Following in the fine tradition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and comic bok adaptations of other great shows like Battlestar Galactica and more, the CW’s television series Smallville will also live on. That’s right Smallville fans, your favorite show will live on in the form of a new comic book series from DC.

According to DC, the new comic will pick up where the TV series ended and continue the adventures of a young Clark Kent as he comes to grips with being the greatest superhero of all time: The Man of Steel.

Here’s all the scoop on Smallville Season 11 directly from DC:

Written by former Smallville show scribe Bryan Q. Miller, the new digital first series will be published digitally on April 13, 2012, with new digital chapters released weekly thereafter. Additionally, the online chapters will be offered in a print periodical, along with an episode guide to the hit television series, with the first print issue released on May 16.

The new comic book series picks-up where the show left off (with Clark officially now as Superman!) and features other fan-favorite characters including Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Chloe Sullivan-Queen, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and General Lane. The book features an all-star creative team – in addition to Miller, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 creators include print cover artist Gary Frank (SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN), digital cover artist Cat Staggs and interiors by Pere Perez (BATGIRL).

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What’s with all these mutants? All they seem to want to do is fight with each other. Can’t we all just get along?

Fortunately, at least if you’re a fan of Marvel’s sprawling mutant epics, we can’t. And this latest series looks to continue the tradition.

Here’s all the info from the official press release:

Spinning out of the critically acclaimed Uncanny X-Force, the Amazing X-Men and the human resistance must fight tooth and nail to end the tyranny that has left their world ravaged! Continuing Apocalypse’s war on humanity, Weapon X leads the genocide that rains down upon this dimension, eliminating any who stand in his way.

“This new Age of Apocalypse book does the impossible – it revolutionizes an old concept without a reboot,” explains Senior Editor Nick Lowe. “If you’ve been reading Uncanny X-Force, you know where this is coming from and you’re already in.”

“If you’re an Age of Apocalypse junkie, this builds on the alternate universe’s mythology is fascinating and troubling ways. And if you aren’t either and just want a ground-breaking, easy-entry book that will challenge everything you know about the X-Men, there hasn’t been a better jumping on point.”

Age of Apocalypse #1, written by Dave Lapham and pencils by Roberto De La Torre, hist store shelves on March 7. Check out some preview pages after the break.

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Even though some may criticize us for a bit of self promotion, I don’t care. When one of our team does something cool outside of their work at The Flickcast, I want to make sure to bring it to as many people’s attention as possible.

Case in point today is The Flickcast co-founder Chris Ullrich’s new venture into indie comics and comics publishing. The first comic out of the gate for this new venture is called Believer. Here’s the synopsis:

Believer tells the story of Jack Hollenbeck, disgraced Los Angeles police detective turned tabloid reporter and occasional private investigator who is hired by a mysterious woman and her aging father to locate an an ancient object of incredible value . . . and incredible power.

During the course of Jack’s investigation and search for the object, he soon realizes things are not what they seem as sinister forces, human and otherwise, converge on Los Angeles to prevent him, by any means necessary, from finding the object.

Aided by a woman he doesn’t really trust and relying on his wits, a few friends in the police who don’t hate him, and his knowledge of ancient magics he’s extremely reluctant to use, Jack must brave all manner of hardship to find the object before someone else does and uses its power to enslave mankind.

Believer was written by Chris Ullrich and Joseph Dilworth with pencils by Kris Carter. Economics being what they are in the startup world, the creators are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to help raise finishing funds for the comic series. Why not give them a buck or two?

You can check out some preview pages for Believer after the break.

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If you weren’t able to get out to a theater yesterday or don’t live in one of the cities where this new footage of The Amazing Spider-Man had a sneak peek, don’t worry. We’ve got the footage, in the form of a new trailer, for you right here.

In it we get a lot more of the story of the film including what appears to be the main plot of Spider-Man fighting the lizard. We also get appearances by pretty much all the major characters including Gwen Stacy, Dr. Curt Connors, The Lizard, Uncle Ben, Aunt May and, of course, Peter Parker/Spider-Man himself.

Check out the trailer after the break. The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb and featuring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary and Rhys Ifans arrives on July 3.

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Last night was quite a show for the fans of commercials. We got some new favorites, a few call backs, and yea, even some full trailers of this year’s big movies. For the most part, the major films we got sneak peeks of are Act of Valor, John Carter, and Battleship. But the one that fanboys really got excited for is the extended trailer for The Avengers.

That’s right, more Hulk, more Hawkeye, the first look at the mysterious alien threat, and some pithy dialogue between Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. We got it all in this 60 second spot, and now you get it too.

For those who felt that the trailer was a bit Captain America-centric, we got the scoop in a recent interview with director Joss Whedon, where he explained that Chris Evan’s Cap will basically be the main protagonist in the film.

“So much of [The Avengers] story takes place from Steve Rogers’ perspective, since he’s the guy who just woke up and sees this weird-ass world,” Whedon says. “Everyone else has been living in it. He’s the guy that feels that sense of loss.”

Take a look at the extended trailer after the jump and catch The Avengers in theaters and in 3D IMAX on May 4th.

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Max Landis’s Death and Return of Superman is a very long sketch. No, it’s a really funny short film. No, you know what it’s like? It’s like, after a long night of gaming, when you’re hanging with your best nerd friends having a laugh, debating movies and video games and all things geeky. Tie all that together into a 17 minute short film and you’ve got The Death and Return of Superman.

Screenwriter Max Landis (Chronicle) decided to film his late night nerd philippic and brought some familiar friends along for the ride.

Death and Return of Superman, affectionately dubbed DAROS, cuts back and forth between Landis recounting the story of Big Blue’s demise directly to the camera and live-action re-enactments by actors using Landis’s voice (much in the style of the Drunk History series).

The star-studded short features Mandy Moore, Morgan Krantz, Elijah Wood, Elden Henson, Dustin Romero, Matt Bennett, Zach Cregger, and Jimmi Simpson in key roles. Sharp-eyed viewers can also spot cameos by Simon Pegg, Sarah Shahi, Whitney Moore, Chloe Dykstra, Micah Sloate, Chris Hardwick, and Ron Howard. 

Check out the full film, which was released for free on YouTube Friday, after the jump.

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January and February are habitually known as the dumping ground for studios to test out their films that they have less faith in than their major tentpole or franchise films. That certainly doesn’t seem to be the case this weekend, as 2 very different genre film topping the box office.

First, a second generation sci-fi writer, Max Landis’ Chronicle about 3 friends that develop superpowers and figure out which side, good or evil, they want to fight for. The film, which got an 85% on RottenTomatoes, managed to pull in an estimated $22 million this weekend, which is nearly double what the production budget of the film was. Easily, a success.

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As its done in the past with other big screen adaptations of its comics, Marvel has gone ahead and put together a comic book prelude for The Avengers for fans to enjoy. This one, called “Fury’s Big Week,” will be eight issues with the first released for free on Marvel’s comics app this Sunday.

Yes, you read that right. It’s going to be free. That’s nice. Too bad the rest of the issues won’t be. Oh well.

Here’s the scoop from the official press release:

“We’ve worked hand-in-hand with Marvel Studios to create an exciting story set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sets the stage perfectly for the most anticipated film of the summer,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor in Chief. “Now, for the first time. you’ll find out just what happened to some of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the road to Marvel’s The Avengers.”

What is the Avengers Initiative? And what are the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury? The answers arrive in Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week and the first issue is free this Sunday only on the Marvel Comics app!

Check out some preview pages for the comic after the break.

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One thing we’ve always supported is independent production of film, tv, comics and games. As an independently operated news site, we understand how hard it is to break through to that next level. It is also great to hear when one of The Flickcast’s supporters gets an opportunity to bring one of their artistic visions to life.

Alex Greenfield is one of those supporters. Alex is best known for being the former lead writer on WWE’s SmackDown brand as well as two TV movies, Street Warrior and Jack’s Family Adventure. Last week, Alex and his writing partner Michael K Eitelman released The Temple through Amazon Studios.

We got the chance to talk briefly with Alex and he told us about both his inspiration behind The Temple as well as a little bit of the creative process.

My dad read me “The Rats in the Walls” when I was like five, literally sitting around a campfire. Let’s agree to ignore the parenting questions that anecdote raises and skip right to the fact that I became a Lovecraft addict before I could read. It was only a matter of time before I would dip my pen in the Mythos well.

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Just when you thought DC would calm down after the backlash of their drastic logo change earlier this month, they’re here to alter more of your childhood favorites by bringing us a series of prequels to Alan Moore’s epic Watchmen series from decades ago with their Before Watchmen line of books.

Catchy name, right? That’s about the caliber of originality you can expect to see with these books, with the major saving grace being the talent that DC has gathered for the event. Here’s what they had to say.

Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).

BEFORE WATCHMEN includes:

• RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo
• MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
• COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones
• DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes
• NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert
• OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee
• SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

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Coming a few weeks before the major DVD and Blu-Ray release of DC Animated and Warner Premiere’s latest release, Justice League: Doom, comes yet another awesome clip, to continue the story that left us off in the last one.

Last time, the Royal Flush Gang just got a special visit from Batman as they were attempting a routine diamond robbery. Now, we’re getting a bit more of the full team, as the rest of the Justice League shows up to take down the gang.

It’s moments like this that make you wonder why heroes as powerful as Superman or Green Lantern bother with dramatic entrances and quips when, in that time, they could have sent those villains to the moon by now. It’s one thing for Spider-Man or Batman to have quips or one-liners, but Superman? Come on…

Take a look at the clip after the jump and decide for yourself. Grab the flick on DVD and Blu-ray on February 28th.

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Everyone knows that Wednesday is new comic book day. While picking up your new issues consider looking at some of the trade paperbacks and hard covers of past issues and story lines. But which ones should you choose?

That’s why every Tuesday, The Flickcast will recommend a collection of comics that are just as good, if not better, than the issues you are currently buying. Books that deserve to be read, and bought the next time you walk into your local comic book store.

As we end the first month on the New Year, I thought it would be nice to pick up and read the best comic series published last year. Batman: The Black Mirror is a Batman story at its best. Mystery, murder, and clues mixed in with a personal and scary story from Commissioner Gordon’s past. In fact, The Black Mirror is one of the greatest Batman stories of all time, and it doesn’t even star Bruce Wayne. It stars Dick Grayson.

After the Final Crisis, when everyone thought Bruce Wayne was dead, Dick Grayson took up the cowl and became Batman. Bruce finally returned and decided to travel the world creating Batman Incorporated, a corporation of Batmen dedicated to protecting people. He left Dick Grayson in charge of Gotham City, and even let him continue to be Batman as Gotham will always need a Batman.

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