Review: Smallville #12

Smallville #12 came out last week and, for once, I will have its review done before the subsequent Wednesday's books are released.

This book ended the Haunted story, a title which not only referenced Impulse being chased by the Black Flash, but also Chloe being haunted by visions of Earth 2, and Lex's body being haunted by the ghost of Tess. And, amazingly, it wraps up all of these storylines, maybe a bit quickly, but nonetheless satisfactorily.
 One of the things I love about this book is the small moments that writer Bryan Q. Miller infuses into the story, little things which build up the overall effect of the closure of a plot line. 

And more seeds are sown for the eventual Crisis storyline which has been percolating in the background. It has been said that there can't be a crisis without the death of a Flash. Hmmmm ...

Jorge Jimenez is on art here and his are was solid throughout. I liked his work on the 'speed' scenes best of all.

Our Chloe had the memories of her Earth 2 counterpart downloaded into her brain a couple of issues ago. Unfortunately, that Earth resembled a horror movie more than home movies. As a result, she has been plagued with visions of horrible things which happened to her loved ones over there.

It also showed just how cocky that Chloe was. That Chloe set up a trap for Clark 'Ultraman' Luthor using Oliver as bait ... Oliver, who was her lover and her cousin's fiance. Unfortunately, Clark was a bit more on the up and up than she expected. And so, at an anti-Ultra Man press conference, in front of a throng of people which included Lois and Chloe in a perch with a K-bullet sniper rifle, Oliver gets his neck snapped, his head turned around.

Earth 2 isn't a nice place. That's for sure. But how must this weigh on our Chloe ... to see her doppelganger husband killed because of 'her' poor planning.

But the main storyline is the Black Flash trying to kill Impulse. Clark, garbed in a speed suit which absorbs the Speed Force, is in a dogfight with this thing but neither seems to be gaining an upper hand.

Bart decided he can't hide anymore, he can't run away from the Black Flash, he can't let Clark fight his battle for him. And so he begins running faster than ever before, absorbing all the excess speed energy which has been aging people around the world.

I have read enough Flash comics to know when they say 'faster than ever' they are nearing some sort of event horizon with the Speed Force. And so we get this panel where suddenly Bart is being chased not by the Black Flash but other figures. This has to be prior speedsters who were sucked into the force. Three people, one appears female - Barry Allen, Max Mercury, and Jessie Quick? I thought this panel was great laying down subtle information for a future story.

And the Bart absorbs all the Speed energy from the juiced up Clark. Suddenly Bart knows what he needs to do ... confront the Black Flash. And crackling with energy, he runs away from Clark towards the confrontation.

I thought this page (of which I present a snippet) was great as it replayed the ending of the Smallville TV episode where we see Bart outrun Clark backwards! It was a way to show us, through Clark's memories, that Clark knows he won't be able to save Bart here. Bart is simply to fast.

And Bart has to know it is a one way trip. He's crying as he goes.

Finally Bart goes nose-to-nose with the Black Flash and force feeds him all the speed he has absorbed. The resulting explosion seems to have disintegrated the Black Flash and Bart. Only a familiar symbol, blasted into the ground remains. Now I don't know why they disappear exactly.

I think that resulting Flash symbol crater is great and poignant way to end that portion of the story, especially if it was other Flashes which were talking to Bart. This is one of those small things I talked about before. A Flash symbol crater carries so much more artistic clout than a simple crater.

Is this the real 'end' of Impulse. I'm not buying it. He probably got sucked into the Speed Force. But when the Crisis comes and space/time is acting higgledy-piggledy, I bet he re-appears.

Meanwhile, Chloe finally gets up to the point where the Earth-2 version of her is killed by a Monitor here on Earth-1. It doesn't sound like there is a Monitor and an Anti-Monitor like the classic Crisis. This sounds like Monitors, like in Countdown. You never want to be compared to Countdown.

But I love how this Chloe faces her fate, saying her life end before .. when Ollie died. This is one of those nice moments that I referenced before, a single line which adds so much depth to that character.

If Bart talking to other Flashes might be foreshadowing, this scene where Clark and Jay Garrick talk about Bary's sacrifice has to be.

Once again, Clark reminds Jay about heroism, doing what's right, and running towards something not away from something.

The scene ends with Jay looking at his Flash winged helmet.

There can't be a Crisis without a Flash dying. I am calling it now. In the Crisis arc, Jay comes out of retirement, helps save the day, but dies in the process. And I'll even go one step further. I'll say that somehow his sacrifice brings Bart back into the world.

If there was a silver lining to this Black Flash adventure it is that Clark's exposure to the Speed Force sped up his metabolism enough to burn away Luthor's tracking radioactive isotope. Lex can't follow Superman's steps any more.

I like the understated panel here of Lois and Clark hugging. By putting it into silhouette, it allows the reader to imagine what they think that reunion looks like in detail. I think that works better for something like this rather than showing me exactly there expressions, etc.

But there is little time for romance as Lois brings him (as Superman) and Green Arrow into the Lex Tower where they somehow (as it is all done off screen) drain off Tess and create for her a sort of electronic existence. Maybe she will be a sort of Oracle for the team, gathering intel literally from the inside?

This is the ending that I thought felt a bit rushed. How did they do this? Is this construct physical? Or is this just a hologram projected from the computer ether?

The Tess plot was one of my favorites so to have to surmise the conclusion of it is sort of a downer.

With Black Flash gone and Tess freed, there is only one more Haunted plot to end.

Haunted by the horrible things she has seen and fearing what the life of her unborn child will be like if Ollie and her continue to adventure (having seen the result on Earth 2), Chloe basically retires from super-heroics. She hopes Clark will understand and ... of course ... he does. Again, this is one of those moments which make this such a dense and appreciated book. These are three-dimensional characters.

At times I worried that Ollie and Chloe were taking up to big of a role in this book. Now I am kind of depressed that they aren't going to be around any more. I don't think it is an all or none phenomenon. I hope Miller is going to check in on them every so often. I suppose Tess' new condition makes her a natural to replace Chloe as the 'Oracle' of the team.

So...

Bart defeats the Black Flash, but I don't know how.
Tess is saved, but I don't know how.
And Chloe and Ollie are out.

But that said, those stories are written so well with such great supporting scenes that even if the conclusion is unexplained I know enough to sort of roll with it.

The best thing about 'Haunted' being over? The Supergirl issues are that much closer.

Overall grade: B

Review: Smallville #9

I know I am woefully behind the times with my Smallville reviews. For one, Smallville is a 'digital first' comic and I have yet to embrace that media. So by the time the print version comes out, fans are weeks ahead of me. And, for some reason, Smallville usually ends up being the last book that I review the week it comes out. And so, quite late, here is my Smallville #9 review.

I have applauded Bryan Q. Miller's work as writer on the book, the sort of perfect mix of old school Superman heroics, great Lois/Clark interactions, and a great sprinkling of humor. But above and beyond that, Miller has been able to get me interested in the ancillary characters of the show ... particularly the ghostly Tess and even Chloe.

This issue starts the Haunted story arc and the title works on a couple of levels. One is that Tess subplot. I have really loved that particular story as a possessed Lex tries to deal with his sister running around in his head. He is truly haunted. But we also have Impulse in this arc and judging by the last scene there is a good reason for his story to be haunted too.

Jorge Jimenez comes on board as art and his style has a fine-lined slick feel to it.

The book opens inside Lex's mind, a sort of nightmarish realm of bad memories and old orphanages. This part has a very eerie feel to it which is a nice way to open up something called 'Haunted'.

But the thing I loved about this is how the Tess/Lex dynamic, two minds sharing one body, is becoming something of a cat-and-mouse game. For the first 2 arcs, Tess has really had something of an upper hand. She has been lurking in Lex's mind ... initially undiscovered but then slowly gaining some control over his body.

Now that Lex knows that Tess is possessing him, he turns the table. The hunted becomes the hunter as he chases the spirit of Tess through the hallways of his mind hoping to drain her of all her knowledge (which includes a lot of information about Superman). I just think this works especially given the horror title. It just feels like a suspense film.

Lex's mind dive is interrupted by an attack on the LexCorp tower by Psimon. Superman is doing his best to hold the psionic at bay when Lex shows himself.

Psimon is looking for revenge given that Lex experimented on him, making him a freak. So this 'new Lex' is being haunted by decisions made by the 'old Lex'. These skeletons in Lex's closet are going to keep showing up looking for their pound of flesh.

And playing innocent by claiming amnesia has made him a new man isn't going to work for Lex. Those wounds are deep and can't be covered by a bandaid. Here, Psimon still tries to pulp Lex only to have Superman fly him to safety.

Luckily for Superman, Impulse shows up and uses his raw speed to outmaneuver Psimon's attacks. A flurry of super-speed punches defeats the villain.

But this phrase about needing to snack because speed is a 'killer' is too loaded of a statement to take solely as snappy banter. This was nice foreshadowing for the end of the issue.

As I have said before, Smallville is were I go when I need my Lois-fix. In this book she is smart, spunky, sexy, and indefatigable. She does her best to worm some information about Psimon out of Otis before he shows her in. She is formidable.

But what I loved here is that Otis' full name is Otis Berg. Remember in the first Donner Superman movie when Lex describes the cities in his 'new' West Coast, one of the cities is Otisberg. Okay, it is a small Easter Egg joke ... but funny!

Now when the issue started I was worried that Lex might be just the domineering persona within his body, that Tess was going to be reduced to a frightened girl spirit cowering the dusty corners of his mind.

Those fears were allayed pretty quickly. While talking to Lois about trying to make amends for past indiscretions, Lex ... unknowingly ... writes a note to Lois that says 'help'. It is clear that Tess is behind this, literally standing behind Lex. She has more control over him now. So she seems like she isn't quite as helpless as that early scene made out.

So who is the cat and who is the mouse here?

Meanwhile, Clark and Bart catch up by racing around the world and reminiscing.

It is unclear just why Bart has surfaced. But this was a nice scene where the two talk about what they mean to each other.

Despite being threatened by Psimon, Lex actually thinks the telepath can help him. Maybe Psimon's abilities can restore some of Lex's memories. Luthor asks Psimon to scan him and in return he'll help Psimon as much as he can.

The brief scan from Psimon reveals Tess' presence. I love her holding her finger to her lips as Psimon looks on, asking him to be quiet about knowing her possession. She is sly and I think is playing with Lex. Maybe that opening scene was to make Lex feel more confident about being able to control her presence.

But what I love here is that Psimon's hatred for Lex is greater than his desire to get help (albeit from Lex). He keeps Tess' presence under wraps knowing that she can harm Lex more easily than he can.

I really love this plotline. Just intriguing.

The issue ends with a nice super-hero fight. Superman and Impulse battle Monsieur Mallah, The Brain, and a troop of armed monkeys.

I love that Miller riffs on Mallah and The Brain's romantic relationship. The last time we saw that was way back in Morrison's Doom Patrol run.

And now another meaning of Haunted comes out. While Superman eliminates Mallah (and that is great panel construction by Jimenez), Bart runs at superspeed to pluck all the bullets out of the air. But that run gets the attention of something ... the Black Flash, here an almost animalistic dark beast hissing out words. When running, Bart is haunted by this thing.

But what is it?

It has to be ....HAS TO BE ... the Flash from Earth 2 trying to warn this world's Impulse about the upcoming Crisis. Look at that body. Doesn't it have the feel of the decaying Flash from Crisis on Infinite Earths? Wouldn't it make sense that they could communicate only when plugged into the speed? I think I am on to something here.

And adding Impulse to Batman as guest stars sounds like a League is being formed to fight that huge upcoming threat.

I enjoyed this issue a lot, thinking it a nice opening chapter for this arc mixing in the usual action, humor, characterization, as well as a sort of sci-fi ghost story. It all works!

Overall grade: B+