New Super-Man #11 Review and **SPOILERS**

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Giant Monsters Ain’t Just for Tokyo 

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 

Pencils: Billy Tan 

Inks: Tako Zhang 

Colors: Ying Zhan 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Philip Tan/Elmer Santos 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: May 10, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

I can feel it in my bones, folks, this book is not long for this world. A real shame, if you ask me, because it has been such a pleasant surprise in DC’s Rebirth…uh, period. But let us not cry over spilled soy milk! For however long it lasts, New Super-Man is still available today. So let’s check out my review of issue #11, and rejoice while we can!

Explain It!

Back from Metropolis and that whole Lex Luthor mess, things are settling back into a routine for Kong Kenan and his cohorts: regular Qi exercise classes with I-Ching, Avery Ho is showing off her speed, and the China White Triad are murdering scientists underwater, off the coast of Shanghai, to steal some statue. It’s what they do. I mean, that’s like literally their function. People pay them to rip ancient stuff off of other jerks. Talk about your niche businesses. This time, it’s the fossilized body of the sorcerer Monk Panai, the Turtle Spirit. Snakepit injects it with some glowing antibiotics and Monk Panai comes back to life!

At this very moment, Avery Ho has her speed up so it’s time to find out who is the fastest superhero in China?! This whole concept is awesome and harkens back to the many races between American Superman and American Flash over the decades. They tear all over China: along the Yangtze River, through the city of Wuhan, and other places I’ve never heard of and know nothing about. I almost wish they would slow down so I could take a gander around. Avery and Kenan screw with each other, overtaking one another at various Chinese landmarks, until Avery steals some of Kenan’s speed while on the Great Wall—this is a thing she can do, I suppose—and that puts her over the top. They arrive back in Shanghai just in time to see a gigantic turtle rise from the sea!

Wait a minute…I could swear I’ve seen this movie. Something about a giant turtle that loved all children. Or maybe it was a Jimmy Olsen comic book. The turtle’s emergence causes a big tidal wave that threatens everyone’s safety. Kenan is able to manipulate his Qi and turn on his X-ray vision, which he uses to direct Avery to trapped survivors. I loved seeing this, Kenan is always growing as a character even while maintaining the teenage dickheadedness that is hilarious. Giant Turtle Monk Panai draws the rest of the Justice League of China, and the monk recognizes Deilan aka Wonder-Woman, who he calls Green Snake. Seems the stuff he was injected with was the Doomsday Virus, which makes him suffer excruciating pain immortally. But if Deilan will stroll into his gullet, this can all be over. Of course, she’s prepared to do that, but Baixi and Kenan tackle her away from becoming turtle food. The Chinese government cannot stall any longer, however! They must deploy…Super-Man Zero! Who is that first Chinese dude that caught Superman’s powers back at the end of the New 52, remember everyone thought he was going to be the New Super-Man originally…well, you were all right, in your wrongness.

Plus there’s a scene between Amanda Waller and Lex Luthor, which harkens back to the last issue of Suicide Squad…not sure what that was all about. I enjoyed this issue, especially the race between Kenan and Avery because they are such dicks to each other. I couldn’t help but feel, though, that there was an awful lot of story being jammed into this issue. I’m probably expecting the worst, but that plus the dollar hike in cover price leads me to think that this comic book’s days are numbered. And while part of me would be sad to see this series end, I’d also be okay if it went out on top and left a couple of trade collections I could recommend without compunction. I already heartily recommend the first trade collection, Made in China, in stores now!

Bits and Pieces:

This issue brings the usual high-flying fun and unabashed Silver Age-style action, but it seems a little overly-packed with story. I know it might seem strange to complain about getting more rather than less, but I'm skeptical like that. Long-time readers of the series will get some cool payoff at the end, which is pretty much revealed on the cover.

8/10