Almost one year after the live-action series ‘Smallville’ wrapped its ten-season run on television, the story of Clark Kent’s journey to becoming Superman gets to live on, as DC Comics launches ‘Smallville: Season 11′, a new series written by former ‘Smallville’ writer Bryan Q. Miller, which follows the characters and stories from the television series into their new lives in print.

Issue #1 of ‘Smallville: Season 11′ begins six months after the events of the final episode and gives updates on the lives of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, and Chloe Sullivan-Queen. It is written by Miller, who also wrote nine episodes of ‘Smallville’, and will be released in print form next month. However, eager fans can purchase a digital copy of the issue right now through the DC Comics App, which itself is free to install on any tablet.

‘Smallville: Season 11′ opens in early-morning Metropolis with a voiceover proclaiming that, “Earth is a much safer place now than it’s ever been,” as Oliver and Chloe are shown sharing a moment atop their Watchtower base, and Lois, clad in a Superman T-shirt, sleeps alone in her and Clark’s apartment. The action then cuts to Lexcorp, where the silhouette of Lex Luthor ominously announces that, “Like much of the city, I’m waiting for him.”

Lex’s role in this story is somewhat of a mystery, given the events which transpired in the ‘Smallville’ finale. During a confrontation with his half-sister Tess Mercer, all of Lex’s knowledge-based memories were erased, while the final scene, set in 2018, revealed that that Lex will become President of the United States. Therefore, Lex’s journey in the Season 11 comic is expected to detail his efforts to regain all of his memories, and what sets him on the path towards a political office.

The remainder of the first issue of Season 11 is spent showing Clark, now fully dressed in his Superman attire, rescuing members of a Russian space shuttle, and then flying off with the closing declaration, “I’m just doing my job.”

All in all, issue #1 is a fairly low-key affair. It is spent re-establishing familiar characters who will be a part of the new storylines, and setting up where they are six months after their television journeys came to a close. The next chapter will have its digital release on Friday April 20, with part three to follow on Friday April 27, before all three parts are released in one print issue on May 2.

As for Miller, fans can stay up-to-date with him by following him on Twitter at @bryanQmiller. It is also worth checking out the always-reliable KSiteTV website for news regarding upcoming issues and any other ‘Smallville’-related news.

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London Film and Comic Con (LFCC) will take place in the Olympia Grand Hall on Friday July 6 until Sunday July 8, and this year’s global gathering of fans and stars is set to be the biggest yet.

The weekend convention has been an annual event since 2004 and celebrates the best in “films, cult television, gaming, anime and comics,” with fans being given the opportunity to meet their favourite stars, attend special talks, pay for professional photo shoots, and engage with other fans from all across the world.

This year, major stars set to attend include: Gillian Anderson (The X Files), Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Merlin), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V), Holly Marie Combs (Charmed), and Robert Maschio (Scrubs), along with dozens of others from the world of film, TV, and beyond.

High-profile guests from previous years include: Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), William Shatner (Star Trek), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) and Alex Kingston (ER, Doctor Who), while many more are expected to be announced for this year’s convention in the coming months.

LFCC is organised by Showmasters, who are also involved with the planning of such events as Eternal Twilight, Hallowhedon, Mike Tyson Experience, and London Comic Mart. Their convention season has become a cornerstone of London’s tourism scene, with an event like LFCC offering European fans an alternative to the San Diego ComicCon International, which attracts thousands and thousands of attendees every year.

Now with the long-running success of LFCC and the other aforementioned conventions, Britain has successfully established itself as a major international draw for American television and film stars.

The Showmasters Twitter feed has over 3,000 followers, while its online message board has over 15,000 registered users, demonstrating the strength of the organisation’s online presence. Guest announcements are frequently made first on the Twitter feed, however, news of Gillian Anderson’s appearance at LFCC caused the website to crash for a brief period while site members attempted to post their responses.

Considering that many of LFCC’s biggest guests have Twitter accounts also, such as Holly Marie Combs, Hayden Panettiere, and the just-announced Robert Maschio, the organisers are in a fortunate position of being able to effectively utilise the full power of social media in order to spread news about LFCC and the rest of Showmasters’ upcoming events for 2012.

It is important to note that the organisers have moved LFCC 2012 from Earls Court, its previous home since 2005, to the Olympia Hall in Hammersmith in order to make room for the Olympic Games, set to take place in London this July and August.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/entropy1138/

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Canada gained a considerable talent when the Rennies brought their four-year-old from England in the mid-1960s. Callum Keith Rennie did not become an actor until he was twenty-five, but he has made up for it, earning over a dozen nominations and awards and appearing in over a hundred productions. He has been in five TV series this last year, and will feature in ‘The Firm’ in this coming year.

Much of Mr. Rennie’s work associates him with gritty, often antagonistic characters, though he has received critical acclaim for comedy and children’s shows. It seems his forte is the character with rough edges. Some years battling alcoholism likely helped hone those portrayals, but delayed his career.

Fortunately, he returned to acting and began collecting awards. Following a year of TV roles, he was nominated for the Genie Award (Canada’s ‘Oscar’) for best supporting actor in ‘Double Happiness’ (1993). This was one of nine productions for him that year. He has won the Genie twice since then, for ‘Last Night’ (1998) and ‘Normal’ (2007).

‘Last Night’ also earned him a nomination for the Canadian Comedy Award (for his portrayal of a sex-athlete). The same year, he received a nomination for a Gemini Award (Canada’s ‘Emmy’) for ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role’ –as did his co-star, Paul Gross, both for ‘Due South’ (1997-99).

These two actors have collaborated on several other projects, including 2004’s political thriller ‘H2O’ and comedy-drama ‘Wilby Wonderful,’ and comedy-western ‘Gunless’ (2010). Mr. Rennie has appeared in a number of Hollywood films as well, including ‘Memento’ (2000); ‘The Butterfly Effect’ (2004); and ‘Blade: Trinity’ (2004).

In Canada, he is remembered for such films as David Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ’ (1999); ‘Hard Core Logo’ (1996); ‘Trigger’ (2010); and ‘Suspicious River’ (2000). It is in ‘Hard Core Logo’ that he exhibits his singing skills as a rock-band guitarist; he reprised the role for ‘Trigger,’ which starred Molly Parker, who also co-starred in ‘Suspicious River.’

Callum Keith Rennie is perhaps best known for his extensive TV work. He has been seen on ‘The X-Files’ (1993-2002); the reinterpretation of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ (2003-09); the horror-series ‘Supernatural’ (2005-); ‘The L-Word’ and ‘Smallville’ (both 2006); ‘Californication’ (2007-); and ‘24’ (2001-10), for example.

In 2011, he appeared in the US version of ‘The Killing’ and headlined ‘Shattered’ (2010-11), in which he played a detective with multiple personalities; again, he appeared with Molly Parker. In 2012, they will reunite in the high-profile ‘The Firm,’ based on the John Grisham novel and film. The often dark character actor has a bright future indeed.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cfccreates/

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