Monday, August 18, 2014

Comic reviews - Smallville 42 to 61

EDIT - Just found this (and others) in my draft posts folder.  Will be posting them over the next week or so.  They look to be about a year old.

I love this series.  I've been reading it digitally, which is why it's numbered to 61 in the title.  It's also released in print and I believe is now up to number 16, Olympus.

The way Smallville mines DC's rich history and folds it into the Smallville style is just perfect.  These issues cover the Valkyrie, Argo, Hollow and Olympus storylines.

Valkyrie I don't much care for, because it focuses on Lana and I never warmed to her.  Argo on the other hand, was a great version of the World of New Krypton (WONK) story from main DCU continuity.  Smallville really does excel at this sort of thing.

Then there's Argo.  Supergirl, the Legion and Booster were all involved in this story.  Booster was desperately trying to prove his worth as a hero.  The Legion's Smallville style costumes were gorgeous.  There is a page where the Legion are recalled from all space and time, and when they gather ready for battle, well, I got chills.

Darn it I'm a Legion fan.

Supergirl's costume is beautiful:

It's sleek, it's practical and it feels like a uniform.  I love Smallville's costumes.  LOVE them.

Talking of the art, Cat Stagg's covers are gorgeous and she draws the actors so well, this one is so obviously Laura van der Voort:
Kara had some great moments.  In Smallville she's always felt like her own person - not a junior rip off of Superman.  She's older than him, more mature and knows more about herself.  Or at least in the TV show she did.  Now Clark has matured they are more like equals.

Hollow focuses on Tess and her relationship with Lex.  It's a good traditional Smallville story of revenge and obsession.  We see how Tess views the world, from her new digital existence, we understand more of Lex, and Black Canary and Mia make a guest appearance. Beni Lobel does the art in this issue:

Then we get Olympus with the arrival of Wonder Woman!  Jorge Jiminez does art. It's beautiful.  We start with a flashback to 20 years ago where Steve Trevor (as a kid) has been washed up on Paradise Island.
How cute it that??!!  Steve and Diana have childhood crushes on each other, and when they meet again in adulthood, once Diana has got to America, they still like each other.  Diana as adult is what I want and understand from a Wonder Woman.  Her language and phrasing marks her out as someone who grew up somewhere else.  The Amazon cultural mores are shown through the way she speaks.  She's bold and heroic. She's noble and intelligent.  She's a warrior.  She comes across Steve in the shower and she's a bit embarrassed at her reaction to him.  It's just perfect you know?  I can now ship Steve and Diana.

Also, Bones makes his Smallville debut and we get reminded that Ma Kent was once the Red Queen.


Here are two of the series covers, again by the very talented Cat Staggs:



Most of this art in this post has been nicked from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary.

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