As an artist continues to sculpt the near-life-size bronze statue of Noel Neil in Utah, the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce is conducting a final drive to collect personalized bricks for the statue base in Metropolis, Illinois.

"This statue will be a lovely tribute to a lady who has given so much of herself to Metropolis," says Lisa Gower, co-chairman of the Superman Celebration. Noel Neill, also known as "The First Lady of Metropolis," has been a frequent guest of the Superman Celebration and broke ground for the statue in June of 2009.

The statue idea was presented to Neil as a gift during her 85th birthday party celebration in California a few years ago. She is well known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the memorable television series, The Adventures of Superman.

With plans set for an unveiling on June 11 during the Superman Celebration, final engraving orders are needed at the monument company very soon. A deadline of April 16 has been set for ordering engraved bricks guaranteed to be in place for the unveiling.

Clyde Wills, President of the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Noel Neill Statue Committee, explains that personalized engraved brick sales are critical to the completion of this project. "Engraved bricks are available for $75 each, are a great way for individuals and families to be a part of this historic project," he said.

Bricks may be purchased at the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce at 607 Market St. in Metropolis. The bricks are 4" x 8" will hold three lines of up to 13 characters each. Also available for a $300 donation is a larger 12" x 12" brick. These bricks may be engraved with a logo or text and would be well suited for companies, organizations or memorials.

More information about the statue and a brick order form can be found at www.noelneillstatue.com. Orders may also be placed by calling the Chamber of Commerce at 618-524-2714 or emailing metrochamber@verizon.net.

Wills says that this project is an excellent example of how things can be accomplished when area agencies and organizations work together. "It took efforts from the City of Metropolis, Banterra Bank, Metropolis Tourism, Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau, Metro Chamber and the Illinois Department of Tourism to make this statue a reality."

The statue and base are expected to cost approximately $65,000. An Illinois Tourist Attraction Grant in the amount of $29,500 was awarded to the Chamber for the project that will give visitors yet another attraction to see while in Metropolis. Then the Metropolis City Council approved matching funding for up to $29,500. The city's contribution will come from hotel/motel taxes, not city operational funds. Hotel/motel taxes are designated to be utilized for tourism projects only. Engraved brick sales will also cover a portion of the project cost.

The artist who created the 15-foot Superman statue, Gary Ernest Smith of Highland, Utah, was chosen to create the six-foot bronze statue of Neil. The statue will be cast in bronze at by Kevin Maag of Metal Arts Foundry in Lehi, Utah, who also was a part of the Superman statue project. The statue will grace the northeast corner of 8th and Market streets.

Metropolis Mayor Billy McDaniel said the Noel Neill statue will provide another avenue for tourism noting that the two statues will encourage visitors to walk for several blocks along Market Street. McDaniel also expressed his gratitude to Banterra Bank for their generous donation of land. Banterra has leased land at the corner at 8th and Market streets to the city, which will is leasing to the Chamber of Commerce for $1 each year.

Ilya Salkind will be making his second ever comic book convention appearance this Sunday, March 14 at the Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle Washington.

Mr. Salkind is the legendary producer of "Superman: The Movie", "Superman: II" and "Superman: III" (all starring Christopher Reeve), along with "Supergirl: The Movie" (staring Helen Slater) and over 100 episodes of the Superboy television series from the 1980's.

The convention will take place Saturday, March 13 from 10am - 6pm and Sunday, March 14 from 10am - 5pm at the Washington State Convention Center.

Click here for complete details.

LA Times writer Geoff Boucher recently spoke with director Christopher Nolan about the rumors concerning his involvement with the Superman franchise.

While Nolan is pleased with the excitement stirred, like the magicians in his 2006 film "The Prestige," he sees no value in revealing all of his tricks before the curtain goes up. Still, he wanted to answer some of the early questions about his plans for Superman — as well as his third visit to Gotham City. Here's as excerpt:

[Christopher] Nolan said that he admired Brayn Singer’s film (Superman Returns), especially the way it connected in to director Richard Donner's version of Superman and the first two movies starring Reeve. Nolan added, though, that this new movie will stand on its own.

"A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that's what I know how to do," Nolan said, emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film. "Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other."

Still, it was a frustrating moment in the Batman franchise that led to this new Superman revival. Nolan and David Goyer, a key collaborator on both Batman films, were at a story impasse on the third Batman film (which is now picking up steam as well) when, as a distraction, Goyer gave the filmmaker a daydream version of how he would tackle a story about the last son of Krypton.

"He basically told me, 'I have this thought about how you would approach Superman,'" Nolan recalled. "I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma Thomas and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way."

Goyer is now writing the screenplay and Nolan is keeping it close to the vest.

WhatSellsBest.com, a website tracking rare auction items listed to sell on eBay, is reporting bids have passed $4,000 on day one of a seven day auction for a rare 1940 Supermen of America Ring.

The ring, awarded in 1940 by National Periodical Publications was given as prize to 1,600 "Supermen of America" club members. According to experts only 20 rings are known to exist today.

According to James Massey, publisher of WhatSellsBest.com; "Superman Memorabilia seems to be hot with the first (1938) Superman comic selling for million dollars (on an comic auction site) last month. Because of the rings rarity, it's going to be really interesting to see how high the bids go" (The Superman ring auction ends March 15)

The Ebay auction offers the following description:

"This is a very rare first-ever Superman Premium Ring released to the public by DC Comics in the 1940's. It is a silver metal ring with a brass Superman in the center, surrounded by the brass inscription "Supermen of America Member" on a red painted background. One side of the ring has two lightening bolts, and the other side has a planet."

The CW have released the following promotional images for the April 2nd episode of Smallville entitled "Escape":

DC Comics announced this morning that Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski will take over writing both the monthly Superman and Wonder Woman series later this year, aiming to return the icons to their rightful places at the top.

Straczynski, who's been with DC Comics since finishing up a long (and occasionally controversial) run on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man in 2008, has never hidden his desire to write the Man of Steel, and he plans to live up to the opportunity:

When I first came over to DC, that dream was realized in part by [then executive editor, now co-publisher] Dan DiDio's gracious invitation to write the first of potentially many Superman original graphic novels. Now the dream has come fully true with the opportunity to write for the mainstream title, in a story that returns Superman to his roots in a way that will have the whole country talking about him in ways that we haven't seen in a long time.

The CW have released a new Smallville trailer entitled "Small Talk" which begins and ends with an awkward conversation between Clark and Oliver. In the middle of the footage, action, romance and twist of plots in the remaining episodes of season 9 are previewed in glimpses.

"Smallville" is taking a long hiatus, skipping March entirely and coming back April 4. The return episode is called "Escape". Through the preview released last week, the episode will bring back John Corben aka Metallo who is played by Brian Austin Green. Two characters' secret identities will also be revealed.

Beside Metallo, there would be appearance of The Martian Manhunter, Max Lord, Martha Kent and Perry White in the remaining episodes. Comic scribe Geoff Johns also hinted on his Twitter that Apokolips may also be part of the story. Enjoy:

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation will host a wine and cheese reception in Jacksonville to share information about the Reeve Foundation's programs, including updates on recent progress in spinal cord research, news about the Reeve Foundation's plans in Florida, and the activities of the Brooks Adaptive Sports Program. A brief question and answer session will follow speeches.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn how to get involved with the Reeve Foundation, as well as some of the spinal cord injury activities and quality of life initiatives in your own community.

Space is limited. There is a $25.00 registration fee. To attend, please register online at www.ChristopherReeve.org/roadshow or call (800) 225-0292 for more information.

WHO: The following will be featured speakers at this event:

Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Susan Howley, Executive Vice President for Research, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, nationally recognized for her leadership in the field of spinal cord research for the last 25 years
Alice Krauss, M.Ed., OT/L, Manager, Brooks Adaptive Sports and Recreation Program

WHEN:

Thursday, March 18th
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Jacksonville Marriott
4670 Salisbury Road
Jacksonville, FL 32256
(904) 296-2222

To attend as a media representative or schedule an interview with any of the speakers, please contact Maggie Goldberg at 800-225-0292 or media@ChristopherReeve.org.

"Smallville" will return to The CW next fall for its 10th season, the network announced Thursday.

The modern retelling of the Superman legend, starring Tom Welling, moved to Friday night at 8 p.m. this season, and has dramatically improved the timeslot's ratings for The CW.

It currently is the top show in its timeslot among men 18-34 and men 18-49.

The CW last month greenlit a pilot executive produced by Welling called "Hellcats." It's described as an ensemble show set in the world of competitive college cheerleading.

It seemed entirely possible that Welling would be moving on to that new job, as "Smallville" was considered unlikely to return. However, the network appears to be pleased enough with the show's timeslot=improving ratings to bring it back.

The CW previously announced the renewals of "The Vampire Diaries," "Gossip Girl," "90210," "Supernatural" and "America’s Next Top Model."

"Smallville" was developed for television by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar ("Shanghai Noon"), based on the DC Comics characters. Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson are executive producers, along with James Marshall, Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. The series is produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough Ink and Warner Bros. Television.

Although The CW has been busy with newer hits like The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, and Life Unexpected, one of the longest running and popular shows, Smallville, is still impervious to competitive TV kryptonite.

Heading into the final episodes of season nine, Smallville returns on Friday April 2 with "Power and Control", in which Smallville fans will see a struggle for power, as the title suggests.

Check out the latest preview for the April 2 return of Smallville in which Smallville actor Tom Welling as Clark Kent will be pushed to the limit as he battles the Smallville forces of evil.

A few years ago, Warner Bros. had seemingly fast-tracked George Miller’s "Justice League: Mortal", but the project was ultimately cancelled even though most of the cast had been hired, as well as crew members. Among the latter was stunt coordinator/fight choreographer Richard Norton, to whom Earths Mightiest has spoken to exclusively. Here's an excerpt from the interview:

EARTHS MIGHTIEST: When JUSTICE LEAGUE: MORTAL was in development, so much of what I was hearing just felt wrong. I mean, they were practically casting kids in the roles of theJustice League members.
RICHARD NORTON: That’s interesting you should say that, because I must admit that I was having the same feelings. I did see the characters as being older, but then, what do I know? The one thing that I do know is that George Miller is phenomenal in his instincts in what he does. The fact is that George is so careful and apparently had a very interesting casting process that had to do with such a variety of things. In fact, some of the cast when they came to Australia didn’t know what roles they were going to play, which is interesting. So from that point of view I’d hate to comment on that, because George Miller is unbelievably talented. For a movie of that size, one would imagine that the choices he made would not be flippant choices. You’d even have to get well into shooting to really form a better opinion, at least from where I stand, because we only got to do really basic training for the actors because they were still fleshing out the characters. Some day the movie may be done, but I honestly thought a better approach would be to do individual movies on the characters…

EARTHS MIGHTIEST: That’s what they’re doing now, with Green Lantern going into production and talk of Flash and Wonder Woman.
RICHARD NORTON: I think that’s a better way. Unless you’re a comic book fan – I know of them, but I’m not a devotee – I think it makes sense to introduce the characters in their own movie and then bring them together for aJustice League movie. The one thing I always say is whatever I think about whether something will go or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s all the big money people at the top who are going to make the decisions; we’re just the foot soldiers.

Even though the big screen version of the Justice League is currently on the shelf, a video game adaptation of the super hero group may be in the works.

According to an anonymous tipster, the following batch of screen shots are from a Justice League video game already in production. While the majority of the shots feature game environments, logos for characters like Batman and Wonder Woman can be seen in some. The Flash and what appears to be Wonder Woman appear in others.

Congratulations to Jerry Hamilton who was chosen as the winner of the February contest for one (1) "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" Superman Maquette. Your prize will be on it's way to you soon!

For our March contest, we have teamed with author Ralph Cosentino to give away one (1) copy of his new book "Superman: The Story of the Man of Steel".

Synopsis:
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!

All children love Superman, but until now, there hasn’t been a book written and illustrated specifically for the youngest fans of the earth’s greatest superhero. Ralph Cosentino’s Superman: The Story of the Man of Steel tells the tale of the caped crime fighter’s amazing journey from the planet Krypton to the town of Smallville, Kansas, to the big city of Metropolis. There he lives a double life as Clark Kent, mild-mannered journalist, and Superman, protector of humanity.

Told in simple, child-friendly language and illustrated with bright, bold artwork inspired by the originals, Superman is the perfect introduction to this beloved American icon.

In a move that could indicate DC is moving toward a courtroom showdown in the Siegel lawsuits, the company has replaced its local outside counsel with Los Angeles “Super Lawyer” Daniel Petrocelli.

Petrocelli is perhaps best known for his work in several high-profile trials, including a major intellectual property case involving a cartoon character. Besides defending Enron CEO Jeff Skilling in a case that has reached the Supreme Court and helping the Goldman family win a multimillion dollar judgment against OJ Simpson, Petrocelli successfully defended the Walt Disney Company in a long-running dispute over the royalties from Winnie the Pooh.

Time Warner’s decision to bring on such a high-profile litigator as its new outside counsel would seem to signal that the company does not expect a settlement with the Siegel family in the foreseeable future. It’s equally possible that the hire is itself a negotiation tactic, as it’s not unusual for a party in a lawsuit to bring in big name counsel in an attempt to intimidate a seemingly intractable opponent.

Whatever its effect on the Siegels and their own high-powered counsel, the move to Petrocelli is a serious loss for DC’s previous outside counsel, Weissmann Wolff Bergman. The firm had previously succeeded in defending the company in Winter vs. DC Comics, a right of publicity action in which the California Supreme Court ruled that a Jonah Hex parody of celebrity musicians was protected by the First Amendment.

IESB.net is reporting that the reason Chris Nolan is acting in a "godfather" role for the next Superman movie is because his younger brother will be making his directorial debut on "The Man of Steel".

So we know David Goyer and Jonah Nolan are writing The Man of Steel and Batman 3. We're hearing outta Burbank a key reason behind Chris' "Godfather" role is to help out li'l brother Jonah. "Why's that?" you ask. Because latest rumblings peg him to sit in the director's chair for the Superman reboot.

This, of course, would mark his directorial debut after working with his brother on three Batman films, The Prestige and not to mention his (ultimately un-credited) stint on Terminator: Salvation and writing Interstellar for Steven Spielberg. Jonah's a solid writer, for sure. But making your first feature a no-doubt $200 million+ blockbuster tentpole with the intention of sequels down the line? Of course, this could just be a part of somebody's wish list - maybe the studio or maybe "Godfather" Nolan.

Just three days after a Superman book became the first comic to sell for $1 million, a Batman comic book sold Thursday at auction for about $75,000 more.

Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas reports that a rare copy of Detective Comics No. 27 from 1939 -- in which "The Batman" made his debut -- sold for a record-setting $1,075,500.

The consignor and the buyer -- who purchased the comic online via a "click bid" -- chose to shield their identities. Batman; like the Superman comic that sold Monday in New York, the Caped Crusader comic is graded to be in "8.0" condition on the industry's 10-point scale.

"It really has an amazing appearance," says Lon Allen, sales director for Heritage's comic books division. "The bright yellows with Batman swooping in -- you can really tell it was stored properly from the beginning."

There are only between 100 and 200 copies of Detective Comics No. 27 in existence, Allen says, and perhaps none in such "very fine" condition. In 1939, the comic sold for 10 cents; the consignor bought the book in the '60s for $100.

Before Monday, the record for a comic book sale was $317,000 (in 2009, for another copy of the 1938 Superman-debut issue).

"I think this is ushering in a whole new ballgame" in sale prices, Allen says. "This is going to give a boost to the highest-grade of all comics."

Nobody captures villainy quite like James Woods. The two-time Emmy Award winning actor steals his every scene as the voice of Owlman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, now available from Warner Home Video.

Woods chatted after his recording session about the collaborative aspects of animation, his aspirations to play villainous sidekicks, the importance of super heroes for today’s society, and his inclination never to develop a super power. Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say:

QUESTION: What makes Owlman a great character?
JAMES WOODS: Owlman is a very, very modern character. He's really the doppelganger of Batman who, himself, of course, is a very Dark Knight, torn in his motivations, wanting to avenge the death of his parents. Ultraman is the leader of the Crime Syndicate, but he’s just a tough guy who solves things more with the blunt end of a bat. He’s all brute force. Owlman is the brains of the organization, and he is a thinker, which is ironic in that his greatest strength is really his ultimate undoing.

Owlman is a very calculating, dangerous individual because of his extraordinary brain power. And at the same time, it causes him to have incredibly dark, existential reservations about his acts. He’s very self-destructive and self-loathing. The whole future of the multiverse may be in his hands in our story.

QUESTION: Knowing all of that, how did you choose to implement those characteristics into the vocal performance?
WOODS: You know, this process of creating a comic brought to life is very interesting, especially a sophisticated comic like this story. I had a thought of his being a very sardonic, almost charmingly sarcastic character. But I started to think that that was a little bit like Heath Ledger's wonderful performance in The Dark Knight as the Joker. And I must say that Andrea (Romano) and Bruce (Timm) were very helpful in helping to interpret the character. We settled on a very existential, depressed man, almost like a Jacobian character, who sort of feels that nothing matters. And there's nothing more dangerous than a man who has his finger on the trigger and believes that nothing matters.

It's a wonderful character to work on because you have to do certain things with your voice. I'm a very passionate, animated actor. There are people like William Hurt, a wonderful Academy Award-winning actor, who are great at being very spare in the use of their voice. I am a guy who's a little more dynamic, so for me to repress myself, it leads to a kind of different character than I usually get to do. It's a lot of fun for me to play something that's not innately or instinctively what I would do. And then the great collaboration comes from these wonderful artists, including the director, the producer, the writer. Everybody has an artistic vision of how things should be and, when you work together, you come up with some confluence of ideas that creates a unique character. I really think we came up with something nice.

QUESTION: What's the joy for you in playing a villain, particularly this type of cerebral one?
WOODS: Villains are the best characters to play because the possibilities are really quite endless. A hero has certain things that we expect of him or her, while a villain can be pretty far out there. Owlman wants to destroy everything, and yet is fascinated by how the world became so awful, in his mind. And he blames it on man and on choice.

All the things that we as civilized human beings celebrate – the freedom of being able to choose and to have free will – Owlman sees as the source of chaos throughout the universe and the alternate universes. He sees everything wrong in all of these universes as being a permutation of choice. I think most people would agree that choice has allowed people to create, to put man on the moon and write Hamlet. And people can aspire to do good. Owlman see the opposite -- he sees the celebration of evil as a way of asserting one's meaning in life, and the way to have meaning is to have things be meaningless. It's a strange, strange thought, but there are pretty sophisticated 20th century existential philosophers who've said the same thing.