Lois Lane Remembers My Name?

To begin this story, we must travel back in time, all the way back to 2004, when a young, fresh faced artist went to San Diego Comic Con for the first time. I think I’ll have to do another entire post to encapsulate all my experiences back then, but one of the main highlights was getting to meet some of the cast of Smallville, my favourite show at that time.

Because even back then, the lineups at San Diego Comic Con were relentless, you basically had to make a choice—line up for the panel discussion, or line up for the autograph session to follow—not both. Knowing the panel discussion would be documented after the fact, I opted for the autograph line. I was about twentieth in line when I entered it, so I knew I had a good shot of meeting the cast. When we lined up, we didn’t know which cast members would be in attendance, but after a while they announced the cast, by their character names. A guy with a headset shouted that the guests would “Chloe, Lionel, and Lois!”. Many fans in the line scoffed, thinking the organizer had misspoken, because, of course, in season three of the show, Lois had not yet appeared—they thought the organizer meant Lana Lang, who had been on the show since it first began. But as something of a Smallville super-fan at the time, I knew they had just the day before cast Erica Durance as Lois Lane, and was so excited to see who she was, and what she looked like.

Once the crew and cast got to the autograph table, the line moved briskly. We were given souvenir posters that the producers (Al Gough and Miles Miller) and writer (Jeph Loeb) would sign, along with the cast. While in line, I was snapping pictures with my terrible old 110 camera, and I got this killer picture of John Glover (who played the evil Lionel Luthor) giving me an appropriately villainous glare:

Note Smallville creator Alfred Gough’s low-key protest on the far left, wearing his Spider-Man 2 hat at a DC event—he was one of the screenwriters for that film.
In case you missed the evil glare—or the deep V!

When I finally reached the front of the line, the organizers were understandably hustling us through. They explicitly said we couldn’t chat, we were only there for autographs. But this was Lois Lane we’re talking about! All I knew about Erica Durance was that she was from Canada (at the time, her bio said she was from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) so when I spoke to her, I let her know I was Canadian as well, and how excited I was that she was joining the cast. She was very kind, and thanked me. Then she looked at my lanyard which bore my name, looked me dead in the eyes and smiled, saying “Don Sparrow. I’ll remember that name.”

Of course, the four episode guest spot for the Lois Lane character ended up being extended, until eventually she was a cast regular, and her relationship with Clark Kent became the heart of the show.

So you can imagine what a thrill it was, all these years later, to be asked to host the Erica Durance panel at Saskatoon Entertainment Expo this past May. Nervous though I was, it was incredibly fun. Having so many friends (as well as my wife—a dead ringer for Erica Durance) in the hometown crowd made it extra special.

Look, we’re in a pandemic, let’s not read too much into how far she’s leaning away from me, OK?

Backstage after the panel, I presented her with the artwork I’d created for the show, which she gratefully accepted.

Featuring Erica’s roles on Smallville, Saving Hope, Supergirl and various Hallmark Christmas films.


I also told her the story of meeting her all those years back, and she joked that now she’d really remember my name.

As special as this convention weekend was, it was made all the more memorable because I got to share these experiences with my whole family. Erica could not have been sweeter or kinder to us.

This whole encounter was definitely one of those times where I just felt improbably blessed. What are the odds that a dork from Saskatoon would get to meet one of the best Lois Lane performers not once, but twice—even getting to share a stage with her?

If you’re curious about the panel, there’s a full transcript of our interview at the exhaustive Superman comics blog I write with Cracked.com’s Max Yezpitelok, which you can read here: https://superman86to99.tumblr.com/post/689255728476766208/superman-86-to-99-extra-erica-durance-saskatoon

I should have some new stuff for you pretty soon, including a tease about a NEW BOOK I have coming out next month.

Thanks for reading, I love you.