Smallville
Absolute Justice

After watching Smallville: Absolute Justice, the urge to find a fanboy and scream "Doctor Fate!" was hard to resist. Though Clark Kent (Tom Welling) may be "destined" to lead a Silver Age of humanity, we're living in the golden age of seeing obscure comic book characters brought to life with something akin to respect.

As with last season's Legion of Superheroes appearance, the Justice Society consists of characters that maybe someone would tap into for animation. Smallville had a lot of good will to coast on, and thanks to Geoff Johns, Master of DC, the episode wasn't as lazy as it could have been.

What problems Absolute Justice suffered come from this still being Smallville. The show didn't just start with a motto of "no tights, no flights"; unofficially, it also acted as if no one had ever had super powers before Kryptonians started paying attention to Earth. The current show runners have been treating those restrictions like a band-aid no one wants to rip off all at once, tugging at the edges to try and reveal a full-blown DC Universe without an abrupt shift.

So - and it's hard to swallow - no one remembers that in the early to mid-80s, at least twelve costumed heroes banded together to fight crime and more importantly, an entire generation of supervillains that were not "meteor freaks," because this predates the meteors. We know the costumes had to have been an important part of their identities because of a glorious painting of the JSA, and Carter Hall (Michael Shanks) admonishing Clark for not being bold about who he is. Then again, this is Smallville, and random admonishing is what the show does to stand in for interpersonal conflict.

If 100 older wiser heroes give 100 admonishments for 100 years, maybe Clark will put on the red and blue tights.

The episode also bogged down a little in the turgid dialogue and soap opera glances that are a hallmark. This is still the CW and often about pretty people looking troubled. After watching convenient newsreel footage of many of the Justice Society getting arrested in civilian identities, Chloe (Allison Mack), the supposedly super-smart Watchtower who can't put together that these guys were superheroes, snarks to Clark, "you sound like you admire them!"

And there's much to admire. The episode began with an aged Sylvester Pemberton, aka the Star Spangled Kid, getting attacked by the Icicle (Wesley MacInnes). This sets up a logical appearance by Courtney Whitmore (Brittney Irvin) to take over the Star Rod and become Stargirl. And people, this is what's amazing. When she explains her origin, it's exactly like the comic books.

Maybe that's because it's Johns writing, and Courtney is his character, but it's also a sign of why we should be enjoying Smallville. It developed the courage to be about superheroes.

Yet Johns also had to do some re-imagining. For one thing, this isn't a World War II era band of heroes. But like his best work in comics, Johns strips these characters down to their essence and only explains where he has to. The Sandman briefly appears and demonstrates the power of his dreams. Dr. Fate's helmet grants power, yes, but it also whispers to its wearer loud enough to drive the man insane. Hawkman is cursed to eternal reincarnation, but for some reason he no longer started out as an Egyptian prince. You can sense a network executive suggesting the curse shave off millennia in order to be a more believable thousand years old.

Absolute Justice moves the arc of the show forward as well. Again like last year's Legion appearance, Johns' writing lobs a lot of fan complaints at the basic set-up. Both Dr. Fate and Hawkman practically scream "put on a cape already!" Stargirl explains patiently to Chloe that as cool as her league of heroes is, it needs to feel a lot more friendly than it does. And Lois (Erica Durance) - well, Lois has fewer clues than Clark and Chloe, but puts the story together a lot faster than they do.

Johns also leaves a lot of potential open. Many JSAers get mentioned and acknowledged as being out there somewhere with sidekicks and protégés. If the show runners were interested, there's also a clear reference to the previous Black Canary that might warrant some explaining. And, ahem, in that painting? The Spectre. Oh, please, Smallville, give us The Spectre.

Oh, heck. Just give us another series, focusing on this new team. Also, please give Johns the ability to duplicate himself so he can run that show while still masterminding the DC Universe in print. Impossible, you say? After you've seen Smallville morph into the show fanboys wanted in the first place and, by the way, score its highest ratings of the season, almost anything seems possible. Especially if the clues at the end of this episode are right - you won't believe which characters they're going to tackle in the tenth season.