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Superman and Family by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Matt Herms.

Kenan flirting with Kara.

I love the Super Family that Phillip Kennedy Johnson has created in Action Comics. Of course, given the limited amount of story pages available, some of the members don't get as much face time as others. Kenan and Kara are two of those.

Man watching MAWS while also reading Action Comics is heartbreaking sometimes, cuz in the current AC arc the Superfam is dealing with the Blue Earth movement which is an anti-alien movement which seeks to run the Superfam out of Metropolis, and Clark is handling it so well. He’s talking everyone down, telling them it will blow over, helping them make sure their anger and betrayal doesn’t get ahead of them helping people (I’m only on #1053, so if something else happened someone plz correct me in the tags). Then cut over to MAWS ep 8, where Clark is experiencing this hatred and vitriol for the first time, and he’s sad and scared and alone and so deeply overwhelmed. I don’t know there’s something so bittersweet about watching Clark help the people he loved through something he knows all to well, and knowing for the longest time he didn’t have anyone to help him with it. This ties in well with our current perception of Superman too, where many fans call the kind and hopeful perspective on Superman that we see in MAWS “fanon” or “ooc”, even though he is LITERALLY THE SYMBOL OF HOPE. There are so many people, in the DC universe and ours, that don’t believe that Superman can simply just be kind, and use his powers for good, and care for the people he saves. And yet Superman persists, still being the symbol of hope he always has been. Superman’s biggest strength, his most unbelievable power, has never been his laser eyes or flight, it has always been his kindness. The kindness he gives to his family in times of need, the kindness he gives to the citizens of the world no matter their opinions of him. The kindness he instills in us, the readers. And isn’t the fact that no one believed he could be, that he was alone and feared for so long, absolutely heartbreaking? The symbol of hope, and yet the world is scared to hope in him.

Okay, show of hands if anyone’s in the mood for a team up even for one issue just for laughs and giggles starting

Kenan Kong aka the New Superman of China

(Image sourced from Google Images)

And Calvin Rose aka Talon

(Image sourced from Google Images)

Superman (Kong Kenan) - Icons

Don't repost, that's not cool.

Like or Reblog if u Save.

This might be a bit out of your wheelhouse, but you've spoken glowingly about Kenan before, and I wanted to hear some of your thoughts.

What do you think it would take for DC to give Kenan the spotlight again, either in the form of his own comic or a feature role in an animated series? And how much do you think the sociopolitical optics of China impact his editorial interest/popularity or lack thereof? If Kenan was, for instance, Korean instead (an East Asian country that is generally viewed more favorably by the American public than the Chinese), do you imagine he would have gained more traction and gotten more coverage considering his powerset is not generic Kryptonian? Or do you think the fact that as long as he's a 'foreign' character, he's forever doomed to take a backseat to Clark, Kara, Conner, and Jon who are built in the All-American mold?

Also, as an addendum, do you wish his appearances in more mainstream title (Action Comics, etc) would feature more of his mystical and yin & yang elements of his design? What kind of potential do you think those powers give him compared to the typical Kryptonian flying brick?

Actually have spent some time thinking about this! Short version: Yang was too good at his job.

Kenan is steeped in both Chinese mythology and modern Chinese culture. If you're not someone who has spent a lot time studying the present and past of China like Yang has, it's going to be tough to use Kenan to his full potential. Sure there's other appealing traits Kenan has that make him stand out, PKJ mentioned in an interview that one thing about Kenan which interested him is that unlike the rest of the Superfamily, Kenan starts off as an asshole. He doesn't intrinsically lean towards good, it's something he has to struggle with, and that appealed to PKJ because it was a trait he could hone in on and keep in mind when writing Superfamily interactions. For a team book that's enough to make Kenan stand out, but for a solo book? You need more than that.

Think of how Kenan struggles to be a hero because of how he's torn between his father's democratic ideals and his mother's loyalty to the CCP. He doesn't have an inbuilt love for democracy, what does democracy mean to a young Chinese man who is more concerned with money, women, or food? Asking those kinds of questions about protagonists who aren't from America leads to interesting stories. Or look at how Yang explored the concepts of Yin and Yang in New Super-Man, how he avoided going for simplifying them as good/bad. That's the kind of mistake that someone not knowledgeable about Chinese culture might have made.

Most Big 2 superheroes tend to be American because that's what most of the writers working for DC and Marvel are. If Kenan were Korean instead, I don't think he would have gotten more use, it's that he's not American that intimidates some writers. And there's also the problem of Kenan being a late addition to a franchise that DC typically has no clue what to do with. When you don't even know what to do with your lead character Clark, who is one of the top 3 most iconic superheroes of all time, and you can't seem to stop screwing up other long-time Family members like Kara or Kon, no surprise that DC didn't know how to handle the latest addition.

Plus they already decided that Jon was going to be their guy for 5G, so why waste time pushing Kenan? He wasn't getting a movie or a cartoon or an HBO MAX show. Plenty of other attempts at adding new Superfamily members had disappeared, some like Linda Danvers had much longer runs on solo titles. What's Kenan's measly 24 issues to Linda's 80? I'm glad he was spared that fate because damnit, he's a much more interesting character than Linda or Cir-El or Chris Kent or any of those other guys were. He should be getting adapted outside of comics. In the wake of Jon being completely wrecked, and Kon still a question mark, Kenan is the best "heir" to Superman.

For now I'm just happy to have Kenan in Action, cemented as part of the Superfamily. Would I like him to get more focus, to see greater exploration on how his powers differ from the Kents/Els? Absolutely. If Yang was up for it, I would love a backup from him that explores Kenan's power and relationships. PKJ is taking influence from manga for Clark's fight scenes, would be great to see some of that same influence applied to Kenan too. All kinds of cool ways that Kenan's qi manipulation powerset could be showcased, I mean c'mon the Dragon Ball route is patently obvious. Kenan as the Goku of the Superfamily is a low-hanging fruit but what the hell, I think it could be fun!

My thoughts on My Adventures with Superman

Just finished watching My Adventures with Superman. I thought it was pretty good except for two things: 1. The first episode feels really rushed and I feel like it should have been stretched out to be a two-parter instead of being the pilot and the Livewire plot from the second one should have been like a mid-season thing 2. I still can’t believe they yassified Deathstroke

“of China”

Philip Tan

The Superman family by Sam Basri and Andrew Dalhouse.

I’ll have to call you back.

Fuck Devin Grayson forever, but especially for this shit

Image description: A comic page from the New Superman DC comic series, written by Devin Grayson. On this page, the new Superman Jon Kent, and Bruce Wayne's son Damian, talk about going to pride. Damian starts off the page by describing the various weapons he will bring to try and stop the Gay Pride parade. "Smoke bombs for crowd dispersal. Expanding electrified net to block off streets. Electromagnetic pulse generator to shut down communications. Gas masks to..." Jon, horrified, interrupts him: "Damian, NO! We're not going to pride to stop it! We're going to CELEBRATE it!" Damian retirts, "Pride was originally a riot. You can't go to a riot without a gas mask, Jon." Jon responds, "Are you talking about Stonewall? I'm glad you read up on Pride history, Damian, but that was in 1969. Pride's been a party for decades."