In SMALLVILLE: CHAOS #11, Clark sacrifices some skin in his zeal to save Lois, while one of the heroes back in our Metropolis plans a greater sacrifice.
I have enjoyed the Smallville comics and I have been enjoying SMALLVILLE: CHAOS as a mini series so far. However, I did not like this issue. Everything that last week’s issue set up to be interesting, just fell flat in this issue. The writing, which is usually really good, was sub-par at best. This issue had maybe one to two good scenes, if that. The artwork was confusing and over the top that I got taken out of the issue almost entirely. So let’s get more detailed the positives and negatives of SMALLVILLE: CHAOS #11.
Positives
I enjoyed two parts of this issue, one of which is the fight involving Supergirl, Superboy, Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman, and the fully-formed Eclipso. I like the scene because it was cool to see them show off what abilities do not work on Eclipso. I found it comedic and entertaining when they turned to Henshaw for suggestions on how to beat Eclipso. It was kinda like them saying “…well we tried…” I actually smiled at this scene. I thought the idea that Henshaw came up with was a okay idea. There was another scene that I thought was way better than this one and was the highlight of this issue. That scene involved the saving of Booster Gold and co. by Skeets!
Booster Gold is a cool character and his dynamic with Skeets I always find entertaining. We see Skeets act so badass in this issue! He chokes one of the Yellow Lantern guards, free the others, and then they beat up the other guards. I thought it was an awesome scene but what does this mean for the finale of the SMALLVILLE: CHAOS arc? Will Booster Gold be able to bring Clark and Lois back? I guess we will see next week.
Negatives
Even though I said the idea of Henshaw was okay, I thought it was a big let down. I never really liked Eclipso as a character, which is crazy because Bryan Q. Miller is awesome when it comes to character development, and yet when it came to Eclipso, he really dropped the ball. I thought the way they beat him was anti-climactic, they beat him with bells. This kind of thing was something we’ve seen before in regards to Spiderman beating the Venom symbiote the same way. So I think this was an unintended homage to Spiderman. When I begin to quote Marvel comics in a review for a DC comics story, then something is terribly wrong.
Another negative I had was the artwork. Last week I had an issue with the artwork, done by Agustin Padilla, in regards to the characters looking off. So in this issue, he intended to fix that problem, except he made it worse because the artwork was overbearing and had me completely confused. It was at a point during the scenes where Clark’s plan started to come together, where I wanted to stop reading because the artwork started to hurt my eyes and my head. It went from Clark being sent into the Bleed to Lois ending up in the same room as Clark. I had to push through to the end and I still don’t know what Clark’s plan was. I really wish, and hope, Padilla finds a common ground of quality for the finale. He dropped the ball in this issue.
Lastly, how the heck did Clark not die from being touched by the Bleed, when everything else that touched it completely got destroyed? I understand that he’s Superman and he is impervious to most things. However, I was also under the impression, setup by Bryan Q. Miller, that the Bleed can kill any and everything it touches, including Clark. So all of sudden, Clark can fly and cause damage with Bleed residue hanging on to him like it’s his cape. I find this situation hard to believe.
Verdict
SMALLVILLE: CHAOS #11 is a bad issue. It really is, especially coming off such a good setup issue such as last week’s #10. Quite frankly, it is upsetting to see this kind of bad quality with the finale just next week. Usually you would want to finish off strong, and this issue is let down heading into the finale. The story and art was lacking in quality and confusing. I’m hoping next week these guys come back and deliver a really good finale. With that being said, I do not recommend this issue.
Rating
