Rina Ayuyang's Graphic Novel Explores Filipino Immigration in 1930s California

Filipino-American artist Rina Ayuyang has published a noir-styled graphic novel titled 'The Man in the McIntosh Suit' through Drawn & Quarterly. The work follows protagonist Bobot, a Filipino immigrant with a law degree who works as a strawberry picker in Depression-era Watsonville, California. After learning his estranged wife might be in San Francisco, Bobot travels to the city's Manilatown where he encounters club entertainer La Estrella, whom he initially mistakes for his wife. A brief romance develops until Bobot discovers La Estrella is married to fellow farmworker Angel, who along with La Estrella's female lover Dulce manipulates Bobot into a mission to rescue her from a local Filipino gang. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of the 1924 Immigration Act, which restricted most Asian immigration but allowed Filipino entry, leading to their dominance as underpaid agricultural laborers in California for two decades. Racial exclusion permeates the story through incidents like a hotel displaying a 'Positively No Filipinos' sign, a waiter shouting 'We don't want your trouble here!' at Bobot and La Estrella, and references to the 1930 Watsonville riots where hundreds of white men threatened to burn a Filipino nightclub. Even as Bobot adopts the appearance of a cosmopolitan in his McIntosh suit, his quest for love and belonging remains haunted by alienation. The softcover edition is priced at $24.95.