If you ever question the calibre of the Smallville writing team, remind yourself that Geoff Johns brought us “Legion” and the greatly anticipated “Absolute Justice” and heave a sigh of relief. Why, you ask? I do believe his resume speaks for itself…
A superstar writer for DC Comics, Johns previously penned “The Justice League of America,” currently writes ongoing titles “Green Lantern” and “Adventure Comics,” with a new series “Batman: Earth One” debuting later this year. Between these projects he squeezes in the writing of major events including “Blackest Night,” its follow-up “Brightest Day,” “The Flash: Rebirth,” and “Superman: Secret Origin.” Plus! (As if all that were not enough.) Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have him working on big screen adaptations of “The Flash” and “Shazam.”
Knowing all this, I took him quite literally when he recently tweeted, “Sleep is for suckers.”
And I think I speak for Smallville fans the world over when I say: We are oh so grateful for that attitude! After all, if not for his blatant disregard for sleep we might not have “Absolute Justice,” nor his bi-monthly visit with CBR from whence come some marvelous tidbits this week.
With that in mind–WARNING! Spoilers ahead.
Answering questions from fans, Johns revealed his motivation for penning the upcoming two-hour episode: “I thought getting to introduce the first live-action version of the Justice Society of America would be a great challenge and something really fun to try and do.” He also noted how the entertainment industry constantly focuses on Superman and Batman–despite the legions of other DC superheroes and villains with the potential to translate to television and film–and commented, “I hope to see that change. That’s why I’m doing a little bit of what I can to introduce the other characters to the public at large.”
If you want an example of this “potential,” consider Doctor Fate for a moment. Johns shared, “I pushed the concept of Doctor Fate a little further than it’s been done in the comics. If you read Doctor Fate in JSA, I had him hear these whispers in his helmet. It’s really disturbing, but that kind of thing doesn’t really come across very well in comics because you can only mention it so many times before it’s like, ‘OK. I get it.’ But on Smallville, they can do it all the time, so there are these really cool hushes and whispers and you hear Nabu talking to him and it’s very disturbing for those around him, which is cool. Doctor Fate is a bit of a tragic character in this, but I don’t want to spoil too much more than that.”
Besides the info about Doctor Fate, Johns informed us that we learn the “origin” of Stargirl and how she represents a new generation of the JSA. “There was once a team,” he says, “it fell apart and now it’s coming back together and training the next generation.”
Oh! And that “friction” between Hawkman and Green Arrow? Apparantly the result of a “shared behavior.” Though what that shared behavior might be remains a mystery. Pride maybe? Just a thought.
The only disappointing news was the lack of Johns’ presence during production for the episode. He wrote the second half while the cast and crew filmed the first, then found himself attending a summit in New York for one of his other projects–so one should note that all his knowledge of “Absolute Justice” stems from the script, rather than the final product. Let us hope the production team remained true to his original vision.
On another note entirely, I offer a resounding “Thank you Kevin Levy!” As the head of CW scheduling, this marvelous man stands responsible for our two-hour ‘movie’ event. Just ask CW President, Dawn Ostroff. “We originally were going to air it as two separate episodes,” she told Fancast, “but Kevin–who’s a diehard Smallville fan–came to me and said, ‘Listen I really want to put these episodes together.'” Let’s give him a cheer shall we?
Now, just 10 days left ’til Smallville returns with new episodes and two weeks more after that ’til “Absolute Justice” airs. I am feeling a mite impatient, are you?
-Trish Neale, BuddyTV Fan Columnist
Source: CBR, DC Universe: The Source, Fancast, Twitter
(Images Courtesy of The CW)
Fan Columnist, BuddyTV
