Countdown to San Diego Comic-Con 2025: The Meaning of “It Rhymes With Takei” Inspires Readers to Keep Fighting for Recognition, Inclusion and Justice

The Meaning of “It Rhymes With Takei” Inspires Readers to Keep Fighting for Recognition, Inclusion and Justice

In our SeriousPop.Tech section, we track the convergence of popular culture and technology, those critical collisions that shape society and reframe the human narrative. George Takei is, undeniably, one of those intersections personified. And while It Rhymes With Takei  ($29.99 from Top Shelf) is not a book about technology, I wouldn’t know George—or Brad, for that matter—without Star Trek. Nor would George likely have had the sustained platform to tell stories that challenge exclusion and inspire belonging. This graphic novel isn’t about warp drives or Vulcan logic, but it may be one of the most profound stories in the extended Star Trek orbit.

“I lived life as a rhyme of my real self for so long,” Takei reflects in It Rhymes With Takei. “But now, with this story told…I am the whole George Takei.”

The book is, at its heart, an exploration of “the other.” Takei, born American but imprisoned as Japanese. A gay man shaped by a society that told him to be something else. The pages of It Rhymes With Takei reveal a layered identity lived under layers of secrecy, fear, and eventually, pride. And in that journey, George Takei offers a masterclass in resilience. This is not just a memoir. It is a reckoning—personal and political—with what it means to exist in a society that too often punishes difference.

Takei’s childhood experience in the Rohwer and Tule Lake incarceration camps—barbed-wire-bound punishments for merely resembling “the enemy”—formed the first deep scar of othering. Later, as a young man, George discovered another difference: he was attracted to other boys. A second secret, held in the closet for decades, and one far more insidious in its silencing. In both cases, the perceived threat to the American ideal came not from action, but from identity itself.

And then there’s Star Trek, the unlikely escape hatch. George’s portrayal of Hikaru Sulu, one of the few dignified Asian characters on television in the 1960s, gave him not only global recognition, but a foundation from which to eventually emerge as his full self. The irony, of course, is that he played Sulu long before he could play George—at least publicly. Star Trek gave him purpose and visibility. But that platform came with conditions, the invisible contract so many queer actors of the era signed without consent: hide to succeed.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet George and Brad at Emerald City Comic Con a couple of years ago. George radiates warmth and insight, and Brad clearly remains his bedrock—his partner in life, love, and activism. It’s impossible not to be moved by their presence, not just because of what they represent historically, but because of how authentically they now live. I’m honored to support this work, which not only chronicles George’s life, but reframes the arc of inclusion through deeply human, emotional storytelling.

Which brings us to the medium itself. The graphic novel format is not incidental; it is essential. The marriage of Harmony Becker’s expressive art with George’s voice and the skillful adaptation by Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger creates a deeply accessible and affective narrative. You don’t read It Rhymes With Takei, you experience it. The panels slow down time, freeze emotion, linger on a look, or a breath held just a beat too long. The format invites empathy in a way prose alone rarely achieves.

As someone who lives at the crossroads of speculative futures and lived truths, I find this particular story—told with humor, gravity, vulnerability, and historical clarity—a powerful reminder that identity is never a straight line. It bends and shifts with politics, culture, family expectations, and personal risk. And yet, through all of that, some people still manage to walk their own path, even if they have to wait decades to do so.

George Takei is one of those people.

And now, through It Rhymes With Takei, he tells that story in full, with no part of himself left behind.

Although Sulu was not the central star of Star Trek, he has grown to become the star of his own story. George isn’t Sulu. He’s the whole damn ship. And he’s fabulous.

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