Scott Baker

Pretty much this. 
 
HERO can be pretty daunting, but from what I can gather, it's much more internally consistent than say, D20, which makes no sense. You learn it, because it's there, but D&D is actually a pretty terrible first roleplaying game from a mechanics standpoint. HERO's actually not that complicated, but its content isn't always elegantly communicated. 
 
That's not a criticism of DOJ, which is 3 people as I recall, but an observation. Companies like Fantasy Flight and WoTC have departments dedicated to visual communication; of course they're good at this.

I think you have to keep in mind the difference between simulating a superhero world and simulating comics as a medium. They are related, but how closely you want to tie them is a matter of taste.
 
One effect of the comic-book medium is that not much stays permanent: Years later, a writer or editor can undo what another writer did, and probably will. Somebody wants to tell a story about the character who was killed off umpteen years before; or somebody just wants to pull some cheap melodrama by shaking up a character's life... again.
 
Which is why heroes' marriages rarely last. A wedding makes a dramatic turning point in a hero's life, but so does a divorce or a spouse's death. Or for lesser impact, hook ups and break ups. It's an easy way for writers to add soap-opera excitement. Like I said, cheap melodrama. After years or decades of publication, though, the resulting churn can look frantic and silly.
 
The Scarlet Witch offers an example. For years, our time, she was married to the Vision. Then -- improbably, but she makes the improbably happen -- they had kids. And the churn begins... Oops, no they don't have kids: They were magical constructs that were actually shards of a supervillain's soul! (Huh?) The Vision loses his emotions, turns white, and their marriage breaks up. Which was about the time I stopped reading Marvel, but Wikipedia tells me she's had various hook-ups, at least one nervous breakdown, and I don't know what all. Maybe it didn't seem so frantic and silly spread over 20 years, but it sure seemed ridiculous as I read the summary.
 
Resurrection retcons are particularly tacky when they unmake character choices, such as Jean Grey's first resurrection. As the Phoenix, she chose to die to protect the universe from herself. Oops, no, she didn't: The Phoenix wasn't really Jean Grey, the real Jean Grey was regenerating in a pod on the bottom of a lake! And the Phoenix Force is eternal, so no one really died! From one of the most dramatic events in X-Men continuity, it became a meaningless puppet show. All in all, some of the worst writing comics have ever seen.
 
I would hope the CU, as published, could avoid *that* sort of character resurrection. (AFAIK, it has.)
 
Dean Shomshak

I think teaching people Hero is best done at a minimal level.  They don't need to know very much at all about the rules, just how to interact with the game at the most basic level.  Here's how you roll to hit.  Here's how you do skills.  Here's how you do damage.  Lets play.
 
Using premade characters for newcomers allows them to step into play very quickly, in my experience, and gamers at least are quite familiar with the basic concepts of how rules work so they learn quickly.
 
The absolutely worst thing you can do is have three or four people trying to explain things all at once.  It becomes overwhelming and few things frustrate me as badly as trying to teach some guy how to play with kibbitzers throwing in extra details and anecdotes.  One teacher at a time.

Note: This review is on the copy I got.
 
Review:
 
1) Hero System Skills POD has a new blue cover, probably to fit in with the rest of the line.
2) It "feels" slightly flimsy. However...
3) ...It does not actually seem flimsy when tested. I held it up by a single page and it seemed to bear up well.
4) I could find no flaws in the art or text print when flipping flipping through the book.
 
Style: 4/5 (one point off for feeling flimsy)
Substance: 5/5 (actual textual contents of book not tested; I haven't done more than flip through the book yet)
 
Edit: Christougher and I talked about "why it feels flimsy", and it's due to the lightweight paper and cover used in the book. So feel free to ignore that part as personal preference.
 
Edit2: And just to make it clear, that's a solid "Would recommend" at this point; I have no real worry of that changing.

The way it works is this:
If you start up the game without ever having played before.. they tried to make the costume editor simpler so you wouldn't get swamped with the myriad of options. So your first char you have very limited options on the menus. Once you log in, do the tutorial (and maybe get your first char to 10th level - which is very easy) then you have access to the full menus for any subsequent costumes you create.
 
At that point, any costume that you could buy from their "C-Store" will be available in the editor (there is a check box to see or not see them).
Then you can make costumes in the editor and take a screen shot of it without every loggin in. I do this a lot because i don't "own" all the sets.
 
There are also many pieces you can only get in game through various methods (drops, purchase from Auction House, farm, etc). I have spent quite a bit of in game time buying and unlocking these other pieces but you can make tons of amazing things without that. In addition, in game there are now "auras" that allow your character to look like they have fiery eyes, or exude sparkles etc, which are great for making certain types of looks, but these can only be done in game not in the costume editor.
 
In summary.. I highly recommend downloading the game.. make a char.. and getting them to 10th level to unlock the whole editor. Then make all the amazing costumes you want and never log in again if you like.   I know the ability to create the characters/villains I have envisioned (and written up) adds a huge amount to my games. And certainly a ton to the enjoyment of reffing. Sometimes I design a villain then make the costume.. sometimes it's the other way around.

I just received this yesterday and wanted to comment on the quality of the book. It's great. Clean print, good cover, etc. And it came significantly faster than the expected date.
 
I will note that if you compare it to one of the books printed for and sold by Hero Games, you can tell the difference. Until I did so, I honestly didn't notice though.
 
I'm very happy that these titles are being made available through print on demand and look forward to more.