Chang Apana - Influence

Influence

Chang's law enforcement career was an influence on other fictional works other than Charlie Chan. Max Allan Collins's 1996 novel, Damned in Paradise, fictionalizes the famous Massie case. Collins included fictionalized depictions of several historical figures, including Chang Apana, who was an active-duty detective at the time of the Massie case (though there's no official record of Chang as one of the investigating officers).

Usagi Yojimbo, a comic book series by Stan Sakai that is set in 17th century Japan and features a cast of anthropomorphic characters, includes occasional appearances of a character named Inspector Ishida who is partially based on Chang Apana. As Max Allan Collins points out in the introduction to Usagi Yojimbo Book 13: Grey Shadows, Inspector Ishida is, like the real Chang Apana, a more hardboiled character than the mild-mannered Charlie Chan .

In a 2011 comic story written by Mike Curtis and illustrated by Joe Staton for the Dick Tracy newspaper strip, Tracy's friend and colleague, HPD officer Haku Kou, is depicted as being the technical advisor on a movie being filmed in Tracy's city because of the title character's facility with a blacksnake whip. Kou explains that he became proficient with that weapon (leading to his being hired as the film's technical advisor) in emulation of Chang Apana.