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Eric Nakamura (left) and Martin Wong of Giant Robot open their second retail store.

The latest issue of Giant Robot magazine doesn’t have a scantily clad Asian model on its cover. In fact, underneath the subtitle, “Asian Pop Culture and Beyond,” a hand-drawn illustration parodies a traditional Japanese painting, its foamy ocean waves replaced by white rabbits. Robots and rabbits? Where’s Lucy Liu? What kind of Asian magazine is this?

Created by UCLA alumni Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, Giant Robot is something of an anomaly – an Asian American, indie publishing phenomenon that seems to set trends instead of follow them. What began as a photocopied, hand-stapled, black-and-white zine in 1994 has evolved into a glossy quarterly with a multiethnic readership of 42,000, a Web site, a newly opened second retail store, and a unique vision.

“We just do what we do,” said Nakamura.

Taking its name from a 1960s Japanese live-action television show, the magazine began as a forum for its creators’ interests and still relies on what they call a “punk-rock, do-it-yourself ethic.”

Wong and Nakamura maintain almost total control of the magazine’s production, serving not only as writers and coeditors, but in Nakamura’s case, as publisher, art director and graphic designer. The other Giant Robot staffers – there are only a handful – contribute to the magazine in their spare time.

“The people we work with – they know that Giant Robot is not their meal ticket,” said Wong. “They do it because they like the magazine. It’s what they can do for Giant Robot, not what Giant Robot can do for them.”

The magazine presents subjects that range across a broad spectrum, as shown by the current issue’s features: Korean art photographer Nikki S. Lee, illustrator duo Kozyndan, scooter fads and obscure Asian athletes, just for starters. There is an extensive music section of 60 reviews, and 21 “book collector” entries of hard-to-find magazines, art books, biographies and catalogs.

As Wendy Lau, the magazine’s co-graphic designer said, “The strength of Giant Robot is its content and its massive amount of information. If you flip through an issue and take a word count, it’s really three or four magazines in one.”

Nakamura said he’s a compulsive Web surfer. And the ideas for each issue generally come from things he and Wong come across, hear about or sometimes pull from their personal collections.

“It’s about keeping your eyes open but also being critical – ‘I like this, or I don’t like that,’” said Wong. “You discover what works and what doesn’t.”

Their intention, however, is not for the magazine to represent itself as the Asian American mouthpiece of its generation.

“People can think it makes a certain statement – it can be interpreted that way,” Nakamura said. “But I don’t think it’s done deliberately. We’re not on a mission, except to make a good magazine and talk about what we like.”

“Just because other (Asian) magazines represent my skin color, they think they can claim my voice,” he adds. “That’s pathetic. We’re not the voice of anybody, we just speak for ourselves.”

Both Nakamura and Wong, still in their early 30s, have been invited around the country to talk about their methods. In the last few years, they have spoken to design, business and ethnic studies students, along with advertising agencies, accountants and artists. They’ve given lectures at places like Wieden Kennedy (Nike’s ad agency) in Portland, Otis College of Design in Los Angeles, and Stanford’s Black Students’ Association.

Although they recently signed on adidas and Puma as corporate sponsors, even that kind of mainstream patronage doesn’t change the practical ethic that made Giant Robot successful right from the beginning, according to Nakamura.

“I feel safer buying stuff for the stores, selling it and making a higher profit,” he said. “(Corporate money) is all backup.”

Last Saturday’s grand opening of the second Giant Robot retail store reflected a crossover crowd of mixed ethnicities and various age groups, with Silverlake hipsters mixing with Asian grandparents and neighborhood locals. Despite the obvious success of the event, there were no speeches, no grandstanding. Just a bunch of people glad to be there.

“We take pride in what we do,” Nakamura said. “But we’re not too good to hang out.”

Giant Robot magazine is available at most newsstands. The Giant Robot stores are located at 2015 and 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. For more info, visit www.giantrobot.com.