More Flights, More Tights: Bryan Q. Miller Talks About Smallville Season 11 – The Comic Book

Eleven months to the day after most people thought Smallville was over, the franchise lives.

The story of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Lex Luthor and others will be continuing with Smallville Season 11 – a comic book series that begins digitally from DC Comics on Friday, April 13 (find details on how you can purchase it here). Writing the series is Bryan Q. Miller, a comics superstar whose Batgirl was a fan favorite for many… but for Smallville fans, they might know him best for writing nine episodes of the show, including “Committed,” “Hex,” “Warrior,” and “Luthor.” Joining Miller on pencils is his Batgirl collaborator Pere Pérez, and some really nice covers are coming from Cat Staggs with folks like Gary Frank contributing to the printed covers.

On the eve of the digital release – and if you’re waiting for a printed copy, it’ll be out on May 2 – we spoke to Mr. Miller about what to expect from our favorite characters in the new “season” of the show. The Smallville universe is continuing – enjoy the ride, and beware of some potential spoilers within!

Please do not reproduce this interview onto other websites; instead, just place a link to KSiteTV or KryptonSite. Our questions to Mr. Miller are posted in bold; his answers are not!

When did the idea come about to pitch Smallville Season 11 as a comic book?

Geoff [Johns] had come through the offices for a while when we were breaking “Booster,” about two-thirds of the way through the breaking of Season 10. I just asked him at one point. “We’re going to be ending the show soon. Do you think you’d be remotely interested, in some capacity, keeping the brand alive in doing a comic?” And at the time, he said it probably wasn’t the best idea. They were pursuing other things. So I was like “okay.” It was my due dilligence to ask, so I did, and moved on with my life, and then a couple months later, I get a call back from Geoff. He said “Hey! Are you still interested in a Smallville comic?” I said “Sure.” He said “okay, good, somebody will call you.” And then a couple months later, we got started.

One question people have had, especially after seeing the issue #2 cover, is about Lex. What is the current status of Lex Luthor?

He has amnesia from what Tess did during what would up being her sacrifice in the finale. He remembers basic things. He knows how to use the bathroom. If he so chose to ride a bicycle, he probably could. But information – knowledge-based memory – has been removed. He doesn’t remember any of his life prior to that moment when he steps up to the window in the Luthorcorp building and looks at Apokalips in the sky. It’s kind of a clean slate place for Lex, but he still has his insticts. There’s something when he sees Superman, for instance. When he sees that “S” on his chest. There’s something about that that really rubs Lex the wrong way. He doesn’t know why, but he just cannot bring himself to trust Superman.

You’ve got a man who hates Superman and believes that humanity should be depending on itself, and shouldn’t need the help of a God-like person, in a very classic Lex Luthor way.

Also, Lex has a ton of money. There’s a lot he can do with that.

Will there be any blowback to the dead body of Tess being in Lex’s office?

I would say it’s certainly addressed. What happened to Tess, and her absence, is definitely felt by all of our regulars. But it’s a very interesting situation, because if they were to confront Lex about what did or didn’t happen to Tess, that, then, reveals that they had a relationship with Tess, which then starts to paint a picture for Lex of how everything used to work with our heroes. So as much as they want to go after him for it, they have to be very careful about they do it.

Is there a chance Lex could find out who “killed” him in “Requiem?”

I’m kind of leaving that one be. I’m sure we could, but that was, what? Season 8? When he got blown up in the truck. We could go there if we wanted to, but it’s not something I’ve covered yet.

Will we see why Clark and Lois are still not married seven years later?

We’re not going to quite go that far with Season 11. Even though there was that seven-year time jump at the end of the finale, this takes place six months into those seven years. This is six months after Clark, as Superman for the first time, pushed Apokalips back out into space. There’ll be some immediate [aftermath]. They still have their wedding presents, unopened, still in their apartment. There’s a question of “well, what do we do with these? Well, we’re still planning on getting married at some point. Should we return them? Should we not return them?” It’s definitely addressed.

You mentioned the apartment. Are we ever going to see the farm again?

Yes. Not too early on, because I want to ground it a little more in Metropolis. Whether or not we see the farm, Smallville itself still plays a role in the first episode, “Guardian.”

Will we be seeing Clark coming up from the basement of the Daily Planet? Lois already did at the end of the series, but what about Clark?

Lois had her office by the time we got to the end of the series. Fun fact which is probably really obvious: set design wise, that was just a repurposing of Tess’s Daily Planet office, which was also just a repurposing of Lex’s Daily Planet office. Every part of the buffalo, we used. With Clark, it’s just been six months, so we’ll see him doing some reporter stuff, but I think he’ll still be down in the trenches for a little while.

Will we be seeing Lana Lang in Smallville Season 11 at any point?

You know, it would be interesting to see where her story would pick up. That’s about all I can say on that.

What is the current status of Chloe and Oliver? What are they doing?

They’re doing a couple things, and then those things get interrupted by what happens in the premiere, which I can’t really get into. BUT, they’re basically getting ready to say goodbye to Metropolis, and officially relocate to Star City. To make Star City Green Arrow’s hub, to make that Chloe’s home base, because they can take that next step in their adult lives.

Superman’s in Metropolis, which is in very good hands. Oliver, when he initially came to Metropolis, was for very different, Lex-related reasons, when he came in Season 6. So they’ve kind of turned that corner and are ready to go have their own life, naturally. As Smallville goes, things are going to get in the way of that. But personally, they’re in a very good place. They’re enjoying married life, which they didn’t really have much time to do, on-screen at least, towards the end of Season 10, because there was so much craziness going on.

This is hardly the end! Keep reading for Part 2 of the interview here!