Smallville Continues as a Comic Book

Just because Smallville ended its run as a TV show doesn't mean the story has to come to a complete end. Some fans may have hoped to see Tom Welling and the rest of the cast transition to the big screen, but the Man of Steel film in the works will be an entire reboot of the Superman saga. Instead, Smallville will continue in comic book form as DC Comics gives us "Season 11," a depiction of what would have transpired if the show had continued instead of ending with Clark Kent finally donning the cape and becoming the superhero everyone knows and loves.

This builds on the tradition made most famous by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which, after going off the air, was revived as a popular comic by Dark Horse in its bestselling "Season 8" series.

Other television shows that stayed alive in the pages of comics include Jericho, Angel, and Sliders.  Charmed is another one, published by Zenescope Entertainment. These stories give fans a tease of what might have been if the programs were still being produced.

Some shows have comic book stories while they are still alive on TV, such as Heroes and Fringe, fleshing out some details that didn't make it into the show or going non-stop with storylines that would be too expensive or impractical to create in real life. A few fill in the gaps, like Dollhouse explaining what happened before the finale episode and Firefly detailing the missing adventures before the Serenity movie. 

Smallville, however, will push the story forward from the moment the TV show ended. After ten years, Clark finally fulfilled his destiny and, after all his trials and tribulations, became Superman. Now, as we wait for Henry Cavill to re-introduce the character to the world in 2013, the show that carried the mantle of the Last Son of Krypton for a decade will have a chance to come full circle, continuing its tale in the comics where the character first began.