Metropolis Superman Celebration Jun 11-14, 2009

Two costumed crusaders against crime, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter, appear at this year's annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis Illinois.

Two veterans of TV's Smallville will be special guests at the event being held June 11-14 in the official hometown of Superman.

Guests of Honor

Justin Hartley, who portrays the crime-fighting ace archer Green Arrow on TV's Smallville and starred in the unaired 2006 CW pilot Aquaman, will be among the special guests at this year's event.

Phil Morris, who portrays J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, on Smallville, is the other special guest. Morris has also been featured in the animated series' The Justice League and The Legion of Superheroes, as well as the straight to dvd epic, Justice League: The New Frontier. Star of The Young and the Restless, Wanda at Large, and Disney's animated Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Morris is the son of Mission: Impossible veteran Greg Morris and starred as the son of the elder Morris' character in a new Mission Impossible series.

And returning again is film's first Lois Lane, Noel Neill, whose Superman career stretches from the Superman serial starring Kirk Alyn to reprising her role in The Adventures of Superman, to playing Gertrude Vanderworth in Superman Returns.

Notwithstanding her famous association with the Man of Steel, Neill actually appeared in 40 movies before being offered the reporter with a nose for trouble opposite Alyn. She continues to work at the age of 88, to include promotion of her biography, "Truth, Justice & The American Way: The Life and Times of Noel Neill, The Original Lois Lane."

Past guest stars at the much anticipated annual event include Jack Larson, who co-starred in the George Reeves series with Neill as Jimmy Olsen, Margot Kidder who was Christopher Reeves; Lois Lane, and Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl opposite Adam West.

Super Features of Metropolis

A 15-foot statue of the Man of Steel faces the downtown area from the front of the Massac County Courthouse, a perfect backdrop for a souvenir photo.

Also found in Metropolis is the town's weekly newspaper, The Planet, redubbed The Daily Planet for it's souvenir Superman celebration special issue. There's also the water tower overlooking the nearby interstate with the Superman logo on the side. There is also the terrific Super Museum, stocked with a lobby packed full of shelf after shelf Superman souvenirs and the museum itself, containing props rescued from the studio trash bin after being used for the 1950's TV series by young Jim Hambrick. Hambrick charged young friends to tour his bedroom with its Superman memorabilia. Eventually, it became a trvalling museum until he settled in the town on the Ohio River on Illinois' southern tip in 1985. It is, after all, the only town named Metropolis in the United States.

The Super Museum gets about 200 visitors on a routine day and can expect hundreds during the Superman celebration, there to see more than 20,000 items related to the Superman story. The displays range from the grey and brown Superman uniform used for black-and-white filming of the series to the phone booth where Kirk Alyn changed into Superman. There is an online store offering a huge range of Superman and super hero souvenirs maintained by Hambrick at http://store.supermansuperstore.com/newproducts.html.

Big News for Lois Lane

Lois Lane isn't forgotten. A committee was organized in 2005 to get a life-size bronze statue of Lois erected. Inscribed bricks to be laid in the walkway around the statue are now being sold for $75 each to raise the funds needed. The concept was revealed to Noel Neill who's likeness is the basis of the Lois Lane statue, at her 85th birthday. Pictures of the two-foot scale model of the statue were unveiled during last year's Superman Celebration. A groundbreaking will be held during this year's Superman Celebration with an unveiling later.