January 28
 

Smallville's 100th episode, "Reckoning," has passed -- taking a much-loved character with it -- and so has Derek's fiver. But that's not all. Considering the significance of these events, I felt they merited a little something extra. I really wanted to get this out before the episode aired, but better late than never. Here's TJI #46: Smallville to kill Lois Lane.


Don't touch that dial -- because tomorrow, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.

Great TJI, though I think I seriously heard some people wanting Lois to die. There have been a lot of Clark/Chloe 'shippers since the series started, and many of them want/hope that Chloe will grow up into Lois Lane (i.e., something will happen that will cause her to hide her identity and assume another one). The producers have constantly tried to refute this speculation by a) mentioning that Lois is actually Chloe's cousin and b) bringing Lois on the show itself, but there are still some people who hold to that theory.

Great quotes.

Which is my typical response to almost anything Smallville-related.

Boooo! Booooo! *throws tomatoes*

I can safely say Sa'ar didn't care for that pun.

Ouch.

And now to comment on the fiver.

*snicker*

Is that more comlicated or less complicated than simply flying around the planet until it spins backwards?

"Pa always told me that with great power comes great responsibility. Responsible people don't run away and get someone else to fix their problems. Pa would have wanted it this way."

Nice fiver.

Yeah, sadly the episode actually made that joke for me, so I couldn't use it in the fiver. Oh well, I'd already used it in "Pariah".

Heheheh. I don't watch Smallville, but nice TJI.

Seriously, do people think of all the series/films as a continuous story? Despite contradictions, different appearances etc? Wow.

No, but there are limits. A show whose entire purpose is to show Superman's teenage years can't do something that would change everything we know about his adult life, like killing Lois. (Some of us think they already crossed the line by having him meet her this early.)

Jonathan is another story -- and in my opinion, a fascinating one. See, until the Crisis, there were two major time periods where Superman stories took place: his youth in Smallville and his adulthood in Metropolis. It had been established in the very first Superman issue that Clark's parents were dead, so they could only appear in Superboy stories. The death of Jonathan came to be treated as an important turning point in Clark's life -- the moment he realized that for all his power, he couldn't always save those he loved. (Anyone who saw Superman: The Movie will remember this.)

Then in 1985, DC decided to rework Superman to keep the character fresh. John Byrne, one of my all-time favourite comics writers, got the job. The biggest change he made was to eliminate the Superboy period entirely. Clark didn't wear a costume till he was an adult, he didn't meet Lex in Smallville -- and his parents were still around. The latter is the one Byrne change that almost everyone agrees was for the better, because Jonathan and Martha have proven to be valuable supporting characters ever since. Lois & Clark was based on the new Superman backstory, so it had Clark's parents on the cast.

But Smallville's a whole other deal. With one exception -- Clark's lack of a costume -- it took its cue from the old Superboy stories and the movie. Thus Lex was Clark's friend (and bald), an element the show would never have succeeded without. And with those influences, especially the movie, it was inevitable in hindsight that Jonathan Kent would die.

There's an interesting capper to this: the success of Smallville eventually convinced DC to change things around again. They recruited another of my all-time favourite writers, Mark Waid, to do a new official origin combining elements of both its predecessors. So in the comics, Clark and Lex did meet as kids... now. Again. After all.

The past is the future, the future is the past... it all just gives me a headache.

And this is why I don't read any comics, with the exception of 2000AD, which, unlike most others, doesn't suck.

You still read those? I remember collecting those...Gad, even the mention brings me back to half-completed Judge Dredd stories :D

Dredd is still my favourite by a long way, but I must profess a prediliction for the ABC Warriors and Devlin Waugh as well.

This was me. Apparently I wasn't logged in.

Personally, I prefer the Byrne Man of Steel origin for Superman... Not that I've ever watched Smallville, though.

:snerk:

:snicker:

*headdesk* I just got that. You'd think by this point I'd have learned to read Zeke's stuff carefully. Stealth puns are lethal.

Zeke! Zeke! Do another TJI, because then it'll be the 47th one. :3

Funny you should say that, FG....

*grins in anticipation* :D

*Smile knowingly*

Sorry, I was logged out automatically.