra, I always think of the very first arc (and the very first issue!) of Kieron Gillen and Kev Walker’s run. That's the character I fell in love with, and her relationship with her dad is a highlight of the series.
The way that writer Si Spurrier develops Aphra's relationship with Magna Tolvan, and grows Aphra through her reluctant attachments to other characters while maintaining her core of selfishness, is something I think about a lot. It's a delicate balance!
I love the way writer Gene Luen Yang works with language here. All of the characters have different relationships with English and Chinese (and varying dialects of both), and the way the text navigates that is very thoughtful.