I recently attended the 28th Annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL. Yes Metropolis, the adopted “Home of Superman.” Ok, it is closer to the size of Smallville, but hey, they know how to celebrate Superman.

This is my first time ever attending this “Super” festival. I wasn’t originally going to make it, but make it I did. I was only there for one day, but I did manage to meet some “super” people (yes, I just can’t stop the puns) and took some “sup...” great pictures of costumed coolness.

When I found out Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor of Smallville and Flash of Justice League Unlimited) and Marv Wolfman (creator of Blade, Bullseye, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven; co-creator of Black Cat and Nova) were attending, I had to try and make it. Luckily my schedule cleared up long enough for a one-day trip.

So, after a long drive to Metropolis, my wife and I ended up in Metropolis lost and befuddled. There were signs all over the place, but none pointing to where all the action was. Ah, but I saw the City National Bank and knew that Michael Rosenbaum would be there at 10:00am. So (brake) we stopped there and got in line. And what a line it was, yikes. If you squint for the first pic, you can see Michael walking up to the tent. I snapped it once I realized it was really him.





That doesn’t even begin to show how truly long the line was. Did I mention it was hot too? We got there a half hour early and the line got much longer after we arrived.

So, here I go near the front of the line to take those pictures and a vehicle pulls up about 10 feet away from. This guy jumps out and yells that Lex Luthor has arrived. Everyone cheers. I didn’t recognize him at first and wasn’t sure if he was Michael or if he was announcing his arrival, but it was him alright.

After the line started moving, it moved fast. We were not allowed to get photos with Michael nor talk with him, except for quick questions and comments while he was doing his best impression of an auto-signature machine. Man, I always hate this part of seeing a celebrity. There is always that guy there yelling “Move it!”, like we are cattle being branded. I had the same bad experience when I met Virginia Hey. Darn guy standing there barking like a Marine drill sergeant. I always get the feeling the actors feel bad for us...of course that could be just them acting. Well, even though we were rushed, we got autographs from Michael and said a few words. He seems like a really friendly guy and very energetic. Although he looked skinnier and hairier than he does on Smallville. It’s true the camera does add ten pounds...and hair!





Note: The woman, Nellie, in front of Michael in the first picture is not only a big fan of Smallville, but a huge fan of Supernatural. Good thing too, talking about Supernatural helped pass the time in line. She and her husband also filled us in on where the other events were taking place.

After that, I ran down to Marv Wolfman’s line, which by this point was nearly all gone. I didn’t recognize him at first. The darn sign was lying flat on the counter and he didn’t look like the photos of him that I had previously seen. He had no facial hair! Gasp, Lex Luthor must have stolen it!

Well, after embarrassing myself by not recognizing him, I did get an autograph and (barring he changes his mind after reading this) he agreed to an interview at a future convention that I will be covering for PBR. Sorry, no photo. I was so rushed to get down there and get back to my wife, that I forgot the camera.

So, I rushed back to the main tent and stood at our prime real estate in the very back of the tent. All of the seats were taken an hour before the scheduled Q&A. The guests were Michael Rosenbaum, Marv Wolfman, Noel Neill (Lois Lane from the 1948 serial), and Stephan Bender (young Clark Kent in the upcoming Superman Returns film). My one big gripe here was the lack of planning. They actually had many of the audience members ask questions with no microphone. None of us in the back could hear the questions. Grr...argh.

Warning: Blurry photos follow. If you squint, you may see Sasquatch.





Nearly 90% of the questions were for Michael. Michael tried to get the others involved, but the crowd was “Lexenbaum” crazed. Well, he is a local boy after all. He grew up just a little over 2 hours away.

When Marv was asked a question about how long it took to write the Superman Returns novel adaptation, Marv didn’t answer at first, then said he was waiting for Michael to answer how long it took for him to write the book. Everyone laughed. By the way, the answer was two months.

Someone asked if Stephan would ever want to play Superman as an adult. Stephan answered that he would like too, but would like to branch out first. I don’t blame him, since he is just 16 and this is his first major acting gig.

Michael talked about how Emmanuelle Vaugier (Lex Luthor’s wife...for a second) pulled a prank on him by filling his toilet full of chili, yuck. Michael was asked whose idea it was for the Justice League Unlimited episode where Flash and Lex Luthor switched bodies (The Great Brain Robbery). Michael said it was Bruce Timm’s dark plan. Michael followed up with a hilarious impersonation of when Clancy Brown tried to talk like the Flash. He also did a side-splitting impersonation of Harland Williams when telling a story about his time on the Sorority Boys movie. It seems like Michael is born for comedy. I’m curious what he will end up doing after Smallville ends.

Also if you are curious about the pilot he pitched based on his childhood growing up in Newburgh, Indiana, it wasn’t picked up, but he keeps writing, hoping it will be picked up in the near future.

All of the guests were given Superman awards. It was also revealed that Metropolis is building a statue of Noel Neill as Lois Lane.

Ah, now it gets interesting. Costume Time!

Which Superman do you like?



Mini-me Superman?



This Superman (you’ll recognize this impersonator if you are an avid fan of the Daily Show)



Superboy



Superman (if he was raised by the Amish)



Superman: The Later Years

Ah, but other characters from DC and Marvel showed up.



Watch out kid! That isn’t Superman, that’s Bizarro!



Superman and Storm sitting in a tree...



Nightcrawler has arrived.



Robin and Nightwing are ready to kick evil buttocks.



Batgirl and Supergirl are also ready to protect Metropolis from danger.

Well, after all those costumes what else can I show…except a giant rock of kryptonite!



Funny story: while I was standing there getting my picture taken, I started to have an allergic reaction to something. My eyes started stinging and my nose started running. My wife now swears I must be an alien.

Ah, and we must have the standing-under-the-Superman-statue picture.



Well, after all those crazy pictures, what else could we do, but head on over to the Artist Gallery? It was a pain trying to find it. It was also a pain trying to find the hidden restrooms that no one could find. I guessed the PTB thought we had superhuman powers of waste recycling. Now that would be a sucky power “I have the mutant power to never have to poop.”

(slap) focus Marx, focus. Oh well, back to the artists!

As I walked in, there stood (ok, sat) Steve “The Dude” Rude. You can find out more about him at www.steverude.com.

We sat down and caught the tail end of a Comic Art Mini-Seminar.



From left to right are Lin Workman (Bushi Tales), Kevin Williams (Muley the Mule), and Antone Wade (Jetta). They talked about how the web and printers like Lulu have helped independent comic book creators greatly. From what I could tell, they are all from Memphis, TN and part of a comic book creator club based there. Sweet.

Another funny story, especially if you were there. Someone asked them a question in, what I think was Martianese “Waha waa waha…” and Antone, without missing a beat answered back in kind. What was truly hilarious was that two girls walked in the side door right next to us and just stood there dumbfounded. They looked like they just stumbled into the Twilight Zone. We all broke out laughing, and they explained the joke.

Another neat thing was when they talked about how they do subtle “cross-over” references to each others books. Like a T-shirt of Muley in the Jetta book.

So, after that was over, we walked around and talked to some of the creators. I talked to Adam Shaw, creator of the Image Comics 4-issue mini-series Bloodstream. Shaw is hoping to make a sequel next year. Shaw is also working on his next book called Harpe. It is based on a true story about serial killers in the 1790s. He showed me some of the pages and it looked very interesting. You can find out more about Shaw at his website: www.abshaw.com



I stopped by the Bushi Tales table and picked up their free Bushi Tales postcards. Issue 2 is coming out soon. You can find out more about Bushi Tales at: www.bushitales.com



Finally, I stopped by Antone and Janet Wade’s table. They told me about Jetta and future plans for the series. They were a cute couple. Very fun to talk to, and Antone is a fellow martial artist. I wish we could have stuck around longer and talked to them and the other creators more, but we had to go. Luckily the Wade’s gave me Jetta: Tales Of The Toshigawa - Defiance and Jetta: Tales Of The Toshigawa - Rain to review. Look for reviews later this week. Quick review for now to hold you over: I like ‘em, details to follow. Also check back for an interview in a few weeks. There were other really great creators there, but these two really caught my attention. You can find them at their website here: www.toshigawa.com



Whew, not bad for seven hours. I should be at Dragon Con this year (for more than seven hours), if you would like me to talk to you and check out your book(s), give me an email.

If you live anywhere near Metropolis, IL, you should check out the next Superman Celebration. It isn’t a convention, but hey, you don’t get stuff like this at Wizard World conventions:

Supergirl & Superboy Pageant, Superman Jeopardy, Kids Superhero Costume Contest, Kal Kotter Magic Show, Washer Pitching (yes, you read correctly), Superman Bench Press/Deadlift Championship, Super Dog Show, OMEGA Force Christian Strength Team and a Super Car Show. The Superman Celebration is half convention/half town festival, great fun if you’re a Superman fan and live nearby. Did I mention it was free? It was a very relaxed environment, except for the insane lines of "Lexenbaum" fans. They do need to plan some of this stuff out a little better though, but otherwise it was a really fun way to spend my Saturday. My only regret is that I couldn’t have stayed longer.

Until next time…Marx out.