Will nobody save the staple CW show? According to TVGuide via Kryptonsite, it looks as though even this season’s ratings rebound might not save Smallville.

Based on the scanned article, executive producer Darren Swimmer says there are some “actor availability” issues that may throw a wrench in the show’s proposed ninth season. Considering both Lana Lang and Lex Luthor — two sides of the show’s triangle — have managed to take time off without (too much) of a hitch, it looks like the only person they could mean is 31-year-old star Tom Welling.

Then again, part of the show’s troubles is that the title Smallville is a bit of a misnomer, as the series’ action now takes place largely in Metropolis.

To make matters worse, TVGuide reports that the climax of the series — seeing Clark Kent assume the red-and-blue togs of Superman for the first time — might not even occur, as it would conflict with the main film series. Of course, Swimmer notes, “the formation of the dual identity is what he’s going to be negotiating from here on out… he’ll start to experiment.” Does this mean a Chris Reeve-style performance in the future?

[Via Kryptonsite and TVGuide.]

Our friend and fellow blogger Carla Hoffman, along with her husband Lance, remains in critical condition in Irvine, Calif. after being severely injured in the Tea Fire a few weeks back. This story in the OC Register talks about their condition and includes an update from Lance’s mom:

Lance Hoffman suffered second-degree burns on his arms and face and third-degree burns on his hands. Carla Hoffman sustained second-degree burns on her arms and hands and third-degree burns on her thighs.

They are being kept in medically induced comas so doctors can treat their wounds. They’ve both had to undergo surgery to their third-degree burns and will later have multiple skin grafts.

Linda Hoffman said doctors told her it will be months before the couple can go home.

“They’ve had good days and bad days but they are still stable,” she said. “It’s going to be a very long road.”

Also, I’d mentioned a few weeks back that we were getting together some items that we were planning on auctioning off on eBay, and the funds we raised would be donated to Carla and Lance. We plan to start some of those auctions next week. We’ve also set up a blog where we’ll post information on the auctions in the weeks and months ahead.

I want to thank my fellow Blog@ colleagues for their contributions, esp. Stephanie Chan, who is doing the legwork in terms of getting everything listed. I’ve also heard from other bloggers and comic pros who are looking to donate items, and I want to thank them for their generosity as well. IDW’s Scott Dunbier and Bully the blogging bull have donated some really nice items already, and there will be more to come.

If you’re interested in donating something to the auction, drop me a line. And if you’re just interested in making a monetary donation, you can find information on doing that here.

Now it can be told: this is, in fact, the last “Grumpy Old Fan” column here at Blog@Newsarama.

So … happy Thanksgiving?

Actually, I had been working on a couple of things for this week and the next. One was a “modern superhero canon” piece centered around JLA/Avengers. Another essay postulated that there really is no DC Universe, just a loose confederation of franchises held together by Justice League of America.

However, since this won’t be the last you see of me on the Interwebs, I think we can hold off for a while. Besides, it is Thanksgiving, and I’ve been a little crabby towards DC lately. Time for some happy talk.

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It’s been about two and a half years since Blog@Newsarama was born, when myself, Kevin Melrose, Graeme McMillan, Tom Bondurant, Michael May, Shane Bailey, Chris Hunter and Stephanie Chan joined the Newsarama team “to bring you an engaging, thought-provoking and fun blog that you’ll want to come back to every day.” Since then we’ve added a few names and seen a few people leave, but hopefully in between all the Hollywood rumors, comic industry dust-ups and just general weirdness that made its way into the blog, we gave you guys something worth reading.

It’s kind of bittersweet, then, to announce that those of us who currently write for the blog are leaving Newsarama. It’s no secret that the site has gone through tremendous growing pains over the last few months and has been moving in a new direction since being purchased by Imaginova. Behind the scenes, there’s been a lot of growing pains as well, and we’ve reached the point where we think it’s better for us to move on. Nov. 30 will be our last day, and starting Dec. 1 you’ll be seeing a new crew take over the site.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Matt Brady and Michael Doran for the opportunity they gave us and for all of their support over the last couple of years. We’ve also had a lot of great folks involved with the site over the last couple of years, from everyone I mentioned up top to our current contributors, including Chris Mautner, Lisa Fortuner, Tim O’Shea, Carla Hoffman, Melissa Krause, Jeff Trexler, Matt Maxwell and Jennifer de Guzman. And a lot of other people as well, like Neil Kleid, Wayne Beamer, Aron Head, Paul Levitz, Stacie Ponder, guest bloggers like Brian Wood and Marc Bernardin, among others … I want to thank all of them for their time and talent over the past couple of years.

This isn’t a goodbye. You’ll see many of us again, together, most likely in the new year. And we still have a few days left, but before we departed, I wanted to thank those of you who have read the blog, sent us links, linked to us, commented on what we said and even argued with us on all things comics. It’s been a blast, and wherever we end up, I hope we can continue the conversation.

Like I said, this isn’t a goodbye; it’s more like a “see you later.” Take care until then.

Jon at Metro Entertainment sent over addresses for anyone who wants to send a card or letter to Carla and Lance Hoffman, who are still in the burn unit in Irvine, Calif. after suffering serious burns during the Tea Fire. Jon suggests not sending any items larger than a letter for now, as the staff at the hospital may not have anywhere to store them. He also offered up the address for Metro, saying they would ensure any cards or letters sent there would make it to Carla and Lance as well:

Carla Hoffman
BICU, bed #4
101 The City Drive
Orange, CA 92868

Lance Hoffman
BICU, bed #6
101 The City Drive
Orange, CA 92868

Metro Entertainment
attn: Carla and/or Lance Hoffman
6 West Anapamu
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

It’s Wednesday, which would typically mean Carla Hoffman’s The Fifth Color column would have been posted today if last week’s tragedy hadn’t occurred. Carla and her husband Lance suffered severe burns in the Tea Fire in the Santa Barbara, Calif. area last week.

I want to say thanks to everyone who has commented on our previous threads, commented on their own blogs or emailed me directly about Carla and Lance, whether it was to check on their condition or to offer to donate something to help them out. I’ve compiled a few more updates below, and will share any additional ones I receive:

• Here’s a follow-up story to the one I posted earlier this week, which includes more quotes from Lance’s grandfather on their condition. They are both still unconscious, in critical but stable condition, but doctors have said Lance’s lungs and eyes were not damaged, which was something they were worried about.

Update, 11/20: The Santa Barbara Independent has a nice story about Carla and Lance.

• More information: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the Tea Fire Survivors group, where people are giving updates on and talking about ways to help Lance and Carla.

• There is also a Yahoo Group that has been set up that you can join as well.

• Donations: You can mail a donation to the fund that the Montecito Fire Department set up for them:

The Lance and Carla Burn Fund
Santa Barbara Bank and Trust
1483 East Valley Road
Montecito, CA 93108-1248

• In addition, The SB Academy of Martial Arts, where Lance is a student, has a page set up where you can donate to Lance and Carla via PayPal.

• And the Blog@ crew is working on a charity auction of our own to help out Lance and Carla. I’ll share the details once we get them sorted out.

Jon Givetz of Metro Entertainment, the comic shop where Carla Hoffman works, sent a quick but welcome update on the condition of Carla and her husband Lance after they were burnt in the Tea Fire that’s ravaged the Santa Barbara area of California.

“The good news is both Carla and Lance’s conditions have stabilized and they are both expected to recover,” he said, “although they will both be hospitalized for awhile.”

He adds that, unfortunately, their home was completely destroyed in the fire. “We are in the process of setting up a fund to help them out, and I will let you know as soon as we have it ready to go,” he said.

Big thanks to Jon for the updates; I’ll pass them on as they come in.

Update (Monday, Nov. 17): The Montecito fire department has announced the establishment of a fund to help Carla and Lance. Donations may be sent to:

The Lance and Carla Burn Fund
Santa Barbara Bank and Trust
1483 East Valley Road
Montecito, CA 93108-1248

Today I received some very sad news about Blog@ contributor Carla Hoffman and her husband Lance. On Thursday, while fleeing from the Tea Fire that’s burning in and around the California cities of Montecito and Santa Barbara, Carla and Lance were overtaken by a flash fire.

According to news reports, both suffered severe burns on their arms and legs. Lance also has second- and third-degree burns on his head. The couple was able to drive themselves to the Montecito fire station and were transported by ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Doctors are keeping them unconscious until the swelling goes down.

I can’t think of two people who are more exuberant about life, comics and each other than Carla and Lance. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and I’ll keep you updated on their condition as I receive updates.

A little more than a month ago, I mentioned that Matt Maxwell was looking for a home to serialize the sequel to his first graphic novel. I’m proud to announce that starting next Monday, Blog@Newsarama will begin serializing The Thirsty, Matt Maxwell’s sequel to Strangeways: Murder Moon!

I’ve been a fan of Matt and his work since he first showed it to me at WonderCon a couple of years ago, so I’m really excited that he’s chosen to let us serialize it before he publishes it next spring. A new page will appear every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we’ll have bonus material along the way as well. The full press release can be found after the jump, and watch for the first installment next Monday!

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Congratulations to Tom and Mary Helen Bondurant, who welcomed their daughter Olivia into the world on Saturday. Tom writes:

Naturally I hope she acquires her dad’s tastes in comics, space operas, etc. I put a Dean Trippe Supergirl print in her nursery, to get her started out right.

Meant to mention this last week … I want to throw a big congrats out to Take That! author Neil Kleid, who had a good week last week. Not only did his Rorschach’s SDCC Journal column receive praise from one of the folks working on the film, but the IDW panel in San Diego included the announcement of a new series from IDW called POP! Darlings of America that he’s co-writing with Dan Taylor. Congrats to Neil!

Matt Brady accepted the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism from presenter Jane Weidlin and a bunch of stormtroopers. Congrats to everyone involved with the site.

I’ll post the rest of the winners when I get the chance.

Hey, if you’re on Twitter and want to keep up with the blog, you can find us at:

http://twitter.com/NewsaramaBlog

Right now I’ve just been posting links back to our content here, but that’ll change next week when Carla and I will use it to report tidbits from the San Diego Comic-Con. I’m still fairly new to the whole Twitter thing (and no doubt it stopped being cool the minute I set up an account) but Carla’s been doing it for awhile now, so hopefully she can bring some professionalism and experience to the whole thing.

It should be fun, or it will kill one of us. Or both of us. We’ll find out who lives and who dies next week.

With the San Diego Comic-Con less than two weeks away, I asked the rest of the Blog@ gang: “If you could go to just one panel each day, what would you pick?” And here’s what they said …

Kevin Melrose

Thursday (3:30-4:30 p.m.) Entertainment Weekly’s The Visionaries: Comic Creators — You’ll rarely find such a diverse, and talented, panel of creators: John Cassaday, Colleen Doran, Matt Fraction, Robert Kirkman, Mike Mignola and Grant Morrison.

Friday (noon-1 p.m.) 50 Years of Gay Legion of Super-Heroes Fandom — I’ve frequently read references to the Legion’s large gay following, so it’s nice to see that part of its fandom acknowledged.

Saturday (2:15-3:15 p.m.) Grant Morrison and Gerard Way: Born Under a Black Sun — It’s clear from interviews, and from Morrison’s introduction to The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, that the two are mutual admirers. The description promises that “this panel will change your life,” but while it may not do that, it certainly will entertain.

Sunday (2:30-4 p.m.) Cover Story: The Art of the Cover — As an admirer of great cover art and design, I couldn’t possibly pass up a conversation among Bryan Hitch, J.G. Jones, Jim Starlin and Ethan Van Sciver, moderated by Mark Evanier.

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To all of our American readers, Happy Fourth of July. With the holiday, things may be a little quiet around here this weekend, but we’ll be back in full force on Monday.

Until then, the Muppets also wish you a nice holiday:

The San Diego Comic Con is getting close, and like last year, we want to hear from any creators or publishers about their plans.

If you have:

– a brand-new book, comic, print, toy, etc. that’s debuting at the show
– any sort of limited edition “con only” merchandise
– a signing, booth or panel schedule
– anything else related to the big San Diego con that fans should know about

then drop me an email and I’ll include it in one of our upcoming updates. I’ll start doing them as soon as I have enough stuff.

Sorry, I meant to get this up yesterday … as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I thought I’d address some of the comments and questions we’ve received about the new site, both technical and not, in a place where everyone could easily find them.

First up, though, big thanks to the Imaginova technical team for responding quickly to feedback and putting the number of comments at the top of each post. Hopefully that will make it easier to follow the conversations that might be going on in each post.

Now on to our first (and only) question this time, from ejulp:

Is Graeme McMillan gone?

I don’t think I haven’t seen a post from him since May.

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So last week when our comments were down, I asked readers to email me with any questions or feedback they had about the site and any of the content we’d posted that they couldn’t comment on. I received a couple of responses, which I addressed in this post, and I ended up adding a bunch of promo stuff that I also had sitting in my email in-box.

Since our comments came back up earlier this week, we’ve gotten a few more questions about technical glitches that have been occurring, feedback on how the site was working now and some comments related to recent content and the main site. Specifically, a few people were wondering why the heck we were “hiding” the Chuck Dixon/DC news on the blog instead of putting something up on the main site. Is Newsarama trying not to piss off Paul Levitz so he’ll keep blogging with us?

(That last one I saw in the comments section of another blog, actually … as an assumption rather than a question. People tend to jump to conclusions pretty quickly).

So, since we’re still in a “transition” period with our new site in terms of working bugs out, and some of the answers to these questions might be of interest to folks who may not see them in the comments section, I figure why not start up some kind of regular feature (at least until the site is working the way it should) where I’d address people’s questions and concerns about them. And heck, as long as I’m at it, why not address other questions about the blog as well?

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Comments are now working again on the blog. Thanks to everyone for their patience.

There are still various other technical issues that the Imaginova team is dealing with related specifically to the blog. If you run into any issues and want to report them, feel free to drop me an email.

As we continue to wait for our comments to start working again, here’s the first batch of letters I’ve received from various folks today … as well as several promo emails that have come through over the last day or two.

I’m still accepting letters, too, BTW, so send me your thoughts, comments, whatever and I’ll post again later or tomorrow.

‘Ringo tribute book

First off, let’s start with some art. The Hero Initiative’s Janine Bielski sent over a press release this morning about the Mike Wieringo Tribute Book debuting at HeroesCon on June 20.

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