New Super-Man #17 Review and **SPOILERS**

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I Am Ready For the Green Lantern of China Now

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 

Pencils: Joe Lalick 

Inks: Richard Friend 

Colors: Hi-Fi 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Philip Tan & Rain Beredo 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: November 8, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Could it be? Is it time? Is the Best DC Comic Book really out this week? Oh joy! Oh thrills! New Super-Man #17 is on the stands! Let us do our respective dances of happiness and then dive right into my review of this very issue!

Explain It!

Since learning that New Super-Man was meant to conclude with issue #16, each one after that feels like a special gift. Something we must cherish and appreciate, because it’s right up against the chopping block. Of course, this increases my expectations for every issue, which, as life teaches us, is never a great idea. I can’t claim to love to current story arc happening to Kenan Kong right now: it’s a bit confusing, and Kenan’s relationship to I-Ching/All-Yang has never clicked for me. But in this issue, the Justice League of China faces off with the Justice League…from America! It begins with Baixi’s Batmobile, having turned into a giant robot, attacks the American League. As we know, this is how superheroes greet each other these days, so that smooths over quickly.

After some entirely predictable exchanges between applicable members of the two Leagues, Superman and Kenan take off to find the Red Jade Dragon that will give Kenan his final power and complete his, uh, Qi octagon thing. And who do you think is in possession of this artifact! Why, it’s none other than Lex Luthor! There’s a precedent for this, since he’d mentioned his collection of ancient artifacts back when he tricked Kenan Kong into opening the gates of hell a few issues back. The bigger problem here is that this Lex Luthor looks nothing like Lex Luthor. He looks more a character from Pokemon in a Men in Black suit. After some fussing around, Kenan grabs the Red Dragon, and now his octagon is complete!

Once Kenan unlocks his last ability, which seems to be the ability to have super powers without having to meditate over it, The All-Yang sucks him into the white void that he inhabits and says he’s ready to take over the Imperial Throne and rule China. Kenan has no intention of doing this, and tries to take out the All-Yang by force—which, of course, does not work one bit. All-Yang further incenses Kenan by admitting to murdering the I-Ching, which seems just as confusing to him as it is to me. Then, just to show Kenan what a bad ass he is, the All-Yang unleashes the Demi-Gods of China! Which are like gigantic monsters or something, we’ll find out.

Meeting the Justice League was an inevitability, I suppose, since this series began. And that the series has gone on this long without forcing it is commendable. The actual incident, unfortunately, was pretty uninspired, and ultimately meaningless since only Superman accompanied Kenan on his quest for the artifact. The whole thing with All-Yang I am just not getting, I see that he’s a bad guy but he also holds the power of revealing Chinese stereotypes? I hope to figure that out soon. The biggest disappointment in this issue, sad to say, is the art, which looked incredibly amateurish throughout and downright bad in some places. This series has had a few pencillers, and all of them have been pretty good if not great. But this looks like it was given to someone just starting out, and that’s not the way to keep a struggling book afloat. I hope this is a one-time thing.

Bits and Pieces:

A limp meeting between two Justice Leagues and some really disappointing art makes for a lame issue of New Super-Man. It has to happen once in a while, I suppose. Let's just hope it doesn't become a habit.

4.5/10