The New Super-Man #3: Review

By: Kaitlyn Peacock, Comic News Writer

The New Super-Man #3: Made in China Part Three

Written by: Gene Luen Yang

Art by: Viktor Bogdanovic

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

If I’m being honest, I have never really thought about what it would be like living in a world with superheroes in other countries. After all, it is the Justice League of America. Obviously there are heroes outside of our borders, but I have never actually acknowledged that in my head. So, I was pleasantly surprised by this comic, featuring a cross between the Justice League and Teen Titans that is based in China, the Justice League of China, featuring teenaged Super-Man, Bat-Man, and Wonder-Woman (seriously).

One of the first things to note about this issue is that there are a lot of words. Even when there is action, there are also a ton of speech bubbles. Although this does tend to slow down the narrative, this issue does explain some necessary information for the story going forward. This is a brand new series so there is a foundation that has to be built; it just so happens that explaining everything occurs via rather large amounts of text.

A benefit of so much text is that this issue has some of the best one-liners I’ve ever seen in writing and I’m definitely going to note them for later use in conversations (that will probably never happen). Since this issue focuses on words so much, these quips do make the story a little easier to progress through.  Just be aware that this issue will take a little longer than usual to read, but it is necessary for the issues to come. We are building an entire world here after all!

The Verdict: It is refreshing seeing a superhero team that’s not based in the United States and seeing how that team compares with the team we’ve known for so long. However, there are a lot of speech bubbles to go through, so be prepared to really sit down and read for this one.