Just Stay at Home

Now that school is over I've finally caught up on this past season's Smallville. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the way it ended. That, of course, is excepting the cliffhanger.

I know that cliffhangers and whatnot are the rage, but sometimes I just want to see a solid ending. That's what drove me away from Lost way back when it started. I never looked back.

That said, I think that season nine was all around a good one for Smallville. They got to introduce a lot of interesting characters from the DCU as well as use Zod in a way that I thought was pretty fresh and interesting.

The hints of what is to come seem to indicate that season ten (the final season, incidentally) will be a big one. I've never found the sight of an elderly woman knitting quite so chilling...

I got the chance to see the "Absolute Justice" episode of Smallville this weekend. That's the one written by Geoff Johns and featuring the Justice Society of America. Fair warning: here there be spoilers.

Now that that's out of the way, let me say that I really enjoyed this episode. Smallville has been on a real uptick the past couple of seasons and I always enjoy the interesting ways in which they pull things from the DC Universe into the sort-of "realistic" Smallville Universe.

They managed to employ the Justice Society in a way that didn't seem too silly. Doctor Fate was really cool, and Michael Shanks makes a surprisingly believable Hawkman. It was cool getting the chance to see Amanda Waller, and it almost seems that they're setting things up for a potential tenth season, though I'd be kind of surprised if they do that. Sometimes I can't believe Smallville has lasted as long as it has.

Despite everything else, though, there was one little moment that really got my geek mojo going. Something I've been waiting (and hoping) for every since the "death" of Lex Luthor a last season (that was last season, right?). The Superman mythos really can't exist without Lex Luthor, and the way I saw it Smallville could never arrive at Superman (even in its own roundabout way) without Lex Luthor being a part of things.

So you can imagine my geeky giddiness when Doctor Fate said the following:

"Although Lex Luthor is your ultimate opponent you will triumph over him."

What does that mean? It means what I've suspected all long: Lex Luthor isn't really dead in the Smallville Universe. He can't be. Superman can't really exist without him.

I've taken some of this time during the holidays to catch up on my Smallville. The long running series about a young Clark Kent is a contentious issue among comic fans, I know. A lot of people haven't liked the modern spin on the story that plays fast and loose with "sacred" canon. And Lord knows I hate Lana too.

Still, I've always enjoyed the show. I've tried never to take it too seriously. That's a philosophy I've also tried to follow with my comics. Not always to the best results (as reading my archives can sometimes show).

Smallville is, like most television shows (and comics for that matter), concerned with entertainment. I think the reason why comics fans and Smallville fans sometimes don't see eye to is that Smallville the television show is marketed to a very different than Superman comics are. Which is why the short-lived Smallville tie-in comics were short-lived.

But that doesn't mean that Smallville is necessarily a bad thing. Like many Elseworlds and out of continuity tales it is simply a different interpretation of who Superman is -- and was. I have no doubt that the end result will be the same either way.