2.5 stars

Kong Kenan is a bully, who doesn’t mind to use his strength on smaller kids. When the kid Kenan is bullying gets attacked by BLUE CONDOR he heroically stupidly throws his freshly stolen soda can at one of China’s infamous supervillains. This action leads to media attention but also the attention of Dr Omen, who presents Kenan an opportunity to give him the powers to match his heroic heart. And so the origin story of the NEW SUPER-MAN begins.

My previous encounters with Gene Luen Yang’s work were in the AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER comics. Since I am a huge fan of ATLA, I enjoyed those comics mostly because of nostalgia. Although I do have some problems with those comics, I do not mind them as much because I love the characters and the world of Avatar so much.

I always am a big supporter of diverse characters and stories. Thus, the combination of Yang as the writer and a Chinese Super-Man had intrigued me. It was the reason why I requested the NETGALLEY. However, after having read the first volume, I feel a bit disappointed. Although I do see a big possibility for a lot of character growth and I hope that is the way in which Kenan is headed.

From this point on there will be SPOILERS for the first volume of NEW SUPER-MAN VOLUME 1: MADE IN CHINA.

Spoiler

First of all, I feel like it might not have been to try to copy paste the Justice League idea to China. I will have to mention that the only superhero comics I have read before were Kamala Khan’s Ms Marvel volumes 1-4 and the Young Justice TV show tie-ins. I understand that it is probably hard to come up with ideas for new (diverse) superheroes but in this volume, Kenan is trying to be someone who he isn’t. However, I do feel like it could be so much better if new, authentic Chinese superheroes were created who would teach the readers about Chinese culture along the way ala Rick Riordan.
However, on first sight, I really thought that Wonder Woman and Bat-Man looked very cool. I just think it is too bad they are just copies. I would love to see Chinese superheroes with their own backstories and lore.

That brings me to my second problem: Kenan’s personality. He is very cocky and arrogant with daddy issues which reminded me a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Tony Stark. Especially, when Kenan revealed his secret identity. I do know there was a small character arc in Kenan realising how stupid it was to reveal his identity, I did not feel that he had learned a lot. Since this is only the first volume, I am okay with this because if he would have learned all the values Super-Man and JLA stood for that would have been a very rushed story.

The first plot twist, I saw that one coming from miles away. However, the other one I did not. So I was pleasantly surprised with that. Furthermore, I feel like there were some “origin stories clichés” like the father who is dying but he has time to say his last words.

“Okay” is also my overall feeling about this volume. It didn’t blow me away with new things. I don’t feel a learned a lot about Chinese culture like I would have liked to when I picked this volume up. I am not sure if I would recommend this volume just like it is. Maybe when the second volume is released, maybe it would be nicer to read them back to back and get a more in-depth read. However, since the second volume won’t be out for a while, I would say pick up another volume and wait until the next volume is out to get a more (hopefully) complete story.