Smallville

Smallville – Pilot

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  • Title: Smallville – Pilot
  • wiki: link

This Saturday we take a look back the beginnings of The CW’s two-plus decades love affair with super-heroes with the Pilot episode of Smallville. The opening episode introduce to most of the key characters and the basic set up which will be used throughout the season and beyond. We start with a meteor shower crashing into Smallville, Kansas, and the arrival of toddler Kal-El to Earth who is found by Martha (Annette O’Toole) and Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and adopted keeping close to the classical origin story for Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Jumping forward more than a decade, the show picks up with Clark now in high school aware of some of his base powers, such as invulnerability and speed, but others will be introduced over the show’s ten year run.

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Batwoman – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batwoman – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two
  • wiki: link

Batwoman - Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two television review

Hey, an episode of Batwoman that is actually good!? The Crisis crossover continues with the heroes searching for a very specific Superman before Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) can kill them all. Sorry Smallville fans it isn’t that one (although we do get a cameo by Tom Welling on the Kent family farm). The Superman (Brandon Routh) they are looking for turns out to look an awful lot like the Atom (also Routh) living on Earth-96 (based on Kingdom Come and also the various Superman films starring Routh and Christopher Reeve). That Superman is one of seven paragons necessary to fight the Anti-Monitor. That leaves Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Batwoman (Ruby Rose) in search of another paragon in Gotham of Earth-99 where the pair run into that world’s Batman (Kevin Conroy). I don’t mind the episode making Conroy a red herring, as it was unlikely Crisis would suit him up and throw him into the big battle scenes to come. Instead he offers a cautionary tale for Kate Kane to take another step forward as a hero (now if she could just find a show worthy of her).

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Smallville Season Eleven: Continuity #1

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Smallville Season Eleven: Continuity #1After setting up the event in several of the previous mini-series, Smallville Season Eleven: Continuity brings a new Crisis to the Smallville Universe. Lois and Clark may have been able to make it home from a parallel Earth but not before the Monitors have begun deconstructing time and space in the reality they know as home. With all reality being erased, ripped apart to a molecule level, and rewritten, Superman has very little time to save his home.

Writer Bryan Q. Miller gets a little timey-wimey in his explanation of what is occurring across time and space (but not quite all at once as there are pockets left out for heroes to fight back from) but it works well-enough as the set-up to a world-ending event which will need all hands on deck to stop.

The bleak situation should allow the comic to bring back a wide assortment of characters to fight against the end of their universe. Not only do we get the regular Smallville cast but Batman, Nightwing, Zatanna, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and others all make an appearance here as Superman must lead his friends into war. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos #2

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Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos #2The second issue of Smallville: Chaos focuses on the misadventures of Lois Lane and Superman dealing with being trapped on a parallel Earth under control of the Manhunters while back home Lex Luthor capitalizes on the Man of Steel’s absence to put his plan into action.

The storyline involving Eclipso continues as well, but it’s not given much space to develop and feels somewhat neglected given the focus on various other storylines happening here. We do get more of Booster Gold in action, stepping in to be the hero of the hour in Superman’s absence along with Hank Henshaw (although neither appears ready to step into Superman’s shoes just yet). Sadly don’t get more of Zatanna this time around.

The main takeaway from Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos #2 seems to be that no matter what Earth Superman may find himself living on, his dead computerized father is still a giant jerk. For fans.

[DC, $3.99]

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Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos #1

/ / Comics

Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos #1The first issue of Smallville Season Eleven: Chaos introduces Eclipso to the Smallville Universe and relocates Superman and Lois Lane to a parallel Earth within the Multiverse (which sadly is populated with Manhunters instead of talking animals in spandex). There’s a lot to enjoy here including appearances by Ted Kord and Booster Gold (who, like his New 52 counterpart, feels a bit off without his gold pants and Elvis collar) along with Zatanna and a bit of old school super-villain mischief from Lex Luthor.

With Lex throwing a wrench into Ted Kord and Michael Holt‘s new super collider for his own ends to explore the existence of the bleed, Superman and Lois find themselves pulled into a depressing world where humanity is at the mercy of a Manhunter army. Back home, Superman’s quick takedown of one man possessed by the mysterious space gem isn’t quite finished as several become infected by the shattered gem allowing Eclipso to rise in a world without Superman. Better hurry home boy scout. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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