Young Superman super-fan Naomi is living her best life, when a strange incident in her hometown starts making her question everything she knows about herself.

Based on the Brian Michael Bendis character, this version of Naomi (also known as Powerhouse in the comics) lives in a world where superheroes aren’t real and is a comic book fan with a particular passion for Superman in particular. So much so that she’s apparently running the number three fansite in the world for him.

Part of that passion comes from her own adoptive status. She feels a kinship with a hero who was adopted by loving parents – as she puts it to a friend, adopted kids are special because they’re chosen. Indeed, she enjoys a relaxed, comfortable relationship with her adoptive parents, and all seems to be very well with her life in general.

An incident in the town square which appears to be a ‘stunt’ involving some sort of cosplay/special FX to mimic Superman turns her life upside down, not least because she misses out on seeing it first hand. Now, contending with the fact that she’s the resident Super-Fan who missed the big action, and a new series of fainting spells, Naomi is desperate to find some answers, and will push her luck in all sorts of ways to get them.

As an opening episode, the show does several things right. Kaci Walfall is brim-full of the exact level of charisma and earnest energy that the character would seem to require. Her circle of friends is a nice mixture of jock types, fellow nerds and so on. She’s the girl who gets on with everyone, who fits in everywhere, and sees the good side in almost every person she knows or encounters.

Unfortunately, that also means, given how much the show is trying to cram into this opening hour, that she ends up something of a cipher. She’s a picture of the ideal modern all-American teen without any real grounding. There’s a vague suggestion in one dialogue exchange that her sexuality is fluid, and context tells us throughout that she’s basically…. nice, but that’s it. Why she’s the way she is, what brought her to that point, all the sort of questions it would be nice to get some idea on in an opening episode of a brand new show is absent.

The other issue is that the pacing is off thanks to the aforementioned cramming. Local car dealer Zimbardo is set up early on as a sinister figure, but it feels like the show is trying to bait us ready for a switch down the road. It also moves his story on too quickly in its eagerness to plough on. Add that to the local tattoo artist who seems to know more about things than he’s letting on and it all starts to feel a little bit rushed.

In an era where we have so many comic book-based movies and TV shows, it feels odd to see one that stumbles so early on, especially one from DC, who tend to have the strongest stable of TV shows for the most part. But it’s undeniable that whereas Walfall is a likeable lead and other characters seem decent, this feels a little like it was thrown together in a hurry in the writers’ room at this point. I’ll await further episodes with wary interest.

Verdict: A disappointingly bland and overly rushed opener which wastes a lot of the talent on the screen. 5/10

Greg D. Smith