Lots of Asian American firsts these days! Love it! Let's keep it coming!

The organizers of the First Annual Asian American ComiCon (AACC), a celebration of the unique contemporary role and historical legacy of Asians and Asian Americans in the world of graphic fiction, have announced the presentation of the Henry Y. Kiyama Award to comics pioneer Larry Hama at the event, to be held on Saturday, July 11, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Museum of Chinese in America (215 Centre Street in New York).

"We want this annual award to recognize the contribution of Asian and Asian Americans to U.S. comic book culture," says Jeff Yang, co-chair of the event and editor-in-chief of the graphic novel collection Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. "No one better exemplifies that contribution than Henry Kiyama, whose career represented the convergence of two worlds and industries, and whose work pointed the way to the future of graphic storytelling."

Kiyama published his breakthrough book The Four Immigrants in 1931. A poignant collection of cartoon stories about life as a Japanese student expatriate in early 20th century San Francisco, it explores the issues these early immigrants faced in a world whose language, culture and traditions were new, strange and confusing.

For more information and to buy tickets.