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他像飞鸟！又像飞机！他就是……新登场的中国超人！

多年前，DC漫画公司（DC Comics）推出了以超人（Superman）为主人公的序列作品。现在该公司又请加利福尼亚州（California）漫画家和绘图小说作家杨谨伦（Gene Luen Yang）为一位名叫孔凯南（Kenan Kong）的上海少年赋予了超人的威力。

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DC漫画公司新推出漫画系列作品新超人第一集（New Super-Man #1），主人公孔凯南是一名中学生，最初有些喜欢欺负别人。

杨谨伦说，当代读者可能不记得原型超人克拉克·肯特（Clark Kent）刚开始时也有混混噩噩的一面，有些盛气凌人，经过多年才逐步成熟，成为我们今天熟知和热爱的道德楷模。

杨谨伦还从16世纪中国古典名著《西游记》（Journey to the West）的人物中汲取灵感。孙悟空（Monkey King）最初也桀骜不驯，不可一世，但经过赴西天取经的磨难后更具有大智大勇和同情心。 “孔凯南也必须是这样。”

重塑偶像

杨谨伦最著名的作品是2006年创作的漫画小说《美国出生的华人》（American Born Chinese ） ，探索了美国华裔身份的复杂性。这部作品曾入围全国图书奖（National Book Award）。所以他最适合为今天的读者创作漫画作品。尽管新推出的一个个超级英雄仍然延续与坏人搏斗的精神，但当今的读者也期望超级英雄具有更广泛的多样性 。

DC漫画公司请杨谨伦创作一个具有美国超级英雄特征的不折不扣的亚洲人形象，为他实现寻根的愿望提供了机会。

他说，“我没有在中国生活的亲身经历，所以，如果我说我能从中国人的角度来叙述这个故事的话，不免有点狂妄。”尽管如此，他的创作过程有助于他探索自己的族裔传统并了解现代中国。

据杨谨伦说，克拉克·肯特开始时可能不招人喜欢，但他最终还是体现了儒家思想的 “仁” 。

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对于即将推出的新作品，杨谨伦没有透露太多中国超人如何历经艰险的情节，但他暗示神兽九头怪蛇“相柳“将在该系列的第三集出现。他说，“凯南的胸徽是一个八角形，那是有原因的，指的是八卦，将在后面的故事情节中逐步展开。”

杨谨伦说，无论是中国超人还是美国超人 ，都体现了一个永恒的主题： “人的天赋有高低，但我们必须利用我们的才能帮助他人。当我们被赋予力量时，也受到为他人服务的召唤。”  

A superhero takes flight anew

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … the new Chinese Super-Man!

Although DC Comics wrote Superman out of its lineup a few years ago, the company asked Gene Luen Yang, a California writer of comics and graphic novels, to transfer his powers to a teenager from Shanghai named Kenan Kong.

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New Super-Man #1, the first entry in DC Comics’ new series, introduces Kong as a secondary-school student … and a bully.

“Modern readers don’t remember this,” Yang said, “but Clark Kent [the alter-ego of the original Superman] started off as kind of a jerk … arrogant and patronizing.”

“It took Superman years to develop into the moral standard we all know and love today,” Yang said.

Yang also draws inspiration for Kenan Kong’s personality from a character in the 16th century Chinese classic Journey to the West. The Monkey King is initially arrogant but emerges from a spiritual journey wiser and more empathetic. “So too must Kenan Kong,” Yang says.

Rebooting an icon

Yang’s best-known work — the 2006 graphic novel and National Book Award finalist American Born Chinese — explores the complexities of Chinese-American identity. So Yang is a natural to write a comic book for today’s readers who expect superheroes to be more diverse even as they continue to battle villains.

The request by DC Comics to create an authentically Asian character with an American superhero pedigree gives Yang a chance to explore his own roots.

“I don’t have firsthand experience of living in China, so it would be arrogant of me to say that I’m presenting this story from a Chinese perspective,” he said. Nevertheless, the writing experience has helped him explore his heritage and learn about modern China.

Clark Kent may have started off as a jerk, but he eventually comes to embody ren, an expression of altruistic Confucian ideals, according to Yang.

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Without giving too much away about the new Chinese Super-Man’s upcoming adventures, Yang hints that the mythical beast Xiangliu — a nine-headed snake monster — shows up in the series’ third issue. And “there’s a reason why Kenan’s chest emblem is an octagon,” he said. “It’s a reference to bagua [a Chinese religious motif representing eight intertwined areas of a person’s life], which will play into the story as we go on.”

Superman — whether Chinese or American — offers a timeless message: “[He] reminds us that we must use our gifts, no matter how great or small, for the sake of others. When we are given power, it is a call to service,” Yang said.

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