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2007 Comic Book News Archives

December 17, 2007: Chloe Sullivan's Comic Book Debut

By Steve Younis and Barry Freiman

We'd heard about DC Comics securing the rights to "Smallville" TV character Chloe Sullivan way back in the show's 3rd season. Now, finally, DC Comics is about to unveil Chloe's debut in the Superman comics.

Here's the information from the solicitations for "Superman #674" scheduled to be released on March 12, 2008.

Superman #674 SUPERMAN #674
Written by Kurt Busiek
Art and cover by Renato Guedes & José Wilson Magalhaés
It's a time of new beginnings for Superman as art sensation Renato Guedes joins the team! Plus, the superhuman mastermind Paragon is loose in Metropolis, Clark and Lois are hunting for a new place to live after the events of "Insect Queen," and worse, they've got relatives coming to visit - namely, a certain blonde cousin of Lois's from Smallville. It all sets the stage for a major new addition to the cast in next month's anniversary issue! Can you say "Chloe Sullivan"? We thought you could...
On sale March 12 - 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

"The idea that if anybody plays this character in the future or if she's in some other projects, they'll have to look like me or have a likeness of me is really cool," Allison Mack told ComicsContinuum.com.

With Chloe Sullivan being a character co-created by Al Gough and Miles Millar for "Smallville", the Superman Homepage couldn't pass up the opportunity to contact the show's creators to get their thoughts on Chloe making the move into the comics.

"This is the first we've heard of using Chloe in an actual comics story, but we are thrilled!" exclaimed Al Gough.

Allison Mack "DC owns all of the characters we created for the series pilot (Chloe and Lionel and hell, electro-boy if they wanted him too!)", continues Gough. "That was part of our deal, and given the fact that they have allowed us to play pretty liberally with their crown jewels for the past seven years, seems like a fair trade."

"The fact that the character has made such an impact on the canon is extremely gratifying to us. Smallville wouldn't be here without all of the hard work of Superman comics writers over the decades, so we are proud to give something back."

So does Chloe's addition to the comic book universe mean her character is guaranteed to survive the remaining run of the TV series? Not according to Al Gough.

"This by no means gives her a free pass. She could still die!!"

Newsarama.com spoke with Superman comics editor Matt Idelson and writer Kurt Busiek about how their version of Chloe will compare to her TV counterpart...

    "'Our' Chloe is clearly inspired by the Smallville character, right down to wanting to be a journalist, and being roughly the same age as the Smallville character. And she's still Lois' cousin. Beyond that, though, since she's obviously a different age than Clark and Lana, she's got to be her own, unique character."

    As Busiek explains, the differences are needed to prevent duplication.

    "The problem we'd have faced if we brought her in with the same background as the TV show is that she'd fill two basic roles -- the Girl from Back Home and the Reporter -- and those roles are both pretty solidly filled in the adult Superman cast, by Lana and Lois. So she's got to have a different spin, one that lets her occupy a different role from either of them. She's the younger sister of someone Clark went to school with, not a classmate of Clark's herself. As a result, she's the new intern at the Daily Planet, fresh out of journalism school and itching to make a name for herself. That'll make her clearly different from Lois and Lana, and at the same time more familiar to watchers of the show."

Visit Newarama.com for more from this interview.


2007 Comic News

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