SMALLVILLE: Bigger, Longer, and Un-Cut

We can't think of too many better ways to spend the Holiday - or any day - than being curled up beneath a toasty-warm comforter with a homemade espresso, four new comics from last Wednesday's haul, and endlessly streaming superhero TV.  And if the TV in question happens to be Smallville Season Nine, that afternoon of caroling outside the Springfield Race Track can wait until never. 

Like most of you probably have, we've been waiting for Smallville, the CW's attempt to chronicle a super boy becoming a Superman, to come into its own for too long a time.  Lately, thanks to its gradual - and ever-growing -- introduction of other heroes and villains from the DC Comics universe,  Smallville finally is.  This hasn't kept those who demand more stringent on-screen interpretations of those characters from complaining. Nor did it prevent the CW Network from dropping the show into a Friday time slot - one that, for most shows,  usually suggests the end is near.  

Ironically - heroically, even - the reverse has nonetheless proved true.  Smallville's ratings have been charting higher than many of the networks other, more schedule-friendly programs, due in large part to its devoted DVR fanbase.  Moreover, the show's buzz has never been better. Viewers who left when the series seemed to peter out around Season Four have been steadily returning, and Smallville's small-town population is on the rise.  It may not be 'Metropolis' yet, but the show's executive producers have already announced that a Season Ten is more than likely for the Man of Steel.

If there's ever been a time to return to Smallville, it's now. We'll tell you exactly why next week, when we dig into our coverage of everything DC Comics has on tap for us come 2010.  But before we start with the the future-speak, we thought we'd make a bit of our own history first.  So even if you aren't cozied under your comforter like us,  we invite all y'all to sit your bad superhero selves down and check out Roulette, one of our top Season Nine picks to date.  Our perennial fave Oliver Queen / Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is front and center for Episode 5, and we've got it in its entirety below...