Another Take - Smallville - Hypnotic

Jake, you magnificent bastard, you hit the nail on the head with your critique of the direction of this series.
I'll let your words stand on their own there, but I'll add a bit about the episode.
Clark Kent is a weak man. Whenever somebody shows up with the most amateur of magic skills, the greatest superhero in the comic book lexicon folds like a piece of paper. In this episode, he happens to fold over an attractive guest star (whose name is not important) but who is hired by Lex to put Clark under a spell and seduce him in an attempt to bust up the Lana-Clark relationship. Devious.
But Lex doesn't count on the Power Of Love (TM-Huey Lewis) and the seductress ends up falling for Clark and protecting his secret.
Still, the damage is done. Clark and Lana are busted up faster than you can say "freak of the week".
I liked this episode a fair bit better than Jake seemed to, but I can understand how his frustration is begin to taint the way he looks at the series. I too wonder what the hell the plan is for Lana, and why they just didn't off her when they had the chance in the 100th episode.
It appears more than likely that Lex will end up killing Lana and falling over the evil edge into insanity by the end of the series. Still, with Smallville being picked up indefinately as a core show of the new WB/UPN merger, you've got to wonder how long before this show actually DOES end.
I guess until then we'll keep getting episodes like this. One tiny step forward, and often, in the wrong direction.

Smallville - Hypnotic

Smallville has been off the air for the better part of a month, leaving off with an above average episode dealing with ‘Cyborg’, a creation from the CD universe. But, before that, we had a pathetic, one of the worst episode ever type story’s with Chloe being taken over by a ghost.

But that’s the kind of year its been for Smallville, a roller coaster. While the sheer brilliance of the first 5 episodes of the season can’t be denied, from the Fortress of Solitude to Clark finally flying (or super jumping, whichever you prefer), the writers have sort of lost their way, filling space and time, padding this season as it builds towards the season finale and Superman Returns.

Frankly, I’m starting to get a little sick of it all. I love this show. I will forever be a champion of this show and I will forever love the bash the hell out of Smallville because we love the show sessions that me and Rob get together for. But Smallville always seems to take the easy way out. It never lets the characters decisions have real resonance or relevance.

Take the episode Hypnotic. Lex hires a female seductress who has an amulet that allows her to hypnotize anybody, at any time, to wreck Clark and Lana’s relationship. This, because, Lex is in love with Lana. Why would the writers go in this direction? To make Clark feel like an idiot for losing the girl of his dreams to his nemesis? To reinforce the idea that Lex Luthor and Superman will forever by polar opposites? At the end of the episode, Clark decides that me must leave Lana because his greatest power has been causing her pain. A wimpy decision to finally get these two apart so that Clark and Lois can build their forth coming relationship.

Why couldn’t the writers of Smallville avoid all of this by instead having Clark be a man and simply break up with Lana? While Lois being in Clark’s life during his time in Smallville is not part of the Superman mythos, why not have her be his reason? Why couldn’t he slowly fall in love with Lois, while she stands idly by, being oblivious to what is happening between them? The two characters have a great chemistry and always will if they are written with a certain element of opposites attract that the burgeoning of their relationship has always been known for. I mean, Smallville’s mythos is so far gone compared to the comics that there is no point even trying to hold off the relationship.

The writers, though, contradict themselves in order to buy more time for the creatively floundering show. In season 4, Lana and Clark share one of my favorite moments from the series. Lana has started dating Jason and Lois is living at Clark’s house. I forget how it comes about but Clark and Lana are down in the caves at which time Lana points out that Clark is slowly falling for Lois. It’s a cute moment that nods to what is about to happen.

Welcome to backpedaling 101, something that the writers of Smallville have mastered. Realizing they have nothing left for Lana to do (this is why she should have died in episode 100), we get Clark and Lana one more time. Jason was useless, so it’s good they go rid of that deadweight but what’s the point of getting them together again? So they can get it on and be each other’s first? Superman doesn’t strike me as the type of guy that sleeps around but hey, this is a teen show, first and foremost, right? Whatever.

The rant is over so lets get back to the episode. Hypnotic is good for the plot device that it’s designed to be. This is the episode which we finally get an end to Clark and Lana. The interesting part of this episode is the subplot, which sees the return of Milton Fine aka Brainiac. The space ship is in Honduras and Brianiac is up to something, most likely figuring out how to extract revenge on the son of Jor-El, while rescuing General Zod. Not much progress is made with this storyline but it sets it up for the end of the season.

Nothing really much happens in this episode as it really is primarily a reason to push Lana into Lex. Great. Lex and Lana together, I couldn’t be more thrilled.

The only way this story lead to a good pay off or makes even a little bit of sense is if Lana ends up dying because of something Lex does and it pushes him into extreme villain mode.

Smallville has to get pretty damn amazing, pretty damn fast if it’s going to end this season on a high note. With only 6 episodes left, I’m quickly losing faith.

Review of Action Comics #837

ACTION COMICS #837 – I wonder if Geoff Johns knows just what a brilliant writer he is? He might not be the most technically brilliant but the man knows how to stuff a comic full of so many original twists and turns, you can’t help but appreciate the hell out of it.

Action Comics #837 continues the “Up, Up and Away” storyline (this is part 2) that greeted us in Superman #650. Johns continues this arc with a solid issue, one that takes the story in a place that none of us could have predicted. Clark, of course, is still without his powers and he spends the issue searching the tunnels of Metropolis for Luthor (a nice nod to Superman: The Movie) but instead finds a group of punks who’ve stolen Luthor power suits in an attempt to get into Intergang.

Clark doesn’t dispatch the foes, rather some help from Green Lantern and Hawkgirl helps to save the day. Clark, without powers, does save an entire train from diaster when he risks his life to push one of the power suited criminals out of the way of an oncoming train (the train would have exploded pretty good).

Luthor’s story moves forward, as he enlists the help of Metallo to do something. We’re not quite sure yet. The best part, though, is the final panel, in which Green Lantern offers Clark a Corps ring. Will he take it? God, I really, really hope so. Even if just for one, single issue. That would be uber-cool for a Superman/Lantern fan, as I am.

A solid CUT & PRINT YEAH!

Review of Superman/Shazam: First Thunder #4

SUPERMAN/SHAZAM: FIRST THUNDER #4/4 – What do you get when you match writer Judd Winick with the beautiful pencils of Joshua Middleton and two of DC Comics best heroes, Superman and Shazam? You get an awesome story full of fun, excitement and great moments.

Perhaps the best moment in this short arc is found within the last pages of issue #4, which seals the deal for me, easily recommending that you try to get your hands on the entire run of comics.

First Thunder is the story of how Superman and Shazam first came to meet and beat up bad guy’s together. Shazam, of course, is the young Billy Batson who yells “Shazam” and is transformed into the mightiest mortal and we all know who Superman is.

Winick writes this thing as straightforward as possible which is refreshing in a time of convoluted storylines of multiple Earths and the like.

In this awesome final chapter (you don’t even really need to read the first three if you don’t want to), Captain Marvel goes on a rampage after Dr. Sivana’s men kill his best friend, a kid named Scott. Superman, obviously finding this behavior weird, goes to confront Captain Marvel only to discover that he is indeed just a boy with the world on his shoulders.

There’s some great writing here, especially when Superman confronts the almighty wizard Shazam and the final two pages. I don’t want to spoil anything so just take me word for it and check it out. A CUT & PRINT SHAZAM!

One Year Later - Superman #650 Review

SUPERMAN #650 - With DC’s top writer, Geoff Johns (along with Kurt Busiek) now on tap as the writer behind Superman, it’s time for the Superman comics to get kicked up a notch.

Since coming back into the world of comics last summer, I’ve collected the Superman titles with diligence, hoping that the hero that I love will turn into the must read comic. While there have been some fun issues, like the crossover in Action Comics and The Adventures of Superman which saw Superman team up with another favorite of mine, Captain Marvel, for the most part, the title has been lacking.

With #650, though, Superman is relevant once more. While it’s anybodies guess where this arc (Up, Up and Away, continued in Action Comics #837) is going, it starts off on a marvelous track and makes us all scratch our head, wondering why Johns hasn’t been writing Superman for the last couple of years.

The story is remarkable because the lack of knowledge of the last year adds a level of mystery and intrigue that the title has been sorely missing. It seems that in the aftermath of the Infinite Crisis, Superman is no longer Superman.

Yeah, you read right. Superman no longer exists. Clark Kent is around but if you think he’s going to get into the costume and start flying around by the end of this book, you are sorely mistaken. Clark has lost his powers. We don’t know how or why. We don’t know if it was his choice or something that effected him during the crisis, but Clark is now simply Clark. He gets beat up by Lex Luthor (which is awesome) and the protector of Metropolis is now Supergirl, who’s been trained by cousin Clark.

The book kicks off with a “Superman Retrospective”, a film that is playing in the park and ends with Clark lying in a back ally, beaten and bloody, from an aquitted Lex Luthor who didn’t appreciate the expose that Clark has written in the last year (Clark is now an outstanding reporter). The comic also houses some straight forward art that accompanies the straightforward and refreshing storyline.

It’s also intriguing that the comic is somewhat borrowing from the upcoming Superman Returns film, which follows a similar storyline, except that Superman has been flat out gone from Earth. I’m really excited to see where Johns is going to take this storyline. It’s fresh and brings a human element back into Superman that, just now, we realize has been missing for who knows how long.

A CUT & PRINT GREAT.

Review of Infinite Crisis #5

INFINITE CRISIS #5 (of 7) - Just got done reading the fantastic Infinite Crisis #5. I must say, I’m eating this epic comic book writing up like nobodies business. Geoff Johns is a fantastic comic writing, bringing all the elements of the DC universe into perfect balance.

Fill with some fun art, Infinite Crisis #5 builds on the emotional excitement of issue #4, which was the first comic to ever actually bring a sort of tear to me eye. This is the issue that sets up the year ahead jump that every DC comic is about to go under. I’ve JSA #83 right beside me but I haven’t had a chance to crack it open yet.

I must say, while I should really be mad at DC comics for creating an event that really requires you to read all the comics that are related to the core story, for some reason I just can’t say no. Somehow, they’ve roped me into collecting almost every title that DC puts out. I had said no to all the Batman titles, just because I had the Superman ones and didn’t want to stretch the wallet but now I just have to know, “why has Batman been missing for a year and why is he suddenly back in Gotham City”.

And what is going to happen to the multiverse. Is it here to stay? I sure hope not but I’ve got read to find out what the hell is truly going on. Superman is a mess, Wonder Woman’s mission is over. Infinite Crisis #5 doesn’t do a good job of actually moving the story forward but there are some interesting moments. Primarily, it’s the showdown between the normal DCU Superman and the Earth -2 Superman (the one with gray temples) and the return of Superboy Prime from the speed force (which happened just last issue).

Basically, the story leaves me wanting more. I want more. Damn it. I really want more.

Smallville Season 5 Episode 13 Review

As the action winds down in the latest Smallville episode, Lana uses a quiet moment in the barn to chide Clark: "We should have come together Clark. That's what couples do when these things happen." Given a speech like that, you might think the two had a good old fashioned falling out or fight. Maybe Clark continues to refuse to 'put out' .

But things are not that simple in Smallville. "These things" that so divide, as Lana refers to in this episode, are: an undead ghost girl assaulting Chloe, a trip to the psych ward, a girl slashing her wrists, a body in the wall of the coffee shop, a creepy homicidal hospital worker, and a magic bracelet that transfers ghost spirits to living bodies.

Err... what?

Yep. Hot on the heels of two solid episodes dealing with the death of Jonathan Kent, we get a freak-of-the-week episode that rivals the one where Lana became a vampire. It looks like Chloe has gone crazy after she sees a ghost and slashes her wrists. Apparently, the doctors think she's crazy because her mother is in an insane asylum. Now... I can't remember ever having heard this plot revelation before, but I might have missed it. Jake will tell for sure if writers pulled this out of their ass, or it's an old bit of Smallville lore.

Regardless, Clark and Chole try to find out about the ghost while Lana and Lex are convinced Chloe has gone off her rocker and needs to be strapped to a gurney in an insane asylum. Why Lana cuddles up to Lex so quickly is not explained, but you can really feel the tension between the future Superman and his arch-enemy now. In one scene, Lex and Clark just scowl at each other.

Eventually the stupid ghost plot is sorted out. But not before some less-than-inventive horror cliches creep in. You know, the old "bathroom mirror shot" where you see a safe bathroom in the medicine cabinet mirror, then the character opens the cabinet door, and when the mirror re-appears there's a dirty screaming monster and big orchestra crash. Hmm.... I could swear I've seen that before... somewhere...

The Clark-Lana and Ma Kent-Senator subplots are tacked on to the end in a rather subpar way. Both are quite interesting. It looks like Martha is going to run for senate, and Lionel keeps "stopping by" the Kent kitchen to dole out 30-second snippits of advice to Martha. At least he's working for the lay. Good on him.

If there's one positive in this forgettable episode, it would be Allison Mack's chance to show her acting chops. She's got them in spades here. Lots of tears, lots of emotion. Along with John Glover, she is a key lynchpin for this show now that Jon Schneider/Pa Kent was sent out to pasture.

Still, it's not enough to save Ep#13. An unusually bad freak-of-the-week with a frankly bizarre ending that makes little to no sense and - to be honest - kills the momentum this show had after its 100 and 101 episodes. I don't get it. Jake? What do you think?