Smallville—Season Eleven 1: Guardian

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7.5 Overall Score
Story: 8/10
Art: 6/10

Story feels like a TV show season

Art seems limited by TV series ties

Comic Info

Comic Name:  Smallville—Season 11

Publisher:  DC Comics

Writer:  Bryan Q. Miller

Artist:  Pere Pérez

# of Issues:  4

Release Date:  2013

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Smallville—Season 11 #1

Reprints Smallville—Season 11 #1-4 (July 2012-October 2012).  Clark Kent is now Superman and the world is aware of his existence…with this knowledge a new complexity finds its way into Clark and his life with Lois.  Lex Luthor is also back, but with now memories of his past and haunted by his sister Tess’s murder…literally with Tess wandering around his mind.  When a test of Lex’s new defense system called Guardian goes horribly wrong, a pilot named Hank Henshaw is caught in the middle, but Lex’s plans for Superman might even be worse.

Written by Bryan Q. Miller and illustrated by Pere Pérez, Smallville—Season Eleven 1:  Guardian continues the story from the WB’s popular Smallville series which ran ten season.  The comic was originally released as a web series (the storyline running from April 13, 2012-July 27, 2012) but then collected as issues.

I watched all of Smallville and enjoyed it.  The only problem with the series is that actors would leave the show and their characters would inexplicitally leave…this is something that the Smallville comic book series can rectify and it is a good thing.  If you are a fan of the TV series you should check this series out.

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Smallville—Season 11 #4

The story does a good job feeling like the TV series.  The TV series was pretty layered with storyline that went through the whole seasons.  I feel a lot of this carries over to the comic book.  It feels like this comic sets up a lot of plans for future storylines and more ties to other DC Comic books that made Smallville such a popular series.

A challenge of comics based on TV series is the art.  The artists get trapped into trying to recreate the actors who portrayed the characters, and Smallville and its artist Pere Pérez run into the problem.  I like Pérez’s art in other situations (like Valiant’s Archer & Armstrong), but here, he seems rather muted by the restrictions of recreating the show and more realistic versions of superheroes.

Smallville—Season Eleven 1:  Guardian is the first entry in a rather fun series.  I look forward to seeing the future adventures of Clark “Smallville” Kent and as a fan of the series finally getting to see him as Superman is a payoff for ten seasons of watching the show.  Smallville—Season Eleven 1:  Guardian is followed by Smallville—Season Eleven 2:  Detective.

Related Links:

Smallville—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide

Smallville—Season 9 Review and Complete Episode Guide

Smallville—Season 10 Review and Complete Episode Guide

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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