There’s a very real risk of someone who doesn’t appreciate the game looking at that and thinking, “This book isn’t for me.” This is a book that has “Hoops” in the name and a dimpled dust jacket meant to convey the texture of a basketball. Soothing this hesitancy on the part of the non-basketball fan is very important. Second, this panel lets readers know right off that Yang is not a basketball fan, putting non-basketball fans at ease and letting them know that Yang gets it. Think Scott McCloud’s seminal work, Understanding Comics and you’ll have a good sense of how Yang interacts in Dragon Hoops with the reader. In other words, we are in for a metafictional good time. He’s going to be creator/character both, and it’s going to be his journey as much as anyone’s that gives this book its shape, trajectory, and structure. It’s a fantastic opener, and the first idea it establishes is that Yang himself is going to be a key part of this story. Especially basketball, and then we cut to young Yang trying to catch a pass and getting a handful of jammed fingers. Said first panel features Yang’s likeness talking directly to the reader, telling them I’ve hated sports ever since I was a little kid. What he doesn't know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons's lives, but his own life as well.By Zack Quaintance - In Gene Luen Yang’s new graphic novel, Dragon Hoops (out now from publisher First Second), the writer/cartoonist makes two of the book’s foundational ideas clear from the start, from the first page and the very first panel. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he's seen on a comic book page. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. The men's varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that's been decades in the making. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. As a kid, his friends called him "Stick" and every basketball game he played ended in pain. And the hero always wins.īut Gene doesn't get sports. Gene understands stories-comic book stories, in particular. In his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.
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