I expect we are going to get a nice battle between Zod and Clark in the finale tomorrow, so William and I thought it would be nice to spotlight a few memorable battles between the foes over the years. These stories take place in the comics, I think it would be somewhat insulting to rehash the fight between the two from Superman II. I’m pretty sure everyone who visits this site has seen that movie and that representation of Zod is pretty clear.  With that being said lets get into the minutia of multiple universes, artificial life forms, and MURDER!

The moment I want to focus on is the storyline where Superman travels to the Pocket Universe to help that Earth defeat Zod. This may sound confusing and it kind of is, but let me set the stage for us before we get into that story.

The Pocket Universe is a singularly created universe that was developed by the Time Trapper as part of his scheme to control the Legion of Super-Heroes after the Earth-One Superboy was wiped from existence due to the effects of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and replaced with the current Superman who was never costumed Superboy. This change threatened to destroy the 30th century Legion of Super-Heroes’ existence and all who populated it as it was the superhero efforts of the Earth-One Superboy who inspired the Legion in the first place, creating that reality. Unable to directly access the “Dawn of Time” and change the time stream back as it was before the Crisis, the Time Trapper used his massive control over the resulting time stream to create a small universe that reflected the Pre-Crisis Earth-One reality of Earth and Krypton to a very close level. With that Earth created and Superboy developed almost exactly as in the Earth-One reality, the Time Trapper routed the Legion’s time travel machines so they would always be shunted into the Pocket Universe Earth’s history rather than their own Earth which was now reformated.

Unlike the Earth-One universe this pocket dimension only had two populated planets, Earth and Krypton. The Time Trapper deemed only these two necessary to recreate the now missing Earth-One and its Superboy. This would explain why no other powered heroes who were dependent on extraterrestrial influence developed on this particular Earth as in other parallel realities.

Superman visited the Pocket Universe in Action Comics #591, where he noted that Superboy’s Smallville was “an idealized version of a typical small town.” Superman’s role in the battle against the Time Trapper was limited and he returned to his Earth at the urging of the Legionnaires, who told him, “You belong to the 20th Century, Superman. There is still too much for you to do there to make our time possible!”

Superman was to return to the Pocket Universe’s Earth one more time in a three part story arc called “The Supergirl Saga” that ran in Superman#21, Adventures of Superman #444 and, Superman #22. The arc was John Byrne’s final, and most controversial, story during his Superman run.

In the pocket universe Lex Luthor used one of Superboy’s devices in his underground lab to find where Superboy disappeared to, he accidentally accessed the Phantom Zone where he found Zod, who called himself Von-El who along with his wife Mara and his associate Ston-Ar who trapped in that place following the destruction of Krypton. Zod helped Luthor reassemble the Phantom Zone projector stored in Superboy’s lab in order to free the three of them, who then proceeded to destroy the projector as well as the lab, with Mara and Ston-Ar revealing themselves to be Zaora and Quex-Ul. From that point on, Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul terrorized Earth, making themselves its rulers and killing anyone that got in their way. However, Lex Luthor assembled himself a fighting force which included a Supergirl of his own creation that managed to hold their own against three escaped Phantom Zone criminals. Zod decided that the Earth beings were no longer fit subjects to rule over, and so with Zaora and Quex-Ul he killed all of them except for those inside Luthor’s Smallville citadel by destabilizing the Earth’s core, causing the atmosphere to be instantly destroyed.

After Lex Luthor had sent Supergirl to the New Earth reality to contact Superman and then transported both heroes to the Pocket Universe, Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul engaged them and the rest of Luthor’s resistance team in battle, destroying the Smallville citadel, killing all the resistance team members, and turning Supergirl into a melted puddle of protoplasm. At the end of the issue, Superman vows, “Five billion humans, uncounted billions upon billions of life-forms have perished horribly because of these so-called Kryptonians. It’s time Zod and his murdering crew were made to pay in full for their actions!”  Superman traveled to Superboy’s underground lab and, finding the Gold Kryptonite sample there, used it to depower Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul, capturing them inside the lab now turned into a prison.

Searching, Superman finds the dying body of Lex Luthor — the last human alive on the planet. Lex apologizes for the deception with Supergirl, “Lana was one of the first killed. I used her … molecular matrix … to create … pattern for protomatter … artificial life form” and that Supergirl “never knew she wasn’t real.”

Superman asks Lex why he hadn’t used the gold kryptonite if he knew it was there. With appropriate Luthor hubris, Lex admits, “call it … ego, Superman. It was my fault Zod and the others escaped from the Phantom Zone. I … wanted it to be by my hand that they were defeated. This world … has paid … a terrible price for my folly … Superman. You must … make sure … it never … happens … again”.

Though Zod taunted Superman by saying he will find a way to restore his powers and then come to the New Earth to destroy its Earth, he and the other two Phantom Zone criminals were subjected to fatal exposure to Green Kryptonite radiation as their sentence.

Superman admits he does not know how to rebuild the Phantom Zone projector. “Nevertheless, I am forced to find a way to stop the three of you once and for all! You have ruthlessly murdered all the people of this planet — five billion humans! That is a crime without equal! The Nazi holocaust pales by comparison.”

Removing the container of green kryptonite from its storage he continues, “What I must now do is harder than anything I have ever done before. But as the last representative of law and justice on this world, it falls to me to act as judge, jury … and executioner.

He exposes the villains to the deadly kryptonite rays. For long moments he stands while they beg and plead for him to stop. Zod’s claim that the others duped him leads Quex-Ul to crush the life from him so that he dies by Quex-Ul’s hand. Zaora offers to be Superman’s slave and show him pleasures undreamed, but she too weakens and dies. Superman stands resolute at his task until all signs of life are extinguished — only a tear escaping from Superman’s eye shows his sorrow.

Burying the three bodies, he prepares to leave when he notices Supergirl’s protoplasmic form moving in the rubble. Picking her up, he returns to his own Earth (exactly how he returns is not explained — presumably by the same device used by Supergirl to transport him). He leaves Supergirl to the care of his parents and Lana.

He tells them, “I have to … be alone for a while. I need to think.” He doesn’t tell them of his actions in the Pocket Universe but adds, “it’s something I have to resolve myself.” The issue ends with him thinking that, to the people of Earth, “I am still Superman, still the untarnished champion of humanity. When I know that from now on, things can never truly be the same again”.

The storyline that followed this puts superman on a mission to find a nice quiet corner of the universe to live out his years. As we all know this didn’t last forever and Superman eventually came back to Earth. Tht story arc is called “Exile”

Hope you enjoyed my lengthy explination of the Pocket Universe and the Zod that was created for that universe. This is one of the most controversial stories in Superman’s history and well worth learning about it.  Even our beloved Man of Steel isn’t perfect and that’s why I like this story so much.

Leave some comments below and tell me if you were aware of this storyline!

This installment of the SF has been a tough one for me to tackle. There were so many characters mentioned in Absolute Justice that I had to take a step back and figure out what to do about all of them. Simply because I do not have the time necessary to spotlight them all, I will focus on the three main JSA characters that were in the episode. I will however place numerous links in the SF to point you in the direction of the characters that I do not write in depth about. Hopefully that will suffice and allow you to find out more about the JSA and Icicle.

Courtney Whitmore is fairly recent to the DC Universe and the JSA and she was created by Smallville writer Geoff Johns in 1999. Courtney bears the personality of Geoff’s sister who was killed in TWA Flight 800, and was also named Courtney. She was given the Cosmic Rod by the original Star-spangled kid, Sylvester Pemberton. Prior to have  been given the Cosmic Rod she was known as the 2nd Star-Spangled Kid. The Cosmic Rod was given to her by the seventh Starman, Jack Knight. This might be confusing to some, as the continuity of the JSA and many Golden Age characters have been retconned many times over the years.  Now that she has the rod she adopts the name of Stargirl. She is accompanied by her step father Pat Dugan who creates a robotic suit to accompany Courtney and serve as her sidekick/protector S.T.R.I.P.E. . They soon join the JSA and Courtney becomes involved with most of their stories since her creation. Stargirl has appeared a a central character in the Justice League Unlimited episode “Chaos at the Earth’s core”. She was also seen in many other episodes as a backup character.

Dr. Fate is another character that has a long messy history in the DC Universe. The Dr. Fate Persona has been held by many different people as the identity comes from the Magical Helmet of Nabu. Since the character we were introduced to in Absolute Justice was  Kent Nelson, I am going to focus on him. Actually Nelson was the first Dr. Fate, so maybe I will be able to steer clear of the mucky continuity that exists with this character. Fate was created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman first appeared in More Fun Comics #55 in May of 1940. The story goes that Kent Nelson was the son of an archeologists who died while searching for the Helmet of Nabu in the Tomb of the Wizard Nabu. The helmet carries the personality of the wizard and the wearer of the helmet becomes a vessel for Nabu kown as Dr. Fate. Nabu took pity on the young now orphaned Kent Nelson, and raised him and taught him magic. Dr Fate lives in an invisible tower in Salem Massachusetts with his wife Inza, who also serves as his assistant. He was one of the founding members of the JSA and stayed with the team until 1945 when he retired from the team. Fate returned in the 1960’s to aid the JSA in their team-ups with the Justice League. The team-ups ushered in the idea of parrallel universes and consequently the multiverse. Dr. Fate did not have an anolog of himself on the JLA like most of his JSA teammates did. In 1985 when the multiverse was consolidated into one universe Dr. Fate was seen as joining the JLA for many different adventures. It is at this point that the continuity of  Dr. Fate gets rather confusing. The Helmet of Nabu is changed into daggers and weapons and there is a new character wielding them. I for one, only need one version of Dr. Fate and the others do not interest me too much.

Now to the granddaddy of them all with regards to confusing and murky histories. Hawkman’s beginning was simple enough. He was created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville in 1940 and first appeared in Flash Comics #1. While his look and weapons have been fairly consistent, the backstory on this character most certainly have not been. Hawkman is known as Carter Hall, who is the reincarnated Egyptian Prince Khufu. Carter was an archeologists who discovered his heritage and various weapons.  He has strap on wings made of a special material named Nth metal which allows him the ability of flight. This metal is also used in his mace, which is the most common weapon associated with Hawkman. His soulmate Hawkgirl is also a reincarnated person from Egyptian times. They were cursed long ago to be soulmates but never allowed to live with each others company for very long. Hawkman disappeared at the end of the Golden Age and reappeared again in the Silver Age, this time as a Thanagarian. The Thanagarain’s are an alein race of Hawk-people with highly advanced weaponry. In the Silver Age both Hawkman and Hawkgirl travel to Earth and remain as a force of good to aid the people of Earth with the rising Supervillian threats.   Ask anyone who is in the know with DC History and they will tell you that Hawkman’s history is the biggest mess of jumbled up origin you could possible imagine. I mainly know of Hawkman from the Superfriends cartoon of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Hawkgirl is quite the fan-favorite from the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series that began in 2001.  In a related note the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl grows up to wear the Helmet of Nabu and is intertwined in the legacy of Dr. Fate.  Confused yet? I know I am.

While Icicle was a JSA villian from the past, the best I can figure is he was only sparsely used. Smallville gave him a proper treatment though as far as his origin goes.

The other characters in the JSA were mostly mentions or just a picture. The JSA has a long history with a tremendous amount of stories and crossovers. Look into what you like and hopefully you will go buy a comic or even look into to your local library for some Trade Paperbacks.

Leave me a comment below and let us know what you thought of these characters on Smallville and if you were aware of them prior to the episode airing.

Well here we are with a new episode and a new character to discover their origin and backstory that was the basis for Vortigan on Smallville. The show only gave us snippets of what this character was all about, and I wish we could have seen a flashback scene or two explaining more about him. But at any rate lets see where the Smallville writers got their basis for Vortigan.

If you google “The Dark Archer” you will not find very much information about this character other than what we know from Smallville. Vortigan is bases on the DC Comics character Merlyn who was a mentor of Oliver Queen in his formative days of becoming Green Arrow.  Merlyn was created by Mike Friedrich, Dick Dillin, and comics legend Neal Adams and first appeared in Justice League of America #94 in 1971.

Merlyn “the Magician” was an accomplished archer who would often put on public displays for his skills. Olliver Queen was enamored by the archer and was his inspiration for his own archery skills.  When Oliver’s skills began to develop into a top-notch archer, Merlyn challenged him to a public archery contest and beat him.  Feeling good about his victory , Merlyn disappeared for many years, only to show up later acting under contract to kill Batman. Green Arrow was able to shoot his own arrow and deflect the one intended to kill Batman.  It is explained that Merlyn had become a part of the League of Assassins , which id the basis for the “League of Shadows” from the Batman Begins film.  Unable to compete his task in killing Batman and fearful that the league would hunt him down for failing, Merlyn goes on the run and does freelance assassin work.It is believed that Merlyn was with the League when David Cain’s daughter Cassandra was born and raised by the league to be a assassin. Cassandra eventually grows up to turn her back on the league and becomes Batgirl. (sidenote: The stories about Cassandra becoming and dealing with being Batgirl are some really fantastic stories)

Meryn’s appearances over the years have been spotty, usually popping up when a mystery assassin’s role is needed for the story.Ifd you haven’t noticed yet, there are many characters who are just “dark” versions of the hero. Merlyn is no exception and personally I find him very interesting.  One such story is that he appeared in Action Comics as a member of the “Injustice Gang” who were the arch enemies of the JLA.  He reappears as a member of the crime syndicate “The 100” who operates out of Metropolis. In one particular story, Merlyn squares off against Black Lighting and ultimately looses the battles to the hero.

Merlyn has another notable story in a crossover event called Underworld Unleashed that occured during the mid 1990’s. He joined a group called The Killer Elite with a group of villians, notably this included Deadshot who has connections to Checkmate. Checkmate is the title of an Smallville episode later this season and while I doubt Deadshot will get any kind of mention i think it was worth making the connection for you. This was a story where the group makes a deal with a demon to defeat the JLA. Thier plans fall through and the JLA end up successful in thwarting the groups plans.

The story that I most know Merlyn from is immensely popular “Identity Crisis”.  A hero’s wife is murdered and the villians go on the run as the JLA is thirsty for justice. If you like a good murder mystery and a ton of pivotal action involving the Justice League then I suggest you pick this story up or try and borrow it from your local library. Merlyn plays a rather strong role in this story and his look is really awesome.

In a recent story with Green Arrow, Merlyn was severly injured in a fight with another villian and is no longer able to speak.

All in all Merlyn is an interesting character, like I said before I like villians that are dopplegangers for their arch enemy. However I think the book is closed for The Dark Archer in Smallville. But wouldn’t this provide some good background for a Green Arrow spin-off series? I think so.

Leave a comment below and tell us what you thought of Vortigan or if you were already a fan of the Merlyn character.

I thought it might be fun to quickly spotlight a few characters of interest during the hiatus until “Disciple”. Here are some notable characters from film, TV, and comics. These are exclusive to everyone’s favorite villain Lex Luthor,  or in Smallville’s case people connected to his legacy since he’s DEAD. He is dead right?

Mercy Graves

Mercy Graves was  a character developed for Superman: The Animated Series to serve as Lex’s  personal assistant and body guard. Once a street thief who stole Lex’s briefcase right under his nose. She became employed  by the billionaire villain who liked her street savvy and ruthlessness. She claims that she is the only employee who may call him Lex and live to tell about it. She also believes that Lex vaules her life and sees her as more than just a hired bodyguard. Lex shows more than once in the various animated series that he would leave her for dead if it meant saving his own skin. Surprising behavior from Mr. Luthor, huh?    Only a few episodes show her as anything more than  a supporting character in the series and in the Justice League animated series. She first appeared in the comics in Detective Comics #735 and was alongside Lex with another bodyguard by the name Hope. The two were believed to be amazons like Wonder Woman from the mystical island, Themyscira, as they both are shown exchanging blows with Superman. In the animated movie Superman: Doomsday  Mercy is at Lex’s side and is asked to remove any trace of Lex being involved with releasing Doomsday. Once he figures out Doomsday kills Superman and there is no way to claim the credit, he kills Mercy.  She is still alive and well in the DCU, appearing briefly as a hero but quitting that because “she isn’t hero material”. I would say that Mercy is the fan favorite henchman because she has had the most character development of any of his henchmen. Which isn’t many.

Eve Tessmacher

Miss Tessmacher is a character that was developed for Superman the Movie, and she serves as Lex’s girlfriend throughout the storyline. When she sees that Lex is going to send a missile to her mothers home town she redeems herself. Lex uses a Kryptonite necklace to incapacitate Superman leaving him for dead in the bottom of a “swimming pool”. Miss Tessmacher dives to the bottom and takes the Krypto-necklace off Superman as long as he promises to save her mothers town.  The only other appearance of Eve Terssmacher is a cameo in Superman: Red Son.

Tess Mercer

Tess Mercer is a character created solely for Smallville. It is believed that she is a combination of both Miss Tessmacher and Mercy graves. Oliver Queen even has a nickname for her “Mercy” that he gave her when she nursed him back to health while stranded on a tropical island. This is an obvious nod to the Character of Mercy Graves along with the fact that Tess is prolific in hand to hand combat. Tess appeared in Season 8 as the person in charge of Lexcorp/LuthorCorp and made it her mission to find out where Lex disappeared to. As of late Tess has distanced herself from Lex while seemingly aligning herself with Major Zod. Her true motives are still unknown. Or are they?

Stuart Campbell

Stuart Campbell is a newer character who to the best of our knowledge has only worked for Tess. He is her resident “tech guy” who has gone toe to toe with Chloe Sullivan with his computer hacking skills. Ultimately Chloe was able to gather incriminating evidence on him and in turn Stuart became a mole inside Tess’s organization. He is very capable with cutting-edge technologies such as “Project Intercept” which is a memory altering system that also allows for the subjects memories to be viewed on a computer monitor. He was even able to allow Tess into Lois’s mind to see what Lois experienced in the future while gone for 3 weeks. When Tess told Stuart to erase her memory he refused, Tess then shot him. Chloe and Dr. Hamilton were able to get Stuart to the hospital in time to save his life. His status at this time is unknown.

Regan Matthews

Regan Matthews was a character that was there during the changing of the guard on Smallville. He first served under Lex, helping him investigate the Veritas society.  He seemed like a very capable right-hand man to Lex. Regan arranged a lot of the details that Lex would need to charter flights out of the country and later the expidition to the arctic when he went to confront the “traveler”. After Lex’s disappearance Regan was briefly in charge of Luthorcorp, until Tess Mercer showed up to take over the search for Lex in the arctic and subsequently Luthorcorp. Tess was busy discovering everything that Lex was involved with before his disappearance and when she came upon the “Prometheus” project Regan would not tell her any information. Their mutual dislike came to an end when Tess hit him over the head with a trophy and beat him to death in the Luthor mansion for not divulging the details about prometheus.

Otis

Otis deserves an honorable mention here simply because he is such a memorable character from the movies. Otis possesses no tangible skills worthy to Lex other than he is a gofer. He provides the comedy relief in the movie appearing as nothing more than a bumbling idiot.

Kitty Kowalski

Not much is known about Kitty other than what appeared in the movie Superman Returns. She is a “henchman” for Lex, and he uses her a s a diistraction for Superman while Lex attempts to steal a sizable Kryptonite rock from a museum in Metropolis. She is very much based off of the Miss Tessmacher character from the previous superman movies. She seems like she’s Lex’s girlfriend of sorts, but that is never made clear in the movie. Kitty was played by actress Parker Posey.

As you can tell from these charter bio’s, people who serve Lex aren’t often integral to his plans other than providing grunt work. If they don’t just disappear because they aren’t needed for the plot, they are often killed off. Just goes to show you that a man like Lex Luthor doesn’t need a handy sidekick, just a person to do the dirty work. .

Here we are again with a SHoE File of epic proportions. General Zod has been a character in the DC Universe for a very long time dating back to the the early 1960’s. While he wasn’t used very much in the beginning, Zod has become one of Superman’s most formidable adversaries over the years and as of late even an ally in the comics. The character and look of Zod is most defined by Superman I & II. Those movies are really what gave Zod the exposure to make him a mainstream character. His famous line “Kneel before Zod” has definitely become a part of pop culture. Smallville has had a few different incarnations of Zod inorevious seasons, but season 9 has given us the corporeal form of the character on the show.  Let’s get into this character and see what his history is.

Reviewing the history of  Zod in chronological order is going to involve some things that we have talked about before such as the multiverse,  Silver Age, and the Modern age. In the comics Zod has existed in  places called the Pocket Universe, and even some instances of time travel by Superman. These concepts can get somewhat confusing on their own much less when we are talking about all of them.

Dru-Zod was created in the  silver age of comic books, first apprearing in Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961).  Thats right, Zod is actually his Kryptonian last name and it works. I don’t know if I would feel the same way about calling Superman “El”. The foundations of this character have carried on over the years and still hold true to this day. Some of the other characters I have profiled have changed dramatically since their inception, but Zod is still the heartless ruler that he was when he was created by Robert Berstein and George Papp back in ‘61.  For instance, Zod was introduced as a megalomaniacal Kryptonian in charge of the military on Krypton. He had known Jor-El from when he was a aspiring scientist. Once the Kryptonian space fleet was disbanded after the destruction of Krypton’s moon Wethgor by an evil warlord named Jax-Ur, Zod attempted to overthrow the Kryptonian government. He created an army of robotic duplicates of himself that would by today’s standards, resemble Bizarro. His attempt failed and he was sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Superboy would later release him from the Zone when Zod’s sentence was up. As you can imagine Zod immediately tried to rule the earth, which he was stopped from doing by Superboy who placed him back in the Phantom Zone. He would escape from time to time only to be placed back in the Zone. The history of this Zod was erased from comics continuity due to the events of “Crisis in Infinite Earths”

Superman: The Movie gave us a much more iconic and heartless version of Zod.   Zod had been placed in the Phantom Zone by the Kryptonian council shortly before the planet’s destruction. He was acompanied by a female Ursa, and a mute named Non. It was in Superman II that we were able to see the story develop to involve Superman. They were released from the zone due to the work of Superman himself. Superman had sent an elevator car packed with explosives into space before they exploded and the shockwave of the explosion caused the mirror-like Phantom Zone to shatter releasing the three criminals. They make their way to earth and discover that Superman is the son of Jor-El and in their attempt to take over the earth must battle Superman. Ultimately they are defeated.Zod was played by Terrence Stamp who now is the booming voice of Jor-El on Smallville.

The first time we see Zod again in the comics is in the post-Crisis era. A character called The Time Trapper creates a pocket universe where Krypton and Earth are the only planets. Kal-El was sent to earth and becomes Superboy, however there are no other heroes on earth.  When Superboy travels to the 30th century to join the Legion he never returns. In this universe Lex Luthor is a good-guy and is friends with Lana and Pete. After discovering Superboy’s lab, Luthor finds a time viewer and is tricked by Zod into freeing him. Zod and his two followers lay waste to the earth and evaporate virtually all of the atmosphere. Luthor being a genius scientist even in this universe creates a Supergirl. Even she is not able to stop Zod. They find a way to bring the “real Superman from his universe to help them defeat Zod. Ultimately Superman executes Zod with green kryptonite. This was a major move in the comics because here you have a post-crisis Superman (modern) acting as judge, jury, and executioner. This became a plot thread for Superman once returning from the pocket universe reevaluating his morals.

The next incarnation of Zod is the most different version from the original yet. Two cosmonauts are bombarded with radiation during a meteor storm while in space. This radiation changes  the two cosmonauts and their unborn child. The mother dies during childbirth and the father dies shortly thereafter. The child known as Zed is taken by the Soviet government and raised in a laboratory. It is discovered that this child is incredibly weak under a yellow sun, and extremely powerful with all the powers of Superman under a red sun.  He blames Superman for his parents death and is fitted with a red armor that filters yellow sunlight and produces red sunlight radiation to give Zed his powers. Zed is spoken to from a spirit of the pocket universe Zod, who fuels his hate for Superman and he takes the name Zod. He faces Superman on several occasions with neither really getting the better of the other. It is revealed that Zod is planning on turning the Earth’s yellow sun to a red sun, so that he may take Superman’s place and rule the Earth. Sound familiar? Lex Luthor helps the depowered superman regain his powers and restore the sun back to yellow. When this happens, Zod is attempting to attack superman and now that he is depowered he dies attacking Superman.

June of 2004 brought forth a new and different version of Zod. Brian Azzarello wrote a story that appeared in Superman comics #204-215. This story explored the idea of  pocket universes and alternate realities. Zod in this version resents Superman for placing him in the phantom zone and continuously tampering with it. According to this Zod, he is from the same planet of Krypton. He was placed in the zone by Jor-El..blah…blah…blah I think we all know how this story goes. Anyways, this Zod is much older than any incarnation we have sen before. He mostly looks like an older version of Zod in the Superman movies. We find out later that this character is not Zod at all, and his existence is super-ceded by the fact that since this version of the character is considered “pre-crisis” he is not Zod.

The final comic interpretation of Zod is the one that is considered to be the actual Zod. Not being from an alternate reality or a pocket universe, this Zod finds a way to escape the Phantom Zone along with his two most trusted allies Ursa and Non. This is the first time that Ursa and Non appeared in comics based on the Richard Donner Superman movies. Go pick up a current Superman comic and this is the Zod you will see. This story is told in the Superman: Last Son storyline.  He is a character who wishes to rule the earth with the help of Ursa, Non, and the rest of his supporters who escape the phantom zone. In the begininning of the story a child arrives in metropolis in a escape pod. Superman discovers the child to be Kryptonian and after the government seizes the boy and transports him behind Superman’s back to an undisclosed location, Superman breaks him out and takes him to Smallville to live with Ma & Pa Kent. They name him Chris Kent and Clark and Lois discuss adopting the boy. Meanwhile Zod and his army arrive on Earth and begin to make their presence felt. The Kryptonians are shown wearing yellow goggles because the yellow sun is too intense for their eyes. It turns out that Chris Kent is actually Lor-Zod, the son of Ursa and Zod who was born in the phantom zone. Superman teams up with Lex, Metallo, and Parasite to defeat Zod and send him back to the Phantom Zone. However Chris had to return to the Phantom Zone to seal it up so that Zod and his minons could not escape again. Fellow  SHoE contributor, William Goodman,  has recapped the current storyline involving Zod and the World of New Krypton. Click here to check William’s review concerning the current storyline involving Zod.

Probably the best characterization of Zod in my opinion has been the Kevin J Anderson novel called “Last Days on Krypton”.  In this story we really get to see what makes Zod tick and how evil of a character he really is. I recommend this book to anyone who is a Superman fan.

Smallville has given us a few different looks for Zod. First was the Phantom Zone wraith who tried to use Clark as his vessel. but Clark was able to close the portal before this happened. Then we saw Lex being possessed by Zod on Dark thursday. These events brought forth the best head to head battle between Zod and Clark, even though it was Lex possessed by Zod. Then in season 8 Faora (Ursa) tells Davis Bloom that he is a creation of Zod’s DNA manipulated into a Doomsday creature destined to destroy all life on Earth and carry on the bloodline of Zod. Now we have Calum Blue playing a much younger Zod than has ever been seen before. This Zod is a clone whose only memories are from the war on Krypton against the Black Zero group. I love this portrayal of the character and I am anxious to see what happens from here. We have seen glimpses of a future that has played out in the comics before, but I don’t think we will ever see those events transpire to their fullest extent on the show.  Only time will tell.

Make sure to visit our forums, there is a lot to discuss during the hiatus and that is just the place to share your thoughts on Smallville.

A very special thanks to Graham Tracey for designing the banner at the top of this article.

Thanks for reading!

]]> http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/12/04/shoe-files-zod/feed/ 6 http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/11/19/shoe-files-wonder-twins/ http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/11/19/shoe-files-wonder-twins/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:35:39 +0000 Brian http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/?p=2891

In a very highly anticipated episode, The WonderTwins Zan and Jayna come to Smallville and judging by the responses they were very well received. The only consistent complaint there they were not in the episode enough, which I agree with. Although I don’t know what I would have cut to make room for more WT scenes. The characters of Zan & Jayna are known mostly in pop-culture because of their role on The All-New Super Friends Hour which debuted on tv September of 1977. The cartoon show took on many different names over the years, but the formula for the show was essentially the same. The Justice League fights bad guys. (Remember this was the late 70’s and early 80’s , not the most complex of story lines)

The Wonder Twins possess shapeshifting abilities that allow Zan to take the shape of anything made essentially of water. He could even form complex machinery  such as an ICE JET!!! Jayna could take the form of any living creature, mythical or natural, and even alien. The combinations these two would come up with could be very effective yet corny.They also were described as having telepathis abilities with one another which allowed them to use strategy when taking different forms and shapes. Their powers would only work if the twins “bumped fists” and verbally called out the form or shape they wished to take. If necessary, Gleek could provide a connection between the two allowing their powers to work if they both were touching him. I can remember one episode where they were tied up and Gleek’s nose bridged the gap so they could change. The WT existed only in the Super Friends TV show and in the Superfriends comic book series. It was not until the 1990’s that the twins were heavily revamped for the “Extreme Justice” comic book and brought into full DC continuity. Althugh they have hardly been seen since that run.  Many believe that the WT are the originators of “the Fist Bump”.

The DC Comics history for this duo is that they are aliens from the planet Exxor. Having lost their parents at an early age and possessing ancient shapeshifting abilities which made them outcasts, the two were orphans. They were picked up by a traveling space-circus and adopted by the owner of the circus to appear as sideshow freaks. The clown that was in the circus was a kind soul who took the job of raising them. He was the one responsible for giving them their trademark space monkey “Gleek”. Once they were teens they escaped the circus with Gleek and went into hiding on a planet that was headquarters to one of Superman’s villians, Grax. Grax was preparing to destroy the earth with hidden superbombs. So the WT travel to earth to warn the Justice League of Grax’s plans. This is how they came to be a part of Justice league as sidekicks. They were placed under the care of  anold scientist by the name of Professor Carter Nichols and assumed secret identities by Zan having a disguise of a blond wig and Jayna taking the form of a human.  They attended Gotham High School as John and Johnna Flemming.

For those of you who have never seen any Superfriends episodes here is 6 minute clip of an episode.

In the 90’s they were revamped as I mentioned before, and these twins much like everything else in the 90’s were EXTREME. They were given a much harder look with more muscles and an edge about them. This version retconned the previous version as these twins were slaves to an alien villian. Their powers were also much more intense. Not being able to speak english they accidentally attacked some civilians and the Justice League. They then join a new faction of the Justice League called “Extreme Justice”, who’s leader was Captain Atom . In the attack Zan took the shape of an Ice Golum, an ice monster, and a demonic lookng whirlpool. Jayna took the shape of a griffin, a werewolf, and a sea serpent. I did mention they were EXTREME didn’t I? They are still currently considered “alive and well” in the DC universe, however they are rarely seen. They appeared in “Young Justice ” #49-51 wearing costumes much like Connor Kent wears today which is a t-shirt and jeans. File this one under “ok if you say so” : They like the taste of CD’s as they have eaten a number of Wonder Girl’s cd’s.

In the Cartoon Network series Justice League Unlimited, there was a short glimpse of the classic look Wonder twins as statues in the episode titled “Injustice for all”. Then later in the series they were paid a homage when the Ultimen were introduced. The Characters were “Downpour” and “Shifter”, I think you know who is who. (they are on the right)

Now that we know their history we can breifly look at Smallville’s interpretation of the Twins. We never got a full backstory on them, but I think it’s safe to assume they could be meteor freaks. While we did not get a lot of Wonder Twins in this episode, we did see that they are inherently good people who want to do good with their powers and help people. The speech from Clark at the end was AWESOME! The way the episode was handled, I think it is quite possible we could see them again on the show. We did get a good nod to Gleek being a sticker on Jayna’s phone and we got  to see Zan save Lois by transforming into a dense fog.

I have very fond memories of the Wonder Twins and I for one was pleased with how they were protrayed on Smallville. What did you think? Leave a comment below. Next SHoE File will be about Zod and I’ll get that together sometime during the hiatus. Thanks for reading!

This SHoE File is going to end up as more of a scrapbook of Jor-El than a history. Jor-El has been around almost as long as Superman has, and while you would think he has a long rich history, his character has always been more of a ghost for guidance than an actual character on screen or on panel. There have been some instances with regard to Superman’s continuity where Jor-El has been a pivotal character, often through time travel or dream sequences. Lets take a look at the many different incarnations and representations of Jor-El since 1939.

Before we begin I feel that I should remind every one that in the DC Universe there is a concept called the multiverse, and that a multiverse contains a potentially infinite number of parallel universes where things are very much the same but very different too. Here is an example of the  Supermen of the multiverse.

You do not need to know about all of these versions,  just be aware of the concept or this Shoe File could get confusing.

For the first year of Superman’s publication Jor-El was only referred to as “a scientist who sends his son to earth” . It was not until 1939, in a newspaper comic strip that the name Jor-L was published as being the name of Superman’s father. His name did not get the “e” until 1942 when George Lowther wrote a novel called “The Adventures of Superman”. He was called Jor-El in the novel. It was not until some years later that the comics used this spelling as well. Once the concept of the  multiverse was created  we get both versions of the name. It was then decided that the Golden Age Superman (the first incarnation) would have the name Kal-L , Jor-L..etc and they would be from the parallel universe known as Earth-2.The character known as Power Girl is actually Kara Zor-L, the niece of Jor-L and cousin of the Golden Age Superman (Kal-L) The origins of these different Jor-El’s are basically the same as the histories were not split until years later.

Jor-El of Earth-1

Jor-El was a scientist on the planet Krypton who came from a prominent family. The House of El had been involved in Kryptonian society for a very long time. Jor-El was actully Jor-El II, being named after his father, his father was scientist who had developed hyperspace many years ago and discovered a planet in the Sol system called earth. He travelled to this planet on a one man journey of discovery of  which he took extensive notes.  It is believed this is how Jor-El knew where to send his son as Krypton was breaking apart. Baby Kal-El was placed into a rocket and sent to earth.

Jor-El of Earth-Prime

This Jor-El was very similar in origin but instead of sending his son in a rocket, he had invented a transporter that could span numerous galaxies. The intent was to send all of Krypton’s population to Earth, but the device was untested and could only transmit small amounts of material. (like a baby) Kal-El was sent to earth just as a member of the science council barged in and caused the machine to explode and that was the end of the Kryptonian race’s hopes of escape. As a side note, the Prime Universe was one which had no other superhero’s other than Superboy and was ultimately destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths.

So now that we have the basic differences, lets discuss the similarities. From here on out I will be referring to the Jor-El of Earth-1, as he is the basis from which the character is derived from. I am going to backtrack a little bit to get us squared back up on this history.

As a young man Jor-El lived with his family Jor-El I, Nimda An-Dor (mother), his twin brother Nim-El, and his younger brother Zor-El.  Once completing his primary education, Jor-El began work as a scientist, which on his first day he met Jax-Ur and Lara Lor-Van (his future wife). They would be married soon after.

Early in his career, Jor-El discovered that Krypton’s days were numbered and notified the Science Council. They agreed to give him what he needed to arrange for Krypton’s population to escape their doomed planet.  Jor-El soon would hire an assistant who unbeknownst to him was actually Superman who had traveled back in time. The two would become very close and when Jor-El’s son was born his named his child after his friend. So Superman was actually named after himself. PARADOX! Working together, they were able to design and build a prototype spaceship that would be capable for extremely long space travel. One day the two noticed a saucer-like spaceship that Kal-El recognized as being Brainiac’s ship. Brainiac was there to steal the city of Kandor. After this horrific event Jor-El’s father died and knowing that he was about to be conceived in the current timeline, Kal-El returned home to earth and to his proper time. Shortly after the birth of his son, Jor-El discovered a pocket dimension known as the Phantom Zone. Wanting to win a seat on the New Kryptonian Science Council  since the current council had been based in Kandor and stolen by Brainiac, he presented his discovery and explained that this could be used as a prison as no one inside would age and could be brought back out by using his Phantom Zone projector.  Shortly after this Jax-Ur who had been building a nuclear arsenal, destroyed one of Krypton’s moons and was responsible for the deaths of 500 colonists on that moon. He was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for eternity. As a result of this the Science Council banned all space travel and spacecraft experimentation.  Jor-El continued in secret developing his spacecraft for evacuating Krypton’s citizens.  Much like the early American space program, Jor-El used animals in his early spoacecraft tests. One such animal was his son’s puppy Krypto, who never returned from his test flight. I think we all know where Krypto ended up. It was soon after this that the planet had began to quake violently and Jor-El realized that his time had run out. With Lara at his side they placed the baby Kal-El in the spaceship and he was sent to a far off planet named Earth.

This was the origin until the  Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries and John Byrne’s Man of Steel miniseries rewrote Superman’s origins. In this re-written origin,  Jor-El was part of a Kryptonian race that was very cold and emotionless. Physical contact between Kryptonian’s was even prohibited. Byrne based this emotionless society from the 1978 Superman movie. Differing from the previous origin, baby Kal-El was not sent from Krypton as a baby, he was placed into a “birthing matrix” as a fetus and sent off world towards Earth. This was explained to be necessary as Kryptonains were genetically bound to their planet by birth and that is why they could not leave Krypton. By altering the genetics of the fetus and having him gestate in the birthing matrix Kal-El was actually born on Earth and making him a natural american citizen as he was born in a cornfield. It was in this re-telling that Jor-El was visited by a time-traveling Starman and that is how he learned of Earth’s existence.

In 2003 a series was published called Superman: Birthright , and this series combined both the Silver Age and Man of Steel origins. The only real change here was that Lara was made more of a prominent figure is the decision and implementation of sending Kal-El to Earth, although he was born on krypton and placed in a ship rather than a matrix. Jor-El had only discovered Earth moments before he sent the rocket.

Both Man of Steel and Birthright are no longer considered official canon in Superman’s origin story.

Following the events of Infinite Crisis comic writers Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek began to lay the ground work for a new Superman origin which naturally means a new Jor-El origin.  The story was written by Johns and Superman I & II director Richard Donner. It began to reflect very heavily on Donner’s vision of Krypton and Kryptonian society taken from the films.  The Kryptonian Council for example was threatening to send Jor-El to the Phantom Zone if he made his discovery public that the planet Krypton was going to explode. This also brought the characters of  Zod, Ursa, and Non back  into mainstream continuity. At this point in time Zod was “friends” with Jor-El, and Zod was furious that Jor-El was told to keep quiet. Non was given a lobotomy because of his plans to take this news public. This is where Zod and Jor-El chose different paths. Zod wanted Jor-El to join him and overthrow the council for keeping Krypton’s destruction quiet. Jor-El refused to go along with Zod’s plans and once these plans failed, it was Jor-El who was instructed by the council to banish the three to the Phantom Zone.  The council made sure Jor-El was clear on these matters as to never speak of what caused the revolt or he will suffer the same fate as Zod. He swears to escape the Zone and overthrow the Kryptonian government and force Jor-El and his son to kneel before him.

Along with the gift of giving his son the Fortress of Solitude, Jor-El was able to construct an interactive artificial intelligence of himself to help Kal-El learn his kryptonian heritage and provide guidance when needed.

In Jor-El’s most famous appearance (Superman movies), he was played by Marlon Brando.

Superman: the animated series gave us a Jor-El that looked like Superman in different clothes.

Smallville has given us a version of Jor-El that has evolved since season 2. Bestowing many different powers to Clark, his family, and even his friends. Even the look of Jor-El has changed in the Smallville Universe, early on in “Relic” we saw Tom Welling playing the role of Jor-El, and as recently as “Kandor” Julian Sands was Jor-El. The fortress voice of Jor-El has been portrayed by Terrence Stamp (General Zod from the Superman movies).

This one was difficult for me as the history for Jor-El has been changed and changed many times. I tried to keep it as linear as possible and include as many looks to the character as I could. I hope you enjoy this one and don’t be afraid to do some research on your own, there are some things that I purposely left out.  What is your favorite story involving Jor-El? Which version do you like the best?  Leave a comment below, I really enjoy seeing everyones different opinions.

This week we are back with a look at Green Arrow’s sidekick  Speedy. Unlike last week, this character has a long rich history that involves both a male and female taking on the name of Speedy. I really enjoyed learning more about this character and I think there are some storylines that I am interested in because of it. Speedy is a character we can really sink our teeth into, and  is a prime example how art imitates life, and how comics are used for addressing various social issues that still ring true even today.

Roy Harper Jr. was the name of the original speedy.He first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 (Nov 1941)and was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris.  Roy was the son of a forest ranger who died saving a Navajo Indian chief named “Brave Bow” from a fire. Brave Bow raised Roy as his own and taught him to be a skilled archer. This was a thrill for Roy, since he idolized the super-hero archer known as Green Arrow . When Roy was still a teenager he was permitted to participate in an archery competition that was to be judged by Green Arrow himself. During an attempted burglary, Roy assists Green Arrow and helps him to foil the burglary. Proving that he is even a faster shot than Green Arrow Himself. When Brave Bow passed away Green Arrow asks Roy to be his sidekick, which he happily accepts under the name of Speedy. Much like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, Roy becomes the ward of Green Arrow’s alter-ego Oliver Queen.

Roy quickly befriends a few of the younger Hero’s and Roy joins Robin, Kid Flash , Tempest, and Donna Troy aka Wonder Girl to form the Teen Titans. This is where Speedy begins a long friendship with Dick Grayson. While a member of the Titan’s, Roy begins dating Donna Troy. Just when things were really going good for Roy his life began to take a turn. He broke up with Donna, the Titans disbanded, and Oliver began to neglect him. Roy runs off to join a band call “Great Frog” and becomes addicted to heroin. Many people including comic creators of the day think that there was simply not enough reason for Roy to drop all of his beliefs and become a drug addict. Although for the time this was groundbreaking stuff. Green Lantern #85-86 (September & November 1971) dealt with Oliver discovering what had become of Roy. Oliver had just lost his fortune due to a scandal and was away with Green Lantern and Black Canary until he became aware of what Roy was up to. Oliver punched Roy and kicked him out on to the streets. Green Lantern later found him and put him under the care of Black Canary to rehabilitate him. Once the withdrawals were over Roy had a confrontation with Ollie and they went their separate ways.

Roy later worked with a newly formed Titans ( of the 1980’s) and became a government agent with the CBI (aka Checkmate). Roy also went on one mission with the Suicide Squad. During his time with the CBI he became a spokesman and counselor for anti-drug use. He was also a Drug Enforcement agent. Roy was given a mission of going undercover and was to gain the trust of a villianess Cheshire. Who he was to bring in to the authorities. Unexpectedly the two fell in love and Roy was unable to bring her in, and left her, thinking that he was endangering her. He was unaware that she was pregnant with his child. He learned that he was the father of Cheshire’s child and went after her with the help of Nightwing to stop her from carrying out an assassination of a group of diplomats. Roy was captured and later freed with the help of Nightwing. Roy’s daughter Lian left with them as well, falling under the care of Roy.

Roy returned to the titans and was made the leader. However he had taken on the name Arsenal. He strayed away from using only arrows and employed a vast array of high tech weaponry. Roy gathered new members for the Titans’ since all the founding members had left the team. The financier of the the Titans (past and present), was a man by the name of Loren Jupiter. Loren was able to gather the original founders to help the Newer Titans defeat his son, Haze.  In the battle, Joto, a young memmber of the titans died. Roy felt responsible for his death and after some time left the Titans again.

Arsenal later came in contact with Vandal Savage who had discovered that Roy and his daughter Lian where descendants of his and that their organs would help Vandal to continue his immortality. Lian was kidnapped by Vandal but rescued by Roy. Roy then brought back the original members of the titans and remained on the team for quite a while, living at Titan’s Tower with his daughter. Around this time Roy changed his appearance somewhat to reflect his Navajo heritage.

In a battle the resulted in Donna Toy’s death, Nightwing disbanded the Titan’s (AGAIN), which opened the door for Arsenal to form an underground unit of hero’s known as The Outsiders. After spending a considerable amount of time with the Outsiders, having to rescue his daughter from being abducted for a child-slave organization, and surviving a near fatal gunshot wound to the chest, Arsenal’s time as a member of the outsiders was drawing to an end. After the events of Infinite Crisis, The Outsiders felt as though they were not making a difference, mostly dealing with low level criminals and threats. Roy tried to keep the group together but felt he  was not cut out the underground cloak-and-dagger type stuff. He left the Outsiders and gave command of the group to Nightwing.

Roy was brought up to the Major League when he was asked by Hal Jordan to join the Justice League. In the middle of a battle Hal called him “Red Arrow” while trying to not call him by his real name. Roy adopted the name and joined the league. This was a turning point for the character as he was no longer a sidekick or running an underground group of heroes. He had outgrown his troubled relationship with Green Arrow , and even had a short relationship with Hawkgirl. His status with the league is up in the air depending on what you might be reading in the comics.

Roy Harper as Speedy has appeared in a number of cartoons and animated series over the years, due to the length of this article and the fact that I haven’t even mentioned Mia Dearden yet, I chose not to list those appearances

Mia Dearden is the second person that Green Arrow has taken on as a sidekick with the name Speedy. Her first appearance was in Green Arrow (vol 3) #2 in May of 2001. She was created by Kevin Smith (yes THAT Kevin Smith) and Phil Hester. In her introduction, Mia is a teenage runaway who had an abusive father and took to the streets. Unable to survive in this environment on her own, she fell in love with a man who offered her food and shelter in return for her involvement with a child prostitution ring. Mia was taken out of this life by  Oliver Queen, who had recently come back from the dead. He told her that he was under orders from Green Arrow, but Mia was wiser than that and saw through his disguise. She soon became the ward of Oliver Queen and continuously petitioned him to be his sidekick, but not wanting to put another youth in harm’s way, he turned her down time and again. Oliver’s true son Connor Hawke, secretly trained Mia in archery and combat skills.   When Judd Winick took over the writing for Green Arrow comics in 2004, he added that as a result of Mia’s prostitution past, she was HIV-positive. This was really a big deal for comics in general as I don’t know her to be the first, but definitely one of a few characters who were HIV positive.  She told Oliver, which only made her resolve stronger that she become his sidekick. Green Arrow finally gave in and allowed her the mantle of Speedy. Oliver thought it would be best for her to attempt to join the Teen Titans . He believed that being around a group of super teenagers would be good for her. She was to face off against Robin to test her skills and earn a place on the team. Robin won, but her skills were enough to impress the rest of the team and Speedy was the newest member of the Teen Titans. Shortly after her first mission she told the rest of the team that she was HIV positive.  Feeling a closeness with the new Speedy, Arsenal gave her a a bunch of his old arrows. One of which was a special arrow that he told her to only use in an emergency. Roy didn’t even know what this arrow would do. She would find out later  while trying to use it on Superboy Prime that it was in fact a Phantom Zone arrow that Roy had stolen from the Fortress of Solitude when he was Speedy.

Mia was recently kidnapped by Jason Todd (the second Robin), because he believed her to have many of the same qualities as him as they both used to live on the streets.  Mia was able to escape, but some of what Jason talked to her about made sense. In the months following this event, Mia has had quite a lot to deal with. Ollie proposed to Dinah (Black Canary), Ollie was kidnapped, Dinah married an Oliver imposter, Connor was shot in the chest with a bullet meant for Ollie and left in a vegetative state, and Mia falls in love with a mercenary named Dodger. Dodger was from England and after Mia moved to London to be with him, she found out he had an affair with a woman named Emma Watson.

Smallville has brought this character to our living rooms in the form of Mia. From what we’ve seen so far (which isn’t much), the writers are  following closely to her comic history.  As she is scheduled to appear in 3 episodes this season, I can only hope that we will see her don a Speedy costume before her episodes are up.

I hope you have found this informative and entertaining, I know I learned a thing or two. Please visit our forums to discuss all things Speedy and of course all things Smallvile. I would love to some comments on what our readers think of these character histories. I have tried to give a full history of the character even if it does not pertain to Smallville while i have left some things out, I feel it’s a fairly accurate history that you can become familiar with. Would it be better if I just stuck to the Smallville related stuff or does everyone like reading more of a full history?  Leave a comment below! (Just be nice to one another)

The character of Roulette has now been successfully brought to the Smallville Universe, and while her presence was definitely significant on Smallville, her history in the DC Universe has been spotty at best. She has appeared very sporadically since the golden age and there has been more than one character to use the name of Roulette. Most of the sources I use for compiling the “SHoE Files” had very unspecific information regarding her origin. You will find numerous links to help in case there are those of you who are unclear about some of the characters important to her history.

The modern Roulette’s name is Veronica Sinclair. Her Grandmother went by the same name in the Golden age of comics. However her history has been retconned and follows a different continuity now that pairs her with the Golden Age Mister Terrific, Terry Sloane. Who Veronica now believes to be her Grandfather.

Veronica is a human with no special powers or abilities that has a natural aptitude to calculate odds and gambling. In the comics she been shown to own a fight club where super-humans are the competitors. Roulette has various teleporting devices that she uses to get the super heroes into her club and then using drugs or mind-controlling devices like aggressor chips to get the heroes to fight each other. Super Villains are the spectators, making wagers and enjoying seeing their foes fighting each other. The Place where these fights take place is called “The House”. She has mostly dealt with the JSA (Justice Society of America) in her appearances in the comics.  There is a “Wall of Fallen Heroes” in The House to showcase those that have died in battle at her club.

Roulette was featured in an episode of Justice League: Unlimited that dealt with her fight club. She was voiced by actress Virginia Madsen. The episode involved Hawkgirl, Huntress, Vixen, Black Canary, and Wonder Woman forced to fight each other.

Smallville gave us a very familiar version of Roulette, and while she wasn’t exactly a villain, the character did not rise very much above mercenary. She was hired to do a job and that’s exactly what she did. She seemed to be the type to do what ever it takes as long as she was getting paid. We can always look back on this episode and say that she was pivotal to Ollie begininning to put his life back together. Even though it was Chloe who initiated Roulette’s mission.I will be interested to see if she is mentioned during the Smallville episode “Society”.

I apologize for the short article, but there simply is not enough information out there like we had for Metallo and Toyman. Do not worry though, we have some monumental characters coming up this season that will have quite lengthy SHoE File articles.

Thanks for reading, and remember to visit our forums to talk about Smallville and many many other topics. If you choose to leave a comment here, and I do appreciate the feedback, please be respectful of each others opinions even if it is one you do not agree with. I never like to see people getting bashed for voicing their opinion, remember we are ALL Smallville fans and we wouldn’t be here if we were not.

]]> http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/10/29/shoe-files-roulette/feed/ 5 http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/10/19/shoe-files-toyman/ http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/2009/10/19/shoe-files-toyman/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:18:14 +0000 Brian http://www.smallvillepodcast.com/?p=2566

Here with another installment of the SHoE Files, we are going to take a historical look at The Toyman. Hopefully you have watched “Echo” by now and nothing that I might say should spoil you. Up until this episode, Winslow’s only beef has been with Oliver since he had never even met Clark.  So sit back, get your scroll wheel ready, and lets set the WABAC machine to September 1943….

There are actually three people who have donned the “Toyman” name. Winslow Schott, Jack Nimball, and Hiro Okamura all have been called “the Toyman” in the DC Universe. With Nimball being a short-lived incarnation of the character.

In september 1943 Winslow was introduced in Action Comics #64. His appearance in the issue was that of what one might think a toymaker was to look like. A bit Ben Franklin, a bit PT Barnum, and totally insane. Using life-sized toys equipped with dangerous implications like bombs or real guns. Using these types of ploys he was a thorn in the side of Superman, but usually it did not take much for Superman to foil his plans. Winslow appeared numerous times until the 1950’s when his appearances became less frequent. It was not until the 1970’s that we get to see a different version of the Toyman. With Winslow retiring from his life of crime, a character by the name of Jack Nimball took up the Toyman name. He appeared in Action Comics #432 and had the look of a Jester. He used the same methods as Winslow to engage in criminal activities. Superman v1 # 305 marked the end of  Jack Nimball, with Winslow coming out of retirement and killing Jack.

The look of the Jester however would remain in different media. In ” Challenge of the Superfriends” we saw a Jester-like toyman align himself with the Legion of Doom. This is the look I can mostly remember growing up in the 80’s and watching Superfriends quite frequently. There would be more changes in the comics since this time that would influence various different looks leading to a more modern Toyman…or Toymen.

In 1985 after “Crisis on Infinite Earths”  and “Superman: Man of Steel” The Toyman received a revision. This is a place keeper for a lot of character’s and their histories and is often referred to as post-crisis in the DC Universe.  The post-crisis Toyman made his debut in Janruary 1988 in Superman v2 #13. Winslow Schott was an unemployed British toymaker who blamed Lex Luthor for being fired from his job. In his efforts to seek revenge on Lex, he uses children’s toys armed with lethal weapons to destroy Luthor. This often caused his plans to be thwarted by none other than Superman.  For the following years Winslow re-locates to Metropolis and becomes quite a nuisance to Superman and starts abducting children as a part of his schemes.

The Toyman would become quite more sinister in the Superman storylines once he learned that a line of Superman action figures based on his villains would be made and the Toyman was not a part of this line-up due to him not being “edgy” enough. This contributed to a psychotic break that would lead to him abducting many children. Most notably the son of Daily Planet reporter Cat Grant. Not only was Adam Grant abducted, but the Toyman murdered him by stabbing him repeatedly. He chose to murder Adam because a group of the captive children tried to escape and Winslow thought Adam to be thier leader in the escape attempt.  This caused him to develop a hatred for children, beliveing that they did not appreciate his old-fashioned toys. When Cat Grant confronted Winslow in prison, he told her” you were a bad mommy, I am glad I killed your son”.

After showing Toyman that children did in-fact appreciate his toys Superman believed him to be cured and was able to arrange his parole to be served in an orphanage. This was not the case as his “cure” was just an effect of  Zatanna using magic. It was not long before Winslow returned to his life of crime abducting children.

Most recently Geoff Johns revised the story of the Toyman, and explained that the Toyman who killed Adam Grant was a robot created by Schott in the event he was ever incarcerated. He was depicted a married man, owning a small toyshop. He was approached by a businessman who wanted to buy his shop and make his toys available to children everywhere. Winslow refused but following the death of his wife in a car crash, agreed to sell his toy shop. The businessman was less than truthful and after learning that his advanced toy designs were sold to arms manufacturers. Winslow then bombs the business with an explosive teddy bear.

The only other significant version of The Toyman was brought to us by the way of “Superman: The Animated Series” and had a very different but still very creepy look.

This was actually Winslow Schott Jr. , his father was a toymaker who was framed for murder and Jr was placed in foster care for most of his childhood. By the time he reached adulthood he was quite mentally ill. Using his natural ability of mechanics he devised less flamboyant weapons to make up for his childhood and terrorizing Metropolis. His weapons were rubber balls that could smash concrete and an ‘”inescapable bubble blower”.  This is the same version of The Toyman that can be seen in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoon series that aired  2001-2006.

There is another person unrelated to Winslow Schott that shares the same name. Hiro Okamura debuted February 2002 in  Superman #177, going by the name Toyman. Hiro is a mechanical genius who belives his grandfathers plans were stolen to create Metallo. In “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” Hiro comes to the aid of Superman and Batman to help destroy a Kryptonite meteor that is on a collision course with Earth. Hiro has been seen various times in DC storylines as an ally to the hero’s rather than a villian. He often appears to help Batman creating highly advanced gadgets for Batman’s arsenal. In Action Comics #865 Hiro is shown to be one of Schott’s androids.

We now move on to the Smallville version of Winslow Schott. Slightly different, yet very familiar, Winslow is a employee of Queen Industries who loses his job because of his development of very dangerous toys. This causes Winslow to attempt to kill Oliver and Tess, following the orders of Lex.  After failing to kill them Oliver uses Winslow’s own toys against him by killing Lex and framing Winslow for the murder.  The Toyman resurfaces in “Echo” trying to clear his name and punish Oliver in the process. Due to Clarks new found ability, his plans are thwarted once again and we get the first meeting of “the Blur” and “the Toyman” . He is arrested, but before going off to prison, he is visited by Tess who shoots him in the leg and offers to help him if he can help her. Tess gives Winslow the kryptonite heart from Metallo and wants him to figure out how it works.

Toyman has a very good foundation in Smallville so far and I think we could be seeing him again before season 9 wraps up. I hope you have enjoyed this character history and there is more to this character than what I have talked about in this article.  Visit our forums and start a discussion!

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Hopefully by now you have seen 9×02 “Metallo” and some might wonder what his history has been with Superman. Smallville did a very good job of presenting the character and how he came to be the way that he is. Believe it or not, Metallo has been a character in the DC Universe for fifty years. Like most characters that have been around for multiple decades, Metallo has had more than a few different looks and origin stories.  Smallville has done a good job with many of the supporting cast members and guests, they take the heart of the character and make it fit into the Smallville universe.

The Character of Metallo first appeared in Action Comics #252, which was May 1959.  The character’s name was George Grant, and he wore a metal suit and gave himself a dose of serum that would enhance his physical abilities. In the issue, he exposed Superman to a ray that greatly weakened him.  That gave Metallo the upperhand until thier second battle. Superman had to go through a lengthy exercise and training regimen to finally defeat Metallo. As the  Golden Age of comics had ended and the Atomic Age had bridged the gap ushering in the Silver Age of Comics George Grant would be no more, but Metallo would live on in another re-imagining of the character. Many would argue that George Grant was considered a silver age character because of the time in which he first appeared. Others might say he is Golden Age simply because the Superman  he was fighting at the time still had not been fully introduced to the Silver Age storylines.

John Corben was introduced as a reporter who would  moonlight as a small-time theif and murderer.After completing what he thought was the “perfectmurder”, he suffered a near fatal accident that severly mangled his body. He was immediately found by an aging doctor by the name of  Professor Vale who used his know-how to transform John’s brain into a robotic body covered with synthetic flesh. Professor Vale could only power John’s new body with a uranium capsule, which only lasted a day and that if he obtained some Kryptonite to use intead, he would have a limitless power supply. After being hired at The Daily Planet he knew that Superman was the only one who could uncover his secret and after failing at romance with Lois Lane he set a kryptonite death-trap for Superman and proceeded to steal a rock of Kryptonite from a museum, not realizing until he tried to power his body with it that it was a fake. This mistake caused him to inadvertently kill himself. Years later a story was published that had John’s brother Roger follow the same destiny, having a heart of Kryptonite. Roger’s motives were to avenge his brothers death with Superman.

It wasn’t until 1986 that John Byrne who was rewriting Supermans origin story also gave John Corben an altered backstory as well. In this backstory he was not an employee at The Daily Planet but a petty thief. He was struck by a truck and found by Professor Vale who wanted him to kill Superman because he believed a Kryptonian army was going to invade. Metallo snapped the doctor’s neck.  Metallo engaged Superman a number of times in the years following usually due to the fact that he was still involved in petty crimes.  Metallo was finally blown apart by a person who called herself Celsius, a meta-human with thermal powers.  Metallo made a deal with a demon named Neron, who gave him the ability to morph his metal into any object like turning his hands into a weapon or changing his body to fit the situation much like a green lantern does with light. Another abily he was given by Neron was the ability to project his consciousness into any meachanical or metallic object.

Metallo has since been retconned a bit more having his mind transferred into a cloned body of John Corbin. There is no evidence yet that he retained any of his abilities given to him by Neron. His body now consists of a metallic skeleton with a kryptonite heart and synthetic tissue grown over the skeleton

Metallo has resurfaced recently in the “New Krypton” story arc that is happening currently in the Superman comic titles. He is now shown to have a normal body with lead based armor and a kryptonite heart.

In Smallville, John Corbin’s story is taken from all of his history, incorporating aspects of all the incarnations of the character. It has been alluded to that Zod is the one responsible for taking John Corbin’s body after being struch by a truck and implanting him with a kryptonite heart and one of his arms having mechanical additions that has given him superstrength.

Hopefully this has been an interesting read for some of the Smallville fans that are not familiar with the comic backgrounds of some of the people we are seeing on the show. There is more to the character than what I have talked about here, but I feel that I’ve hit the highpoints of the character history.

Leave a comment below or start a thread on our forums to discuss Metallo.

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