'Secret Asian Man' Joining United's Comics Roster

By: E&P Staff A comic with the rare distinction of having an Asian-American leading character is being launched July 16 by United Media.

Tak Toyoshima's partly autobiographical feature stars Osamu "SAM" Takahashi, a struggling cartoonist with a wife and young son.

"Secret Asian Man" first appeared in 1998 as a monthly two-page comic in a Boston arts magazine.

Toyoshima is a Japanese-American creator born and raised in a section of New York City bordering Chinatown, Little Italy, and SoHo. The cartoonist went on to earn a degree in advertising from Boston University, and still lives in Massachusetts -- where he's art director for "Boston's Weekly Dig" and a freelance illustrator.