Smallville Season 11, it"s happening...

[Admiral James Kirk]

That really pisses me off! We had to wait a week for our fix because DC decided to start an embargo against a different member of the Bat family? Gotham's finest just can't win!

[Admiral_Young]

This will only further infuriate Steph's loyal fan base...I really don't understand why they're alienating a specific group of fans of a character. That doesn't seem smart to me.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Remember these are the people who say that Wally West-an incredibly popular character-doesn't exist and never existed. Logic does not penetrate the DC Comics bubble these days.

Alas dear Stephanie... Alas...

[Admiral James Kirk]

So I crack open my digital copy of Smallville #10 and I experience a slight twinge of disappointment.

Now I know you're all asking yourselves: "What could have possibly disappointed you about issue #10? Isn't this the same series that makes men walk on the water that it's also fully capable of converting into wine?"

Well like I said, it's a slight disappointment. Not a deal breaker! The disappointment is this...

Smallville #10 is not the start of the Detective arc featuring Batman and Nightwing.

Nope. Sorry. We're still on the Guardian story arc.

However... that's still a pretty nifty place to be.

#10 is a nice balance of action and characterization. The issue opens up with Superman putting out all the fires from his fight with Sam Lane's gunships. Sam and Supes have a heart to heart that has me convinced that Sam is going to be a major mentor, ally and father figure in Superman's life. The characters have a great chemistry and it's clear that each man clearly desires the others respect.

It's also nice that Sam straight up acknowledges that the U.S. Government is terrified of Superman. It makes sense. He's a man capable of pushing an entire planet out of fucking orbit!

Imagine how he would react to an audit!

Beyond this terrific little scene we get more on the Hank Henshaw situation, which is pretty creepy. Hank's going nuts because he can't feel anything. Both Lex and Terri are trying to manipulate Hank into blaming Superman for everything.

At first Hank sticks up for Superman because, fuck, he was there and knows the situation wasn't as simple as Terri makes it out to be or as devious as Lex likes to pretend.

Unfortunately Hank is pretty traumatized after all he's been through and Supes appearing on the scene doesn't help the situation as much as one would hope.

Still it's clear that Superman is the only being capable of evoking any feelings from Henshaw.

Pain!

Not a good thing. What's worse...

He thinks he can do Superman's job better than Supes can and he's willing to off Clark just to prove it!

I've got a bad feeling about this! On the other hand I have a good feeling about Smallville #11!

Thanks, Brian! I might not have gotten Batman but what I did get sure did hit the spot!

[JD]

Admiral James Kirk wrote:

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That really pisses me off! We had to wait a week for our fix because DC decided to start an embargo against a different member of the Bat family? Gotham's finest just can't win!

Admiral_Young wrote:

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This will only further infuriate Steph's loyal fan base...I really don't understand why they're alienating a specific group of fans of a character. That doesn't seem smart to me.

Yeah, I don't understand this. You'd think with the treatment of women in comics being such a touchy subject, they'd do everything they could to embrace the female characters, and show people that they don't stick women in refrigerators anymore. Not to mention the fact that there seem to be a lot of people who really like Stephanie, and all they've done now is piss them off..... twice.

[Admiral James Kirk]

JD wrote:

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Yeah, I don't understand this. You'd think with the treatment of women in comics being such a touchy subject, they'd do everything they could to embrace the female characters, and show people that they don't stick women in refrigerators anymore. Not to mention the fact that there seem to be a lot of people who really like Stephanie, and all they've done now is piss them off..... twice.

I think that Didio and Quesada have proven that being out of touch with the fans is a prerequisite for hire at both their companies!

[Allyn Gibson]

I've been thinking about this Stephanie Brown thing, now that Didio has come out and confirmed that, yes, Stephanie Brown was going to be in Smallville, but no, she now won't be in Smallville because she's not iconic and "if we're going to introduce guest characters into the Smallville universe, we want to introduce the most recognizable characters."

This comment at DC Women Kicking Ass expresses a common viewpoint:

I can't wrap my head around this at all. Smallville took a shit ton of liberties with the DC canon. They had Mia Dearden and no Roy and Bart Allen and Cyborg as founding members of the Justice League (or proto-League or whatever). How are you NOW gonna suddenly pull some bullshit about how it needs to be the most iconic, recognizable characters?

Yes, that's true. The television series ran off in its own direction, and Hollywood did whatever it wanted with DC Comics' characters.

The comic book, however, is something DC Comics is producing in-house. DC brass had little, if any, control over what the Smallville producers did. Now, the DC brass are the Smallville producers. And just because the old production team ran off in their own direction with Smallville, it doesn't mean that DC Comics has to.

I completely understand Didio's viewpoint. DC Comics is a year into the New 52 and they're making an effort at cementing the idea of Barbara Gordon as a walking-and-kicking crimefighter in the minds of readers. (Heck, even Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Batman: Earth One ends with a young adult Barbara designing a Batgirl costume.) DC, as a publisher, is investing time and energy in Barbara Gordon, ass-kicker. Using her in Smallville will help reinforce that.

Yes, Stephanie Brown is the kind of move that the Smallville television producers would have made. But Barbara Gordon is the move that benefits Smallville's new producers, DC Comics, the most.

[Admiral_Young]

I very much doubt there wasn't any coordination between DC and Miles/Giles/Peterson/Kelly over the years Allyn. Perhaps not enough to interfere, but surely there was occasional discussion. How else do you explain the Bat-Embargo?

Stephanie may not be a iconic character, but that is a lame explanation for not using her. She is an extremely popular/cultish character and by dicking around her fans like this for so long they risk alienating potential customers/readers who will be turned off and not read. "Smallville" has nothing to do with The New 52. It is a continuation of the series canon. I understand wanting to promote your characters within your universe, but this is an entirely different reality that has nothing to do whatsoever with the 52'Verse. I would understand Didio's stance if this book took place within the New 52 Verse but it doesn't.

I'm a Barbara Gordon fan. I love her...but this continued bizarre treatment of Stephanie Brown is just illogical. What is the point of even doing this comic if you're just going to not let Miller use the characters he wants to finish the story? I guess I was wrong when I answered JD's question earlier that there seems to be no problem with the use of various characters.

[Donald Draper]

umm Stephanie who?

Seriously, The only surprise is why they ever announced it would be her and than change their minds. Is there a shorter production time with digital comics? Without printing they can changed up to the last minute?

[JD]

^Yeah, I don't get the fact that they announced it was Stephanie and then changed it at the last minute. I just think it's a really bad idea f to go and get the fans of a character like her excited by announcing something like this, and then go and change it afterwards.

[Donald Draper]

My best guess - DC is a big company. So while some people may have signed off on it someone higher up became aware of it later and overruled them

[Admiral James Kirk]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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S"Smallville" has nothing to do with The New 52. It is a continuation of the series canon. I understand wanting to promote your characters within your universe, but this is an entirely different reality that has nothing to do whatsoever with the 52'Verse. I would understand Didio's stance if this book took place within the New 52 Verse but it doesn't.

In principle I agree with you, Smallville is supposed to be it's own thing, based on the DC Comics characters but not necessarily beholden to their canon.

However... maybe we should have known something was up from the very beginning. After all Superman's uniform just so happened to be Henry Cavill's uniform rather than Brandon Routh's.

And Henry Cavill's uniform is the uniform of the New 52 Superman.

Bullshit corporate synergy is what it is! I understand why they do it but still... I fucking hate it!

[Donald Draper]

It makes you wonder what the actual show would have been like if DC had this type of control from the beginning. They seemed to have limited influence in the early years. But the whole Jimmy Olsen switchero was a sign of change in policy.

[JD]

Admiral James Kirk wrote:

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In principle I agree with you, Smallville is supposed to be it's own thing, based on the DC Comics characters but not necessarily beholden to their canon.

However... maybe we should have known something was up from the very beginning. After all Superman's uniform just so happened to be Henry Cavill's uniform rather than Brandon Routh's.

And Henry Cavill's uniform is the uniform of the New 52 Superman.

Bullshit corporate synergy is what it is! I understand why they do it but still... I fucking hate it!

And the outfits in the new fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us, seem to be (loosely in some cases) based on The New 52 designs.

I have to agree with AJK that it is annoying when the companies like DC try to make all of their stuff the same. I understand they want to keep the different versions of characters like Batman and Superman recognizably those characters, but it 's more fun when the give the different versions (tv, movies, DTV, video games, ect.) more freedom to do the own thing.

[Admiral_Young]

No Batman...but still an issue full of awesomeness! Another great issue from Miller and Perez. Perez's artwork is getting better with each passing issue IMO. I agree with Admiral James Kirk's assessment of the issue. It's a perfect balance of action and characterization. I continue to like this version of Sam Lane and his dynamic with Superman reminds me of what Grant Morrison has done with the two characters in his Action Comics. Lane isn't antagonistic towards Superman because he hates him or aliens like the DCU version, he is following orders. Washington's attitude towards Clark is natural. I kind of see this unfolding eventually where the two groups have a mutual understanding with each other, perhaps Lane becomes the military liason to Superman or something like that.

Now to Hank Henshaw. Well as if it wasn't obvious that we would get Cyborg Superman, Miller's continued set up delivered the one two punch! I don't really like the motivation for Hank to hate Superman in this...you have Luthor who takes no blame for his actions (again...Lex just doesn't seem to get it lol) and you have Henshaw's wife misdirecting blame onto Superman. At least it feels like logic that "Smallville" would do. This is their take on the character so I respect that and it fits in with how villains have been created in this reality. I did like the scanning of various images that Henshaw did. Then end bit was fantastic.