SKAM2? teams up with TacticalSkateboarding.com to bring you sick visuals for a twisted piece of sonic mayhem. Andrew Reynolds (Baker), Peter Smolik (Skate Mafia) and Kellen James (Skate Mafia) are just a few of the heads throwing down some serious hammers in this clip vid chock-full of skate bangers, zombies and ghouls. Director Steve Celentani scores this piece with one of SKAM2?’s latest tracks, “Re+animated Cannibal” off the debut mixtape THE SKRONIK: How to Boil Vomit, out now and sponsored by HipHopDx and Public Wizard, Inc.
Sorry for the confusing headline. Not trying to imply that Batman has a new sidekick. At least, not yet. As far as I know, Damian Wayne is still going to be Robin in the all new, all different DC Universe this fall. That said, the controversial, yet still eagerly anticipated, reset of the entire DC Universe has some fans scratching their heads, and others drooling over the creative teams announced to navigate the new DC landscape. One of those drool-inducing teams is writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang at the helm of the new adventures of the Amazon princess herself in this September’s Wonder Woman #1.
Though he couldn’t divulge any classified information about what’s actually going to happen inside the covers of the comic, Chiang was able to discuss what makes Wonder Woman such an enduring icon as well as why Diana would make for a badass rock star. Also discussed: Cliff’s love of ’80s music and giant robots. Not necessarily in that order.
UPDATED June 27, 2011: Pre-order information for Cliff’s “Mecha” t-shirt is now available at Epic Proportions!
After ten years, tonight’s episode “Prophecy” is the last one until next week’s two-hour finale (which I’ll be [West Coast] live-blogging, by the way.) And if last week’s preview is any indication, the show is looking to head into its finale with a bang. Yes, it looks like in addition to Toyman and Granny Goodness (as seen in the teaser), we’ll get our first look at Smallville‘s take on the freakin’ Legion of Doom! In the photo to the left, which is a screengrab from the trailer, you can clearly make out Solomon Grundy(!), Black Manta (!!), Captain Cold (!!!) and previous Smallville villains Roulette, Metallo and Dark Archer (the show’s Merlyn analog) apparently on Skype with Toyman.
So after seeing the L.O.D., I was inspired to look back at the Superman villains who have appeared on the show. While the movie franchise has only battled Lex and Zod multiple times, over the last decade, Clark has encountered pretty much everybody in Superman’s rogues gallery, including such iconic Supes villains as Bizarro, Doomsday and Darkseid. And he ain’t even Superman yet.
Of all the villains who’ve been portrayed on the show, however, two stand out as the best* and worst. We’ll start with the bad news first.
Originally, this post was going to be a rundown of how Smallville has depicted some of Superman’s rogues gallery since tonight’s episode “Dominion” features the return of General Zod. But then on Tuesday, TV Guide broke the news that Warner Home Video would be releasing a massive 62-disc “Complete Series” boxset on DVD this fall. Needless to say, I was pretty excited because I recently sold off my Seasons 1-9 DVD sets in anticipation for an eventual complete series set on blu-ray. But as I read through the TV Guide article and watched the promotional video edited by WB, I started getting worried. There was no mention of a blu-ray release. Everything kept referring to DVD only. Could it be? The big blue boy scout wouldn’t be getting a blu release?
With the series winding down to its final hours, Smallville takes one last dip into the greater DC Comics universe with the appearances of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (both Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes) in tonight’s Geoff Johns-penned and Tom Welling-directed episode “Booster.” And as you can see by the image to the left, Booster Gold is decked out in full superhero regalia.
Though the show initially started out with a “no tights, no flights” rule, that edict was pretty much abandoned in Season Six with the debut of Justin Hartley as Green Arrow. Though other DC characters had appeared in the five previous seasons, Green Arrow was the first time one of those characters actually looked like a DC character, opening up a whole new box of toys for subsequent seasons to play with. And we can all thank designer Andy Poon for initiating the silver age of costumed heroism on Smallville.
Recently, I had a chance to talk with the Vancouver-based artist about developing some of the superhero looks on the show, including the creation of the iconic Green Arrow costume and his work on the Booster Gold costume seen in tonight’s episode.
The final five episodes of Smallville begin tonight with the episode “Kent” and the return of John Schneider in the role of Jonathan. Last week, when I looked back at the earlier seasons of the show, and re-watched the Pilot, I was struck by how much I missed the family dynamic of the earlier seasons. People like to call early Smallville a rehash of Dawson’s Creek, what with all the teen angst and everything, but those early years were as much about the relationship between Clark and his parents as it was about Clark pining over Lana. After Annette O’Toole resurfaced as Martha a few months back, tonight marks the return of Schneider in the role that made everyone forget that he was Bo Duke. Okay, maybe not everyone.
Missed me? Since Smallville went on its annual spring hiatus, I thought I’d take a break as well. But I’m back now, just in time for the final five episodes of Smallville. Before new episodes return next week, The CW is going back to the beginning tonight and re-airing the pilot. It ought to be interesting to see how much the cast — and the show — has changed in the ten years since it debuted.
Coincidentally, The CW’s Pilot rebroadcast isn’t the only Smallville Season One episode making the news. A couple of weeks ago, word broke that a former Freak of the Week from the episode “Craving” was cast as the new Lois Lane in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. What’s that? You didn’t realize multiple Oscar-nominee Amy Adams played a fat-sucking meteor freak in the early days of Smallville? But now that the former Jodi Melville is now Lois Lane, I thought I’d take this week to look back at other current Hollywood stars who graduated from Smallville High. But first, let’s look back at our new Lois Lane’s first trip through Smallville.
Karmaloop has teamed up with the homies from Mishka to bring you the “Serious Business” mixtape, the newest creation from Digital Boy + Shark. This hour-plus mix of 54 tracks is inspired by the musical worlds of grime, techno, bassline, UK hardcore and Dubstep. You can ONLY get this mixtape at Karmalopp.com, with new exclusive mixtapes dropping monthly from here on out.
So tonight’s Smallville episode “Scion” will see the debut of the latest member of Superman’s extended family. If you want to know who it is, spoilery stuff follows the jump. Let’s just say this season’s ongoing Lex Luthor clone saga will take an interesting turn tonight. In the meantime, we’re gonna look back at how the House of El has been portrayed on the show over the last ten seasons.
With the series winding down to its final hours, Smallville takes one last dip into the greater DC Comics universe with the appearances of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (both Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes) in tonight’s Geoff Johns-penned and Tom Welling-directed episode “Booster.” And as you can see by the image to the left, Booster Gold is decked out in full superhero regalia. 
