The Good Asian Vol. 1

This is a serviceable noir, good enough to look forward to volume 2, but the reason I'm giving it five stars is that not only does it depict the status of Chinese-Americans back in the day, it actually shows Chinese-Americans back in the day. My grandfather grew up in Seattle in the early 1900s but just a few days ago for the umpteenth time someone (a census taker no less) assumed I was from China, and then when I informed them I was born here, assumed my parents were from China. So read this comic and then read the epilogue which is a pretty informative history of Chinese-Americans and restrictive immigration and naturalization policies (not just toward Chinese, basically anyone not white, and who was considered white was also a matter of legal contention).

The Good Asian looks like a book that should be right up my alley. A crime noir story set in 1930s Chinatown following a Chinese-American cop, what's not to love?

A lot of things, apparently. The story is unnecessarily complex and often feels like endless monologues of characters explaining things, and there are so many names and events that get thrown in the middle that I constantly have to re-read pages to understand who they're even talking about.

I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm hoping volume 2 picks up and starts focusing more on the story and not feel as muddled.