Legion of Superheroes – Man From Edge of Tomorrow pt 2 review

The second part of the 2-part season premiere of the Legion of Superheroes has concluded with the return of the original Superman, who is a couple of years older, more experienced, more in control of his powers, and more muscular than he ever was in the first season. He meets his 41st Century clone, Superman X, and learns how much the two are really different. While the original Superman believes in saving lives and the universe, Superman X seems more concerned about fighting Imperiex than either saving lives and joining the Legion. The episode marks the tension between the two Supermen with the Legion caught in the middle. Superman names his clone, Kell-El, as a play to his own Kryptonian name, Kal-El.

 

Lightning Lad also has a motivation – to get back at the super-villains who put Saturn Girl in a catatonic state and Cosmic Boy out of action

indefinitely. He’s the only founder of the Legion still active and it’s resting on his shoulders alone. Phantom Girl is worried about him.

 

We get to see more Legionnaires who didn’t appear in the first part such as Bouncing Boy, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and a host of others but

they are heavily injured while other Legionnaires are trapped in a prison by the freed supervillains.

 

Imperiex has retained whatever supervillains are free and is rebuilding his empire from the 31st Century onwards that caused the time changes from that point that erased the 41st Century as it was. He may be a potential super-villain if developed correctly so that he may not be in the huge shadow of Darkseid.

 

This was a great episode and a great 2-part premiere to start the dark, intense second season of the Legion of Superheroes. Twice the Supermen, twice the fun.

Smallville – Bizarro review

The 7th season of Smallville is upon us with the premiere episode, Bizarro. This episode is miles better than both Zod and Phantom put together in that it focused on the main character himself, Clark Kent. Most of the stories in the episode have been well-thought out unlike the anticlimactic Zod. This was one of the better episodes by Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders.

 

Like I said, Clark is the one who shined the most here when he was displaying Superman traits by using his heat vision to the maximum against the river dam that was about to envelope a child, his father, and his dog. Clark has accepted his destiny, how he was raised, and who he is. His fights with Bizarro were awesome. When going from Zod to Bizarro, Clark’s fighting abilities have improved a great deal.

 

One other character who has shined is Chloe Sullivan, who was pronounced dead and she woke up in the morgue. After being rescued by Clark, Chloe realized that Lana was dead and the reactions of her and Clark were wonderful as words were unnecessary at that moment. She also tried to get Clark to fly, but I don’t Clark to fly just because Chloe told him to. He needs to see that for himself.

 

The way Lois was written in this episode was disturbing. While her scenes with Bizarro were great, her scenes with Clark are not in that she told Clark to make himself useful and look after Chloe. Why in the world is she saying that to Clark? Has she forgotten that he just rescued her, Chloe, and the kid from the river dam? Is going after Lex more important to her than her cousin’s life that was hanging in the balance? That needs to be addressed in the next episode.

 

Last season focused on both Lex and Lana. This episode we didn’t see them much as Lex didn’t do much either. Lex decides to go to jail after he was rescued by Kara, whom he believed to be an angel. He also refused to help Bizarro kill Clark. His motivations seemed lost in the episode as if he was just there. As for Lana, they rushed to spite the viewers in letting them know that she’s alive and well and was never in danger. But at this point, I could care less if she returns to Smallville because I consider her extraneous at this point.

 

Now on to the newest addition to Smallville – Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl. Her entrance is angelic and was shown beautifully onscreen thus to distinguish her from her famous cousin. Her saving Lex is an echo of the pilot episode six years ago. She has the same powers as Clark, but

she can fly and that is something Clark has to master if he expects to be Superman. She doesn’t need to speak so we will learn more about her in the second episode, Kara.

 

Lionel Luthor only had one scene and that he was mysteriously dragged out of the river by someone who was hired by Lana. He will be back

in the 5th episode of the season.

 

The fights and special FX were awesome as they stepped up a notch and Bizarro looked cool onscreen with his face looking exactly like the comics. Whenever episodes focus on the Superman mythology, they get high ratings and viewership as most people care more about Clark’s journey towards becoming Superman way more than his relationship with Lana.

 

As a result, the premiere’s ratings were 5.08 million viewers so that’s better than both Zod and Phantom put together. Great start for the 7th season. If they can continue this trend, we may have a better season that will make us forget the last season.

Legion of Superheroes – Man From Edge of Tomorrow Part 1 – Review

 The second season of the Legion of Superheroes animated series kicks off with a dark, gritty bang when the Superman clone from the 41st Century called Superman X arrives in the 31st Century needing the Legion’s help in defeating his arch-enemy, Imperiex. Most of the Legion are very skeptical of the Superman clone, especially Brainiac 5. When they arrive in the 41st Century, it was apocalypse now in front of them when buildings and people were gone. They fight Imperiex’s troops and try to come up with a strategy to defeat him. When Imperiex goes back into the past in the 31st Century, the future has been altered and one of the Legionnaires is dead as a result.

 

The first season was bright and optimistic and the second season was darker and intense. There is tension between the Legion and Superman X, especially with Braniac 5 who seems to have some kind of man-crush on the original Superman. Also, there is a note about Brainiac 5’s future provided if it really does happen. We only got to see the original Superman in the form of a simulation and we also saw the end of Triplicate Girl and the beginning of Duo Damsel.

 

Superman X has most of the original Superman’s powers, but doesn’t have his heart, morals and weaknesses. He lives simply to fight and is a loose-cannon & not a team player, especially when it was he who came to the Legion. This was the reverse of the last season when the Legion went to the 21st Century to recruit the original Superman and now it’s the Superman X from the future arriving to 31st Century for the Legion’s help.

 

We are also introduced to a new member named Chamleon Boy, who has the ability to change shape and he is catching on very quick much like the way Bouncing Boy did in the first season. It seems from the second season premiere, we now have an idea who are the core characters for the rest of the season.

 

Imperiex is a villain who was first introduced in the Worlds At War storyline written by Jeph Loeb and is in the similar vein as Darkseid. I believe they’re saving Darkseid for future seasons down the line if the show is successful in ratings. A very wonderful start of the second season with a new Superman.

Superman: Doomsday review

Superman: Doomsday is the first of the DTV animated movies based on stories by DC Comics. Appropriately enough, they started with the

one based on the best-selling story, Death of Superman. This year is the 15th Anniversary of the story so what better way to celebrate it than to do a DTV animated movie based on it. The movie has nothing to do with Superman: The Animated Series because they updated the look of Superman’s world with the characters and the settings. The movie broke down into 3 acts:

 

The first act is the coming of the monster menace Doomsday, whose sole purpose is to destroy life and that even means the most innocent are not even safe. Meanwhile, there is romance and tension between Superman and Lois over his secret identity of Clark Kent while they’re spending time together at the Fortress of Solitude. But Superman and Lois go back to Metropolis to deal with Doomsday that resulted in the mother of all superfights between the two powerhouses. The result is that both of them died which affected Lois and the entire world.

 

The second act is how Lois and the other characters are affected by the death of Superman. Even Lex Luthor is also affected by his death in his own demented way. With Superman’s absence comes the high-rise of crime, starting with the Toyman. As Lois is about to get in trouble, out of nowhere is the return of Superman without explanation and Lois suspects that there is something wrong. Lois’ relationship with Jimmy Olsen had also become rocky during this time as Jimmy now works for a tabloid newspaper. As the world is happy for his return, Superman does something unimaginable – he kills Toyman. We found out that Lex Luthor has cloned Superman to be used as a tool for his own gain.

Lois meets Martha about Clark Kent’s identity as Superman.

 

The third act is the clone Superman rebelling against his creator, Lex Luthor, and "protecting" Metropolis while the real Superman has been

resurrected and awakened by his Kryptonian robot as he undergoes rehab in the Fortress. Both Lois and Jimmy found out that Luthor was planning to create an army of clone Supermen to conquer the world, but the clone Superman destroyed them. The real Superman returns

wearing black and long hair to battle his clone while Metropolis is on the line. The romantic relationship between Superman and Lois has been cemented as Superman reveals his identity to Lois and Luthor is also alive, but injured.  

 

This was a great way to start off the new line of DC animated movies and is much better than Brainiac Attacks, even though I like that one too. Both Brainiac Attacks and Doomsday are written by Duane Capizzi. I like it as you can watch this after Superman Returns and it would be like a sequel. Did it captured the essence of the original story? Only the Doomsday part of it, but the rest you couldn’t because of the time constraints. But who cares? It’s one of the best Superman movies that deserves to be part of the Superman collection. It’s a lot better than JLU’s Doomsday Sanction.

Response To A Recent Interview

Earlier today, Comics Continuum has posted their interview with Smallville producer, Al Gough, about the Season 6 DVD that will be released this week on September 18. The 6th season DVD will have many special features, but unfortunately will not have any commentary. But that’s not what my beef is. My beef is what Gough said about the 6th season. Here are my responses:

 

-The series centered on the core triangle of Clark, Lex, and Lana – He knew that many fans, including myself, didn’t like it and still went with it instead of focusing on the more important storyline of the season, which was the Phantom Zoners and Level 33.1. The main problem was that the relationship between Clark & Lana and Lex & Lana led to the triangle and the writers put too much emphasis on it thus resulting in low ratings and viewership. Actually, the cover of the 6th season DVD summed up what went wrong with the show.

 

-The characters had clear goals – We already know the goals of Clark, Lex, and Lois in long-term, but the goals of both Lana and Chloe are

 basically short-term. We still don’t know their long-term goals in the series.

 

-There was Superman & DC mythology in the 6th season – Both the Phantom Zone and Zod did not work and was considered gimmicky that 

  was used only in the 6th season premiere and nothing more. Same thing with Martha Kent and Lois in the Fortress of Solitude for no

  reason. While the Phantom Zone looked good, Zod didn’t come across that well. As for Green Arrow, he was a guest-star who had an arc

  while Clark was becoming secondary. The Justice League was great, but had no buildup to it. I’d say the 6th season was more soap opera 

  and less mythology.

 

-The 6th season was the strongest – In their minds maybe, but not to the fans including myself. The low ratings and viewership disputes

 that as it was the weakest and worst season. But it’s convenient of him to say that because he wasn’t a big fan of Superman or the comics.

 

-The Future Fate of Lana – We already know that Lana comes back, thanks to Miles Millar, so there’s no point in him trying to tease us with

 it.

 

-No Commentary on the 6th Season DVD – I wonder why no commentary. Was it because the 6th season was the worst? That’s gotta be it.

 

It’s quite clear that he must not have seen the ratings numbers during the 6th season. Fortunately, the show has been renewed for the 7th season and that’s all it mattered to the producers.

 

   

Remembering 9/11

Today we celebrate the memories of the people we’ve lost on September 11, 2001, the day that the entire world changed perhaps forever. May their spirits live on forever.

The Elements of Smallville & Their Uses In The Seasons

With the 7th season of Smallville coming up this month on the 27, I had the opportunity to look back on the pilot episode to point out the elements that made the show successful. Those elements are the following:

 

1) Clark Kent seeking out his destiny, searching for his identity, and his place in the world.

 

2) The friendship between Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.

 

3) The relationship between Clark Kent and Lana Lang.

 

4) Clark battling the forces of evil in the form of meteor-infected superhumans.

 

5) The family harmony and unity of the Clark, Jonathan, and Martha Kent.

 

6) The friendship between Clark Kent, Pete Ross, and Chloe Sullivan.

 

 

The first three seasons had all of the elements mentioned above and were the most successful, resulting in high ratings and viewership numbers. It was about the main characters of Clark, Lex, Lana, Pete, Chloe, Lionel, Jonathan, and Martha.  It was a tight and well-rounded cast. When the 4th season came up, the context of the series has changed. Instead of seeing the characters overcome their struggles from

the 3rd season finale, Covenant, the characters were suddenly put in new situations because of the time jump that’s 3 months later. The

producers and writers have destroyed what had worked for the series and never regained what made the show great. Half of the elements

from the seasons 4-6 were gone. They also brought in outside gimmicks to replace what they lost. In other words, the show never fixed their problems on the inside and that resulted in the ratings & viewership slide. The 7th season is in a position to bring back viewers with

Supergirl. Can it replace the disastrous 6th season?