KRYPTONSITE WEBMASTER CRAIG BYRNE: Is it true that you are a big comic book fan?

PHIL MORRIS: I am a huge comic book fan. I have 20,000 issues, actually. I've been collecting since I was seven years old, and I have some really original stuff. So, to do Smallville, for me, is more than an honor; it's almost like a rite of passage.


K-SITE: Had you always been a fan of the Martian Manhunter?

MORRIS: I'm a fan of all the DC Universe characters, and Martian Manhunter, to me - it's weird to say this - but he's one of the most humane of all the DC Universe characters. Odd that he's from Mars, but he has such a great sense of compassion, such a great sense of humanity. So yeah, I'm a big fan of Martian Manhunter. And I'm a big fan of Carl Lumbly, who voices the Martian Manhunter on the Justice League for Warner Brothers.

K-SITE: You've done voice work on the Justice League animated series as well, is that correct?

MORRIS: I play Vandal Savage for them, and I just voiced the new straight-to-video DVD of the Darwyn Cooke graphic novel The New Frontier. So it's great. It's funny, because I did that the week before I went up to Vancouver to do Smallville; so I'm playing opposite [the Martian Manhunter] in the cartoon, and then I am actually him in Smallville. It's very wild.

K-SITE: Now we know how Michael Rosenbaum must feel. [Rosenbaum plays The Flash on JLU and is Lex on Smallville]

MORRIS: Yes. He actually asked me about that. We actually have Neil Patrick Harris playing the Flash [in New Frontier].

K-SITE: Are they going to put you in any makeup when we see you on the show?

MORRIS: No, no. They have been smart enough to use my normal guise. I've been saying to my friends that I look like an intergalactic Shaft.

[At this point, executive producer Al Gough comes by and they both describe John Jones' comics-inspired costume - incorporating the cobalt blue of J'onn's current comics look, an Armani shirt, and a long, leather coat]

MORRIS: It's cool. Dude, I look awesome. Thank God I look like me. He's a wonderful, grounded character, and when people see how I interact with Clark Kent/Kal-El, I think they will be fairly blown away.

K-SITE: Are you planning to come back for more episodes [beyond "Labyrinth"]?

MORRIS: Yes.

K-SITE: Are you allowed to talk about that at all?

MORRIS: No. [I mean] the way we've set it up, as the fans will see on Thursday night the 25th, they'll see that I have to come back. He and I have got stuff to do.

K-SITE: How did you go about getting the role?

MORRIS: It was a long process. I auditioned five weeks before I actually got that part.

K-SITE: Did you pick the role, or did they come to you?

MORRIS: They came to me. I auditioned just like a normal actor, and I had to sweat it out, just like a normal actor. I actually went in twice. I went in one time, and then went back a couple of weeks later, read for the producers who came down from Vancouver. And then three weeks after that, I got the part.