I had a bit of pure geek fanboy fun with the preview at the end of this week's episode of
Smallville. I've long been a fan of the mystical character Doctor Fate, points of theological accuracy notwithstanding. So I've been thrilled to hear that the premiere DC Comics author Geoff Johns, who wrote last year's
Smallville episode that featured the live action debut of 31st century DC characters from The Legion of Super-Heroes, was going to return this year to pen an episode featuring the Justice Society of America, DC's classic (and still very popular) heroes from the 1940s. Thrilled, that is, because this includes the first live-action version of Doctor Fate.
Johns just stepped down from a ten-year run on writing
JSA, during which it was consistently among DC's best titles. So, like all the fans, I was quite geeked when I heard that there was going to be some sort of
Smallville-adapted version of the Justice Society appearing later in this season, and featuring characters Doctor Fate, Hawkman, and Johns' own Stargirl. This eventually turned into a two-parter, and that has in turn apparently become a first-ever
Smallville two-hour movie coming in February. A first glimpse at a photograph of Hawkman from the story got on the internet this week, and added to fan excitement and speculation, given that the Hawkman pictured was one of the most faithful representations of a DC character to have yet appeared on
Smallville. (Although the wings were not really big enough, I thought.)
So I was jazzed when I saw the preview aired with Friday's episode, featuring a glimpse of the mysteriously-helmeted Fate, but also a glimpse of the classic Alan Scott Green Lantern's ring, and the gas-masked visage of the Sandman, neither of whom had been mentioned to this point. An oil-painting glimpsed at the end of the preview, which featured most of the classic characters, and hinting at perhaps even more appearances, just leaves me with an absurd fanish glow.
The only thing lacking at this point is that I've never gotten around to getting a Screen Actors Guild membership, leaving me unable to have auditioned for the role of Doctor Fate myself.
