Comparing Television’s "Smallville" with Comic’s Smallville

One of the questions I’m constantly asked on the Superman Related forum is “How does the comic book version of Smallville differ from the one we see on television?” Considering the fact that Smallville has been a part of the Superman legend since 1945 when Superboy premiered in More Fun Comics #101 (the city itself being named in 1949 in Superboy #2), this is a valid yet complicated question. Just like Superman, Smallville and its citizens have gone through a number changes over the last six decades. This, of course is what leads to the complications in trying to draw comparisons between the two locations. To understand the history of changes makes it easier to understand the history of Smallville and even some of the choices the show’s writers made.

As I said, Smallville has been part of Superman’s story for nearly sixty years and in that time, there have been changes and enhancements to the Superman legend. For instance, in one of the first stories where the couple that raised Clark was actually named, their names were Eben and Mary Kent. However, since it had already been established in comics history that Bruce (Batman) Wayne’s mother’s name was Mary, they had to change that. It would be a few years later before Jonathan and Martha were finally chosen. DC Comics has published the adventures of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, for nearly seventy years. Well, during that time, there has been a lot of history; the writers were slugging around baggage from fifty years ago. They had to check the histories of their characters to make certain they didn’t write a story that conflicted with something from twenty years ago. It was extremely burdensome. Finally, in 1985, its fiftieth year, enough was enough. DC Comics made the bold move to reset its entire universe. While the results of their actions will be debated for years to come, the one thing it did was provide writers with the freedom to reestablish these characters as some the greatest in comics history. This move was done in a 12 issue maxi-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths. The name and the events of the Crisis became a touchstone with DC Comics’ historians by referring to a character’s history as pre-Crisis or post-Crisis.

Historically, (pre-Crisis, that is) during his early teen years, Clark adopted the identity of Superboy and began his crime-fighting career. Many of those adventures were chronicled over the years in the pages of More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, and Superboy Comics. The character was an immediate success. Since Superman was already one of the most wildly popular characters in comic’s history, it made sense to chronicle his adventures as he was growing up. This gave young readers a perspective of their hero with which they could identify. He was suddenly like them. He was going to school, doing homework and household chores. He had to deal with playground bullies as well as criminals from the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. The success of Superboy also led to the creation of a whole new world for Clark. He didn’t grow up in Metropolis, so the characters in his hometown also had to be established. People like Lana Lang, Pete Ross, Lex Luthor, as well as Police Chief George Parker all had to be created. A whole new history of Superman’s adventures as a boy quickly took shape. Popular characters like Kal’s dog, Krypto, and the Legion of Super-Heroes (a group of super-powered teenager from the 30th Century) became prominent in both the pages of Superboy stories and in Superman stories as well. Lana grew up and moved to Metropolis and, there, became a rival for Superman’s affections pitted against the formidable Lois Lane.

However, in the post-Crisis age, Superman’s origin was completely revamped in 1986 in the pages of the six issue series Man of Steel. Taking a cue from the original Superman story and the one portrayed in “Superman: The Movie”, the writers decided his career as Superboy should be scrapped in favor of the idea that he didn’t put on the blue tights until years later after he had left Smallville. His friends Lana Lang and Pete Ross were still around, but Lex Luthor was no longer a native of Smallville and his first encounter with Clark would not occur until after Superman made his debut in Metropolis. Clark’s life as a teenager was made more normal. The meek and mild teenaged Clark was changed to reflect him as an athletic hero. Of course we all know this was due to his enhanced strength and reflexes, but the fans of Smallville sports heralded Clark as the next Jim Brown or Joe Namath.

In an interesting note, “Smallville” was not the first to depict Clark’s normalized teen years. It was in an episode of “Superman:The Animated Adventures” titled “New Kids On The Block”. In the episode, members of the Legion of Super-Heroes returned to Clark’s past to assist him in a battle against Brainiac who came back in time bent on destroying Clark when he was young and not as powerful. Clark and the Legion were successful in fending off this villain; but the episode was significant because it was the first time outside of comic books that a teen-aged Clark Kent was shown NOT as Superboy.

According to current comic book history, Smallville is located in rural Kansas. Its population has fluctuated from extremely small to an urban location of nearly 90,000 people. Its long history includes the prominence of Clark’s ancestors on both his adoptive parents sides. His father, Jonathan, was a simple farmer who fell for a popular young woman in town, Martha. Jonathan fought during World War II and, when he was mistakenly listed as Missing In Action, Martha married another man. His name was Daniel Fordman. Fordman died of lung cancer and Martha married Jonathan.

On “Smallville”, Clark’s starship crash-landed outside the Kent farm amid a huge meteor shower in the late 1980’s. In the comics, where time is a little harder to ascertain, his rocket ship crashed to Earth at night about twenty-eight years ago. In today’s times of NORAD and other high-tech monitoring systems, it does seem a little hard to believe that an object from space could enter Earth’s atmosphere undetected. The addition of the meteor shower the writers of “Smallville” made to the Superman legend answered that question. Also, tying the deaths of the Langs and Lex’s loss of hair to the meteors was a stroke of genius because it provided a dimension of Clark’s origin which had not been considered. The ramifications of which only time will tell. In the comic’s history, the Langs mysteriously disappeared during an archeological expedition and Lex’s baldness was a choice made by Lex after Lois Lane made an insulting comment about his receding hairline.

The meteors on “Smallville” turned out to be a plethora of Kryptonite which led to Clark’s discovery of a weakness and the much-debated freaks-of-the-week. Interestingly enough, while many fans may criticize the freak-of-the-week plot vehicle, it did give us a means to see Clark in action and displaying a growing knowledge of each power that came along. Kryptonite in the comics was not as dynamic. As Clark’s spaceship left the dying Krypton, a chunk of kryptonite embedded itself in the hull of the ship. The chunk was about two pounds in weight and about the size of a . This change was made because prior to 1986, it seemed like every two-bit thug could get their hands on a piece. It became almost cliché in its use. The new origin, though, made kryptonite more deadly in that it not only affected Superman, but it was also deadly to humans.

On “Smallville”, Lana Lang is friends with Clark but didn’t show much interest in him beyond that until her boyfriend Whitney left to join the Marines. At that point, Lana’s affections for Clark blossomed. In the comics, Lana claimed Clark as her boyfriend as early as kindergarten. Lana in the comics is a fiery redhead. She did live with her Aunt Nell after her parents disappeared as the show depicted. Unbeknownst to anyone, Lana was kidnapped by a secret alien society shortly after her birth and implanted with a microchip. This chip was designed to keep tabs on Smallville’s resident alien. Years later, the alien’s plot was discovered and the microchip was removed. After graduation, Clark and Lana met again and they considered marriage. But Lana knew that would deny the world the person Clark was destined to be. She left Clark. Then, after Clark immerged as Superman, Lana began to be spotted at the scene of Superman’s more public appearances. Lex Luthor kidnapped and tortured Lana in an attempt to find out her connection to Superman. Lana held out, though, and finally escaped. After that horrific episode, Clark helped Lana move back to Smallville and reestablish herself there.

On “Smallville”, Pete Ross is one of Clark’s long-time friends. It is only after a series of events that Clark reveals his powers to Pete who swears he will never tell his friend’s secret. In the comics, Pete was also a long-time friend of Clark’s but he is unaware of Clark’s secret. After graduation, Pete leaves Smallville for college and returns to become a successful land agent. Then, after being his success, Pete makes a successful run for a congressional seat.

Later in the comics, during the time Lana and Pete had both returned to Smallville, they renewed their friendship. Pete secretly loved Lana for years but didn’t act on his feelings because he knew she was in love with Clark. When Lana finally accepted that Clark was in love with Lois Lane, Lana moved to Washington, DC where Pete had moved on to as a congressman. The two eventually fell in love and, with Clark’s blessing, were married. Clark served as one of the groomsmen in the wedding. Lana gave birth to a son who they named Clark. Currently, Pete’s political career has become even more successful after becoming the Vice President of the United States.

On “Smallville”, Lex Luthor is the son of Lionel Luthor and head of the Smallville offices of LuthorCorp, Inc. He and Clark are best friends however, due Lex’s suspicious nature and some inconsistencies in the stories Clark tells Lex to cover for his super-deeds, Lex is beginning to distrust his friend. In the comics, Lex’s dealings with Smallville never occurred. Lex Luthor was raised in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum district. After his parents died in a car accident, backed by the money he received from an insurance policy that named him sole beneficiary, Lex started to attend various universities. Lex’s designs on a sub-orbital spacecraft, the LexWing, increased Lex’s fortunes. Although his rise to power created rumors of criminal activities, Lex was never implicated. Eventually, LexCorp, Inc. was established and Lex used his power to diversify into other arenas. In no time, Lex was considered the most powerful man in Metropolis. That is, until the debut of Superman. Superman, newly deputized by the mayor of Metropolis, arrested Lex on the charge of reckless endangerment. Of course, the charges didn’t stick, but the damage to Lex’s reputation was done. Forever the survivor, though, Lex continued his search for power. Finally, in 2000, Lex was elected President of the United States choosing Pete Ross as his running mate. From the White House, Lex still continues attempts to destroy Superman. However, from such a high profile position, his attempts have been even more clandestine. Forbes magazine estimates Lex’s net worth at approximately $4.7 billion; following Bruce Wayne’s $6.3 billion fortune.

There are other aspects about Smallville and the television version of “Smallville” which bear more investigation; but due to space restrictions, I’ll leave those for another time. From what I’m hearing about this next season, there will be even more characters from the comics who are scheduled to appear and I look forward to how they are handled on the show.

Next Time: Who Is Superman?

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