“Smallville” Reunion at Wales Comic Con

Report by Kevan Moore

I attended the Wales Comic Convention across December 7-8, where I got to meet with Tom Welling and Brandon Routh. Unfortunately, Tyler Hoechlin’s autograph line was sold out by the time I got there.

With “Crisis on Infinite Earths” about to air, the DC Comics stars were top billed at the Con, however the event seemed to be more about Doctor Who, with the Dr Who Experience a lot longer than any of the DC lines. (Probably due to the fact that David Tennant, Matt Smith and Catherine Tate were all there).

First in my schedule was the chance to meet Brandon Routh for an autograph. This was priced at £50. Selfies and photo shoots cost the same.

During his panel Brandon said he was “happy” about his return as Superman. But he was clearly instructed not to give much away. He didn’t reveal much, and shifted focus to the new ‘DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’ season. He is sad to have his “character arc ending”.

We then queued for Tom Welling. The price was the same as Brandon. However this was more rushed due to the long line. So it was a very informal hello. He did commented on my son’s Superman costume.

Tyler Hoechlin autograph opportunity was sold out between photo shoots. However Michael Rosenbaum, Laura Vandervoort and Erica Durance were present at the convention too.

Later on in the day we attended the “Smallville” panel, but the format was changed from a full panel to a simple Q&A. Some of the questions asked were quite irrelevant to be honest. They were “If you could go back to the beginning, what advice would you give your younger self?” type questions.

The cast were asked what their favorite moments were. Erica said, “My strip tease was my favorite scene.” She added “the strip was edited so much, I was meant to fall off a table and the scene was going differently, but they edited so I looked like I did a good job at stripping.” Laura said, “Mine was going out in the world on my own, an independent woman.” Michael and Tom just gave a goofy answer.

When they were asked if they stole anything from the set, Erica responded, “Lois Lane’s plaque, and a Daily Planet mug.” Laura said she took “Supergirl’s Kryptonian bracelet”. Michael said he took two of Lex’s white suits. One he gave to a museum and one is in his closet. He took a lot more but the crowd were so excited it was inaudible. Tom was also in audible due to Michael lying on him so the crowd were laughing.

Tom was asked about how he became involved in The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. He replied, “I was trying to find a way to say no, but the idea was too good”. Right at the end someone shouted, “Are you wearing the suit in Crisis?” Tom replied, “What, you haven’t seen it yet?” and then “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Knowing full well there was no panel tomorrow, so he kept the suspense up.

Most of the panel was literally Michael goofing around which was fun to watch. For the 35 minutes. So it was a fun entertaining experience.

The “Smallville” questions were not really answered as one would expect. I got the impression Tom and Laura didn’t really want to answer questions about “Smallville”. They met the questions with phrases such as “you guys tell me” and “I’m not sure”.

At the end of the panel my daughter was dressed as Belle, and Erica came to hug her followed by Laura.

Merchandise wise, the event had the usual back issues, some pretty good picks to choose from. A few statues from “The Dark Knight Returns” and standard DC collections. Not much merch.

A few cosplayers dressed as Superman and a couple dressed as Lois and Clark.

On Sunday, there was a DC Universe panel. This contained only Zach Levi, Matt Ryan and Donal Logue. Nothing Superman related was asked.

Kevan Moore

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December 9, 2019 2:04 am

I saw Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum at Rose City Comic Con in 2018. In their panels, Rosenbaum is definitely the zany one, at RCCC, he kept working in the phrase “explosive diarrhea”, because he really liked the motion the sign language interpreters at the corner of the stage would make. Welling is definitely the straight man of the duo. Tom actually talked to my wife more than he did to me (she was wearing one of his fundraiser tee shirts, and he was grateful that she helped raise I forget exactly how much). I met Brandon Routh in 2017.… Read more »