Review: New Super-Man Vol. 1- Made in China

Quick Summary

Pros: The concept powering this book is great and leads to a unique twist on familiar concepts. The narrative is incredibly interesting and has plenty of depth to it. The characters are all great and give the book plenty of charm. The artwork looks nice and suits the story well.

Cons: Nothing significant.

Overall: This is a fantastic start to a series that is already showing a ton of promise. It has great characters, an interesting concept, pleasant artwork, and a narrative that will keep readers hooked from beginning to end. The series is also already dipping into some deep emotions and social issues that add some well-executed complexity to the affair. All in all, this is an incredible book that any comic fan should consider reading.

Story

In the world of mainstream comic books, it is hard to successfully and organically introduce a new superhero, especially one based on/inspired by a previously established character. However, New Super-Man Vol. 1: Made in China makes it look easy.

This volume, written by Gene Luen Yang, takes readers to China, a rarely visited location in the DC Universe, where a new generation of heroes and villains are popping up all over the place. These new characters are all great in their own way and their resulting conflicts are as entertaining as one could hope. These conflicts also bring in deep and interesting political and social issues that allow the book to have a surprisingly satisfying level of complexity all the way through. With a debut volume this positive, I’m already excited to see what the next volume will offer.

(spoilers start here)

The main storyline in Made in China follows the origin of Kong Kenan, a young man who is turned into the New Super-Man when he is given powers by a mysterious government entity. He quickly joins up with China’s Wonder-Woman and Bat-Man in order to form a Chinese version of the Justice League.

Though, on the surface, this alternate Justice League seems like a gimmicky imitation of the original, Gene Luen Yang does an excellent job in justifying their existence. He uses real-world pollical and social tensions present in China to show how an artificially induced Justice League would make perfect sense in this culture. He also gives the team enough individuality to define itself as something different and makes their first few adventures fun enough to hook the reader into the concept.

Once Made in China progresses for a bit and readers are familiar with its core concept, it gets even better. The leader of the “villains” that the Chinese Justice League has been fighting turns out to be Kong Kenan’s father. He explains that the “villains” actually have admirable goals, they simply want to use their power to introduce democracy into the Chinese political system. He also reveals that Kenan’s mother was also a superhero (or villain depending on viewpoint) and that she was killed by the government entity that Kenan is now working for.

This series of twists is incredible and makes an already good comic into something great. It complicates a seemingly straightforward superhero story by forcing Kenan and the reader to consider the importance of truth, justice, and democracy. The twists are also executed in a way that feels incredible; when the truth about his father was revealed I was completely blown away and more impressed with the story than ever. All of this also leads to an emotional conclusion that primes the series for more drama yet to come.

Bolstering up this story is a tremendous cast of characters. The New Super-Man displays a charming mix of arrogance and compassion that allows him to work well as a hero while still containing a realistic level of flaws. His character is complemented by Wonder-Woman and Bat-Man, who give Kenan opportunities for growth while still serving as interesting characters on their own. In addition, the personalities behind Kenan’s mother and father add a lot to the narrative, especially when it comes to making the book’s emotions more meaningful.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Made in China looks good and does a solid job in telling the story of this book’s heroes. Viktor Bogdanovic’s art creates a creative array of colorful characters with a lighthearted style suitable for this series. These characters are then placed on a variety of visually pleasing landscapes. Fight scenes look exciting, emotional moments capture the proper facial expressions, and splash pages are utilized in a way that highlights the shock of a surprising reveal or the drama of a tense moment. The entire book also has a pleasant style to it that is reminiscent of Greg Capullo’s work on Batman, though not quite as sharp looking. In the end, the artwork in this book is solid and definitely helps make this a better book overall.

Continuity

New Super-Man Vol. 1: Made in China starts the New Super-Man series. This series almost exclusively stars characters that are new to the DC Universe so new readers can feel free to jump in without worry.

The story started here is continued in New Super-Man Vol. 2: Coming to America (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Some background behind Doctor Omen’s activities and how they relate to the death of the previous Superman are detailed in Superman: The Final Days of Superman (Review) (Reading Order).
• The Justice League’s initial debut is mentioned here. This debut took place in Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (Review).