Friends who are aware of my love for comics are always surprised when I tell them I don't watch Smallville. I have seen a few episodes, and I think the concept is a solid one, combining the sci-fi/mystery appeal of The X-Files with the teen drama of Dawson's Creek quite well. But as someone in his 30s, I'm just not the target audience for the show, and that's cool. Here, the writers manage to successfully recreate the atmosphere, personality and strengths of the TV show into a printed form. It's just too bad that with the added space, more storytelling wasn't included instead of magazine features on the show and its star.
When the meteors fell on Smallville and the surrounding areas more than a decade ago, there were many victims. Among them was a man -- a friend of Jonathan Kent -- who had taken his son into the woods for a hunting trip. That left the boy alone in the forest, and altered. Today, Clark Kent and Pete Ross venture into the same woods for a camping trip... and so Clark can show off his powers for Pete without an audience. As Jonathan Kent makes his way back to his truck after dropping the boys off, he encounters something strange... and tragic.
Plunkett offers up some strong likenesses of the TV actors, but he doesn't allow the art to get too bogged down in those details either. The most impressive aspect of the art is how the antagonist's powers are presented to the reader. It's a cool effect, made possible between a strong collaboration between the line artists and colorist Jeromy Cox. Plunkett also captures a refreshing youthful exuberance that serves as a nice contrast with the antagonist's sorrow and dementia.
This comic-book story really read like an episode of the television program, and I have to assume that was the creators' goal here. Mind you, what this story lacked as compared with the show were character-driven subplots, which I believe are the real heart of the show. To be fair, though, one really can't be surprised that those subplots -- such as Lana and Clark's relationship -- aren't advanced here, as continuity with the TV show has to be maintained.
Another problem is that there just isn't the space to explore the characters who aren't directly involved in the central plot. Lana and Lex make little more than token appearances, and that's too bad, as their relationships with Clark are probably the most compelling aspects of Smallville. At best, I could be described as a casual fan, so I had little interest in the Tom Welling interview, behind-the-scenes feature and episode guide. Instead, I would have liked to see the main story fleshed out more, or a second tale.
