Some crooks are smuggling food out of a storage container at the Port of Metropolis, when one of the, mutters, “Aren’t you worried Superman might show up?” Seems they should have been worried about someone else. A green arrow strikes. “Now I’m just offended. I was out here kickin’ ass long before Big Blue slapped on his fancy pants.” The lead crook yells, “Kill the Green Arrow!”
Ollie holds his own and manages to take down a couple of the crooks, but he’s vastly outnumbered and has to retreat. The leader taunts him for marrying Cloe. Never talk about a man’s wife! Ollie shoots an arrow upward and releases small electric nets that ensnare the criminals. But there was one crook that wasn’t with the others and he fires a bazooka at Green Arrow. Luckily, Superman swoops down in just the nick of time to save him.
Superman ties all the crooks together and leaves them hanging at Police Headquarters. In civilian clothes, Clark and Ollie tease each other, the way friends do. The subject comes up of Ollie and Cloe moving to Star City. Ollie is anxious to move, but Cloe is having trouble letting go of The Watchtower, their base of operations for so many years.
She is there now, analyzing the data on the strange rift in outer space in Issue #1. Lois drops by with coffee and finds Cloe a stressed out mess. In a scene paralleling the one before, the two women joke and bond. Cloe reveals they have plans to build Watchtowers in the home towns of all their allies. Just then, Cloe’s computer has cracked the code and displays satellite footage of the rift event. The women see a small space craft entering Earth’s atmosphere during all of the commotion. Cloe concludes that she will be staying in Metropolis for a bit longer.
Speaking of that… why didn’t they re-brand this series as ‘Metropolis’? They haven’t been in Smallville in a long time. I guess Smallville is just the name people know. At any rate, it was good to see Green Arrow in action. The art overall is very smooth and very nice, but the Green Arrow fight scene was particularly nicely rendered.
And it was nice to simply check in with Ollie and Cloe and re-establish their close bonds with Clark and Lois, respectively. The classic banter is there, just like on the show. I am sad that they’re leaving at some point, but his living in Star City does bring things closer in line with the comics.
I’m getting more accustomed to the shorter pacing of these mini-comics. They’re short, but they squeeze in just the right amount of the elements from the show to satisfy fans. Or do they? What do you think?
Verdict: Buy
SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #3
Written by Brian Q. Miller
Art by Pere Perez
