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Girl Taking Over: 08/13/23
Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story by Sarah Kuhn and Arielle Jovellanos (Illustrator) (2023) is a stand alone YA graphic novel that looks at a young Lois Lane, just starting out in her career as a journalist. It also imagines a Lois who is Japanese-American and has been driven to be the best to rise above racism she grew up around. The novel is set in National City, which ultimately will mean Supergirl and Catco. But this is the early days of Catco, well before it's the established media giant it will someday be. In fact Lois's internship begins on the day that Cat Grant temporarily loses control of her company. In her place is a white privileged man who has no interest in the type of readership Catco has garnered. He immediately fires or otherwise drives out most of the women and men who aren't white. He keeps Lana as one of his token ethnic employees. The other half of the story is centered on Lana's childhood friend and now roommate. She's an actor hoping to put on a one woman show about how she finds joy in her life as an Asian American. She and her other actor friends all face struggles, trying to get their shows ready for the stage. It's clear that their mentor is purposely holding them back. I throughly enjoyed this graphic novel. It gives more weight and thought to why Lois is the way she is once she's an established, well known journalist. It also makes Cat Grant a much more sympathetic character. She is sometimes mentioned as a friend and mentor of Lois but this is the first time I truly felt like that relationship worked beyond them both being women and journalists. Five stars Comments (0) |