2016 Comic Book News Archives

October 6, 2016: Gene Yang Talks About Superman and New Super-Man

In an interview with ComiConverse.com, writer Gene Luen Yang discusses his career in comic books, writing "Superman", and transitioning to his Chinese "New Super-Man" title. Here's part of the interview...

You wrote Superman, and are now working on New Super-Man. With Superman, you came at him from an interesting angle. You referred to him as "the ultimate immigrant". He grew up in the United States, but he was also aware of his lineage to a different people in a different place who spoke a different language and called him by a different name. You were able to relate that to your experience. Now, of course, you're writing New Super-Man, where you have a new character in a new setting. Do you feel like, as a writer, it's easier for you to start with an established character with a some universal appeal and come at it from a more specific angle, or do you prefer to begin with a new, more specific character and sort of relate out to the audience at large?

Gene Luen Yang: I think both approaches have their benefits. The Clark Kent Superman is not the only established character that I've worked on; I've also done a continuation of a really popular series on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I've been doing those comics for about five years. It's been really, really different from working on Superman. I would say that, when you're working on something that's so established, what you're trying to do is either uphold a storytelling tradition that's already there or maybe push a storytelling tradition in new directions. With New Super-Man, we do reference the traditional Superman mythos, but, by and large, we're creating characters out of whole cloth. There's greater control when you do that. There's a little bit more creative elbow room.

Read the complete interview at ComiConverse.com.


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