Kevin Smith a Heroic Director

Mon., Jul. 30, 2007 5:59 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Kevin Smith is going back to where it all began. For the Cheerleader, that is.

The comic book-lovin' Clerks auteur has signed on to write and direct an episode of the upcoming prequel series Heroes: Origins, Smith told a roomful of fans this weekend during an appearance at Comic-Con, the four-day fanboy (and girl) extravaganza which wrapped up Sunday in San Diego. About 120,000 comedy, sci-fi, fantasy and superhero devotees made the rounds this year.

Smith, who was also on hand Friday to screen the pilot of his upcoming CW series Reaper, received a wild ovation after being introduced by Heroes creator Tim Kring, whose Emmy-nominated drama—which was the subject of major buzz at Comic-Con last year—owes much of its success to serial junkies and Stan Lee worshipers like Smith.

DC Comics announced last week, in fact, that it was spinning the hit NBC series into a hard-bound collection of graphic novels.

"I just don't want to be the guy who ruins Heroes," Smith, who has also penned comics for Green Arrow and Daredevil, said in his usual amusingly self-deprecating fashion.

Heroes: Origins will premiere on NBC in 2008 during the original show's winter hiatus and fans will be asked to vote for their favorite new hero online. The genetically gifted character with the most votes will land a gig on Heroes in 2008-09.

But while the rest of the jammed Heroes panel, populated by Kring and 12 of the show's stars, was light on prophecy for next season, Adrian Pasdar (flying man Nathan Petrelli) told the Los Angeles Times that each and every hero has a rough road ahead.

"Last year we were looking to talk to anybody who wanted to talk to us," Pasdar said. "This year the degree of secrecy is a lot higher in what we can say…No matter who your favorite character is, the things that are going to happen in this season will be exciting to the point of being numbing for fans. This season is not about defining them by their own behavior…there's a lot more at stake."

Saturday was also a red-letter day for the Battlestar Galactica crew, which will be returning to the Sci Fi Channel for a fourth and final season in January. The Comic-Con crowd lapped up every word the cast and show runner Ronald D. Moore had to say.

As reported this weekend by E! Online's TV blog, Lucy Lawless will be back for two or three episodes, starting around episode 10, to "cause some trouble," the actress says.

"There are a lot of people interested in unboxing D’Anna, because she knows things," Moore said. "There’s a long plot leading up to that. It’s a pivot point for the season, and after that, things change and drive us toward the finale."

To tide fans over until that far-off 2008 premiere, the movie special Razor, featuring the Original Cylon War and other prequel-ish revelations, will air Nov. 24 and immediately head to DVD to allow for more zealous repeat viewing. The season-three cliffhanger will be leaving us on edge until January, however.

Other quick tidbits from Comic-Con's final days:

Mark Johnson, producer of The Chronicles of Narnia films, revealed that Disney will be unleashing a sequel every May, starting in 2008 and wrapping up in…2013! Prince Caspian is up next and shooting on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is expected to kick off in late January or February for its 2009 release, after which the series will need a new director.
Nicolas Cage and his 16-year-old son Weston have teamed up to create the comic book Voodoo Child, a supernatural horror tale set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans written by Mike Carey and being published by Virgin Comics.
Not just one but four(!) Futurama movies are in the works, according to producer David X. Cohen. Fans were treated to a five-minute trailer from the first big-screen offering, Bender's Big Score!