History ComicBook / NewSuperMan

** The Aqua-Man of North Korea = ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (Arthur Curry)

*** Flying Dragon General = Uncle Sam

''New Super-Man'' is a 2016 {{comic book}} published by Creator/DCComics as part of their [[ComicBook/DCRebirth Rebirth]] initiative, written by Gene Luen Yang (''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'', ''ComicBook/SupermanTruth'') with art by Viktor Bogdanovic.

* ForeignCultureFetish: The reason Kenan becomes ComicBook/{{Superman}}, and why Western-style superheroes (as well as supervillains) are said to be on the rise in China -- an example of {{truth in television}}, as this is a {{real life}} phenomenon currently happening in Chinese culture.
* FreudianExcuse: Kenan's mother died in a plane accident, which cause him to bully the son of owner of the airline where she died.

* JerkJock / JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kenan is a bully that is ''very'' full of himself and his ego only gets worse once he gets powers but he does have genuine heroic instincts, which is why he was chosen to receive powers in the first place. Of course, WordOfGod's explanation of Kenan as homage to [[Literature/JourneyToTheWest Son Wukong]] helped out.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Discussed, since the team doesn't have an equivalent to Aquaman in reserve, and one would be useful during the current crisis where a [[{{Kaiju}}] is stirring up tidal waves.

Kong Kenan [[note]]Surnames first in [[UsefulNotes/ChineseNames Chinese naming convention]][[/note]] is a troubled young man living with his mechanic father in UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}}. Despite his bullish personality and narcissistic tendencies, he's got the heart of a hero, and his life changes forever when he's selected by an [[ResearchInc underground scientific foundation]] to become the first-ever ComicBook/{{Superman}} of China and a founding member of their own ComicBook/JusticeLeague.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Of all things, the "S"-shape on Kenan's chest is a multi-layered symbol. There's the classic duality of it being an "S" for "Superman" and the Kryptonian symbol for "hope"; its octagonal shape, taken from the international shape of stop signs, indicates the Ministry's intent to stop all threats to China; and combining the two forms the S-shaped path through an octagonal Bagua symbol. When Kenan and I-Ching guest star in ''Comicbook/SupergirlRebirth'', I-Ching comments that, despite Kara's scepticism, the symbol shows Kryptonians must have had an instinctive understanding of qi.

Starting with issue #20, this series will be renamed to ''New-Superman and the Justice League of China''.

* MythologyGag: In issue #11, Kenan and Avery have a race, which seems to be something any Superman and his Flash equivalent are destined to do for the past few decades. Naturally, Avery wins. Handily.

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Ching Lung]] states that his enemies have proven themselves to be [[Franchise/{{Batman}} "a superstituatious and cowardly lot."]] Considering the book he debuted in...

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: All-Yang I-Ching]] is the cheery and active side of Yin-Yang duality, symbolized by his all-white clothes. However, more often than not, he's very ruthless in whatever he does and prefer simple violence to solve problems. But then again, he started his whole plan out of [[PayEvilUntoEvil reciprocity]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Kenan, feeling sympathy for Superman Zero, lets him go. This gives [[spoiler:I-Ching]] the opportunity to repower him, allowing him to attack the ministry again.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Of all things, the "S"-shape on Kenan's chest is a multi-layered symbol. There's the classic duality of it being an "S" for "Superman" and the Kryptonian symbol for "hope"; its octagonal shape, taken from the international shape of stop signs, indicates the Ministry's intent to stop all threats to China; and combining the two forms the S-shaped path through an octagonal Bagua symbol.

** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #983, it's reversed: blue indicates Mandarin is being spoken, as Superman and Kenan have an exchange in that language.

** [[spoiler:Issue #10 has Ching Lung reveal who he actually is. He's ''I-Ching''.]]

* MythologyGag:
** In issue #11, Kenan and Avery have a race, which seems to be something any Superman and his Flash equivalent are destined to do for the past few decades. Naturally, Avery wins. Handily.
** The cover of issue #17 has Kenan sitting in the same exact way as Superman on the cover of ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'' #1.

* AscendedFanboy: A young Kenan was hooked by an internet video showing the JLA members, especially Superman.

* TrueCompanions: The JLC grow close to each other, even in spite of Kenan's pigheaded behavior, an early sign of which is [[LawfulGod Bat-Man]] becoming willing to ignore protocol for Kenan's sake. Kenan considers them his second family.

* AllMythsAreTrue: [[spoiler: Peng Deilan is actually Xiaoqing, aka the Green Snake in ''Legend of the White Snake''.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: [[spoiler:I-Ching is able to scare away a group of demons by taking off his glasses.]]

* MythologyGag: In issue 11, Kenan and Avery have a race, which seems to be something any Superman and his Flash equivalent are destined to do for the past few decades. Naturally, Avery wins. Handily.

** A dark example applies this to the history of DC itself. [[spoiler: The first issue of Detective Comics saw Slam Bradly beat up a bunch of YellowPeril charactures to retrieve a vague artifact. Issue 16 shows the scene from a modern perspective, which shows Slam Bradly as a racist brute beating up Chinese men who were only defending an artifact westerners had previously stolen from them. Kenan is absolutely horrified to learn the truth.]]

* JerkJock / JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kenan is a bully that is ''very'' full of himself and his ego only gets worse once he gets powers but he does have genuine heroic instincts, which is why he was chosen to receive powers in the first place.

* ChineseNames: The comic consistently uses Chinese name order, surname first.

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: All-Yang I-Ching]] is the cheery and active light side of Yin-Yang duality, but more often than not he's very ruthless in whatever he does and prefer simple violence to solve problems. But then again, he started his whole plan out of [[PayEvilUntoEvil reciprocity]].

** Issue #16 dissected this topic and [[spoiler: Ching Lung]]'s motivation in more details, since [[spoiler: Detective Comics #1 did feature Slam Bradley beating up racist Chinese caricatures and All-Yang suggested that these savage caricatures and violent treatments on them were used to justify what the Eight-Nation Alliance did. In response to this, All-Yang urged Kenan to become the new emperor and crush Western civilization.]]

** Issue 8, the last page of which reveals an ''incredibly'' UnexpectedCharacter... [[spoiler:''Ching Lung'', the YellowPeril Chinese villain from the cover of the first ever issue of [[Creator/DCComics Detective Comics]]!]]

* [[KiManipulation Qi Manipulation]]: Kenan's powers work by channelling Superman's qi through his body, meaning that his powers become stronger when he acts "Superman-like"; in addition, they're linked to the eight [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua Bagua]] trigrams, with the "Belly" trigram representing invulnerability, "Hand" representing super-strength, "Ear" super-hearing, "Thigh" (which also has a penetrating characteristic) for X-Ray vision,and so on through yet-unrevealed abilities. Kenan is able to empower his abilities by focusing his qi into those areas of his body.

* [[KiManipulation Qi Manipulation]]: Kenan's powers work by channelling Superman's qi through his body, meaning that his powers become stronger when he acts "Superman-like"; in addition, they're linked to the eight [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua Bagua]] trigrams, with the "Belly" trigram representing invulnerability, "Hand" representing super-strength, "Ear" super-hearing, and so on through yet-unrevealed abilities. Kenan is able to empower his abilities by focusing his qi into those areas of his body.