Okay, just that I knew a blu-ray collect was out
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A number of people (and things) were also brought into comics this way; Livewire was also a creation just for the Superman - The Animated Series show; famously, some claim that Jimmy Olsen, like Kryptonite, is a creation of the Adventures of Superman radio show, but we’ve had a cub reporter, with red hair and even bow tie, far before that.
Yeah, this is a weirdly set of circumstances. Similarly to how people have also blamed Bryan Singer (and he and the writers certainly share fault for some things) about Superman Returns with respect to his assault allegations, even before the more recent anger and HR management problems that were proven against him.
I was fine with her on the show but was surprised she lasted as long (especially once Erica Durance was on the show, since I felt they introduced Lois so early) as the character did, considering they dropped Pete so quickly (yes, yes I know). Lana certainly overstayed her welcome. Those were aspects, that although I really loved many things about the Season 11 digital first books, that I didn’t appreciate (bringing back Lana, having Chloe play such a big role in that continuation, down to her marrying Oliver Queen).
But the idea of Chloe?
I am fine with it. I’m not Not-A-Fan and think her character served a purpose, that just like Lana’s purposes, wasn’t necessary on the show past a certain time-frame. In this respect, I would be agreement with @Jared-El_Wayne’s point above.
My favorite thing about it is that she was (except for the Lionel arc in the show) primarily a strong female character - which I think is important to have in this genre and in both the comics and the show, she’s part and parcel of what’s been proven to be important for the Superman line, which is Kal-El having a connection to Earth, and having a relationship with the Daily Planet staff. Again, Lois and Jimmy serve this well, as do the other DP characters (Cat, Ron, etc.)
On the other hand, too many females ended up using her a self-insert, which I think has been harmful in the fandom (at least it predated the dominance of social media or it would have been more of an Ollicity/Felicity Smoak situation). As for the final question, no I do not believe it is fair. It’s like an actor taking a political position you don’t agree with, and having that color your opinion about a movie or TV show (or a musician with songs, etc.) - similarly to @Reaganfan78’s point on this issue.
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This was one of his first, if not his first, jobs for DC!
@Jurisdiction Erica Durance was not ever even mentioned with relationship to the cult scandal.
Oh and I forgot to mention I read the Giant Jimmy Olson Special ages ago but it’s been so-long that my only recollection was that the Action Comics issue or Jimmy Giant felt OOC for the show (I had not read Season 11, I believe Season 11 was not a thing yet but can’t remember the chronology since 2010/2011 was when I got back into reading graphic novels and floppies as an adult.
Sorry ALL for these late responses - this popped up in my notifications when I woke up from a nap, and it wasn’t until I had written all of this that I realized this is an old thread that popped up BUT not because it was tonight’s WAL!
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I did read the Action Comics run with the Chloe appearances a while back, but as I’m rewatching the Smallville series on HULU, there’s just no comparison.
First, it’s easy enough for me to disengage Chloe the character from Allison Mack. If we can have different actors playing the same character in different multiverse universes, and we can see an actor playing many different roles, then that kind of disengagement is necessary to enjoy historical performances. Also it’s unfair to punish everyone who worked on a series to “cancel” it because an actor or a crew member who worked on the programming (Andrew Kreisberg, Joss Whedon, etc.) did bad things. That’s my feeling, but I also understand if someone is uncomfortable watching Allison Mack. If the actor’s sins interfere with your enjoyment of the show, then watch something else. I’ll also concede that maybe I’m giving Ms. Mack a pass because I enjoyed the portrayal of Chloe before the scandal hit the news. Another thing is that she only plays a supporting role in Smallville. It’s kind of like how I can’t watch Kevin Spacey in American Beauty or House of Cards anymore, but I can still enjoy Baby Driver and Superman Returns. Again, I can unlink the character from the actor, but that’s just me.
All that said, the Chloe character’s role in Smallville was disturbing to me at first, because she was outside any pre- or -post Crisis canon, but I grew to appreciate her role as Clark’s best friend and how integral she was to many of the storylines. I suppose it could have just as easily been Pete Ross in that position, but the showrunners must have felt they could do more with a female friend. So while we have to give some credit to Ms. Mack’s acting, it was the writers who developed a character who is worthy of being part of sustained canon for young Clark. Another fun thing about the Chloe character, we’d go into the final episode of each season thinking she’s going to be killed off, or otherwise wiped from existence, because she was specific to Smallville. Kudos to the writers for exploiting this aspect of Chloe’s unique existence in the Smallville universe.
Finally I don’t have a single favorite Chloe moment. Her unbreakable loyalty to Clark, and the way she inspired Clark, and later Lois, to always seek the truth, are what stand out for me.
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@StrangeVisitor A) I never said she was. B) She was invited but never joined. C) I don’t appreciate you throwing my name around about a post I was not involved in. Don’t blame me for what other people are saying or doing. It’s not nice, and it’s not fair.
And despite the less than A-list coloring, I still truly adore his work! His young Diana especially sticks in my head as unbearably cute!
I didn’t feel that Lana coming back for one arc was that bad. It felt nice to have a sort of goodbye in the comics, so it didn’t feel like the characters completely forget everything that happened in the show. Chloe’s part seemed pretty normal given her position in season 10.
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I was responding to this, chum. Don’t take offense. It will probably take me a bit to do chain responses without having to do entire quotes (which is not my favorite, or without having to do response by individual response (which the system keeps telling me not to do, but to chain or rather group my responses to several people into one post). Don’t imagine an insult when one wasn’t there, dude.
@millernumber1 I agree, that it was nice that Season 11 did all those close-outs - I just could have done without any Lana period. But yes, especially for a lot of the wider DCU people that were introduced, like Bart and Conner, it was nice to get the further follow-up and time with them.
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When would you have introduced Lois before Clark was Superman?
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I wasn’t a fan of Erica when she first came on the show. I already thought way too many people were bossing or abusing or mistreating or lying to Clark on the show and the last thing we needed was someone to kick him out of his bedroom, ogle him (when he was under age and she was not) and otherwise insult him. I never saw her as Lois Lane, as I think of her (BAMF Lois) until about S9. Especially when she was dating Oliver Queen. I just thought these were all poor choices all along.
I would have introduced her as already a writer in Metropolis by the time they started spending more time in Metropolis, not at all at the Kent’s or as Martha’s PA for the Senate campaign or any of those things. In these ways, Erica was an early version of Iris West uselessness with Team Star Kids where they had to write themselves into pretzels to make all that appear logical and sensible.
As a writer in Metropolis, all those stories about the Enquirer or whatever that tabloid were called made perfect sense. Her there made dating Ollie make far more sense. Her eventually working her way onto the DP makes far more sense, to the point of becoming an editor. Otherwise it was all pretzel logic.
And the whole cousin thing was pointless. They could have killed the character off, kept her off the show and moved its focus a bit closer to Metropolis sooner, versus still focusing on Highschool. I mean Clark was a freshmen in S1 and the show went on for ten years. They spent far longer in Smallville then they really needed to, especially also once they killed off Jonathan and also once they decided to ship off Martha to DC.
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