Review:
Smallville: Absolute Justice, or Should I Say Absolutely Awesome

I hate Smallville.

I like it too, don’t get me wrong, but Smallville definitely defines love hate relationships. Lately, it’s been erring more on the side of hate. The show is regularly plagued with atrocious writing, and completely uninspired story-telling. The drama was boring and distracting, and the comic book elements were often under-stated.

The past couple seasons have noticed an increase in the comic book aspects, but also an increase in pathetic writing and story-telling. I had begun to lose all hope for the series, and then they released the TV movie event “Absolute Justice.”

Right away I knew I was in for a treat when I caught the credits. Written by Geoff Johns? For those that don’t know, Geoff Johns is arguably DC’s best current staff writer. He writes a lot of the flagship books. Getting him to write a TV event of Smallville was quite possibly the best idea ever. And the writing was good, even better than good it was the best writing I’d seen from the show ever.

The story was a fantastic tribute to the lesser known comic book team, the Justice Society of America. Some icey villain is hunting down and killing retired heroes, and Clark must team up with the likes of Hawkman, Stargirl, and Dr. Fate to try and make the killings stop.

Part of the charm of this event was how true the characters were to their comic book roots. They weren’t Smallville versions of classic characters, they kept true to the stories, and the costumes. Sure Hawkman, played by Stargate alum Michael Shanks, was a little over the top at times, but it was all good classic comic book fun.

The Martian Manhunter made another appearance, after disappearing for most the season. We were even given yet another comic book treat, as if we hadn’t already had enough, as we were shown, for just a split second, his true form. It was exciting.