New Super-Man and the Justice League of China #22 Review and **SPOILERS**

If Everybody Had a Surfboard

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 

Pencils: Brent Peeples 

Inks: Matt Santorelli 

Colors: Hi-Fi 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Philip Tan with Rain Beredo

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: April 11, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

This comic book continues to have content seemingly ripped right from the headlines—because the real Aquaman of North Korea just had tea with the biggest K-Pop star of South Korea! What? That didn’t really happen? It was just a feverish dream I had? Well, dreams can come true, and mine often do when I review New Super-Man and the Justice League of China, which I’ve done, for issue #22, right here!

Explain It!

The Justice League of China continues to coalesce into the wacky fun team they’re meant to be, though Dragonson (the Aquaman of North Korea) has other, more immediate concerns. For one thing, he’s got to avoid being captured by the Chinese or North Korean governments. For another thing, he’s been tasked with releasing the ancient waters of Paektu Mountain and drown the wicked people of North Korea. I think this water would also drown the non-wicked people, but maybe it’s Smart Water.

There are also a lot of threads dropped for future stories here: Baixi is captured by the Ministry of Self-Reliance and threatened by the Bane of China, whose name is Anathema (remember, they went to the Bat Academy together, and Anathema is jealous Baixi was picked to be the officially-sanctioned Bat-Man.) He’s about to get his head popped, but then Baixi is rescued by his sister, Alpaca, aka the Joker of China! We also see some more of that Green Lantern Corps of China (which is how Baixi gets plucked in the first place) and find that Kenan has a new ability—to turn all-white and let loose a burst of, uh, light. But the kind of light that knocks you off your feet. I think this means he’s given himself over to the All-Yang, considering that later he tells Deilan of his plans to kill Dragonson, but that is for a future issue. 

And that’s really the problem here: everything is for a future issue, and very little of consequence happens in this one. The author does a good job seeding future yarns, but the current one sort of stalls out to facilitate. I’m still very much interested in Dragonson, and the prophecy he’s fulfilling by submerging North Korea. But that will wait for another issue to develop. For now, I’d say you can skip this issue, unless you are some kind of completist.

Bits and Pieces:

There's a lot of foreshadowing for future arcs, as the Justice League of China likens themselves to Dragonson and prepare for his imminent inclusion, but there isn't too much development of the story at hand. Too bad, really. Still, this is probably the most compelling story coming from DC Comics at the moment, so I am still all-in.

6.5/10