Gene Luen Yang's New Super-Man has been one of the most refreshing examples of how new life can be breathed into legacy characters by remixing traditional elements of their origins into wild new formulations. In last week's New Super-Man #13, he introduces the Chinese analogue to Gotham City's Bane in a single panel with a clever bit of wordplay.
Gene Luen Yang's New Super-Man began with a fairly straightforward premise: What if Kenan Kong, a regular teenager living in China, was suddenly imbued with all of Superman's abilities and recruited by the government to fight crime?
The award-winning cartoonist and writer had one answer when DC Comics brought up the idea of a Far Eastern version of Superman: "There's no way I want to do that."
Clark Kent is an aw-shucks Kansas farmboy who can juggle tanks but is modest and humble to a fault. Kenan Kong is no Clark Kent. He's an asshat who steals his classmate's lunch.
Strange things are happening to Superman in DC's comics. The current Superman is dying, and not only will he be replaced by the Superman of DC's old continuity, but his powers will be diffused into many other people: including a Chinese man named Kenan Kong. But Kenan's not going to be alone in his fight for justice.
There are big changes coming to Superman in DC's Rebirth event. First off, he's dying. Then he's being replaced by, err, well, the old Superman (it's a long story). But it also seems that on his way out Superman's powers will be split among a whole host of people -- and one of them is a young man from Shanghai.
