“I think that fun, poppy, feminine, colourful stories can change the world”: an interview with Sarah Kuhn

ABSTRACT

In October 2023, as part of the Superman’s Cleveland series of events celebrating 85 years of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creations, we sat down at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Sarah Kuhn, writer of the recent Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story (with artist Arielle Jovellanos). Kuhn shared her personal story growing up with comics as a young girl and her journey into working with the medium today. She reflected on her process working as part of a creative team and how she sees comics scripts as a living document. Kuhn also discussed the making of both Shadow of the Batgirl and Girl Taking Over, her readers, and the goals for children’s and young adult literature. Finally, we ended thinking about colour in comics and we had a brief discussion of the iconic Taylor Swift.

KEYWORDS:

• Lois Lane
• Batgirl
• young adult
• romance
• Asian American

Acknowledgments

Superman’s Cleveland: Lineage and Legacy was organized by the Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College and the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library with support from Ohio Humanities.