Smallville Season 11, it"s happening...

[Mike Farley]

I think a testament to the strength of this book is that I enjoy it despite the fact that I am NOT a fan of the show. I've maybe seen one season's worth of episodes scattered throughout the 10 seasons.

But this has consistently been the best "Superman" title since the New 52 Reboot.

 

[Procutus]

^

Over the course of ten seasons, the show had its moments, or showed promise of greatness, but never quite managed to shake the shackles of its TV restrictions (or Welling's unwillingness to don the tights... Not to mention his wooden acting and limited facial expressions).



So as one who watched the show for its entire run, I also feel that its a testament to Q and his deft handling of the characters and situations that as a fan who felt let down on several occasions (Doomsday, anyone?), this digital comic is well worth the weekly investment.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

^

Over the course of ten seasons, the show had its moments, or showed promise of greatness, but never quite managed to shake the shackles of its TV restrictions (or Welling's unwillingness to don the tights... Not to mention his wooden acting and limited facial expressions).

Hey! Don't be so hard on Tom Welling! It's not his fault he's wooden! The fairy promised she would make him a real boy one day and then she flaked! It's the fairy's fault I tells ya! THE FAIRY!

 

[Procutus]

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

It's that time of the week again! Smallville: Season 11 #57 - Olympus Part II is out today but with it comes a disclaimer! Do not get your star spangled panties in a twist but Diana is not in this issue! I'm sorry! I know your faces may be red and your balls may be blue but you will not get your Wonder Woman fix this time out! Never fear though the story is still unfolding and you're sure to get plenty of our favorite Amazon Princess in the coming weeks!

On to the recap and review!

If last issue was the episode's teaser then this issue is the first five minutes of act one. The part where all the guest stars names run over the action happening on screen. Not that there's much action or story in this issue. No, #57 is more about moving the chess pieces into place so we can get on with the story next week and that's okay.

We open at Dulles Internation Airport with Lois & Clark giving us their cutest My Girl Friday banter. Brian Q explains why Clark takes planes rather than just flying straight to DC and it's a fairly plausible explanation. Still if I were Superman I would chafe at the waste of time and money when he could fly there fast for free. Ah well. He's flying there on the Planet's coin. They're there to cover the attack on Senator Kent. Perry White pulled some strings to get Clark assigned to the story. Sure it's a complete conflict of interest for both Clark and Perry but fuck it! If they were ethically pure there would be no fuckin' story!

Anyways we get a cute moment that I could easily see Christopher Reeve pulling off in one of his Superman movies. Just a warm fuzzy Big Blue Boy Scout moment where Clark reunites a little girl with her teddy bear!

We move on from the airport to Martha's home. She's been preparing a large turkey dinner complete with the world's foremost collection of freshly baked pies! Ooooh my stomach is a growlin' at the thought o' the home cooked goodness! We catch up a tad. Conner Kent is now attending a school in San Francisco founded by our good friend Jay Garrick.

Do I sense a Teen Titans arc in the making? Yessir I do!

What happens from here? Lois and Clark divvie up their investigation. Clark is to investigate the DEO. Lois is to find Martha's hero. Do we get any more of Lois this issue? No we do not. I assume we'll pick up on her search for Diana in a week or two.

This week belongs to Clark.

We cut to DEO HQ and this issue takes a turn for the Buffy. No, seriously. This scene would not have felt out of place in Joss Whedon's Buffy Season 8. Just switch out Mr. Bones for Xander and change a few names and it's pure Buffy goodness.

Bones is frustrated trying to figure out where the cultists from last issue went and there's a lot of talk of "Forensic monks", "teleportation spells" and a consultant in London who keeps turning DEO agents into frogs.

It's a fun little scene.

Anyways Clark shows up on their doorstep and Bones sends an agent to greet him.

An agent named Trevor. Steve Trevor.

To be continued...

Short and sweet this issue was. Again it's an emerging story and Brian Q is moving setting up this story's world so Lois and Clark can have fun running around in it next week. For what it was I really enjoyed it. The banter was fun as was all the fanboy references. If you were looking for a lot of story or action then sorry you won't get it.

Not this week anyway.

The artwork wasn't as impressive as last weeks but was still quite solid. I thought Clark was a little generic looking but Martha's appearance was a marked improvement from the trannie look she had on display last week.

Lois was ball throbbingly HAWT! Sure she looks like Erica Durance so that's a given but...

BY GAWD Lois looked GOOD this issue!

I thought Jimenez's art style took a weird turn in the DEO scenes. It felt like he was channelling Jon Bogdanove's style from the old Superman: The Man of Steel series from the 90s. Bones looked like Bogdanove's renderings of the Cadmus Project freaks.

God I miss those days!

Steve Trevor looked good. Like a CW type of guy. It was a nice design.

Not much left to say. It was a nice issue. Long on setup and short on story. Strong on character and weak on action. It was a damned decent world building issue and if you keep that in mind there's plenty of fun to be had.

Now the long wait for next week begins again...

 

[Admiral_Young]

Wow. If Last week's issue was the teaser act, this was Act I. Literally the teaser act since no Diana in this issue. Instead we get a nice "Superman: The Movie" homage and classic "Smallville" Clark and Lois banter, as well as a brief discussion about journalistic integrity and dealing with protecting Clark's identity as well. That line from Lois was perfect and old school regarding someone potentially tracking how Clark got to Smallville without flying. Nice to see Martha again...and the food tradition. Heh. Next the DEO felt very much like Wolfram and Hart as AJK alluded to in his post. I forgot to mention that Director Bones doesn't like failure. Agent Chase was mentioned again...that is who it was Ken and it was the Lois/Lana arc. Teen Titans teased indeed. Steve Trevor as a DEO agent is fascinating. Not quite Col Steve Trevor, but I'll take it! Also, I'm pretty sure that was Constantine reference regarding the consultant attempt in London Just terrific, and the art is great. Clark looked like Lenil Yu Birthright Clark more than he looked like Tom Clark, but that's okay.

 

[JD]

A Constantine reference? Hmmmmm.......

 

[Procutus]

Q strikes again! Great issue indeed, there's not much more I can add to the commentary than what's already been posted above me. Loved the tie-in to the previous Tess story, seeing it from Clark's perspective. This is fun, and I can't wait until Supes and WW finally meet.

 

[JD]

Well, after all the talk, I finally did it.
I bought and read Guardian today..... and I loved it. I was a big fan of the show, and I thought this did a great job of not only continuing the story of the show, but also giving us a damn good Superman story in the process. I wasn't familiar with Cyborg Superman so I came into the story more or less fresh and I really enjoyed it. The only thing I know about the original is that he was an astronaut who was heard and rebuilt as a Cyborg version of Superman, and they seemed to follow that basic idea pretty well. I loved the whole bit with the shuttle explosion simply being a set up so Lex could track Superman, that strikes me as a very Lex thing to do.
I'm very curious to see what they're going to do with The Crisis. Was the person tracking Cloe-2 someone regular DC comic fans would recognize?

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Is he?

 

[JD]

Ah, I didn't realize that was what the Monitors looked like. It did look like that to me.

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Smallville" Season 11 #58 was excellent. I had no doubts that I was going enjoy the Wonder Woman arc, especially handled by Q! First of all...the art has been exceptional. Jorge's return has been nothing short of...super. Q's weaving of the past and the present as we learn more about Diana...and of Steve Trevor...is brilliant as usual. Lois's meeting and working with Diana is fantastic. Their banter is typical "Smallville"-esque banter but because it's written by Q...it doesn't come across as being overly obnoxious. Clark is becoming more and more comfortable with his duo roles. I noticed his cape is much like the 52'Verse Superman's cape with the dark black House of El crest. I smiled with the Team 7 mention. It seems Trevor still commands the team in this. The DEO really reminds me of Wolfram and Hart, combined with some of my own ideas from "The Longest Night". Faust...yeah the group we saw in the first issue is now confirmed as his followers. Trying to figure out whom his "master" might be given the "darkness" clue. Could be possibly using magic to resurrect Darkseid???

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I don't have much to add to this. I will say that I want to know more about Steve Trevor's upbringing. We know he was Diana's bosum chum before she had bosum's. We know that he was found out by the Amazon's. But what happened then? Was he expelled from Paradise Island? Did they agree to raise him or keep him as a slave boy? Either way I'm sure he had himself a permanent stiffy once puberty set in. I am quite surprised he's Lois' ex. I mean... y'know... Diana! Who would look at another woman-even Lois-if she was the first chick you were ever close to? It's just... why would you wanna be just platonic friends with Wonder Woman?!

 

[Procutus]

Hey guys, just I thought I'd check in to read your comments. I'm not planning to buy and read the next four issues until we leave for Maine. It'll be fun to have that much Smallville to read on vacation.

Of course, that won't stop me from coming in here for a few spoilers...

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Smallville Season 11 #59" Hollow Part 3. This was a fantastic issue. One of the most fast paced issues in a long time. The issue starts at Star Labs with a conversation between Tess and Hank Henshaw. Tess has been struggling with her identity and adjusting to her new form. Henshaw is attempting to help her as she feels like he's the only one who might understand. We then go to Dr. Hamilton and others who are discussing they should be doing more things to advance the cause of science. The Zeta Beam is mentioned (is that scientist a reimagined Sardath in disguise? Or will we create the Zeta Beam? Then Star Labs is invaded by Lex Corp mercs (I assume) who are there to do no good, and something bad happens that makes Tess take matters into her own hands!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Finished reading "Smallville Season 11 #60" back to "Olympus" and we open with a discussion between General Sam Lane and Director Bones about recent events that they're not happy with. Steve Trevor and Lois catch up and we get some interesting insight into Lois's past prior to her arrival in Smallville to search for Chloe. We also flashback again and Artemis and Diana are talking about Hippolyta and Trevor, before finally coming back to the present where Diana is working at a center for orphaned girls it would seem, this is where Clark finds her and reveals to her right away that he's the same person she encountered prior. Just a great issue. Lots of dialogue but fast paced as usual. Superman and Wonder Woman finally working together to uncover a mystery.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Two issues behind...in 61 it was revealed that Director Bones and Felix Faust were members of Shadowpact and that Faust and Bones are bound together sort to speak. The Smallville roster of Shadowpact is different from the comics version. Mister Bones was their commander back in World War II and John Zatara was a member as well. Batman provides Clark with this information. Faust demands that Director Bones bring Diana in. He needs her to free his master and is blackmailing him to do so. Which brings us to..

Smallville Season 11 #62. We are now halfway through "Olympus" as things are starting to heat up. The DEO and General Lane aggressively work together to apprehend Diana. Steve Trevor defies orders to protect Diana of which results in Director Bones disavowing him and issuing a burn notice. Superman arrives to save Trevor from a bullet and tells him to run, Lois is waiting for him in an alley. Diana has managed to flip General Lane's tank at this point as well, while Director Bones is getting agitated and impatient and demands that Diana bring herself in and the attack will cease. Superman hopes that Lane evacuated the city before bringing a tank into it, of which Lane assures him he did and that this is a presidential order and that Superman will find another way. Diana says she will submit if the D.E.O. will show her will her mother is. Bones replies that he will do just that. Meanwhile Faust makes a bloodspell that bounds him to Diana, he wants to know a location within the DEO...and that is where we end revealing Hippolyta chained in a holding facility...wearing a Wonder Woman outfit Q strikes again with awesomeness.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The format for the Smallville comic will be changing after the current arc from an ongoing to a series of minis.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah, I believe this will only affect the printed version of the book though. I'm looking forward to both "Alien" and seeing the Smallville version of the Titans.

 

[Procutus]

Hey guys, I am waaaaaaaaaaaay behind all of you with the current story. I seriously though I'd be able to catch up while in Maine, but have done little reading of any kind.

About to hit the long road home, so I guess I still have something to look forward to with Smallville! Just to let you know I'll be commentating when I can.