Explore Gene's additional projects, collaborations, and special releases.
Bay Area Hoops
Gene Yang, former Bishop O’Dowd High School teacher, was invited by the museum to design a mural for the Get in the Game sports-themed exhibition. This honor stems from his 2020 graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, which chronicles the journey of the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons’ varsity basketball team and the rich history of the sport. Yang’s mural is a dynamic fusion of art and storytelling, featuring three comic book-style panels spotlighting basketball players with Bay Area ties: Jeremy Lin during his high school days, Fran Belibi as a college athlete, and NBA superstar Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. The mural creatively integrates the theme of distance in basketball, showcasing the players at iconic distances from the hoop: Curry at 23 feet, 9 inches for the NBA three-point line, Lin at 15 feet for the free throw line, and Belibi poised to dunk right next to the basket.
American Born Chinese: The TV Series
A whirlwind of teen angst and mythic battles, “American Born Chinese” has become a genre-busting hit for Disney+. Jin Wang–our average protagonist–grapples with the chaos unleashed by the new kid… who just so happens to be the son of the legendary Monkey King. Featuring stellar performances by Ben Wang, Michelle Yeoh, and others, the critically-acclaimed series masterfully translates epic Chinese mythology into a profoundly relatable coming-of-age tale, taking Gene’s most celebrated graphic novel to new, even more exciting heights. Binge-watch the series for Kung-Fu flair, schoolyard scrapes, and epic heart.
TEDx Talk: Comics Belong in the Classroom
In his 2016 TEDx Talk, Gene champions comics as powerful tools for fostering creativity, sparking social change and enhancing learning across subjects. In a talk that’s as informative as it is entertaining, he breaks down the barriers between traditional texts and visual storytelling – urging teachers to embrace the art form for its unique ability to captivate and communicate complex ideas. “Unlike other visual narratives – like film or animation or television or video, comics are what I call permanent. In a comic, the past, present, and future sit side by side on the same page. This means that the information flow is solely in the hands of the reader.”
