daibhidc: (Blue & Gold)
Daibhid C ([personal profile] daibhidc) wrote2011-06-15 02:21 pm
Entry tags:

Smallville - Shield

Wow, so much comics goodness this week, I was surprised to find it wasn't a Geoff Johns episode!

First off, Clark's got a new partner, and it's Cat Grant. "No relation to the woman on TV" ... so why even introduce a Cat Grant last year? Despite it not being her real name, this is definitely "the" Cat Grant; she's got a son named Adam and everything.

Cat hates superheroes, because she listens to a radio personality called Godfrey. That keeps the Darkseid subplot bubbling, but only for those who remember the miniseries Legends and G. Gordon Godfrey.

(Oh, and Clark's worried about the "dark force" Jor-El warned him about ... so even he's given up trying to keep Jor's contradictory statements straight.)

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Hawkman explains his Reincarnation Romance to Lois, suggesting that she's similarly destined to be with Clark. This was nicely done, although if I was feeling nitpicky, I'd ask why were they called Carter and Shiera in 1831? Do their parents feel a stong urge to give them the same names? (Actually, even in the comics their first incarnations are Khufu Kha-Tar and Chay-Ara, which is the same problem...)

Back in Metropolis, the bad guy is Deadshot. I like the "western gunslinger" look for him, although it's a shame he only used his eyepeice in his first scene, when we don't see him clearly. The contrast would have made a nice effect. See? The bit about him literally carving the names of his targets on the bullets, however, just made me think of Private Baldrick, carrying a bullet with his own name on it.

And he's part of the Suicide Squad, which presumably makes Orange Shirt Guy Rick Flagg. And Chloe has faked her death and disappeared. Apparently to escape the Squad, but Flagg as good as tells Ollie that this is what people do when he recruits them. Hmm....

Man, Cat's annoying. I loved the scene where she asked "Who would want to kill me?" and Clark was clearly thinking the same thing I was...

The theme of this season seems to be set up as that the League being half in the shadows leads to people distrusting them. They can disappear entirely, as Rick and his team do, or they can stride into the light, as Clark seemingly plans to do.

Yes, nicely juxaposed with Lois learning the word "superman", the Blur is now wearing ... a red jacket with the S-shield embossed on it[1]. Well, it's not the costume, but it's a step in the right direction. And the John Williams-esque chords backing it sold it to me. (He looks more like Kon-El, though...)

[1]And where did that come from? Was it under the actual costume in the box Martha sent him, and we just hadn't seen it before? Or did he make it himself, with the leatherworking skills Jonathan taught him? Sorry, but superheroes who myseriously aquire the services of a Hollywood costumer between scenes are a pet peeve -- don't get me started on the Spider-Man movie...

[identity profile] daibhid-c.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
It's the Golden Age Hawkman concept; Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders as reincarnated Egyptians. Geoff Johns embellished it a lot during his Hawkman run, adding the intermediate incarnations. (Including established DC characters like the masked gunslingers Nighthawk and Cinnimon, and the Arthurian falconer Silent Knight and his girlfiend Lady Celia)

The Silver Age Thangarians Katar and Shayara Hol are only tangentially connected ... and yes, at this point I run out of steam in complaining about Smallville featuring unrelated characters with the same name...