New Super-Man #1 Review

Writer: Gene Luen Yang/ Artists: Richard Friend, Viktor Bogdanovic / DC Comics As an Asian American I’m very particular about our diaspora’s superhero representation. Perhaps because for every one incredibly interesting badass there’s… well, a few disappointments. For instance, your character, if born on Earth, needs to actually have a named connection to an Asian country rather than throwing in some jade dragons and chopsticks and hoping we won’t notice. They don’t need to know martial arts or be particularly studious. Above all, they should actually seem like a person. New Superman is most fascinating in this aspect not only because it accomplishes these tasks and more, but because of how the capable pen of Gene Luen Yang seeks to subvert traditional model minority myths in comics. Let’s not get it twisted about main character Kenan Kong: he is absolutely a bully, a bit of a sleaze, and not exactly the most aware or forward thinking. It took a second look through, however, for it to dawn on me that these are absolutely traits we let white men characters get away with, such as Kenan’s assumed namesake, Conner Kent. So can an impulsive teenage boy with none of the typical hallmarks of heroism take on the mantle of the Man of Steel?

To be honest, I’m not sure yet. Based on this first issue the series could easily go the way of Marvel’s new generation of Asian representation like the Totally Awesome Hulk Amadeus Cho, or it could end up like early issues of Cindy Moon aka Si…