New Super-Man #4

Written by: Gene Luen Yang

Art by: Viktor Bogdanovic

Coloured by: Hi-Fi

Lettered by: Dave Sharpe

In the previous issue, having saved a woman from death and broken out of his compliance device, Kenan reveals his identity to the world, much to the chagrin of the other members of the Justice League of China. Kenan and the rest of the League quickly return to headquarters and are reprimanded, eventually being dismissed for the rest of the day. Kenan sits outside on the roof, thinking about what he did when he is joined by Bat-Man and Wonder-Woman. They talk for a while, and eventually they wonder about the oddity of the people who have been attacked thus far, the son of an Airline CEO and a data corporation CEO,with only one thing linking them together, they fund the Ministry of Self-Reliance. Realizing the connection, they rush off to protect the third person who funds the Ministry. They are mistaken for attackers and the man sets a genetically modified snake on them. Using their new found teamwork, they were able to defeat the snake when suddenly they are confronted by the real villains, the Freedom Fighters of China.

This issue starts off where the previous one left off, with the Justice League of China beginning a fight with the Freedom Fighters of China. After a short confrontation wherein the leader of the Freedom Fighters, Flying Dragon General, does not allow Blue Condor to kill Kenan and instead offers Kenan to join him, being rejected, the League manage to successfully detain all of the Freedom Fighters with the exception of the General himself. Returning to their headquarters, they are met by Dr. Omen and Laney Lan, Dr. Omen explaining that the League will finally go public, with her controlling the message. Back in the League's underwater holding facility, the Freedom Fighters break out due to an unsuspected ally hiding in one of their stomachs, breaking out several others in the process. Back with Kenan, he realizes that his going public could endanger his father and leaves to check on him, reaching home and discovering that his father is, in fact, Flying Dragon General. While not exactly a surprise, the revelation of the General's identity will hopefully help move the plot along and lead to Kenan finally truly questioning his allegiance to the Ministry.

Once again I have little new to say about the artwork, which remains at a consistent quality from previous issues. The action is dynamic, the colours are welcome, and everything flows at a decent pace. I'm not a huge fan of the effect of Folding Paper Man, who basically just switches from a folded paper figure into a normal person in a single cut, but this is a relatively small problem in the overall issue.

I remain a fan of this series, although at this point I would very much like to see some real character growth start to happen with Kenan, who seems to take two steps forward and one step back at all times. Hopefully with the General revelation we can begin to really reveal what the main ongoing plot of this series will be and start to strip away the outer layers of Kenan's personality, finally being left with the hero that he clearly has inside of him deep down.