Smallville: Absolute Justice hit a record high in the Friday night spot since its last high showing way back in September 2008. According to the CW, Smallville performed well in all key categories, including “adults 18-49 (1.2/4), men 18-49 (1.5/5), adults 18-34 (1.1/4), men 18-34 (1.3/5) and total viewers (2.8mil), according to preliminary live plus same day Nielsen ratings for Friday, Feb. 5, 2009.”
2.8 million may not seem like a lot when shows like The Ghost Whisperer brings in 8.8 million viewers, but it is big news for the CW. Now if only those 2.8 million people would actually go out and buy comic books, we might be able to give the industry the kick in the pants it needs.
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Whilst I live in the UK and thus find trade waiting the best bet for comic book purchasing I would say that the issue I find allot when picking the books to wait on (I use a variety of review sites and word of mouth and my Marvel DCU pass to pick out the good stuff). If these 2.8 million people enjoy the show and are provoked into becoming comic book buyers where do they go, isn’t DC in the middle of Blackest Night which is sidelining books left right and centre, don’t they find that their batman books have no Bruce Wayne right at the moment?
I constantly feel that perhaps the comic book market is saturated and that there mightn’t be enough being done to give an easy ride and entry to newcomers to the medium. Marvel did the Ultimate Universe thing and that through being published in the UK at a decent timing for me to pick up was good, Spiderman was great though the X-men series lost it’s way and it has since become caught up in a more convoluted state which holds less interest for me. I love the Ultimate Iron Man series detailing Tony Stark’s origins by Orson Scott Card but it didn’t impact any other series. I enjoyed Thor’s godliness being less pronounced but Loeb has reversed that somewhat from what I’ve read of Ultimatum (I have skipped Ultiamtes three) and Ultimate Power was a farce that removed Ultimate Nick Fury from the game when he was one of the greatest cornerstones of the universe.
I did have a point before I got sidetracked bemoaning the Ultimate Marvel line, it was that comic books aren’t friendly enough to profit from things like this. Ultimate Spiderman coincided with the Spiderman Movies and the Ultimate universe has become a mess as has the movies which leaves the casual audience confused, befuddled and not seeing why they should bother any more.
Maybe this will give the show runners of Smallville a clue that fully costumed heroes and maybe even villains can now be present and not have to…real it up? I guess would be the right phrase for it. Give them costumes not hoodies, and silly vests.
If Warner Bros. just tried to market the comics in a 30 second TV spot then maybe they might see a uptick in sales, telling people what kind and where they can get the comics that help inspire the show they like to watch. But that makes to much sense, and it is obvious, and I have found that if it is either of the two then it will be ignored for some complicated mess that gets them nowhere.
It made me happy. Hope to see Clark dress up soon as a beacon of hope!
John, you want to see clark dressed up as George W. Bush?
> “if only those 2.8 million people would actually go out and buy comic books,”
I assumed those 2.8 million people were comic readers who tuned in to see the JSA. I’m not sure how many non-comic readers would tune in for this ep unless they were already Smallville fans.
Overall,I enjoyed the show.Obviously they can not translate comic book ideas to t.v. exactly.They have to add the romance and intrigue for the few ladies that watch the show.It is part of Smallville’s success.Introducing the JSA was done well and we got J’onn J’onzz back.Even a reference to cookies.The only issue I took from the episode was the killing off of Dr.Fate.It seemed to me a powerful person such as himself shouldn’t have been such an easy target.In the comics,Fate was invunerable and 2nd only to the Spectre in magical might.Smallville he can see the fate of others,return the power to the Martian Manhunter and teleport.Only sore point for me!