Interesting development for Kenan

[Prime]

It's been revealed that Kenan can access his powers due tapping into or acting more like Superman. Doesn't have to do that much with solar energy. So basically Kenan is tapping into New 52 Superman's life essence.image.jpg

[Sacred Knight]

Kinda interesting. Still not enough to really make me me care much though and not just want the actual guy back.

[Prime]

Kinda interesting. Still not enough to really make me me care much though and not just want the actual guy back.

I want him back too. It's like Dispenser once said that New 52 Superman is still the main Superman. He cast a big shadow in every book. DC can try and sweep him under but heras to be addressed. For examples, Kenan's powers come from him, not Superdad.

[Superlad93]

Love this idea, and I love this book.

This idea of "Qi" now makes me understand why I Chang will be involved. I love this direction so much. I'll probably have more to say a little later.

[13th Superman]

Kinda figured they'd be going this route. I mean I like it, but...

[Frontier]

Going to be interesting to see how this plays out, especially as we see Kenan dive into a more complicated issue of exactly the kind of hero China really needs, particularly between what Omen wants and what the Freedom Fighters are after.

It does make the age-old question "what would Superman do?" very poignant to this book, and makes the next major arc in Superman with Kenan in it fairly important. Not only will Kenan get to meet Superman himself, or at least a more seasoned incarnation of him, but he'll get to team-up with Supermen across dimensions and see what defines Superman throughout the Multiverse .

[Kuwagaton]

I like how the plot has been going, but that wouldn't matter if Kenan wasn't so interesting. I like this rather large distinction.

[Prisoner 6655321]

I love this book. It feels like the best parts of JLI while being something entirely new.

[Prime]

Love this idea, and I love this book.

This idea of "Qi" now makes me understand why I Chang will be involved. I love this direction so much. I'll probably have more to say a little later.

So what did you wanna say?

[Superlad93]

I find it really interesting how Yang has basically reinvented key aspects of the Golden age Superman in his book, and then given them new roles and context.

The obvious one is how Yang has--in a really clever and subtle way--given Kenan golden age powers. Kenan currently only has strength and durability. This is explained by implying that only has these levels of power because his actions aren't more in line with the modern age version with the greater level of power. It's meta. Kenan is still doing good, but his intentions aren't totally pure, so he doesn't get the full power.

We even get a nod to Superman's anarchistic and socialist roots by way of Kenans idealistic mom and dad, and Kenan joining his dad for a moment. Yang is careful to have an even hand when dealing this. The Freedom Fighters and the government aren't black and white. It's almost a grown up retrospective on the idea started in 1938.

I remember when this book was announced I was looking forward to Kenan basically moving through Superman's publication history in real time. However as time went on I thought this wasn't part of the idea, but little did I know Yang had been seeding it throughout the whole book since issue 1. The realization of how Kenan's powers work has open so much up.

It's simultaneously a callback (but it's not at all reliant or even overt about it) and a totally fresh and new take. This comic continues to impress and grow more deceptively complex as time goes on. Well done, New Super-Man team. Well done.

[Flash Gordon]

We even get a nod to Superman's anarchistic and socialist roots by way of Kenans idealistic mom and dad, and Kenan joining his dad for a moment. Yang is careful to have an even hand when dealing this. The Freedom Fighters and the government aren't black and white. It's almost a grown up retrospective on the idea started in 1938.

Anarchy is not socialism, not by a long shot. Superman has never been an anarchist.

I feel like this book would be way more interesting, for me, if it was just a new character without any tie to Superman.

[Superlad93]

Anarchy is not socialism, not by a long shot. Superman has never been an anarchist..

Forgive my word choice. You're totally right. Not even the Freedom Fighters in the book would be called anarchist--at least as far as their original leader (Kenan's mom) intended. She actually upholds quite a few of the ideal that GA Superman seemed to stand for, but it's filtered through Chinese politics. The Fighters as they are now are a purposeful (on Yang's part) perversion of this original concpet.

[Prime]

I find it really interesting how Yang has basically reinvented key aspects of the Golden age Superman in his book, and then given them new roles and context.

The obvious one is how Yang has--in a really clever and subtle way--given Kenan golden age powers. Kenan currently only has strength and durability. This is explained by implying that only has these levels of power because his actions aren't more in line with the modern age version with the greater level of power. It's meta. Kenan is still doing good, but his intentions aren't totally pure, so he doesn't get the full power.

We even get a nod to Superman's anarchistic and socialist roots by way of Kenans idealistic mom and dad, and Kenan joining his dad for a moment. Yang is careful to have an even hand when dealing this. The Freedom Fighters and the government aren't black and white. It's almost a grown up retrospective on the idea started in 1938.

I remember when this book was announced I was looking forward to Kenan basically moving through Superman's publication history in real time. However as time went on I thought this wasn't part of the idea, but little did I know Yang had been seeding it throughout the whole book since issue 1. The realization of how Kenan's powers work has open so much up.

It's simultaneously a callback (but it's not at all reliant or even overt about it) and a totally fresh and new take. This comic continues to impress and grow more deceptively complex as time goes on. Well done, New Super-Man team. Well done.

Well the point of this is that Kenan has to tap into his inner Superman, he has to tap into Superbro's soul. He has to act like Superman to actually has his powers. Kinda refreshing actually.

[Superlad93]

Well the point of this is that Kenan has to tap into his inner Superman, he has to tap into Superbro's soul. He has to act like Superman to actually has his powers. Kinda refreshing actually.

Yeah I love that so much. Right now he's not quite there but he's on his way, and that's why he only has strength and durability. It makes him a really fascinating addition to the Superman family.

Can't wait to see him in Multiplicity.

[Prisoner 6655321]

Anarchy is not socialism, not by a long shot. Superman has never been an anarchist.

I feel like this book would be way more interesting, for me, if it was just a new character without any tie to Superman.

Anarchism is not anarchy. Anarchy is a state of chaos. Anarchism is a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) philosophies which boil down to individual liberty and abolition of social hierarchies. The most basic division of anarchists is philosophical anarchist & insurrectionary anarchist (others will argue that this “first” division should be between collectivist & individualist schools but that's a whole other ball of wax) . Philosophical anarchists essentially believe that governments lack moral legitimacy but essentially that all political violence is a form of coercion. They don't think you are morally obliged to obey the law (since governments lack moral legitimacy) and support ideas / laws / systemic changes which can vaguely be put under the umbrella of a “more utopian” world. Insurrectionary anarchists believe that anything less than total revolution is collusion and that “the system” is designed in such a way that any attempts to change the system “from the inside” ( as in any change that comes about not as the result of a conflagratory revolution) will only strengthen “the system”.

Superman is clearly not an insurrectionary anarchist but the argument could be made that he very much leans towards philosophical anarchism.