Review: New Super-Man Vol. 2- Coming to America
Quick Summary
Pros: The superhero portions of the story are exciting and dramatic. The structure and consistency of the characters’ powers is excellent. The connection to Chinese legends and culture is interesting. The artwork looks great and suits the story well.
Cons: Very small pieces of the story feel rushed.
Overall: This is another highly entertaining entry in the New Super-Man series. It has beautiful artwork, thrilling action, great superheroes, and a connection to China that is constantly interesting. The entire comic is compelling right from the start and concludes with a cliffhanger that is sure to hook readers in even further. Any readers with an interest in superheroes, especially those with an interest in China, should consider checking out this comic.
Story
After the high-quality storytelling and promising narrative seen in the first volume of the New Super-Man series, we were incredibly excited to see if the second volume managed to maintain this success. In short, it absolutely did.
New Super-Man Vol. 2: Coming to America, written by Gene Luen Yang, is a tremendous volume on its own and an excellent continuation of the story started in the previous volume. This book tells the exciting story of a new superhero team learning about each other while also taking on anything their enemies can throw at them. This adventure is also deeply rooted in Chinese culture and history, in a way that gives the superpowers an excellent sense of worldbuilding and also teaches the reader about another country. The volume also ends in a way that perfectly sets up the next volume, making it appear that the New Super-Man series is ready for even more success.
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The narrative in Coming to America is just as fun and exciting as it was in the previous collection. The adventures of the fledgling Justice League of China have the upstart heroes take on an impressive array of problems with an impressive display of dedication. Bat-Man fights an old classmate, Super-Man fights demonic hordes, Wonder-Woman fights a monster from her past, and the volume concludes with the entire team ready to face a new threat from an even more powerful version of the Chinese Super-Man. There are pieces of the story that feel a bit rushed, like the story surrounding Bat-Man’s sister, but even these pieces help build up a successful larger narrative.
Gene Luen Yang also continues to do a fantastic job in building the world of this comic. He ensures that the supernatural abilities seen here are driven forward by some sense of logic and structure. Many comics will have the main character become more powerful simply due to greater willpower or a stronger sense of righteousness. This comic grounds Kenan’s powers in a rigid system where the path of progression is clear. It makes every development of his feel earned instead of random.
Another positive aspect of this worldbuilding is the way in which it incorporates real-world legends and beliefs from Chinese culture. Kenan’s superpowers are all based around Bagua in a way that actually gives readers an opportunity to further appreciate this Taoist’s view of reality. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman’s origin is revealed to come directly from a re-adaptation of an ancient Chinese legend. The entire narrative also has a clear thematic connection to the concepts of yin and yang, emphasizing balance in a way that flows naturally into the story. All of this is handled extremely well and ended up giving me
Coming to America also does an excellent job in building a larger and more exciting narrative for the future. Throughout this collection, a mysterious villain appears to be constantly working in the background in order to set up some sort of master plan. The villain is revealed to have some sort of connection to the very first issue of Detective Comics, which is a shock on its own, and, later, is revealed to be I-Ching, a character readers have been lead to believe is a hero. The twists and the uncertainty created by them make for an unpredictable read that generates a lot of excitement for the next volume.
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Art
The artwork throughout most of Coming to America is solid and helps tell the story of this comic. Billy Tan’s work here is highly energetic and is a great fit for the superhero genre. His work makes action scenes feel dynamic and allows the resulting confrontations to feel more significant. It is also creative, depicting the comic’s villains in ways that make them look truly intimidating.
In addition, Coming to America includes two chapters from Viktor Bogdanovic, illustrator of the previous volume. I actually prefer Bogdanovic’s work, as I thought that the unique style here better suited these characters. It feels more like a fresh take on superheroes, which suits the tone of the comic particularly well. However, both artists still do an excellent job and make this comic into the visual treat that it ends up being.
Continuity
New Super-Man Vol. 2: Coming to America continues the story started in New Super-Man Vol. 1: Made in China (Review).
The story continues in New Super-Man Vol. 3: Equilibrium (Review).
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- References are made to the Superman clone seen in Superman: The Final Days of Superman (Review) (Reading Order). References are also made to the previous Superman’s death in this same storyline.
- The last page of New Super-Man #8 is a direct reference to Detective Comics #1, collected in Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1.
- The origin behind Avery Ho’s powers and her connection to the Flash are explained in The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice (Review). Specifically, over the course of that volume, she appears in every chapter after and including The Flash #3.
- Snakepit previously fought Superman in Divergence #1, collected in Superman Vol. 1: Before Truth (Review).
- Kenan met Superman back in Superman #16, collected in Superman Vol. 3: Multiplicity (Review).
- Superman mentions a danger approaching on the horizon. He is talking about the villain teased in Superman: Reborn (Review) (Reading Order).
- Doomsday killed Superman in Superman: The Death of Superman.