While Gene Luen Yang's New Super-Man had potential its bully protagonist and underdeveloped conflict made for a disappointing read. New Super-Man follows Kong Kenan a teen recruited by the Ministry of Self-Reliance to become the New Super-Man of China. while the Ministry's technology gives him powers Kenan's combination of brash arrogance and an inability to control his powers leave him sidelined in the new Justice League of China. Soon Kenan, Wang Baixi and Peng Deila the respective Bat-Man and Wonder-Woman of China face off against a vigilante group, the Freedom Fighters of China, hunting down board members of the Ministry.

My first problem with this first volume of New Super-Man was Kong Kenan as a protagonist. Kenan is a straight-up bully filled with an unearned sense of self-importance. He opens the pages of this book harassing a classmate for soda and doesn't really grow beyond that. He was frequently an aggravating character to be trapped in the mind of as he constantly made remarks about the weight of people around him. I could see Yang sowing the seeds of character growth and the possibility for that will keep me reading, but my inability to connect with Kenan really hindered my ability to enjoy this story. 

Another major letdown was the actual conflict in the story. Our central antagonists, The Freedom Fighters of China were flat and uninteresting. They are stock standard violent revolutionaries fighting for their ideals by any means necessary. However, Yang didn't sufficiently elaborate on what specifically about the Chinese government the Freedom Fighters were fighting against. I needed to see the tangible impact of the repressive government to better understand the Fighter's extreme dedication to their goals. Their wishy-washy stock standard rhetoric and unoriginal devolution to extreme violence were uncompelling because there was no specificity to their goals.

The art, pencilled by Viktor Bogdanovic and inked by Richard Friend, was nothing to write home about but was far from bad. I did find some of the poses throughout stiff and more expensive facials could have helped connect me to the characters more. But overall it served the story well enough. 

In the end, New Super-Man wasn't the most exciting first volume in a series. But Gene Luen Yang hinted enough at the potential for growth in his characters and seeded enough intrigue for his plot that I'd be willing to read the next volume at least.