sadly, no smallville. not for a while, not since 9th or 10th grade. but i read on io9 that geoff johns is doing a legion story soon. i love legion, i love smallville, ergo, i love geoff johns doing legion on smallville. i watched an episodes last week and it was entertaining. who knows, maybe i'm back?
tomy | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 2:48 am | #

Hell, no. Gave up a long time ago but occasiionally see bits of it on a sunday morning. What's this whammy you speak off? A species-wide mind wipe so everybody and his granny forgets what Clark looks like? Is the writing really THAT bad?
GQ | Email | 11.06.08 - 2:52 am | #

Yeah, I still watch and enjoy Smallville, although here in the UK we're a bit behind (season 7 finished a few weeks ago).

And you really think the glasses and the change of hair style in the comic books is a significantly better disguise than the (lack of) one in Smallville?!? The things you said about people recognizing Clark also apply to the comic book Superman (and, similarly, the reasons/excuses that people have come up with to explain why people don't recognize him could equally apply to Smallville as well).

Plus - it's not real life, Mike. It's all just made up, y'know?
Nimbus | Email | 11.06.08 - 4:40 am | #

All through the show, every time somebody saw his face (which would include almost the entire town), I would scream at the TV for him to just get a $2 ski mask or something. And now I'm wondering if he's going to wear glasses when he becomes Superman.

My wife and I watch it MST3K-style, but this season has been better, now that they've thrown out a lot of the emo crap (which mostly centered around Lana).

I also wondered how a college drop-out got that reporter job.
Old Bull Lee | 11.06.08 - 4:55 am | #

It's been at least 3 years since I've last seen an episode. Not because of episode quality, but because I just got behind in my TV viewing. Same reason why I'm not current on Stargate or Battlestar Galactica.
De | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 5:29 am | #

Smallville is probably the only live action superhero show I never got into.. I might pick up the box sets some day.
Rocco | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 5:42 am | #

Thank you for the link!
Stuff Geeks Love | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 6:14 am | #

I watch it with my wife (she loooooves Green Arrow). At this point I don't think they can possibly end up with the classic Superman setup with the cape and secret ID. Better to view it as Ultimate Superboy or Elseworlds or something.
Aqualad Knox | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 6:20 am | #

I've caught the occasional ep from the last two seasons, none so far this time around. It was amusing for awhile to watch Allison Mack carry every other actor on the show, but that only goes so far. If they do an episode featuring a kryptonite-powered monster made up of discarded Stride gum entitled "Tales from the Underside of the Table!", then I'll come back.
Jake Saint | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 6:31 am | #

I watched the first few episodes of Smallville, grew quickly bored on the Kryptonite Monster of the Week, for some reason really got into the third season, then quickly got out of it again when the fourth rolled around. (Witchcraft, Lois Lane...no thanks.) Occasionally since then, I'll consider checking it out again. I'll think, "Hmm. James Marsters as Brainiac. That could be interesting." But I'm not sitting through 4+ seasons on that slim chance.
Fred | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 6:35 am | #

Not to get off the subject, but did Lucy win the golf tourny or what?!
Maxo | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 8:04 am | #

Yeah, the final nail for me was when Lois was insisting calling Clark "Smallville"... in Smallville! I'm more than sure I'm not the first that's noticed that.
Wilfredo | Email | 11.06.08 - 8:17 am | #

No
Scott | Email | 11.06.08 - 8:21 am | #

Thanks for the Peanuts link, Mike. Carrying around the first volume of the Fantagraphics hardcover everywhere I go is really tiring.

Never tried watching Smallville. I never watched the Birds of Prey show, either. Was that any good?*

*yes, I'm kidding.
david z. | Email | 11.06.08 - 8:27 am | #

Yes, I'm watching. As soon as I heard they were doing Doomsday and getting a female replacement for Lex, I was finished. BUT! This season is AWESOME! I am shocked.

Why is it awesome? Let's make a list:

1. Clark is actually running around being a superhero and saving people, the way he always SHOULD have been doing on the show.
2. Lana is GONE. Huzzah! Yes, she'll return for a few eppys to tie up her story, but she's gone!
3. Super-skank version of Kara is gone. Huzzah! Again, she'll be back for one eppy to tie it up, but that's it!
4. The completely awesome Clark/Lois chemistry. Now, THIS? This is chemistry. Tom Welling had no chemistry with Kristin Kreuk at all. Erica Durance actually looks like a sexy, smart woman and hello, Clark, look at Lois. There's boobs and curves there. How could you even think to pine over whimpy Lana? Ugh! So Clark/Lois cuteness FTW, plus, they're both working at the Planet, too.
5. Jimmy hot on the trail of the secret hero's identitly, along with Lois. YESSSSSSS, thank you, show!
6. Ollie is back, and they are using him well as a foil for Clark. His mysterious relationship with Mercy (yes, he calls her Mercy and I am choosing to believe she is "Mercy" from the cartoon series) is fresh and something they haven't tried on the show before.
7. Chloe's powers. Before, they were lame. Also, it always felt as thought Chloe was awesome at everything simply because the script said so. Now, her powers finally make sense as to how/why she would be so smart and capable. Taking over the Isis Foundation is a nice character touch.
8. Doomsday. Wow, I like his character. I like him better here than when he was on "Battlestar Galactica" (although his performance in "Force Unleashed" is mighty fine...) He isn't your typical bad guy. I figure they'll do some sort of Jekyll/Hyde thing for him, but the journey of how he gets there is very interesting.
9. OMG MAXIMA WAS ON THE SHOW! 'Nuff said.
10. They are actually letting the show progress in terms of characters and plot finally. I fully support this and I choose to believe it is because of the lack of unable-to-act-Kristin-as-Lana that makes it that way.
11. The writers are throwing in nods to the fanboys/fangirls all the time. Lois got her palm read and was told she'd fall in love with a guy who likes to fly and wear tights. MAXIMA APPEARED! J'onn returned as a cop. MERCY. Ollie talks about "fatcats". Clark attempts to have 2 identities by having Ollie dress up in a blue outfit with a red cape. Little things like this make me squee happily.
12. Did I mention Lana was gone? *LOL*

Seriously, I am very curious how they'll end it, considering Clark is running around without glasses so people would be able to figure out his identity, but yeah. I can't get enough of the show. This is the show that I wanted to see when I started watching first season and was disappointed every season after. (Well, maybe except whenever Brainiac was one, because first off? Yummy. Secondly? BRAINIAC!)

This show is at its best when it deals with true character growth by using existing canon and tweaking it slightly, while paying homage to the fans. (Anyone remember "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD?" on the show? Completely awesome!) So I'll be watching until the very end. I'll wince once Kara and Lana return, but then they'll go away and things will get better again.
Jo | Email | 11.06.08 - 8:48 am | #

Yeah, I'm still watching it, mainly for the same reasons you are. Supposedly, this is the "last" season, which would make sense. Which means it'll get strung out another few years anyway.

Oh, and the Legion episode. I am looking forward to that, at least.
Jonathan Miller | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 9:38 am | #

Sweet! Drabble! I'm sure all your commenters are equally as psyched by that link.

No? They're all talking about Smallville? Oh.

Okay, I gave up on it a couple seasons back. And you know me: I watch ANYTHING. Takes a lot for me to give up on a show. I understand Lana and Lex are gone now. What's the point of even keeping it going? Please tell me it's ending this year.
Tom the Dog | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 11:40 am | #

I still watch Smallville every week (and Supernatural). In general I feel like they have solid ideas that get hit with some sort of retardation ray.

This season has been more fun than the last few--I blame the new showrunners and getting the awful Kristen Kreuk off the show.

Still, I want more out of it. I want Clark to man up and develop the morals, intelligence and conviction of character we expect of him.
Poormojo | Email | Homepage | 11.06.08 - 11:53 am | #

I like the Remy Zero "Save Me" theme song. And then it's on to Survivor.
Jim Kingman | Email | 11.06.08 - 1:24 pm | #

I just found out there's a "Swamp Thing" still appearing in Ambush Bug!
Is it the purple one of Earth-6 from the first issue, or the real deal?

******* SCANS, PLEASE!!!!!!
Anonymous | 11.06.08 - 4:52 pm | #

I don't watch Smallville. Survivor's on against it. I do watch Supernatural, however.
Anonymous | 11.06.08 - 4:56 pm | #

I know two people who have watched Smallville from day freaking one, and are still watching it. I am kind of in awe of those people. I hit the eject button somewhere in season five. I stand by the sweetness, sense of wonder, and nods to the epic of the early years, despite the clunky writing, but even I can only take so much. (Though having a Martian Manhunter around does make me love the later years a tiny bit.)
Sarah | Email | 11.06.08 - 11:11 pm | #

I'm glad to see the love for Drabble -- when Fox Trot ended its daily run in 2006, and staffers at my newspaper got to pitch comics we wanted to see take its place, I submitted this strip from that November and wound up winning the vote. I have no idea how popular Drabble is locally compared to Fox Trot, but I've heard no complaints about the change.

And I've seen maybe only about a dozen episodes of "Smallville," mostly ones cherry-picked for me by a friend of mine who's absolutely bonkers for it; I follow the comics, he follows the show and he sends me a lot of "Did this happen in the comics like it happened in the show?" e-mails. I did make a point of watching the Maxima episode, though, because as was earlier mentioned, OMG MAXIMA.
Brian Smith | Email | 11.06.08 - 11:14 pm | #

Just watched series 7 of Smallville (in the UK), having caught up on cheap eBay DVDs from season 1 to 6. I'd had a whale of a time with the first six. Good escapist nonsense, I thought. Bit dumb at times. Some of them look older than me, though.

And then I watched season 7, in which the main supervillain was the soundtrack, Supergirl was played by Miss Piggy (all that was missing was the "Hai-yaaa!") and the script sounded like it had been dragged out of the shredder, dipped in cat shit and beaten with a mallet.

I'm told season 8 is better, but I'm still not quite recovered from season 7. Does Miss Piggy return? If so, I'm NOT watching it again...
Adam Horovitz | Email | 11.07.08 - 12:59 am | #

Well Mike, since you ASKED me if I had more things to say

I agree with people glad to see Lana go. I think most of the casting on the show has been good, particularly with the classic characters. This show has the most perfect Lois ever, Jimmy and Lex are great, the middle-aged Kents were great, Welling as Clark is kind of hit-and-miss but I blame the writing more than him. And Chloe (as far as I know) is original to the show, but she's a great character, fits in well with the other characters, and is played by a good actress, and I'm not just saying that because she's one of the hottest women on TV right now.

Tonight's episode strayed from that, but another thing great about this season is they've been largely staying away from the magic crystal/Jor-Ex Machina stories. The show is best when it's about Clark and the gang a) being do-gooders and b) growing up and finding their place in the world, which is what made the beginning of the show go so well when you think about it.
Old Bull Lee | 11.07.08 - 8:27 am | #

I drop in on "Smallville" occasionally for some of the "Justice League" episodes. Not interested in a show about Clark Kent getting all Peter-Parkery. I am probably being unfair, but I prefer my Superman punching meteors and fighting volcanoes with his bare hands.
philip | 11.07.08 - 9:22 am | #

Season six is where I think I'd had enough. I just couldn't take the formulaic meteor freak of the week, the constant pain of any man's relationship with Lana, and the limitations of certain cast members' talent. Seven I sampled the season opener and couldn't even finish it. This year? Whoa. I am still watching and no one's more amazed than me. The loss of two of the millstones/original cast has forced creativity and I don't know if Welling took classes on hiatus or if furniture would look a good actor in a scene with Tess.
Baal | Email | Homepage | 11.07.08 - 8:06 pm | #

I was ready to give up a couple seasons ago, but they brought in Green Arrow, then Martian Manhunter, my 2 favorite DC characters. With all the crap they flung at the screen, I think the writers actually did a good job with those two. They kept Ollie's origin the same! And Martian Manhunter is now Detective John Jones, and mentoring Clark on occasion! And there's a Justice League! And Clark's starting to be a hero!

Total fan service, and I don't care. The overall quality's not really "good." I don't care. The acting verges on awful. I don't care. I actually look forward to watching the stupid show (and it's stupid, make no mistake, but I still like it).

Oh, and Jor-El is going to mindwipe everybody using Kryptonian crystals. Or something. Whatever. It's Smallville. It doesn't have to be logical.
Mike Loughlin | Email | 11.08.08 - 9:25 pm | #

Yes I am still watching it. This season has been muuuch better than 7. I freakin' CHEERED when Lana was written off, because I knew that this time, it was at least going to be semi-permanent. And thank you for mentioning all the head injuries. I swear, when they had "OMG, somethings wrong with Lana" subplot for a couple of episodes back in like season 5 or 6, I was convinced Lana had an impending fatal aneurysm or stroke stemming from all the times she bonked her useless head. I think I actually shouted something to the effect of "Thank Christ, they're gonna kill her!"

I am most looking forward to the Legion episode, with a gleeful smile barely suppressed on my face.
Joe | Email | 11.10.08 - 7:04 am | #