Smallville’s Tom Welling coming to Comic-Con for first time
Superman is coming to Comic-Con. Smallville star Tom Welling will appear for the first time at Comic-Con International: San Diego on Sunday, July 26.
Co-executive producer Welling will join the entire current cast: Allison Mack, Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman, Justin Hartley and Callum Blue at the show’s panel session on Sunday at 10:30-11:30 a.m. in Room 6BCF of the San Diego Convention Center.
Showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson will also be on hand.
The session will feature an exclusive sneak peek at clips from the upcoming ninth season of the show and a Q&A with fans. The panel will be moderated by Jeph Loeb.
- Matt Price
Superman books continue to build
Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka
SAN DIEGO — A group of all-stars held court on Superman at the Superman: Two Worlds panel at Comic-Con International: Geoff Johns, James Robinson, Ian Sattler, Matt Idleson, Francis Manapul, Tulsa-born Sterling Gates, Jamal Igle, James Robinson and Greg Rucka.
The upcoming Codename Patriot arc is part of the overall plan building into a major Superman storyline in 2010, said Robinson, who is writing “Superman,” currently starring Mon-El.
“General Lane has been a factor in these books, obviously, what we want to make him into is the supreme strategist,” Robinson said. “He has literally plans, and layers on top of these plans, which are all leading up to this event in 2010. We’ll see how it grows until eventually all the pieces come together and we’ll have an event that you’ll all love.”
OU graduate Sterling Gates will get his name on perhaps the most successful comic book of all time, Action Comics. He and Greg Rucka will co-write an Action-Supergirl crossover that will feature Kara at odds with her former best friend, Thara, who now wears the Flamebird costume.
Gates also talked about his new miniseries, World’s Finest, which will deal with the issue of Bruce Wayne being missing from Superman’s circle after Batman’s presumed death. Each issue of World’s Finest will pair a member of the Superman cast with a member of the Batman cast.
- Matt Price
Brandon Routh says Superman contract has expired
Brandon Routh may not be back in the tights if Superman again returns to the silver screen. The star of “Superman Returns” told Spanish-language site Omelete (found via MTV) that the term of his contract has expired. Routh says he’d still love to return to the character if and when Warner Bros. calls, but currently, he doesn’t have any idea of the status of the Superman sequel.
- Matt Price
Happy Father’s Day!
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Keep up the good work. Jor-El here had a pretty good fatherly quote in “Superman: The Movie”:
“All that I have, all that I’ve learned, everything I feel… all this, and more, I I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you, all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine.”
George Reeves remembered on 50th anniversary of death
Wired has a writeup on the life and career of George Reeves, who was Superman to a generation of kids. Reeves was found dead of an apparent suicide on June 16, 1959. While much has been made of the mystery of Reeves’ demise — including the very good film Hollywoodland — what should be remembered is the man’s talent. While “Adventures of Superman” wasn’t high art, Reeves, along with co-stars Noel Neill and Jack Larson, made a classic kids’ show that is still watchable today, despite the extremely limited effects and budgets.
Watching the shows, recently out on DVD, the first two black and white seasons are darker in tone, similar to Superman’s beginnings in the comics. Superman has no problem dropping criminals atop a high mountain, leaving them to consider their deeds. (They don’t, they fall off and presumably die.) Clark Kent doesn’t take much guff from anyone throughout the series, but in the first season he’s a particularly hard-charging reporter, aiming at exposing social ills.
As the series goes on, the plots get sillier and the colorful Superman that comes onto the screen eclipses the journalistic push for justice. But it’s still there; heck, Clark Kent in the 1950s show is often as much the hero as Superman.
- Matt Price
USA Today will serialize Superman comic strip
Interesting news from DC Comics – the Superman strip appearing in “Wednesday Comics,” the weekly comic-book series, will appear in national newspaper USA Today as well. The July 8 strip will appear in the print edition of USA Today, and subsequent strips will appear online. Each online preview will be promoted in the print edition.
The Superman story in “Wednesday Comics” is by writer John Arcudi and artist Lee Bermejo.
“There’s a certain romance to the history of the big old Sunday funnies that I wanted to try to recapture in Wednesday Comics,” DC art director Mark Chiarello told USA Today. “Why not dust off the format and have a little fun?”
- Matt Price
Groundbreaking for Noel Neill statue at Superman Celebration
Noel Neill with the Superman statue in Metropolis, Ill. in 2007. Photo from Metropolistourism.com.
Metropolis, Ill., holds its annual Superman celebration this week, and ground will be broken for a statue of Noel Neill, the first Lois Lane. She appeared in the “Superman” serial with Kirk Alyn, and in “The Adventures of Superman” with George Reeves.
This year the celebration brings some of Superman’s “Smallville” friends, including Justin Hartley (Green Arrow) and Phil Morris (Martian Manhunter). The opening ceremony is at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the celebration runs through Sunday afternoon.
The Superman Celebration is always a blast, and while I haven’t made it in a few years, I look forward to making it back someday. The ComicBookCollectorsBlog has a rundown of some of the guests and events, including Neill and comic-book writer Gail Simone.
A complete schedule of events can be found at SupermanCelebration.net. More info also available at the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce.
- Matt Price
In L.A.? See Superman: The Movie on the big screen for free
Those in Los Angeles can check out the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman: The Movie, showing at the Skirball Cultural Center as part of its presentation on the Golden Age of comic books. The screening is at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Admission is free. Thanks to the Superman Homepage for the tip.
- Matt Price
Superman meets Batman in 1950s Cold War novel
WORD BALLOONS
Superman meets Batman in the new novel from writer Kevin J. Anderson, “Enemies and Allies.” Anderson sets the first meeting of the two in the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War.
“It seemed unlikely to set a story in the modern day, and say that Batman and Superman have never heard of each other before,” Anderson said in a phone interview with The Oklahoman. “It felt more in keeping with the spirit of the universe if we set it back in a more nostalgic time. And of course the ’50s is the time we all remember from George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman, and Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and that was the flavor I wanted to pick up on.”
In “Enemies and Allies,” Bruce Wayne’s Wayne Industries is at the forefront of many technological breakthroughs. But he’s being spied on by another industrialist, Lex Luthor, who wants to stoke Cold War tensions to build his own military-industrial empire.
“Set in the Cold War universe with Bruce Wayne as the big industrialist as well, Lex Luthor just seemed like the natural foil for both Bruce Wayne and Wayne Industries, and Clark Kent and Superman,” Anderson said.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen, reporters for the Daily Planet, are sent to look into a possible flying saucer crash.
“We did the story in stages,” Anderson said. “One was doing Batman and Superman and deciding to set it in the ’50s. And in the ’50s, the primary thing is the Cold War, and everybody was afraid that the Russians were going to launch nuclear missiles at us, and everybody was doing disaster drills. The movies at the theater, they’re … all these wonderful flying saucer paranoia pictures.”
Ultimately, the 1950s setting became interwoven completely with the story.
“It became not just window dressing, but the ’50s setting and everybody’s attitudes about the Cold War, the paranoia about flying saucers, and all of these details became integral to the plot rather than just little backdrops,” Anderson said.
Another new release from Anderson is “Terra Incognita: The Edge of the World,” a fantasy novel
featuring high-seas adventure. Additionally, a CD from ProgRock Records tying into the book’s release has lyrics by Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, with music by Erik Norlander (keyboardist for Asia Featuring John Payne).
“This idea’s been in my head for a long time, because I think a lot of the people who listen to that kind of music also listen to the kind of books that I write,” Anderson said. “It’s a crossover rock CD and fantasy novel.”
More about Kevin Anderson’s “Enemies and Allies” and “Terra Incognita” can be found at his Web site, www.wordfire.com.
- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Superman team to launch Codename: Patriot
Superman Secret Files 2009 #1
The next Super-crossover rocks the “Superman” titles in August, as a shooting threatens to ratchet up the tension between Earth and New Krypton. Greg Rucka, James Robinson and Sterling Gates bring “World of New Krypton,” “Action Comics,” “Superman” and “Supergirl” into the four-part story “Codename: Patriot.” The “Superman Secret Files” will serve as a primer to “Codename: Patriot.”
“It kicks off the next phase in our overarching Super-story,” Gates said. “It’s the next phase of General Lane’s plan. It’s going to have some long-standing repercussions not only for Superman, but for Lois Lane, Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, and General Zod,” Gates said.
“Codename: Patriot” has personal repercussions for Superman as well, who follows the suspected shooter to Earth.
“It also marks the first time Superman has returned to Earth since he left six months ago, and there are some people out there who will not be happy to see the Man of Steel come back,” said Gates, who is a University of Oklahoma graduate.
The storyline also offers some reunions for Supergirl.
“While Superman’s being reunited with his friends and family, Supergirl is reunited with her childhood friend, Thara Ak-Var,” Gates said. Thara Ak-Var has been living on Earth and operating as the Kryptonian hero Flamebird.
But that reunion may not play out how readers expect, Gates said.
The crossover begins in “Superman: World of New Krypton” No. 6, on sale August 5, and continues in “Action Comics” #880, “Supergirl” #44, and concludes in “Superman” #691.
– Matt Price
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- Action Comics #880
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- Supergirl #44
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- Superman #691
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- Superman Secret Files 2009 #1
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- Superman: World of New Krypton #6
