New Super-Man #15 Review and **SPOILERS**

There’s No I-Ching in “Team”

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 

Pencils: Brent Peeples 

Inks: Richard Friend 

Colors: Hi-Fi 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Philip Tan & Rain Beredo 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: September 13, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Now we come to my favorite comic book, New Super-Man! I always save this one for last, because I have faith that it’s going to put a smile on my face. You don’t know that, though, since you don’t necessarily read my reviews in the order that I write them. But maybe you should! You might see the progression of an increasingly curmudgeonly man writing about funny books. You can read this curmudgeonly man’s review of New Super-Man #15 right now!

Explain It!

There are so many characters running around in this book at the moment. And so many things happening. It’s kind of overwhelming. Suffice to say, you get a bang for your four bucks every month. Whether or not you enjoy what’s banging is, of course, for you to decide. Seems three members of the Suicide Squad, namely Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc, were tasked with killing Emperor Superman aka Superman-Zero, which Deadshot does using what looks like Katana’s Soul Taker sword. Seems a little weird that an expert sniper would stab someone to death, but after he’s out of the picture they turn their sights on Kong Kenan—and we never really find out why! There’s a bit about these two being unpredictable super-powered beings or whatever, but there’s also a huge fight being waged between the China White Triad, the Freedom Fighters and the Great Ten in the background; if your job is to kill metahumans, then you should have brought a chainsaw here.

While I-Ching goes into the hidden dimensions to fight his evil counterpart and the China White Triad gets secret orders to kill everyone in attendance, Deadshot stabs Kenan in the shoulder while speaking fluent Mandarin. Just then, the Justice League of China, plus Dr. Omen, arrive in a double-page splash panel that looks particularly awesome. Dr. Omen blasts some fools with a giant laser cannon of some sort, and they collect the injured Kenan to heal him and so he can watch his parents fight. Ethereal I-Ching appears to Harley Quinn and revives Emperor Superman into Emperor Doomsday Superman, which looks bad for our heroes, but then New Super-Man shows up and pummels Emperor Doomsday Superman in some panels very reminiscent of Superman #75 (January 1993)—and just like that issue, it appears he’s dead! Except then he wakes up in an American Chinatown in 1937? Something tells me we’re going to learn a little history next issue. And god willing, we’ll see a Charlie Chan movie.

This issue is kind of crammed to the gills with stuff, but I do think we’ve reached the end of this arc that seemed to involve every metahuman and scientist in China at one point or another. Plus some of the Suicide Squad. Plus a giant turtle? This comic is crazy, but it needs a shake-up in story which seems to be happening next issue. The art in this issue was pretty terrific, particularly two double-page spreads that made me want to pump my fist in the air triumphantly. This book is still my favorite from DC Comics, and seems to defying my negative expectations! I hope it keeps on as long as there’s an enjoyable story.

Bits and Pieces:

The insane events of the past few issues come to a head...then come to a head again...then there's a lull and then they come to a head again. You'll never feel cheated out of the cover price with this book. The characters are fully-formed and a lot of fun, and I implore you to give it a look if you haven't already.

8/10