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They Might Be Giants
By Justin Ko
Giant Robot, to me, seems to be both a fitting and an ironic name choice for the long-running and quietly magnificent Asian American pop culture themed magazine. While the bimonthly print publication has remained relatively inconspicuous and below the radar since its inception in 1994, by founders Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, the faces that have graced its covers are, today, nothing less than gigantic.
With the likes of actors Jet Li and Chow-Yun Fat, along with legendary designer Murakami, having all been featured in various Giant Robot issues long before they became household names in the West, it seems unsurprising that the magazine has garnered glowing praise and rave endorsements from many grateful celebrities and members of the Asian entertainment industry. Actor Daniel Wu, a favorite of mine, came out decked in full Giant Robot gear for a memorable YouTube pitch in support of the fellows behind GR, noting that the folks were responsible for exposing readers to critical and significant trends that may have slipped through the mainstream media's attentions.
But while the artists and mindsets that the magazine depicts can no longer be described as "bubbling under", Giant Robot itself continues to be in the shadows, their comparative obscurity masking a magazine "elephant in the room" that directly or indirectly had a hand in the development of Asian American identity and cultural navigation since the mid-1990's. And, after nearly two decades of slowly but surely growing their presence in the realm of Asian American pop culture, I believe it would be an sincere shame for the magazine with a truly "giant" importance and relevance to suffer an ignominious end, at the hands of rising print production costs.
When you look at the consistent high quality and important content that Giant Robot churns out, month after month, year after year, they should be sticking around for a long time to come, keeping us all informed and entertained with their insights and inside scoops. I can only hope that we can muster the same amount of support for GR that GR itself managed to muster for the artistic community as a whole. They might be giants, after all.
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