Kansas Man Campaigns To Rename Small Town 'Smallville,' Hometown Of Superman

Comic fans all know that Superman's Earthly origin began in Smallville. It's there that his ship, sent from the planet Krypton, landed and was discovered by Ma and Pa Kent. The story is over half a century old and, like most comic book origins, completely fictional. Smallville doesn't exist and while stories in the '80s revealed its location as Kansas, Superman fans don't have an official tourist attraction to visit and pay homage.

One Kansas resident is trying to change that. Comic book artist Christopher Wietrick has begun a campaign to have his hometown, Hutchinson, legally renamed Smallvile. He has several reasons why and after the jump, you can read more about it.

The news broke on a local news station via Nerd Approved. There's a video but it's not embeddable. There, Wietrick pleads his case for the small, rural Kansas town to become the official hometown of Superman.

He says the town has museums for Superman's shuttle and mineral deposits. One of the museums already has the Superman costume in it. Then there are the facts that both cities are in Kansas, there are "Clark" and "Kent" roads in the town, it's about an hour from a major metropolis and more. All of this will be in a comic book Weitrick is currently working on that will plead his case with all proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club of Hutchinson.

In addition, Weitrick has created a Facebook page for the initiative which he hopes will eventually open the eyes of Warner Bros. and DC Comics who hold the primary Superman rights.

Look – you've got to give the guy credit for taking on a massive undertaking but isn't Smallville cooler as a fictional place? Could the reality ever live up to the dream? Leave your comments below.