Smallville: Fierce

I have trouble remembering what happened in the previous season and also understanding what is happening in the current episode. The characters speak very quickly in American accents and summarize information as much as possible. I did not understand the nature of the treasure sought by the three villainesses or why one of them murdered another one of them.

Also, I realized afterwards that I had watched episode 3 of Season 7, thinking that it was episode 2 so no wonder I did not understand how Clark and Kara were now acquainted.

Both Chloe and Lana now know Clark's secret. That makes life easier and should have happened a long time ago. Lex is still investigating mysteries surrounding the Kents but this time has seen Kara using her powers although she denies it. He is still encountering dishonesty from the Kents.

Was Lana's spurious pregnancy at the end of Season 6 ever explained?

It seems that there is an Agent Carter both in the Marvel Movieverse and in the Smallville TV series.

Smallville: Bizarro

I am starting to watch Season 7. There is a lot that I do not understand in Bizarro but I think that that is because most of it has not been explained yet:

Who carried Lionel away?
How come Kara is around?
How come Lana is alive in disguise in China while Lex is arrested for her murder?
Does Chloe know about her meteor power of healing or how it works?

Lex seems to be going back to the side of Good as against Evil because he believes that he was rescued by an angel. It is a good idea to end an episode with a song. This episode is dramatic like much of the series. There is always a sense of important events occurring at the end of one Smallville season and the beginning of the next. The series has come a long way from Smallville.

For some discussion of a prose sf writer who was at Lancaster Comics Day, see here.

Superman III

I did not post about this film immediately after rewatching it so my memories of it are not fresh.

(i) Red Kryptonite in all but color.

(ii) A change from Luthor as villain.

(iii) The absurdity of weather forecasting satellites that can suddenly be used to control the weather.

(iv) A good scene of Supes fighting himself.

(v) Anything else?

Superman IV

(i) Great opening when Supes rescues Comrade Sinatra: comedy; tragedy; international cooperation; Superman to the rescue. As a counterpoint, Lex's fellow prisoners nickname him "Mozart."

(ii) Supes addressing the UN prefigures Alan Moore's Miracle Family, Warpsmiths and Firedrake addressing the UN. The Warpsmith announces that all the WMD's have already been teleported into the Sun.

(iii) A superbeing is created fully clothed, of course.

(iv) Does Supes kill the Nuclear Man at the end?

(v) The Christopher Reeve films hold up well as a series with recognizable continuing characters and settings.

(vi) In Interview With The Vampire, the vampire sees a sunset in a Superman film.

(vii) My daughter, Aileen, found it shocking when such a comedic film included Superman saying near the end that the world is still on the brink.

Lancaster Comics Day

Last year at Lancaster Comics Day, I bought Snapshot by Andy Diggle, a "Comics" work. This year, I bought The Casebook Of Sam Spalluci by AS Chambers, a "Lancaster" work.

The Day:

panels on humor comics, superheroes, prose fantasy and sf and the Doctor Who Magazine;

great panelists;

lots of stalls;

superhero-themed cakes;

gaming instead of poker in a back room;

John Freeman's excellent, genial organization of the whole event;

Stan Lee wondering in at the end (or someone that looked like him);

perfect setting in Lancaster Library and Market Sq;

the event has already become an annual institution.

The Dark Arrow

The Batman was always a masked avenger. Green Arrow was a costumed adventurer. However, in the Arrow TV series, it seems that Ollie returns from the island with something to avenge.

There is an archetypal contrast between the island where he learned survival skills and the city where he applies those skills to more than survival.

His first targets are not muggers, dealers or bank robbers but corrupt businessmen protected by the police. Thus, like Frank Miller's Batman, he goes straight into conflict with the law. Mike Grell's Green Arrow went from masked with a secret identity to unmasked without a secret identity. The TV Arrow is unmasked but hooded with a secret identity.

Unlike Wayne and, I think, earlier versions of Oliver Queen, this TV version shares his mansion with other surviving members of his family. There is a major on-going story line to the entire series. The first episode is confusing but I watched it with a friend already familiar with this and related series.

Small Screen Superhero Series

I have Smallville Seasons 1-6 but otherwise am ignorant of small screen superheroes. Today, we watched:

Arrow, episode 1;
Daredevil, trailer;
Lucifer, trailer.

I realize that I have a long way to go and that the screen versions are reproducing comics crossover complexities.

In Arrow, apparently following a more recent comics version, the origin is changed so that, instead of Ollie falling off a yacht, the yacht is shipwrecked and everyone else dies although in different ways. A character is named after a GA writer, Diggle! There is a very high tech embezzlement arrow.

I am looking back at Mike Carey's Lucifer. See here and here.

What more is there to say? A lot more but that is all for now.