In the original graphic novel Level Up (2011) written by Gene Yang and drawn by Thien Pham, protagonist Dennis Ouyang studies to become a doctor while fighting his urge to play video games. The authors dedicated the book to their brothers who work in the medical field and being "good Asian sons." At the inaugural Comic Con Oakland, Thien Pham presented me the chance to choose pages from this collaboration with Gene Luen Yang. These published watercolor pages were entirely by Thien after First Second Books rejected the original submission. Thien had pencilled those original pages and Gene inked them on vellum. I have a single Yang page from American Born Chinese on the same vellum. Gene became the biggest name from First Second Books with his American Born Chinese graphic novel in 2006. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award in the category of Young People Literature and won the Printz Award.
This page features a BART train running on an elevated track. This is the original style with a small operator compartment spanning the entire front of the train. It was stylish with the sloped front, but these had to be the first and last units of all trains. Practicallity won out as replacement units had the typical flat front and walk-through space and the operator compartment can be locked off. New units also feature three pairs of doors on each side while original cars only had two pairs. This drawing seems to mix characteristics. Elevated platforms in most areas have two sets of tracks for trains running in opposite directions.
