Corporate hipsters can pick off ideas from Giant Robot, but they
can never outrun the trend-setting magazine.
“It’s cool that buyers for Urban Outfitters shop at
the Giant Robot store, but we’ll always be one step ahead.
… If the world gets cooler, that’s OK,” said Martin
Wong, co-founder of Giant Robot and the store of the same name.
Wong, along with friend Eric Nakamura, began publishing Giant
Robot as a photocopied and stapled magazine while enrolled at UCLA
as English and Asian American Studies students, respectively. The
magazine now has a quarterly circulation of 40,000, and can be
found locally at Ackerman Union as well as internationally.
Nakamura and Wong will be hosting a panel discussion Sunday at the
UCLA Campus Events-hosted comic book convention, super*MARKET.
Though Giant Robot mainly targets fans of Asian and Asian
American pop culture, it also plays an influential role in the
comic arts scene. Nakamura and Wong publish illustrations in Giant
Robot, sell comic artists’ merchandise at the store on
Sawtelle Avenue, and exhibit comic art in the new GR2 gallery
across the street from the store. The gallery currently houses
works by comic artist Jordan Crane, who will also make an
appearance at super*MARKET. The store offers graphic-printed
T-shirts, Japanese trinkets, stationary, books, a brand of plush
monsters called Ugly Dolls, and whatever Nakamura and Wong deem
cool.
The Giant Robot store and gallery serve as a gateway to attract
people who may not have picked up the magazine. Graphic T-shirts
designed by Nakamura and friends are some of the most popular
items.
“The shirts are a showcase for things and artists we like.
People will buy the shirt and it may be an entryway to maybe buying
a book by the same artist or buying a CD-ROM or getting into a
totally new aesthetic,” said Wong.
Illustrators Kozue Imamura and Dan Kitchens, who make up the
moniker “Kozyndan,” were apparently cool enough for
Nakamura and Wong to feature their art in the store and magazine.
Imamura and Kitchens have also illustrated CD covers for Weezer and
The Postal Service, and are currently working on a project with
Nike. Kozyndan has also recently been commissioned to do a mural
for the new sushi restaurant, Blue C, in Seattle. The mural is
representative of their trademark panoramic series with densely
packed drawings and subtext.
“There’s a gang battle between yuppie corporate
types and hippies. It has to do with the (Seattle) neighborhood
itself going through a lot of changes. The effects of
gentrification and globalization were really apparent in that
neighborhood,” said Kitchens.
The Giant Robot pair’s success is owed to their ability to
attract artists like Imamura and Kitchens, whose style is playful
but echoes a narrative.
“We don’t say, “˜This is high art, this is low
art, and that’s street art.’ We just put in what we
like,” said Wong about their editorial and store merchandise
decisions. “We also want (visitors) to appreciate
what’s around them and dig a little deeper and not just look
at the images that are presented to them on common
billboards.”
Nakamura and Wong’s self-made success is a story that
inspires young people hoping to do what they love as a career.
“People are really interested when a group of friends get
together and do something they love. It’s the American dream.
In our case, we don’t just do what we like, but we preserve
stuff that matters to us and maybe inspire people to do their own
thing,” Wong said.