I thought I would do a topic on the big Smallville stories in the comics. Some of the books are really good and some really have the Smallville tv show feel to them. I have a few picked out and I decided to start with this one.



The World of Smallville #1
1988

This was the first of a four part mini series that dealt with the lives of Jonathan and Martha Kent.
The premise was that Clark has come back home after a lengthy absence and is hanging out with his folks in town. He sees the familiar sights and runs into a few people he hasn't seen since high school.
They are sitting around talking and his folks decide to tell him about Martha's first marriage to a man named Daniel Fordman, the owner of the local department store.
It turns out that when Jonathan was in WWII he was thought dead for a bit and Martha married Dan Fordman. Jonathan comes back home and sees that things are different and he tries to adjust to life out of the service.
We then find out that Dan Fordman is dying of cancer and he is trying to make sure his wife is cared for after he is passed. He goes to Jonathan for help.

As I said this is the first issue of four and in the next few issues the story is finished out and we see more of the Kents life together.
The story is pretty good and the art is fine as well. The story has been retconed out of the history of Superman, I'm sure, but it gives more depth to the characters of his parents. Plus I thought it was cool to see the name Fordman. You all should know that Fordman was the last name of Whitney in season one of Smallville and his father did own a store in town. I don't know if this was a connection that was meant to be made but I thought it was cool none the less.

This mini series was then followed up with two more minis that were set out in this fashion. Next would come The World of Krypton that dealt with the lives of his birth parents and the third would be titled The World of Metropolis. This one focusing on the characters of Perry White, Lois Lane, and jimmy Olsen. It told the story of how each one ended up at the Daily Planet.

Coming up next: Superman at the Prom!

Action Comics #791
July 2002

Ok, so I guess he goes to Homecoming. This one is really good and has that Smallville show feel to it. Clark has been invited to go to his high school to be the Master of Ceremonies for the upcoming homecoming dance. He doesn't really want to and tries to make excuses for him not to go. Lois wants him to go and pressures him. He then tells her why he doesn't want to. This leads into a flashback that shows us the events leading up to the homecoming dance of Clark's senior year.
Clark witnesses a bunch of jocks making fun of and overweight girl named Margaret in the halls of Smallville High and he feels bad for her. He wishes people would treat her better. Lana and Pete try and take his mind off the whole incident and Lana tries to get Clark to ask her to the dance. Clark isn't paying attention and she storms off.
Clark decides to ask Margaret to the dance. He heads off to find her and when he does she thinks it's a joke and leaves. Clark follows her and finds her at the Old Mill Bridge and Clark thinks she is about to jump and he tries to save her. It turns out she wasn't going to jump but his actions cause her to fall in. He rescues her and in the end she says yes to his invite to the dance.
They go to the dance and have a great time and when it comes time to announce the winners of Homecoming King and Queen Lana walks out on stage. She opens the card to read off the winners and sees that the winners are the jock jerks who were teasing Margaret in the beginning. Lana reads off Clark and Margaret's names instead.
The two are shocked and Clark says thank you to Lana.
After the dance Clark is walking Margaret home and she says he doesn't have to. She feels like taking a stroll, she says. They say goodnight and he leaves.
Coming down the road are the jock and his date in his car. They are drunk and complaining about the loss and they lose control of the car and hit Margaret. Clark hears this and heads back to find Margaret on the ground and the car that hit her gone. He holds her and she calls him her hero and dies.
This ends the flashback and Lois and Clark talk about what had happened and Clark decides to go to the Homecoming dance with Lois.

I really liked this story as it was heart felt and really did have that Smallville show feel to it. The art is really good and I think all the characters were used really well. This was the first of two Smallville centered stories that Action Comics did this year. I'm pretty sure they were done to throw a little nod to the show and to grow the mythology of Clark Kent in the comics a little more.

NEXT UP: ABDUCTION IN SMALLVILLE!

I am really enjoying these recaps and reviews Superclerk!!! Appreciate it.

Thanks. I will have another one tomorrow.

Action Comics #794
October 2002

This was the second Smallville story to pop up in Action in this year. It starts with Clark, Pete, and Lana at a movie theater watching a movie based on the Justice Society. The heroes are taking out alien invaders and the crowd in attendance is cheering and yelling at the screen. Clark sits in the middle, the only one not looking as if they are having a good time.
When the movie is over they leave the theater and Clark is upset. Lana, at this time, knows Clark is an alien and understands why he is upset. The movie just made all aliens look like killers. Pete gives him a hard time and Lana and Pete drive off leaving Clark alone.
We are then introduced to the Quintessence. These are five mega beings that watch over earth. They consist of Phantom Stranger, Ganthet, high Father, Zeus, and The Wizard Shazam. These characters are also seen in Kingdom Come There are a few that are worried about Clark Kent being on earth and fear that his great power might be someday used for evil. They decide to test young Clark before taking any action.
We come back to Clark and he is talking to his mom about the movie and she is trying to reassure him that it is only a movie and that he will be fine.
The next day Clark is at a blood drive and they are attempting to get blood from him. He tries to leave but they stick him with the needle anyway and it breaks. He makes an excuse and takes off but hears with his super hearing someone talking about him.
He rushes home to tell his folks that he thinks people are after him but they aren't home. There is only a note on the kitchen table that says "We know who you are."
Pete then shows up and Clark yells at him thinking that Pete is involved. Pete says he doesn't know what he is talking about and Clark tells him to leave. When Clark goes back into the house he finds government agents in containment suits and strange blasters in the house. They tell him they know he's an alien and they are there to take him in. Pete is at the window and hears all of this.
Clark is now held captive in a lab of some sort. There is someone else in the lab with him on the other side of the wall and he talks to Clark telling him that they plan on experimenting on them both. Clark uses his x-ray vision on the wall and sees that the other guy is a green alien that has had his arms and legs taken off. He looks like Martian Manhunter but calls himself Dennis.
Clark freaks out and breaks free. He gets Dennis and makes his way through the lab fighting off guards in an effort to escape.
When he gets to the exit the Justice Society is waiting for him. They attack and Clark and Dennis have to defend themselves. At this point the Kents and Lana pop up and try and help Clark.
The Justice Society has given Clark a pretty bad beating and are about to take him in when the Kents and Lana are attacked. They are about to be killed for trying to help an alien when Clark fights back and manages to take them all out.
Pete then shows up with a bunch of people from Smallville. they have formed a posse and are going to try and kill the alien menace. Lana tries to talk to Pete, telling him that this is his best friend. Pete blows her off and says that all aliens have to be killed before they kill them.
A fire starts from the battle that has just taken place and it causes the forest they are fighting in to burst into a raging inferno. The posse is trapped in the blaze and Clark comes to their rescue.
Dennis the alien asks Clark why he doesn't just let them all die. They were there to kill him after all.
Clark tells him that if he did then he would be giving up his humanity. As he says this he is snapped awake from the dream. The whole thing had been a dream given to him by the Quintessence to see if he was a threat. He passed the test and they all agree that the earth is in good hands with this super man.

While this story was a little out there in terms of relating to the Smallville show, we still see a Clark who is unsure of where he is going in life. He is worried about how people will view him if his secret comes out.
The art is good and I liked the story. I didn't think it was as good as the last one I reviewed but I always liked the opening scene during the alien attack movie where Clark looks unhappy while everyone else around him cheers on the destruction of the visitors from another planet.
I think that would have been a cool scene to have in the first season of Smallville.

NEXT UP: CLARK LEARNS A HARD LESSON ABOUT DRINKING AND DRIVING.

The Adventures of Superman #474
January 1991

The issue starts with Superman flying to the Lowell County Hospital to see a friend from high school. He comes in as Clark Kent and asks for the room number of his friend. The hospital staff is talking as we see Clark make his way through the hospital and we find out that his friend is being taken off life support tonight at the request of his parents.
Clark hears all they have to say and as he gets closer to the room he thinks back to his high school years and to the friend he is about to visit.
As we fade into the flashback we see Clark and Pete at football practice. We also meet a guy named Bru who takes down Clark in a tackle. Bru thanks Clark for making him look good as he thinks Clark let himself get tackled.
We come out of the flashback as Clark enters the room where Bru and his parents are. They aren't happy to see him. We find out that Bru has been in a coma since high school and that Clark was involved in the incident. Clark says he is there to tell them the story of what happened to their son that night so long ago and we fade back into the past.
Clark and Pete are walking to the Kent farm and Clark is wishing he had a car. That's when Bru pulls up and offers to give them a ride in his car. the two accept and they speed off down the road.
We come back to the hospital room and find out from Clark that during the ride home they are invited to a party at Bru's house that weekend. It turns out that his parents had gone out that night, New Years Eve, and left Bru alone. He planned a massive party.
Back in the past, Clark, Lana, and Pete are coming up on the house and talking about the great time they are about to have at the party. They get inside and everyone is drinking. Pete, wanting to fit in, starts drinking right away. Clark tries to tell him to cool it but Pete manages to turn the tables and gets Clark to drink as well. Lana gets upset at this.
The party rages on and soon Pete is drunk and the time for them to head home has come and gone. Clark is telling Pete that it's time to go and Bru offers to give them a ride. Bru is drunk as well but fights off the comments that he is too drunk to drive. They all pile in Bru's car and head off into the night snow.
During the ride home Bru is still drinking from a bottle of booze brought from the party. He offers some to Clark and he declines. He gives hi a hard time and in the process runs a stop sign causing another car to spin off the road. The others are asking him to stop but he doesn't. As he is telling them he is fine he crosses the middle line and the car is hit by a truck heading the opposite way. They fly off the road and smash into a tree. The car is mangled and we see a form crawl out of the car.
It's Clark and he is stunned that he is ok. He pulls Lana and Pete out of the car and they don't look so good. The driver of the truck comes over and says he has called for help as they try and pull Bru from the car.
We now come back to the hospital and we see Bru's parents telling Clark there was nothing he could have done. It had been an accident. We cross this over with the Kents telling young Clark the same thing the night of the accident. One of the things Clark can't tell Bru's parents that even though Clark had also been drinking he didn't feel the alcohol at all due to his alien nature.
They all forgive each other and Clark says his goodbyes to them and to his friend. As he is leaving he sees a couple of drunk guys getting into a car to drive off and he melts the tires with his heat vision.

This is a good one as we see Clark dealing with drinking for the first time and having to deal with the consequences of drunk driving as well. It well written and the art is good. While the story is a little old the point isn't.
I think that's why I like these issues so much and the reason Smallville the show is so good to me. We get to see the events that build a young boy in to a man of steel and hopefully we learn something that will make us a strong as he becomes.

COMING UP SOON: SEASONS OF CHANGE

These continue to be wonderful reads. Thanks Once again!

Superman: For All Seasons #1
1998
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

This is the first of a four part mini series that highlighted the first year of the Man of Steel's career.
We start the story on the Kent farm in the evening. Clark Kent is outside of the house calling out to his father who is working out in the field. He wanders over and sees that Pa Kent is struggling with a massive stone he is trying to get out of the ground. Clark pulls it out easy as can be and this seems to irritate his father. They go into dinner. At the table sit Martha and Lana and Lana's Aunt Ruth. They have a nice supper and after the guests leave Pa and Ma sit on the porch and talk about Clark. They are worried about his gifts and fret over if they have raised him right. They talk about their fears not knowing that Clark can hear every word.
We then come to a scene during the day in town and Lana, Pete, and Clark are walking down the street. They head over to the General Store and sit down to have a few milkshakes. Clark remembers that he was supposed to go get a hair cut and heads next door. While sitting in the barber seat his X-ray vision clicks on and he can see Lana and Pete next door through the wall. This startles Clark and he is a little taken aback as the barber starts the hair cut. The scissors snap in half with the first snip and Clark leaves making excuses all the way out the door. He runs off and manages to speed across the train tracks in front of a train before it can hit him.
Back at the Kent farm, Martha tells Pa that Clark has been standing out in the field for a while and that he needs to go and talk to him. Pa walks out and Clark tells him that he is afraid. At this time Pa has to have a talk with his son that no man has ever had. Instead of having to explain girls or the birds and the bees, Pa Kent has to calm down a growing boy that can bend steel with his bare hands.
In the next scene we see that the skies are dark and the wind has picked up to a great extent. Clark is trying to get the farm locked down as they have heard a twister may be heading their way. The Kent's are able to get into the storm cellar but Clark gets caught up and when the tornado hits he is sucked up into it. He is being thrown through the air in a mass of chaos when he seems to gain control of his momentum. As the twister hits the town Clark is able to help a man near the gas station as the thing blows to pieces. The storm settles and Clark heads home to his folks who are glad to see he is alive.
After this Clark tries to come to grips with the fact that he could have done more with all these powers he has to have helped during the storm. He searches for answers but finds none. Graduation comes and goes and soon Clark has to make a tough decision. He has to leave Smallville and find his place in the world. Before he does he visits Lana Lang. They go for a walk at night and soon he stops and takes her hands. Before she knows what is happening he lifts her up in the air and they fly through the sky. He tells her everything after they land and then tells her that he is leaving. She kisses him and he tells her that he will come back some day.
We next find ourselves in Metropolis and at the Daily Planet. Clark Kent has just been hired on and he meets Lois, Perry, and Jimmy.
In the night Superman makes his first save when a small boy falls from the ledge of a building. Superman puts him back and flies off. Lex Luthor sees the flying man and starts to hatch plans...

This is a must read for the folks who like Smallville as it is one of the inspirations that was used for the show.
The art is excellent and is done by Tim Sale who now does the art for the popular Heroes tv show. It is a simple yet detailed style that lends itself well to the feel of the story we are reading.
A few of the things that Smallville fans will like is the interaction between Pa Kent and his son. It reminds me of the father son moments of the show and really showcase the relationship between the two.
Another great scene is the tornado scene that really echoes the finale from the first season. the visuals are great and the action flows well.
One of the little things that I didn't notice until I read it again after all this time was that in the beginning when we first see the Kent farm house there is a dog food dish on the porch with the name Shelby written on it.
I recommend the story for the Smallville elements and for the great Superman story it tells in the next three issues.

COMING NEXT: A NEW KENT IN TOWN...

Superman #155
April 2000
Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness

We open up with a shot of Superman and Lex Luthor hand in hand in front of a news conference. Superman looks less than pleased to be there. Lex is all smiles.
This book takes place after the Brainiac 13 virus has turned Metropolis into the true City of Tomorrow. All tech in the city has been transformed into the most cutting edge on the planet. The press conference is to let the people of the city know that they will be safe using the tech.
Lex takes over the whole thing trying to make himself look good and using Superman to do this. As soon as the whole circus is over Superman takes to the skies and flies home to Smallville.
Clark is stressed out and really just wants to go back home and relax with his folks and clear his mind. But when he gets there he finds a visitor he doesn't really want to see.
Clark enters the house and calls out to his folks who then yell back that they are in the dining room with a visitor. When he enters the room he finds Superboy sitting at the table eating dinner with his folks. It turns out that Superboy met the Kents a few months back during a stop in Smallville and they had told him he was always welcome at the farm and to stop by sometime. He has now taken them up on this offer and Clark is not pleased.
He wanted to come home and get away from everything for a short time and it seems as if his other life has followed him to the one place that he always thought was off limits. Clark storms out a little upset and Superboy brushes it off and asks for seconds of the food.
We then have a touching moment between Clark and his mother as she tries to find out what has been bothering him. He tells her about his problems and she tells him to give Superboy a chance. She likes having him around.
Clark goes and finds Superboy in his old room and they talk a little. It seems Superboy is at the farm for the same reasons that Clark is. He just wanted to drop off the map for a spell and clear his head.
The next scene has Clark and Pa milking cows and talking about why Clark hasn't told Superboy who he is. Clark just wants a wall between Superman and Clark and every time he tells another person his secret it chips away at that wall. Pa talks to him and Clark realizes that this young boy with all these powers doesn't have people to care for him like Clark did when he was growing up. Clark decides to make a better effort at making Superboy feel at home.
After the visit they all say their good byes and Superboy flies off. Clark takes off right after as Superman and he flies back to Metropolis together.

There is a lot more to the story that I have left out but in all this Lex Luthor is considering running for president and Lois and Clark are having a little marriage issues. It's a full comic.
I really like that Ma and Pa get time in with their boy and are still teaching him lessons even though he is the Man of Steel.
The art is excellent and really lets you know what the characters are feeling through the facial expressions and body language.
While this is the second time Superboy has come to the farm he will return later and actually live with the Kents as Clark's cousin Conner Kent. Unfortunately, shortly after that he will meet his end saving the world.