They Call Us Bruce 197: They Call Us Girl Taking Over

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome writer Sarah Kuhn and artist Arielle Jovellanos, whose new original DC young adult graphic novel Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story re-imagines Lois Lane as an Asian American teen tackling a summer internship in the big city. They talk about finding your people, putting an Asian American twist on a beloved legacy character, the dreaded drawing of cars and crowds, and re-directing the scent of stinky lunchbox moments.

New Comic Reimagines Lois Lane as an Asian American Teen

First look at 'Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story' by Sarah Kuhn and Arielle Jovellanos.



If you were like me, growing up as an Asian American consumer of comic books, you sometimes had to crane your neck to find representation within those four-color panels. And sometimes, intended or not, it was right there in front of you in plain black ink. I can't be the only one who interpreted Superman's canonically black hair as a signifier of Asian-ness -- by way of Krypton, of course. (Kal-El is an immigrant, don't ya know?)

For writer Sarah Kuhn, it was Lois Lane, intrepid reporter for the Daily Planet.

"Lois Lane is my idol — as a kid, I imprinted on her immediately and dreamed of becoming a hard-charging reporter on a quest for the truth (who also gets burgers and freshly squeezed orange juice delivered to her desk at 9 am)." Sarah says. "I was always desperately searching for some tiny scrap of representation in the stories I loved and Lois had dark hair, so sometimes I'd fantasize that she was Asian American -- like me."

Sarah, whose previous work includes the Cassandra Cain story Shadow of the Batgirl, gets to realize that fantasy in her upcoming original graphic novel, Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story, due out in April 2023. Part of the DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults line, with art by Arielle Jovellanos, the book reimagines Lois Lane as an Asian American teenager -- a small town girl with a big city summer internship trying to get a handle on friendship, romance and a burgeoning career.

I'm pleased to share this first look at preview pages from Girl Taking Over:

A Comics Artist Shamelessly Plugs Some of Her Amazingly Talented Asian American Friends and Colleagues

Guest Post by Wendy Xu



I'm on vacation! This week, I'm taking a much-needed break to recharge the batteries and get a change of scenery. To keep things going around here, I've enlisted the help of several friends of the blog to submit guest posts on various topics of their choosing. Here's one from comics artist Wendy Xu.

Wendy here. I'm a comics artist. I'm currently working on a webcomic (more on that later), and my recent projects include pencils in a comic displayed as part of the New York Historical Society's Chinese in America exhibit, as well as had a short comic in Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. I've also printed and sold my short witch comics at indie cons like MOCCA and SPX.

I was drawing one night when I got an email from Phil inviting me to write a guest post for Angry Asian Man. Since comics and graphic novels dominate my entire life, from my day job to what I do off-hours, this is -- you guessed it -- about comics. Mostly, I wanted to use the opportunity to showcase and shamelessly plug some of my amazingly talented Asian American friends and colleagues, all of them up-and-comers in the comics industry who undoubtedly have long and illustrious careers ahead of them.

I once heard Marvel talent Alitha Martinez say at a panel, "To be in this industry, you have to be good. You have to be very, very good, because at least hundreds of other people want to be doing what you're doing." Outside of the Big Two of Marvel and DC, there are many other artists in the independent comics world creating, publishing and selling their own stories -- and they are all, indeed, very, very good. Editors and new readers, pay attention!

Featured in this interview are: Trung Nguyen, Shivana Sookdeo, Alice Meichi Li and Arielle Jovellanos.