Smallville Season 11 #1 Review

Smallville returns as Bryan Q. Miller and Pere Perez bring us the continuing adventures of Clark Kent, now six months into his career as Superman, in the first chapter Smallville Season 11 #1.
Smallville Season 11 #1
Six months after Clark revealed his existence to the world by stopping the planet Apokolips from crashing into Earth, this new “Superman” has become a symbol of hope for the entire world, working tirelessly to keep it safe, including a Russian space station threatened by a mysterious cosmic storm.
Well, the show that would not die has returned in a new form, a digital-first comic book by one of the better writers of the show’s later years. After an acclaimed run on BATGIRL, Bryan Q. Miller and Pere Perez team up to give us a Superman who is ironically a lot closer to the pre-NEW 52 version; polite, powerful and in a relationship with Lois Lane.
Both writer and fans have pointed out that with the relatively limitless budget of a comic book, we can finally get a SMALLVILLE that isn’t hampered by special effects and actor availability. And so we get a SMALLVILLE that has Lex Luthor returned to his rightful place, and a Superman that flies through space fixing space stations. I can’t find a thing about that to hate.
Since this first chapter was only 18 half-pages (roughly 8-10 normal comic pages) there’s not a whole lot here for a reviewer to sink one’s teeth into. That said, what is there is certainly promising. The main SMALLVILLE cast is present and accounted for including Clark, Lois, Oliver, Chloe, and thankfully, Lex Luthor. There’s also a new addition in Lex’s new sidekick, Otis.
Yeah, THAT Otis. “Otisburg” Otis.
Miller’s voices for the supporting cast thankfully all ring true, as does Perez’s work on most of the group. Chloe and Lois don’t quite bring to mind the actresses that played them, but I’m willing to give it time for the art team to find their groove. It’s a tough balancing act. If the characters don’t look enough like the actors, people complain, and if they look too much like them, you get end up with “Gary Frank Backlash.”
Miller’s take on Clark/Superman is the hardest one to gauge for me. He doesn’t strike me as very SMALLVILLE Clark-ish. But at the same time, since he isn’t sitting in a corner crying, it’s hard to make a comparison (I kid cause I love). But seriously, this version of strictly “Superman” is a great one, and one I’ve missed over the last few months with the angrier and rowdier version running around the NEW-52. Again, I’ll have to wait until Miller gets a chance to do what we call “On the Farm” Clark, or the real Clark, to see how it stands up with the TV version.
Overall, this was a fun little introduction. All the main characters are touched on, and Superman proves why he’s earned the reputation he has in his world. The best evaluation I can give of this issue is that I was excited before I read it, and I’m still excited to read the next issue.
Above everything, I think I’m mostly glad to get a Superman who is closer to the version I grew up with and am used to. While I’ve enjoyed Morrison’s outside the box take, the other Super-Family books have really left me wanting. And the fact that this more classic version is coming, ironically enough,out of the SMALLVILLE universe, which got me into Superman in the first place, is icing in the cake