#142: Being Human…

We tend to forget Clark Kent is a writer.

Okay, he’s actually a journalist, but you get the point; he’s a creative individual. Not only that, he’s the Ultimate Creative Genius; able to write at superhuman speed while still finding time to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

I do not possess super-speed. I cannot formulate a blog post in my Kryptonian brain while foiling Lex Luthor’s latest scheme. My tiny human brain has found itself overwhelmed of late by my many challenges. Such as…

• Working full-time carting luggage around for ungrateful tourists.
• Supporting – and occasionally enjoying – a family.
• Writing  and maintaining You’ve been Hooked!
• Writing and maintaining The Book of Terrible.
• Creating and launching weekly column for Bullet News Niagara.
• Launching and promoting my first – and hopefully not last – book, The Bellman Chronicles.
• And finally, attending a movie and comic convention here and there!

If I was concealing a tenth of Mr. Kent’s awesome power, maybe I’d have a shot at maintaining all of the responsibilities I’ve chosen to shoulder. However,  I am but a  mere mortal – I know, it saddens my wife, she was hoping to land a vampire – who has been forced to concede defeat.

As you are well aware, my productivity has taken a hit of late and it does not appear the situation is going to improve any time soon. To say the very least. I’m certain many of you have reached this conclusion in regards to your own hectic schedules; there simply aren’t enough hours in a single day to do it all.

Tom Welling as Superman/Clark Kent. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whether it’s a dream or a loved one, something always suffers when we take on a foe outside our power set.

Sorry, the comic book analogies just come so naturally, I can’t resist.

At any rate, while I have not thrown in the proverbial, blogging towel just yet I have found myself forced to scale back my WordPress activities… for a little while, at least. Ironically, it was my blogs that inspired me to write a book and pursue an online column in the first place.

To wrap this rambling mess up, I’ll still be around folks; just in small doses. And as always, I’ll pop up occasionally on other blogs. keep in touch, okay?

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The End Is Here For Smallville!

Image via Wikipedia

After ten long years, Smallville’s Clark Kent has finally flown into television history, shattering the show’s “No Tights, No Flights” rule in a blaze of glory.

SARAH: Hey, what are you doing?

THE HOOK: Just writing about the series finale of Smallville.

SARAH: It’s “Sarah”s Smalville”, Dad!

THE HOOK: Is it?

SARAH: Hey, I’ve been busy with school, piano, karate, watching Glee.. oh, and just being a kid!

THE HOOK: Fair enough. So, what did you think of the last-ever episode?

SARAH: I still can’t believe it’s over…

THE HOOK: Focus..

SARAH: All right. I liked the opening with Chloe and her future son reading a Smallville comic book. I just didn’t understand how she acted through the episode. It was as if she knew what was going to happen.

THE HOOK: She did wear the helmet of Dr. Fate briefly.

SARAH: That’s true. Still, they really expected the audience to just accept things without explanation, Like the whole Jonathon Kent situation; was he a ghost? Did Martha actually see him or not?

THE HOOK: It’s called “suspension of disbelief” and Smallville has relied on it quite a bit in ten seasons.

SARAH: It’s called a room full of lazy writers!

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THE HOOK: That too. Still, Jonathon’s presence was necessary, as was Lionel‘s. The show has always been about Fathers and Sons and their dynamic. Clark turned out a hero because of Jonathon and Jor-el, and of course Lionel’s actions produced..

SARAH: The greatest character of them all – Lex! Who finally came back in a way that made some sense.

Image via Wikipedia

THE HOOK: They literally patched him together and used cloned organs to complete him! Oh, and Lionel’s heart, his final gift to his son.

SARAH: All that matters is that he came back. He even told Clark to finally become Superman instead of the “Blur”, which I didn’t really get.

THE HOOK: He wanted an enemy who was worthy of doing battle with the last Luthor.

SARAH: That’s another thing that bothered me. What about Tess? Lex stabs her and she doesn’t even get a funeral tha we get to see? That’s really what she deserved?

THE HOOK: They spent so much time on the wedding that never actually happened, there was no time left for Tess” funeral, I guess.

SARAH: Fine, but what about Jimmy? The credits promised us Jimmy, but even though Jonathon was running around as a ghost, there was no room for another ghost of a beloved character? I wanted to see Jimmy!

THE HOOK: You got Jimmy’s twin in a retro outfit..

SARAH: But no actual Jimmy! And to be clear, both the Olsen brothers like to dress that way and the camera around the brother’s neck originally belonged to Jimmy. Chloe gave it to his brother at the funeral.

THE HOOK: To sum it up, though, were you happy with the ending – Clark flying into action against Darkseid (Pretty lame victory though, he just flew straight ahead and the bad guy explodes!), and the costume finally making an appearance?

SARAH:  I was pretty excited when he flew – finally! It was the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Same with the costume. But no one actually called him Superman except for Chloe. But I guess you can’t have everything.

THE HOOK: Not in the television world. Even though it had a spotty history, I’ll miss Smallville.

SARAH: What are we going to watch now?

THE HOOK: Doctor Who, Supernatural and Being Human come to mind…

SARAH: Weird, but good. Gory and super violent. And finally, awesome!

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Smallville’s “Blue and Gold” Easter Egg To Fans!

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Well, the highly-anticipated “Booster” episode of Smallville aired last night.

And you know what? It wasn’t terrible!

Sixty-minute story short, “Booster” focused on Metropolis‘ newest hero, Booster Gold and his plan to become the “World’s Greatest Hero“. Of course, this plan doesn’t sit right with the “Blur“, our friend Clark Kent.

Thrown into the mix is a teenage boy named Jaime Reyes, who became the latest version of DC Comics hero Blue Beetle.

CAN YOU GUESS WHICH IS WHICH?

Booster’s portrayer, Eric Martsolf has built-in fan base from his soap opera work and his day job definitely paid off when it came to portraying the seemingly-shallow failed football hero from the future with aspirations of usurping Clark Kent’s heroic destiny.

Written in part by comics super-scribe Geoff Johns, the episode was bursting at the seams with “Easter Eggs” for fans…

• The proper pronounciation of Jaime Reyes first name.
• The partial use of every incarnation of the Blue Beetle.
• The preservation of Booster’s comic book  history, including his cybernetic sidekick, Skeets and his Legion of Superheroes flight ring.
• The mention of Superman supprting cast members Steve Lombard and Ron Troupe.
• Booster’s suggestion for a new code-name for Clark, “You need something more…Super!”

There were many more, but I’ve got my geek on enough for one post! My only real problem with the episode which debuted two new characters was, ironically, enough, the treatment of the main one!

After ten seasons showcasing a strong, confident Clark Kent, we get an episode that undoes everything in one fell swoop! Lois convinces Clark to distance himself from the Blur (Worst superhero name ever!) by acting like a bumbling clod.

Seriously? The comics  haven’t shown us a Clark Kent like that since the 1980s! Smallville has demonstrated that a hero doesn’t need to hide the best qualities of himself when ”off-duty”. 

Still, we got to see the classic “phone booth change” and the ridiculous, but iconic glasses, so at least the bad was mixed with the good.
 

 

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Smallville: The End Is Near – And That’s Terrible!

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Why does the flame always seem to burn the brightest before it is extinguished for good?

As the series finale approaches faster than a speeding bullet, (Had to be done, sorry!) Smallville is arguably more popular now than ever before.

A far cry from a first season that was as unstable as the planet Krypton!

Over ten seasons the show has added new dimensions and depth to the Superman mythos without ever showing us the Man of Steel! And thanks to a strong fan base, starving for a polished superhero television drama, the show’s creative team has been allowed to open Clark Kent’s world to other heroes and villains.

We’ve seen dozens of DC Comics characters join the show on a semi-regular basis (The Justice League and The Justice Society)  and even join the full-time cast (Green Arrow, an unusual choice but a great one!)

And in true final season fashion, we’ve been treated to the return of Annette O’Toole as Martha Kent and the incomparable John Glover as Lionel Luthor, a  character no one has taken the time to explore until now. That’s fine though; it gave John Glover a chance to give us a man who has been both devil and saint and instrumental in shaping one of the world’s greatest fictional villains.

Speaking of old Lexie..

We’ve been teased with shadowy figures and malformed clones, but we get the real thing back just in time for the finale. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

“It feels like the stars are aligning, literally. We couldn’t be more excited about having Michael back,” Smallville show runners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson told Deadline.

“And as far as the way he returns … there’ll be no doubt about how Lex becomes the great rival in Clark Kent’s life. He is the villain of the story.”           

Image via Wikipedia

“I’m simply doing it for all of the fans out there who made Smallville the great success it is,” Rosenbaum said. “I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness and even their threats. Ha ha. I can’t wait to hug the old crew back in Vancouver one last time and see all of my old friends once again….. Oh, and for Lex to become the badass he’s destined to be.”

I know my daughter has been clamoring for Rosenbaum’s return – she’s flown through all nine previous seasons on DVD and Lex quickly became her favorite character. Sarah is actually sad that he had to become a villain, a true tribute to how a fictional character, when portrayed correctly, can hold become almost real to us.

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