Smallville Season 11 Readthrough and Discussion

[Vordan]

Only ever read this sporadically but I figured that since we’re in a bit of a lull period, now was the time to read the whole thing start to finish:



Just finished the first trade and so far: It’s as good as I remember. It’s been a long time since I watched Smallville so some references escape me, but overall it’s very easy to read even for someone not familiar with the show (although you’d need to do some background reading on characters like Tess and Chole). We pick up six months after where the series finale ended, and Clark is settling into his role as Superman. He and Lois are together (although their marriage keeps getting put off until later), he’s at the Planet, his actions saving Earth from Apokolips have helped establish him as a worldwide hero, even though there are holdouts like Lex and the US government who don’t entirely trust him. Others like Lexcorp’s new space shuttle pilot Hank Henshaw want him to do more. The first volume is a good build up with Lex scoring his first big win over Superman (that also showcases what a selfish Dick he is beneath all the grandstanding), hinting at the Crisis to come, and establishing Hank Henshaw as this version of Cyborg Superman. There’s good integration of Smallville continuity like Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Swan. Miller is clearly trying to walk a balancing act between the Smallville iterations of the characters, and the more mainline versions and I think overall he does a great job. Pity we never got him on the mainline books. Looking forward to the next volume.

[TheCape]

I have been tempted to read this series because of the creative team, but i really care very little about Smallville (didn't watch much beyond the first season), so i am torn.

[kingaliencracker]

I have been tempted to read this series because of the creative team, but i really care very little about Smallville (didn't watch much beyond the first season), so i am torn.

If you didn't like Smallville then the series isn't for you. It's basically an extended epilogue of sorts to the TV show and reads like strong fan fic.

Also, Chloe Sullivan plays a major role in the series and it's somewhat difficult now given what we know the actress who played her did.

[Vordan]

I have been tempted to read this series because of the creative team, but i really care very little about Smallville (didn't watch much beyond the first season), so i am torn.

If you don’t know the basics of what happened at the end of the Series you’ll probably be a little puzzled, but so far it hasn’t detracted from my enjoyment. You’ll wanna skim the finale off Wikipedia if you can, and look up who Tess is and what happened with Lex. Otherwise this is a pretty straightforward “Year 2” kind of Superman where he knows his origin and has his relationship with Lex established, but isn’t at his peak yet. I quite like it so far, Miller has a great handle on Superman and Lex.
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His Superman still has that classic Clark temper that sometimes bites him in the ass to go with the kindness, faith in others, and hope.

[Vordan]

C’mon we all knew the comic was going to bring in Bats at some point, especially since the TV show never could. Miller is pretty evenhanded in how he treats the two, Bruce gets in some good hits with his red sunlight suit and Clark gets to dish out some of his own damage as well. Clark even gets to use his brain to discover Batman’s identity. We also get to see this universe’s version of the Prankster, and I kinda dig him? He’s no Busiek Prankster but I love his trick weapons, and I think his costume is neat. This volume manages to have a “Martha” moment between Clark and Bruce about their parents that’s actually touching despite how the entire concept has been memeified by BvS. Lex has realized that Tess being in his head means he could potentially have access to all of her memories including Clark’s secret identity, and that’s the cliffhanger the book ends on. Good stuff all around. Really odd having Barbara as Nightwing in this universe though, wonder why that was? Just because Miller spent so much time in the Batgirl side of Gotham?

[Vordan]

Volume 3 wraps up the plot thread about Clark being unable to go hole, as well as Tess piggybacking around in Lex’s head. It’s also the return of the Smallville Bart Allan and the introduction of Jay Garrick. Overall this volume focused more on Bart’s struggles with the Black Flash than on Clark’s stuff, but I still really enjoyed it. Clark tapping into the Speed Force was pretty cool and I liked his Kid Flash inspired Supersuit, I thought it looked cool. The part where Clark talks with Jay about how everything ends felt very Hickman-ish to me, Miller retains a good handle on Supes voice.

There’s also the Chole subplot of her Earth 2 doppelgänger. She learns Earth 2, home of Clark Luthor aka Ultraman has been destroyed by the Monitors. Clark finally learns Chole is pregnant and Ollie & Chole plan on departing Metropolis to raise their kid. Tess is extracted form Lex and put in a robot body like Henshaw was. Really looking forward to what comes next!

[Vordan]

Volume 4 was a pretty great Legion story. Clark and Booster Gold get dragged to the future to prevent war breaking out between Earth and New Krypton. This feels very much like an alternate universe take on Johns Superman & The Legion of Superheroes arc. Kara comes back and the events that took place with Zod and Zod’s clone (lmao remember those CW contrivances?) are folded pretty well into the story without disrupting the flow. The ending has one of my favorite Legion moments where they form a human chain to prevent Clark from falling into the sun after he’s taken Doomsday there in an attempt to destroy them both. That’s peak Legion **** right there.

There’s also a Lois & Lana story which is pretty meh to be honest, the art is really rough. It does end up resolving Lana’s condition of never being able to touch Clark thanks to Metallo absorbing her nanites.

[Konja7]

C’mon we all knew the comic was going to bring in Bats at some point, especially since the TV show never could. Miller is pretty evenhanded in how he treats the two, Bruce gets in some good hits with his red sunlight suit and Clark gets to dish out some of his own damage as well. Clark even gets to use his brain to discover Batman’s identity. We also get to see this universe’s version of the Prankster, and I kinda dig him? He’s no Busiek Prankster but I love his trick weapons, and I think his costume is neat. This volume manages to have a “Martha” moment between Clark and Bruce about their parents that’s actually touching despite how the entire concept has been memeified by BvS. Lex has realized that Tess being in his head means he could potentially have access to all of her memories including Clark’s secret identity, and that’s the cliffhanger the book ends on. Good stuff all around. Really odd having Barbara as Nightwing in this universe though, wonder why that was? Just because Miller spent so much time in the Batgirl side of Gotham?

Nightwing was originally going to be Stephanie Brown in Smallville season 11. This will likely be a reference to the last issue of Batgirl Stephanie (where she appears in a Nightwing-like suit in a dream).

It seems Didio opposed to this. So, Bryan Q Miller should change the name and hair color of the character (not the personality).

[Vordan]

This was another detour away from the Crisis, with Clark playing a secondary role. It played out as kind of a merger of Emerald Twilight and Sinestro Corps War. Years ago the Guardians created the Manhunters which went nuts as they are want to do, and so they created the Green Lantern Corps as a replacement law enforcement agency and a “Yellow Lantern” strike force to deal with the Manhunters. It ended with Hal Jordan falling to Parallux and killing Guy and Kyle with John Stewart the only remaining Green Lantern. When Clark freed Argo however, the Space Sector 2813 sensed the return and attempted to recruit one of them, but because they were artificial it didn’t work. So instead it sought out the last “natural” resident of 2813: Kal-El. It’s a fun story of Kal dealing with the ring and what being a “soldier” means, even if I’d argue the main character is John Stewart. The book ends with John and Clark defeating Parallux and Lex deciding that he needs to build a team of his own.