Kansas Artist Campaigns To Rename Hometown Smallville

If there's been one thing preventing Superman from becoming a reality -- beyond, of course, the existence of a planet called Krypton and a child being rocketed from said planet as it exploded, landing on Earth to discover that he has superpowers as he grows to become a morally-upright, handsome male humanoid -- it's that there is no actual town in Kansas called Smallville. Well, that might be about to change, thanks to one hopeful Sunflower State artist.Christopher Wietrick, who describes himself as a "geek with pencils," and KC McNeely have launched a campaign to have the name of their very real hometown of Hutchinson changed to match that of the very unreal hometown of the Man of Steel. "We believe that the city of Hutchinson has enough in common with the fictitious town of 'Smallville, KS' to warrant the changing of our lovely hometown's name," they explain on the campaign's Facebook page. "Our hometown has several tourist attractions already [but] we would love to see that increase by a great amount and we strongly believe that (should this happen) it would be a huge economic boost to the city, county and area."

The campaign (which includes a "Hutchinson Becomes Smallville" comic book, no less) has made it to local television, with that report being picked up online and gaining support and more than a little momentum. Given that there are already two different real-world Metropolises in the U.S., having a real life Smallville, Kansas seems somewhat overdue at this point. Come on, Kansas powers-that-be: Please make this happen. And then, perhaps someone can work on officially getting New York renamed as Gotham City once and for all, too.