Girl Taking over: A Lois Lane Story

Lois Lane has an internship at CatCo for the summer so she can get one step further in her Life Plan to become an intrepid reporter for the Daily Planet and win tons of Pulitzers! Though how she'll do that while she's stuck living with her over-the-top cousin who stays up to all hours practicing her one-woman show is beyond her! But when she finds people being marginalized, their voices silenced, Lois refuses to stand by quietly and works to get the word out any way she can.It's been a while since I've dived into DC comics at all, and I never really LOVED Lois and often found her a bit pretentious. This book does help with that. It's a younger Lois, so she's still starry-eyed and hopeful rather than cynical and pretentious. I like her here more than many of the older versions of her I've read before.However, I'm not going to lie: I don't ever remember reading that Lois was Asian-American, and that seems like a ret-conned race change just for the sake of having a person of color because her name makes it vaguely convenient. And there's a couple pages in this book that feel pretty hypocritical, because it shows the new editor of CatCo gathering a group of "marginalized staff members" for a publicity photo and Lois gives an angry/startled face as she realizes who she's grouped with in the photo. You do realize your Asian Lois is doing the same thing, right?The art is cutesy and fun. It's not quite Lisa Frank's usual color palate, but it's close. The majority of the book is very bright and vibrant, and if comics were my thing in my teen years, I probably would've eaten it up. I LIKE the storyline. It feels like an early Lois storyline where she pushes to find the truth no matter what, but she still has the fears of an unproven journalist, and voices her insecurities. It's almost cute that she falls for the boy that looks like a young Clark Kent.I can see preteen and teen girls enjoying this.I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley. These are my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Review first posted at Girl Who Reads. All opinions here are my own.Lois Lane is from a small town, but she has a detailed life plan to get her out of it. She won't let setbacks derail that plan, which begins with a summer internship in the big city. She uncovers a scandal, then publishes her own website for young women. When she's caught in a scandal of her own, it might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create.In this comic, Lois Lane is of Asian descent, and part of the diaspora. She's excited and pushed herself to do anything and everything so she would look good enough for the University of Metropolis, hoping to one day work for the Daily Planet. The first hurdle is finding out that her summer roommate is her former best friend Miki; their parents are still friends and hope this will get them friendly again. Her dream internship at Catco for Cat Grant is now for the Comet Media Group, and her internship becomes fetching coffee. She soon realizes that the sliver of opportunity she was trying to squeeze through was never going to be more than that, and only because her new boss needed the optics of looking like he cared about diversity.The art is bright and colorful, with National City reminding me of a very clean and not quite as populated New York City. The comic deals outright with the microaggressions Lois went through as an ethnically Japanese girl to even earn the internship, then the overt aggressions in her new boss. We see the same fire from the grown Lois of other comics, movies, and animated series: never backing down, always taking notes in a notebook, and searching for the actual truth no matter what. The underlying message is to keep aiming for the truth and to be authentic. Lois gets her reward for doing this, and we get a chance to see how every step toward authenticity is freeing. It's a great message for kids, and especially for minority kids to see.

I went into this thinking it would just be about how Lois gets her start as a reporter but it’s so much more. Friendship, family, first job, romance, making a difference - there’s so much to this story. Lois, an Asian American, fights stereotypes and searches for her truth. The themes and challenges Lois face are relevant and relatable. It’s a story that will resonate with a lot of young readers and one I wish I had growing up. The art is bright and colorful; a perfect fit for the story. I’m hoping there will be more of Lois’ story to come!

Lois Lane has her whole future planned out and the first stepping stone is to crush her summer internship. When she arrives in the big city, nothing goes as planned. Her roommate is a less-than-friendly face from her past and her job leaves much to be desired. She soon finds herself tangled in a local scandal and the only way she can share her side of the story is to start her own blog.Sarah Kuhn brings a young Lois Lane to life in this refreshing origin story. Lois is often shown as just a love interest or side character, but this gives her some much needed background. The storyline is complex and engaging while remaining within YA parameters.The fun, bright graphics fit perfectly with the plot. The illustrator, Arielle Jovellanos, captured the overall mood without making the art too cutesy. I love her style!Overall, Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story, is an excellent graphic novel. Although I may be a little over the YA age range, I look forward to adding it to my collection once it releases.I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and DC Entertainment (DC Comics)!