The
online previews of the DC solicitations which will appear in the
August issue of Diamond's Previews
catalog (and therefore solicit items mostly on-sale during the month
of October) appeared while the days of July were still in single
digits, earlier than I ever remember. Not sure why so early, but you
may see them here (link).
News
that dropped during the period I was reading this batch of comics
included George Perez's announcement of what he had cryptically
referred to when I was talking with him in Houston (link).
It turns out he is going to Boom! Comics (link).
He's the second creator in as many months that has left DC for Boom!
– Paul Jenkins (last month) also was headed that direction, and
although Perez's announcement is not filled with the vitriol some
others' departures from DC have been, he has clearly been
dissatisfied with the corporate culture that increasingly prevails at
DC. That was clear both of the times I've had the pleasure of
meeting him, and comes through clearly albeit graciously in the
linked interview. It's DC's loss, is all I can say.
There have been other creator departures announced from titles I'm getting. Jeff Lemire is reportedly leaving Justice League Dark after Trinity War wraps up (link), and I may use that as a point to drop back to waiting for trade, and Mahmud Asrar is off Supergirl (link). Neither appears to be acrimonious, thank heavens – but Justin Jordan's quick departure from Superboy is reputed to be because of creative differences (link). Comic Book Resources' forums has an interesting thread with fans debating the issue of heavy-handed editorial issues (link). I think it's a case of where there's smoke, there's fire, and there's been plenty of smoke of late. It saddens me.
Finally,
last week (17-21 July) was San Diego Comic Con. I honestly didn't
pay a whole lot of attention to it, and haven't in the couple of
years since DC stopped podcasting its sessions, but the announcement
of Man
of Steel 2
being a Superman
/ Batman
movie to come in 2015 made perhaps the biggest splash (link).
Looks like it will be going virtually head to head with Marvel's
Avengers 2
… that's gonna be a tricky thing to pull off. I hope they can. I
know I'm
looking forward to it. The Grumpy
Old Fan
over at CBR has a good perspective on how they should balance the
characters (link).
Enough news, on to the comics....
“Crossworld”
Hmpf.
I remember when the previous team-up book came a decade ago. I was
all into Batman
at the time, and I wanted that
book to be “Batman/Superman”
rather than “Superman/Batman”
– now I wish this
one gave Big Blue priority. But the Dark Knight sells better –
that's why there are more Batman
titles than there are books in the New Testament, almost. Ah well.
I
will say this book is pretty, with Jae Lee on art – and
interesting, too, especially the first part with the years-ago real
first
meeting between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, and a double-page spread
of the two characters' relationships with their fathers. And Greg
Pak continues the storytelling practice that I identify with Jeph
Loeb of the “dueling inner'logues.” It's too early, though, to
tell if the story will be worth another ongoing title. I've
expressed my thoughts last month that maybe they should do a rotating
team-up book called The
Brave and the Bold,
but I guess that wouldn't garner the sales that Batman/Superman
did, at least for this first issue. It seems like a tale of demonic
possession of probably Apokoliptian origin – a Boom Tube seems to
break through from Earth “1” (or is the main DCnU now Earth
“Prime”?) to Earth 2, and I wonder if the villain could be
DeSaad.
“1,370°C”
Speaking of Earth 2.... This issue has
two narratives going. In the first, Captain Steel goes into the Rio
de Janeiro Fire Pit and returns haggard, broken and babbling about
something called the “Red Lantern” which, if it escapes, will
destroy the world. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl continues to investigate
Sam's death, and finds that he was somehow involved in contraband
Apokoliptian tech. She fights Apokoliptian warriors astride
Apokorats, repulsing them with the unexpected aid of the new Batman,
who tells her to follow the clues to Kanto the Apokoliptian Assassin.
Continued goodness.
I've been continuing my reading of
Injustice: Gods Among Us, and I'm getting more and more
confident that Tom Taylor is indeed a worthy successor to James
Robinson when he leaves in just a few issues. The issue dealing with
the effects on Billy Batson of what Shazam is doing as an ally of
Superman is just one in a series of amazingly insightful segments of
that weekly digital tale. If he can bring the same game to Earth
2, I'll be satisfied.
“Hybrid,
Part 3: More Than Human” / “The World of Krypton, Part 2:
Dissension”
Continuing the more recent retrospective
of just one year ago, Superman figures out how to dissociate the
Hybrid into its constituent victims, but then Luthor shows up in
armor to finish him off. Luthor indulges in typical villain-blab –
and Lois gets it all on her iPhone! Superman of course eventually
defeats Luthor. I do wish we'd seen how Luthor got the scars on the
side of his face that are apparent in his present-day appearances,
but maybe there's still more to the story of how he ended up in
remote solitary confinement. I think we see Clark first meeting Jon
Carroll.
In the Krypton backup, Lara defies the
rebels in the midst of the military coup and makes her escape,
wondering to whom she might turn now for help even as the same rebels
show up at the ancient underwater city to take Jor-El into custody.
And
so ends Diggle's brief association with Action
Comics,
it seems. Not bad. I think next issue Lobdell brings the title into
the present and makes it part of his story that's currently being
told in Superman.
“Shadows
and Ghosts” / Man-Bat in “Territorial”
Playing
out of the zero-issue of almost a year ago, Bruce Wayne's long-lost
paramour from his days training in the Orient turns up as an
assassin. He defeats her, but she disappears. The epilogue shows
that she was sent by Ra's al Ghul. Harper Row again plays a role,
jumping from Snyder's Batman
over to Layman's Detective,
which I guess is good if she's going to continue in the stories now
that Batman
has jumped into the past for the next year. But with the
introduction of Carrie Kelley in Batman
and ????,
we have two young women vying for sidekick status – does anybody
doubt that's the direction this is going, especially in the case of
the latter? Anyway, it's only a week after Harper's last appearance
got her a bloodied nose from the Bat-jerk and orders to cease and
desist, this time she earns his grudging approval since she realizes
she's not
going to cease and desist.
In the Man-Bat backup, it turns out
Langstrom's serum is only temporary, and both Kirk and Francine are
trying to return to a normal life. But he's becoming addicted,
transforming himself more and more often, until he's now worried that
he may be the perpetrator of some gruesome murders beneath the
Trigate Bridge where he usually hangs out as Man-Bat.
In
the second story, there is a cross-reference via a radio news story
about the murder of Natalya Trusevich (last month's Batman:
The Dark Knight).
One of the resources I check out pretty frequently trying to figure
out how all these Bat-books
fit together (for eventual binding purposes) is The
Real Batman Chronology Project
(link).
For a reason I haven't sussed out yet, Collin states that the first
story takes place “two days before the death of Natalya.”
“The
Leap”
Okay,
just to get it out of the way … I
HATE THIS TITLE!
Not the comic, but the title, Superman
Unchained.
It makes about as much sense as calling a comic The
Avenging X-Men
or The
Uncanny Avengers
… … ...What? Ahem....
Anyway,
I would have preferred something both meaningful
for the character and timely.
Like, say, Man
of Steel.
Or even, to parallel Batman,
Superman:
The Man of Steel.
“Unchained” sounds like it would be more appropriate for, say,
the Hulk – or in DC, perhaps Hawkman as he's currently portrayed,
basically as a crazed maniac. The sense of being out of control,
cutting loose. That's not Superman.
Having gotten that off my chest … It's
by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee. Which means it is both well-written and
pretty. But even that is marred by a needless quarto fold-out that
really does nothing to add to the story. Well, it's there to emphasize the size of what Superman is up against ... but how are they going to print this in a collection and have little-bitty Superman even be visible? How am I going to bind this issue when and if I finally get to that point? Nevertheless, it is a great
first issue.
The
story is in three acts in which we see Superman stopping satellites
falling out of space – kicking us off with suitable super-action! –
and confronting Lex Luthor; Clark Kent interacting with Jim and then
Lois on the phone and finding something weird about the eighth
satellite's fall; which Superman investigates and is fired upon by an
American sub while General Lane is secretly working on a project to
harness the “real Superman,” an energy being working for – or
under the control of – the US government. That's all book-ended by
a prologue in which a Japanese boy at Nagasaki four months to the day
before the second atomic bomb fell (surely it couldn't
be that Snyder and Lee goofed
on the date, right...?) witnessing a devastating bomb that is really
a man, and a double epilogue showing us that Perry White has the
boy's binoculars seventy years later, while a fishing trawler pulls a
man from the sea whose eyes are burned out but who gasps out a
request to be taken to Lois Lane....
Jim and Lois both seem to be really
chummy with their now-rival ex-fellow employee Clark Kent, and Perry
seems too okay with them sharing news ledes. Sure, they can be
friends, but the news industry is cutthroat. Superman frets that no
one else on Earth could possibly stop that eighth satellite – what
about Supergirl? Or is this during the time she's off-world?
Overall,
great stuff – but do we really need a new Superman
title at all? I say it's not that Superman has too few titles as it
is – it's that Batman has too many! Couldn't this team have taken
over Action
Comics
or Superman?
Sure, it's excellent as one would expect of Scott Snyder, but can
Lee keep up? How quickly will we see a substitute artist?
Snyder and Lee definitely have plans,
though – the 24-page story (I guess – or do the two quarto folded
pages translate to eight pages of story making it a round thirty
pages?) is followed by a several-page interview with the creators.
“World's
Most Dangerous, Chapter Five” / “The Martian Manhunter”
This
is a somewhat better issue. Of course, Catwoman was really the
Martian Manhunter, so being shot in the head didn't hurt so much.
The JLA fights the Secret Society, but it's essentially a draw. The
Society gets away, but Trevor now believes the JLA can work as a
team, which is a radical change of mind on his part – that was
manipulated by Waller, who goads him to declaring it by threatening
to disband them now. Man, she's sneaky. On the last page, we see
that something has happened to Dr. Light.
In
the backup, we learn more about the Martian Manhunter's past,
including that he was no longer brought here against his will by an
Earthly science experiment gone bad but rather came hunting the
Earthly telepathic parasite Thoth who destroyed his Martian race.
He's literally a “Martian Manhunter.”
It's
not better enough to change my mind about dropping this title, but it
is a better issue.
“Hide
and Seek”
This issue is basically a long running
battle with Desaad's Hell Hound – from the Securities and Exchange
Commission, where Helena is aggressively interrogating an agent as to
how Holt Industries pulled off a hostile takeover of Starr
Industries, to Helena's Alexandria, Virginia, safe house, until they
manage to electrocute it. Don't worry, Desaad's busy making more.
Karen is worried, however, that she's
getting weaker on this Earth. The girls are unsure whether Desaad is
from this universe or their own, but he has been unaware there was
anything out of the ordinary about her. Did his involvement with
Holt come only after she left (sometime during the Mister Terrific
series, when even the reader didn't know who she really was, IIRC)?
I keep thinking, why haven't their recent exploits caught more
attention from other metas?
I am disappointed we've seen the last of
Kevin Maguire's and George Perez's art on this series, but Robson
Rocha does a well enough job.
“State
of Decay”
Superboy,
his new buddy Dr. Psycho, and Krypto confront the monstrous Decay –
who turns out to be a HIVE-weaponized schizo-psychotic projection by
a little girl. It's a good issue – Superboy uses his brains to
subdue her without hurting her, then and Psycho determine to stop
HIVE from doing the same to other kids. Sounds like there's a
natural confluence of purpose with Superboy's other pals, the Teen
Titans.
Unfortunately,
see the news above that Jordan has walked off this title.
I
do wish they would get Superboy out of the TRON getup and into
something different … say a black tee shirt and blue jeans...?
“Zero
Hour – Secret City: Part One” / Bruce Wayne in “Where the Hell
Did He Learn to Drive?!”
This
is the beginning of what I think is a twelve-issue retcon retelling
of the origin of Batman in the New 52 Universe. After a prologue set
six years ago in what looks like a dystopian wasteland version of
Gotham City (imagine that), we jump a further six months in the past
to six weeks after Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City in secret,
still attempting to leave Bruce Wayne legally dead – which is
immediately blown by the appearance of Uncle Philip Kane. What is
the significance of the Robin-symbol on Bruce's cap? We get some
intriguing history of the Waynes and Kanes. Edward Nygma is somehow
involved with Wayne Industries (which immediately makes me think of
Batman Forever,
and that is not a good thing). The Red Hood gang introduced in the
0-issue a year ago is terrorizing Gotham's upper class, including
Wayne Industries. In a further flashback of young Bruce and his
father, Bruce is already fighting against the constraints of his
identity, is going to use a prototype 3D mapping ball to map the
caves beneath Wayne Manor. It's an interesting issue, and I do want
to see more of Snyder and Capullo's take on the oft-told story.
In
the backup, nineteen-year-old Bruce learns evasive driving skills
from a South American thief/cop-killer, then leaves him for the
authorities in Rio.
“Enclosure”
Gee,
thanks, Mom – You know that Dad's vowed to bring Batgirl in for
supposedly killing my psycho homicidal brother, who tortured you and
me, and that I'm
Batgirl and I saved your life, and yet you're leaving
without interceding for me – abandoning me again!
No wonder I'm a
wreck!
Nevertheless,
Batgirl manages in this issue to track down and defeat a new
metahuman female Ventriloquist, saving her latest victim. There's
also a bit of a cameo via phone by Nightwing, and to be fair Barbara
must be trying
to go on, since she evidently arranged a date – which she promptly
forgot about until he showed up.
This
issue is somewhat better, but it still needs to resolve this Batgirl
vs. Commissioner Gordon thing and improve the overall tone – make
it not so depressing.
“Co$t
of Living”
Dick
escapes the Prankster's trap just in time for the cops to show, but
they both get away – and then Dick cuts a deal with the prankster
to help him track down Tony Zucco. It appears that Zucco is now
happily married with a kid, and they all skedaddle before Nightwing
gets to him. Oh, and in the end Nightwing betrays the Prankster,
living up to the letter but not the spirit of their agreement.
Dick's roommate Michael gets a camera from a crime scene which I bet
is going to lead him to putting two and two together. In a seemingly
unrelated prequel, we see the last (?) mask in Chicago “several
years ago” killed by an unknown assailant.
Constantine
#4
“All
My Friends”
This
is a “Day in the Life” transitional issue in which Constantine
visits various of his “friends,” dealing with blowback from
issues #1-3 and hearing Zatanna allude to the coming Trinity War. In
the New 52, Constantine has never met Superman, Batman, or Lex
Luthor.
It's
always good to see Zatanna. I don't like her tattoos – I do not like tattoos on a lady, ask my wife's niece – but I guess
they stand to reason in today's world
Justice
League #21
“Shazam!
Conclusion”
Actually,
for all my fulminating against this reimagining of one of the most
beloved characters in comics history, this final part is not half
bad. It does seem that I was wrong exactly how Billy would share his
power with his five foster brothers and sisters. Instead of
combining into “Captain Thunder” as in Flashpoint,
they become five other multicolored Shazam kids, of varying strengths
and perhaps different powers. It's not precisely clear, but it is
good to have a sweet
version of Mary Marvel back after “Dark Mary”
in
her last couple of years. I'm sure this is not the end of Black Adam
– in fact, he's already billed as one of the titles in Villains
Month. We do get Mister Mind – where'd he come from?
On
the pretty sure bet they're going to a series of some kind, I find
myself surprisingly willing to give it a try. But I will always miss
the charm
of the original Marvels. And if they can't be called "Marvels," I'd prefer "Thunders" to "Shazam"!
“Be
Careful What You Wish For...”
Kara
has an immature parting with Siobhan, in which there is of course
enough immaturity to go around and it goes both ways, then she steals
some kind of space motorcycle from Dr. Veritas and heads off into
space, still slowly dying of Kryptonite poisoning. She is lured to
some king of collector/preserver world that obviously has to be more
than it seems, as evidenced if by nothing else (and there is plenty
of something else) by the cliffhanger appearance of the Cyborg
Superman.
I'm
already missing Mahmud Asrar's art. Diogenes Neves has a similar
style but less polished. I'm most dismayed that there are only hints
here of the clever writing that so impressed me last issue. I hope
Michael Alan Nelson regains his footing quickly.
Regarding
the cover (which is by Asrar, and apparently will continue to be for
at least a few months) – DC,
get over the “wrath of Supergirl”
bullshit!!!
I'm tired of it!
“The
Bargain”
This
issue takes place after the death of James Jr. and Barbara's tearing
off her emblem – which Batman has a problem with. But before we
see that, Barbara has a one-sided secret confession to James Sr. –
by which I mean he doesn't know she's there, can't hear her – then
the main plot concerns her confronting Batman about his out of
character actions of late. She ultimately offers to become the new
Robin if that's what he needs. Apparently it's not – he drives her
out of the Cave in fury. I don't really care for the art on this
issue –
Batwoman
#21
“Interlude
III”
Well,
as the title says... This issue features Killer Croc, who's found a
home with the dead Abbott's were-people (etymologically, that
formation is redundant, but I don't know what else to call them).
They want him to avenge Abbott by killing Batwoman, but Batwoman,
Maggie, and whatever-Flamebird's-called-now trounce him. When he
gets away, he kills the were-eagle (now that formation works,
etymologically speaking) who sent him on basically a suicide mission,
and prepares to move the “tribe” out of Gotham City.
Funny
inner'logue when he comes upon Batwoman and Maggie lip-locked –
“Okay, I didn't
see that one comin'.”
Francesco Francavilla's pulp-noir art works here. I've heard word-of-mouth that J. H. Williams III will not be doing interiors for this series any more, and that Francavilla's taking over. It will be a different feel, but I can live with that.
“Talon
vs. Talon”
This
issue is still before Batgirl
#19. Strix is attacked by Calvin Rose, who ultimately cannot bring
himself to kill her. He despairingly tells her all, whereupon she
sets off with him with a purpose, to be continued in Talon
#9. Meanwhile, Batgirl, Black Canary, and Condor search the
building. Condor reveals his name to Black Canary – Ben – along
with the fact that he loves her.
Red
Hood and the Outlaws #21
“Dissolution”
By
issue's end, the three outlaws have gone their separate ways –
Jason essentially captured by the League of Assassins, Roy with an
enemy called Essence who is working against the League but promises
to get him into their headquarters, and Kori is trying to put the
pieces together to see the whole picture, instinctively not trusting
Essence. Roy's long time psychiatrist is Hugo Strange, whom Kori is
warned is betraying them.
Legion
of Super-Heroes #21
“Endings
– Part One”
The
end minus two issues....
The Legionnaires and their battles against the new Fatal Five minus one converge on Metropolis, except for Invisible Kid and Polar Boy who are still in the Ghost Dimension, and things look bad. Ultra Boy is incredulous that Phantom Girl would have abandoned them. Tharok demonstrates control even over Brainiac 5's force field belt, and the Fatal Five minus one are on the verge of dealing a killing blow when Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl appear.
The Legionnaires and their battles against the new Fatal Five minus one converge on Metropolis, except for Invisible Kid and Polar Boy who are still in the Ghost Dimension, and things look bad. Ultra Boy is incredulous that Phantom Girl would have abandoned them. Tharok demonstrates control even over Brainiac 5's force field belt, and the Fatal Five minus one are on the verge of dealing a killing blow when Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl appear.
Aquaman
#21
“Death
of a King, Chapter Three: Confrontation”
Okay,
so Mera was sent from the Bermuda Triangle kingdom of Xebel, where
she is the Queen and daughter of the last king, to kill the King of
Atlantis … three
years ago?
I hate this New 52 crunched time line! Anyway, at the time she was
betrothed
to Nereus, not
married, but he doesn't see the difference. He does not take her 'splainin' it to him very well. There is an excellent
3¼-page introduction to who Aquaman is. He's still chasing the
Scavenger, but that chase is beginning to look like a distraction.
What happened to Dr. Rhodon's face? – is it an effect of the
surface bomb that provoked the Atlantean attack several issues ago?
Arthur gets news of Mera's abduction and races away. Tula and her
companions leave Atlantis defenseless to attempt a rescue of Orm from
Belle Reve. Nereus attacks the “traitor” Mera with similar water
powers, the the Ice King attacks and freezes them all. Aquaman makes
his way the Xebel, and then we get a quick one-page montage of
multiple cliffhangers: The Ice King freezes Arthur and declares
himself the First King of Atlantis; Tula and company make their way
ashore in South Louisiana to rescue Orm; Dr. Rhodon inadvertently
triggers a tracking device in the Scavenger's victim; And the
Scavenger attacks defenseless Atlantis.
“Don't
Mind If I Do”
We
are introduced to the new Insect Queen of HIVE, which tries to steal
Hector Hammon's megalocephalic body from STAR Labs, but only succeed
in triggering another mental outlash in which Hammond briefly
connects with every Metropolitan except
Superman, causing them to manifest various aspects of Superman's
personality. Which is all interesting enough in its own right, but
the really shiny part of this issue is Clark's inner'logue as he goes
about putting on a show of a normal life, and why that's necessary.
Here's Scott Lobdell at his best (he's often not),
and Kenneth Rocafort's art complements the story equally well in this
quieter part as well as in the more “super-heroey” parts.
Superman
is finally, in its latest few issues, in its rightful place among the
best titles of the DC line-up.
“Fatherless”
And
suddenly everything shifts. As Batman has an extensive fight with
the Heretic, others discover the bigger picture. Talia gains access
to the Cave for a final confrontation – just after beheading the
Heretic, a clone
of Damian and therefore Batman's other son,
which I think Bruce had figured out. Look
out, Talia!
Talon
#9
“Uneasy”
Calvin
Rose and Strix fake her death using another Talon's corpse, which
gains Rose time to continue service to the Court in hopes of helping
Casey and Sarah. He manages to slip Casey a lockpick in a kiss
before being dispatched to Santa Prisca to eliminate Sebastian Clark,
Bane, and company. There he confronts Sebastian, but is attacked by
one of Bane's venom-mutated monsters. Meanwhile, Casey manages to
get loose enough to use a false tooth to transmit a message to her
allies.
It's
a good story although I don't know how sustainable a series with an
undead hero can be if his undead state has any real meaning beyond
him moaning about it. It doesn't seem to make any real difference.
The substitute artist is disappointing.
“Mad”
In
the wake of Natalya's murder, an enraged Batman fights his way
through the Mad Hatter's thugs and psychotic tea-induced
hallucinations to almost kill the Hatter. Ultimately, however,
Alfred manages to talk him down and he saves the Mad Hatter from
drowning. A month later, the Bat Signal has been repaired – it
looks like it's been taped back together – and Batman responds to a
a call although Alfred had hoped he would at least take some time
off.
Justice
League Dark #21
“Horror City, Conclusion: Die, Die,
Die, My Darling”
This
issue begins with an image of the JLD impaled on pikes twenty years
in the future – Destiny's vision, but Madame Xanadu also sees the
future and sees love between herself and Deadman. Dullard me
finally gleaned Flash's real purpose in this story arc, to provide an
outside, more traditionally super-heroic perspective on the
mystical/magical “members” of the “Justice League Dark” (who
don't like that name, and don't really consider themselves “members”
of anything – and yet as Flash observes, they work together). His
inner'logue works on a two-page spread that drives that purpose home
… until the last bit. It turns out that the House of Mystery is
itself a sentient being, and that Deadman has the power to possess
it, proving key to their victory. And that Madame Xanadu is indeed
Dr. Destiny's mother – though she will not disclose the identity of
his father. She also proves reluctant to acknowledge her own vision
regarding Deadman.
I will
say again that Mikel Janin's art is beautiful and atmospheric –
perfect for this book. Jeff Lemire is reportedly leaving, but I find
myself still tempted to get it for the art. Or, more likely, I'll
just be sure to get it in the trades. I do wish DC's trade program
was quicker getting them out, though.
“The
Brothers Trigon”
The
Titans battle the brothers of Raven, seeming to win – then Big
Daddy Trigon shows up and … He. Is. Pissed. The fact that I've
never liked Trigon stories in the past, the execution of this one is
sometimes excellent, sometimes confusing. It's typical Lobdell. We
see that Amanda Waller is also working behind the scenes to contain
knowledge of the event, though, which is an interesting sideways
addressing of the problem how normal people could go on with their
daily lives with such events happening on a routine basis. How aware
of those events are the population at large?
*
* *
DIGITAL
Smallville Season 11 Weeks 54-58
“Hollow,
Parts 1-2 of 4” / “Olympus, Parts 1-3 of 12”
In
the first two parts of a four-part side-story dealing with Tess and
Lex, we begin with a nice scene between Tess and Emil Hamilton.
There is an undercurrent going on that I interpret as an emotional
bond, at the very least on the part of Emil, from when he and Tess
had sex at one point during the final TV season. Granted, they
weren't quite themselves in that episode, but I'm sure it left an
impression on them. And it is very apparent in this story that Tess
experiences emotions in this her disembodied state. How would you
carry on a relationship with a sentient computer program? There
could be some interesting storytelling here. But Emil's more
immediate worry is about Tess's programming going all “Henshaw”
on them.
That's
not the main plot of this side-story, though. It's Tess continuing
to deal with her condition and feelings toward Lex, who killed her
body. We see her hacking in and observing as Lex discovers that
there was a ship that appeared way back during the first week's
segment, which crashed in Smallville under cover of those events.
But as he and Otis are leaving LexCorp, Tess traps Otis in a
revolving door and Lex is confronted and beaten by disgruntled former
employees – Tess observes this as well, does nothing, choosing not
to call 911. One has to wonder if she is going down a dark path here
… indeed “going Henshaw.” Subsequently, she spies on Lex in
the hospital, and almost tampers with his pain medication
prescription – until she's distracted by a fire to which Superman
cannot come. So she networks in to control a helicopter and crane to
save the lives of a trapped little girl and her father, giving birth
to a new mystery hero in Metropolis. Meanwhile, Lex orders the ship
that crashed in Smallville to be brought to him, whatever it takes.
Reviews: Hollow TBA - Olympus
That
ended up being a remarkably detailed write-up for Smallville
Season 11
… but it's worth it. I'm loving this series, looking forward to it
every week. In my humble opinion, it's among the best titles being
produced by DC. Long may it continue! I'm still puzzled by the
hiccup that was the last segment of “Argo,”
but evidently it can't be explained as I speculated, by a new dictate
toward shorter overall stories.
As
I've mentioned, I'm also working on catching up on Injustice:
Gods Among Us,
but I'm holding off on any real review until I'm reading contemporary
weeks' releases. I'll probably be there in the next couple of weeks.
And
that's it for this month. Overall, I think it was a better month
than last.
Cheers! – and Thanks for reading!
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