Smallville

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I’ve been watching Smallville from the beginning, sometimes merely by habit, but I think the current season is off to the strongest we’ve seen in several years. Tom Welling and Erica Durance have a nice “Lois and Clark” vibe going, but I can’t really see this show going much further under the current status quo. All the pieces are in place and I’m ready for this show to move on to “flights and tights,” perhaps starting over as Metropolis. Besides, I want to see Justin Hartley with a moustache and goatee; frankly, I don’t think he can pull it off convincingly, but I’m willing to be proven wrong.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

I have to admit...seeing Jor-El walk onto the Kent farm gave me a bit of a chill...good stuff. I've been able to come back to the show with the addition of Green Arrow and Lois...they add the bit of humor that Smallville has LONG needed.

Next week...the Wonder Twins (!)...and later this season...Hawkman and Dr. Fate!

I'd like to see the return of the Legion, too...

[Captain Comics]

Since the Dark Knight's rights are tied up elsewhere, we're unlikely to ever see Batman on Smallville. But does anyone else get a Batman vibe from Green Arrow? I can write a lot of it off by the mere fact that GA originally was simply a Batman knock-off, so he's got a lot of the same toys and modus operandi. But in the show, he seems to operate as a Batman stand-in -- the problematic friendship with Clark, the voice modulator to have a "mean" voice in costume, the rougher tactics, the Justice League connection. He was even standing on a gargoyle in a recent episode, looking over the city, like you-know-who.

Every time I see Green Arrow, my brain substitutes Batman. Anyone else feel that way?

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Oh, definitely...this last episode when Ollie was talking about his dead parents and how he would do anything to put his arms around his father again...it's all very Bruce Wayne. He even said that while on the Queen corporate jet.

And we have Chloe as Barbara Gordon in the Watchtower.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Just announced...Pam Grier will be playing Amanda Waller for a series of episodes...

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

Black Zero, cloning, and the destruction of Kandor--didn't that come from the Byrne/Mignola World of Krypton?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

The original Black Zero is from Superman #205 (1968).

I agree Smallville is definitelt using Green Arrow as a Batman stand-in, but I rationalize it the same way Cap does, that he was originally a Batman knock-off in the first place.

When I look at the original comic book "adventures of Superman when he was a boy" I see some pretty wild continuity implants. Looking forward to Smallville's future (when Clark Kent inevitably becomes Superman), his wild backstory won't have to be implanted! Generations to come, children who have grown up watching Metropolis or a new Adventures of Superman TV show will be largely unaware of this backstory, and new episodes can be supplemented with flashbacks to Smallville (as was done on The New Adventures of Leave it to Beaver, or whatever it was called), or perhaps the entire series will be available in rerun "reprint" form.

At least, that's what the future looks like on Earth-J. ;)

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

The original Black Zero is from Superman #205 (1968).

Yes, but wasn't it Byrne who made them a terrorist group instead of a single villain?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Oh! Yeah, could be.

There was also a "Black Zero" from the Superboy series in the... early '90s was it?

[The Baron]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Oh! Yeah, could be.

There was also a "Black Zero" from the Superboy series in the... early '90s was it?

Yes, there was. As I recall, it was something to do with an alternate Superboy from Hypertime.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Right. I wasn't a regular reader of that series, but I bought that run of issues specifically for the Hypertime story.

I just couldn't remember if that was late '80s or early '90s.

[The Baron]

Late 90's, I think.

[The Baron]