New Super-Man #14 Review and **SPOILERS**

The Whole Cast on Stage

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 

Pencils: Billy Tan 

Inks: Karo 

Color: Hi-Fi 

Letters: Tom Napolitano 

Cover: Philip Tan/Elmer Santos 

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: August 9, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Oh man oh man oh man it’s New Super-Man time! My favorite time of the month! I keep waiting for this comic to get the axe, but it keeps chugging along. And I love it! There’s so much more I want to see from this series, I hope it stays around for a long time. So no more negative thinking! From now on, I expect to get a new issue of New Super-Man for review every single month, just like I did this month! Check out my review if you don’t believe me!

Explain It!

Emperor Super-Man, formerly Super-Man Zero, has assembled the supervillains freed from their underwater prison for a pep talk. It doesn’t appear to make them very peppy, because the Great Ten swoop into the scene to do battle with Emperor Super-Man’s crew! Man, I have been wondering about these guys, and it’s great to see them in action. The Streets of Shanghai are still in disarray, but at least the Justice League of China is together and taking care of business. Part of that business is to inform Kenan (and the lapsed reader) that Baixi has a crush on Deilan—had a crush, rather, until she reverted back to her true form as a giant snake. See what you missed, lapsed reader? Now you’ll just have to take it at face value. The comic book gives you a hand buy having Deilan the giant snake appear, threatened by the cops while she saves some of the injured and stranfed. Kenan and Baixi sternly inform the cops that Deilan is one of the good snakes, then Avery helps her change into her lady form by admitting she loves every member of the team. She cannot bring herself to say she loves Baixi, however, so she’s still half-snake. Luckily, it’s the bottom half.

With Shanghai looking a wreck, this is a good time for Amanda Waller to send in some members of the Suicide Squad—Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and Killer Croc, namely—to do some secret thing that we’ll know more about by the end of the issue. Meanwhile, the Justice League of China agrees to attack Emperor Super-Man in his Fortress of Sovereignty, formerly the Shangai Tower. They race up the side of the building, taking out some of the villains acting as security. One of them threatens Baixi, but Deilan takes him out with extreme prejudice because ooooh she likes him! When they kiss, her snake tail goes away and leaves human legs. But uh, she’s still an ancient, giant snake masquerading as a human, dude…you know what? You do you, Baixi. I hope the two of you are happy and that she doesn’t lay snake eggs if you decide to have children.

Inside the Fortress of Sovereignty, Kenan finds tubes containing his father, General Flying Dragon, and the woman who claimed to be his mother, Dr. Omen. Since Kenan isn’t sure about the lady, he frees his pop, and Flying Dragon says that he should free her too because she acted really kind to him when they were both kidnapped and his life was threatened. As Robinbot takes away Kenan’s parents and some other survivors, Kenan heads upstairs where the Great Ten is still tangling with Emperor Super-Man and his cohorts. The Emperor tries to tell Kenan he is weak because he’s got so many sympathies and personal entanglements—but then Kenan fights back, telling the Emperor that these people are what gives him strength! Which is sort of the same lesson Deilan and Baixi just learned when she kissed her snake tail away. Kenan is able to activate his heat vision for the first time, which stuns Emperor Super-Man enough for Deadshot to skewer him through the heart with a Kryptonite sword! And, Harley says on the last page, he’s not the only Super-Man they came to kill!

Another bang-up issue of New Super-Man, this series is consistently great and the interactions are quite memorable. The Great Ten in action is awesome, but I wish we were able to see a bit more of it. I’m really glad to see Baixi and Deilan together, to an extent that I did not expect. I have become personally invested in these characters! I didn’t even mention the fact that one I-Ching attacked the other, because I would be too messed up if I-Ching turns out to be a rogue agent. New Super-Man is a must-read title, for certain.

Bits and Pieces:

The assault on Shanghai continues, and so does the heroism of the Justice League of China. There's some nice developments with Baixi and Deilan, and some good heroes-punching action. This issue is jam-packed with stuff, I can barely write about it without giving everything away! So stop looking at this and go buy the danged thing!

8/10