Smallville, Supergirl, Manhunter and DC decisions

Spoilers ahoy.

Smallville
Season 7 - Arctic.
Lex has gone completely mad. He's stark raving paranoid isn't he? Fairly good conclusion to the season I think. James Marsters also did well, in that I managed to forget about Spike for whole sections of episodes.
Onto season 8 where I am expecting to squee like a very very shrill thing over the inclusion of Green Arrow and Black Canary. Especially as I hear Ollie's year 1/origin included. And that actor is very very hot.This post will be updated as I watch the episodes.
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I've just spent 2 hours trying to watch season 8, episode 1 - Odyssey. Sooo frustrating, bloody crap streaming process. Anyway, the actual episode was frickin' great! Dinah and Ollie working together! The League! Martian Manhunter! Lois actually investigating stuff and getting somewhere!
Clark's rescue from Russia was very enjoyable, and they have a 'Tess Mercer'! :D
I'm rather narked that Kara's stuck in the phantom zone and so presumably won't be showing up much this series but on the plus side Lana's gone. It's good that Clark has finally moved on and is working in Metropolis so maybe we'll get to see him do the hero thing properly (and learn to fly). Although I have to say that no, I don't think he'll become Superman. They can't move the character on that much in just one season surely? Besides, despite what Dinah thinks, I don't think spandex is really compatible with the rest of the feel of the show, so how would they dress him?
Justin Hartley is truly wonderful though. Dinah, not so wonderful, which is odd because by rights I should be crushing on her far more. I think it's the black wig. And the lack of screentime.

Comics reviews -
This week was a good 'un! The only thing I couldn't get was Terror Titans which had sold out, in 2 days. This surprised the hell out of me because judging by online fan rage against Teen Titans I'd assumed it was an unpopular title. When I expressed this to my comic store owner he said it's the Ultimates 3 effect - the internet declares something the worst comic ever and the store repeatedly sells out. So a) the internet is wrong and b) I'm not alone in liking Judd Winnick. Hurrah. On to the purchases.

Supergirl 34
The new creative team. I am now ridiculously excited about this title and it's gone back to being my most looked forward to buy. Yep, I'm fickle. The previous 33 issues have made no sense when read in one big run, but as individual arcs most of them worked or at least had appealing aspects.
First, the cover:

The article is by Cat Grant, a reporter at the Daily Planet and is obviously playing off Lois' article, why the world needs a Superman. part of the criticisms included are that Kara's 'actions seemed hollow and forced, proving her not only unworthy of the legacy of Superman's symbol, but also unworthy to serve as the protector of Metropolis.'
That's harsh stuff. Especially when you consider in the last Superman issue Supes got the Metropolis crown cheering for his dog. Oh, and the cover actually reflects the contents, for once.
the article gets printed on the lead page of the planet, Kara doesn't see it until after she's defeated the Silver Banshee, in the middle of a baseball game. The crowd aren't best pleased about this and someone throws a carton of cola in her face. Then she sees the article. Poor kid.
Supes finds her, apologises and they discuss how she can move on and she shouldn't let this knock her back. There's Kryptonian swearing, Robin gives her Connor's (Superboy's) glasses, she talks about her dilemma with Wonder Woman, she meets Lana Lang and she gets the best secret identity and code name ever!!!

This issue felt...complete. It felt linked in with the other DC books in a natural way. We get to see a lot of actual Kara, her character, her relationships with other people and we get to see how some of the denizens of the DCU also see her. I am astounded.
DC, you're doing it right.
Please give these new guys a chance, please?

In fact I liked this so much here's a link to it on Scans Daily. As you can tell I really really want this series to work out and I'll be broken hearted if it gets cancelled.

EDIT: And the artist gave Kara shorts! I like her costume, I think she should keep the short skirt, she obviously likes it and there's no problem with it in itself. I don't hold with views like it's look whorish/trampish/it's not appropriate for a 16 yr old to wear. I think words like whore and tramp do nothing but demean women and police their sexuality, and who cares if the skirt is appropriate or not, 16 yr olds wear that stuff! And if you can't wear it when you're 16 young, slimand pretty when the hell can you?!
Shorts are still a good idea though.

DC Decisions 2
Check out the cover:
Guy Gardner is my favourite Green Lantern. It's true that I don't know a lot about the rest, but Guy is just such a joy to read. Look at his cheeky little face up there! He's an utter meathead, he's a redneck, he's a right wing jerk, he's fight first think later, arrogant and unpleasant. But dear god he's fun to read. And he's got an awful undercut haircut. But I love him so.
Anyway, he wasn't even the best part of the comic. The best part was Hal and Ollie fighting. And Hal making a jibe about Ollie's lack of fidelity - this as completely unrelated to the superhero ethics debate they were having by the way - and Ollie shoves Hal in the chest. Then it's weapons off and a bout of fisticuffs. And oh how I giggled. Then Dinah arrived and broke it up and then I was really giggling.
This mini series rocks. But I'm gutted that Power Girl is a Republican*.
Guy's speech about why he's getting involved is also rather fun. :D

*I assume Ridge is Republican and Brewster is Democrat because of GA and Guy affiliating themselves with each. I am confused as to why there are 4 candidates as I was under the impression America effectively has a 2 party system and only occasionally do you get a third candidate. When there is a third candidate I also thought they usually only got 1.2% of the vote and are never serious contenders for winning.
Or have I missed something and this story is about selecting candidates to run for president and not the actual president race itself? Or I'm taking it too seriously and the writers wanted 4 candidates to provide a nice range of opinions and arguments.

Manhunter 35:
The actual comic has Kate saying 'Bring It'.

I have nothing else to add really. This cover is brilliant. Look at the challenge in her eyes! She knows she's gonna win whatever you throw at her and she's walk away grinning cos she's given you the biggest beat down ever.
And she did. She got the women out of the prison, she kneecapped a couple of guys and she blew the prison up. And got the evidence needed to shut the place down.
Kate you are awesome, I salute you.