Smallville
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- This article is about Superman's adoptive home town. For the television series of the same name, see Smallville (TV series).
Smallville is the fictional town in the United States which Superboy protects and in which most of his crime-fighting adventures take place. It is also the town in which the young Clark Kent grows up before moving to Metropolis to begin his career as Superman.
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The Town
Smallville is usually portrayed as an idyllic small American town, with an atmosphere resembling the settings of the paintings of Norman Rockwell (if one ignores the alien invasions and bank robberies that have plagued Smallville in various stories over the years). Its residents are generally very friendly.
Noted residents of Smallville include the Kent family (Jonathan and Martha Kent, or Ma and Pa Kent as they were often called, and their foster son Clark), Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and Smallville police chief Douglas Parker. In the original Superboy comics, other noted residents included Professor Phineas Potter (Lana's uncle) and a younger version of Lex Luthor. Currently, Conner Kent, the new Superboy, lives in Smallville with Ma and Pa Kent, though he doesn't quite enjoy it.
Smallville's economy seems mostly to consist of various locally owned businesses, along with various farms surrounding the town, including the Kent family farm. In the original Superboy comics, the Kent family sold their farm when Clark started school and opened a general store in town; the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths comics, where Clark never had a Superboy career, show the Kents as still residing on their farm when Clark is an adult.
Clark, Pete, and Lana attended Smallville's sole high school, Smallville High School.
In terms of media, Smallville has had several newspapers mentioned over the years, including the Smallville Sentinel and Smallville Times-Reader. Smallville receives its television and radio broadcasts from a larger nearby city.
In the original Superboy comics, a billboard outside of Smallville greets those driving into and out of town; the billboard features a picture of Superboy waving, with words next to it reading: "Welcome to Smallville, Home of Superboy."
Location
The actual location of Smallville was never originally specified in any state in the comics (though it was placed in Maryland in Amazing Worlds of DC Comics #14), and its location varied widely throughout many stories, most of which placed it close to Metropolis and Midvale, home of Supergirl. It was eventually placed in Kansas in the Superman movies and finally in the comics which took the movies' lead. The town was first given the name "Smallville, USA" in Superboy #2 (1949).
Other Uses of the Term "Smallville"
"Smallville, USA" is also a generic term to describe a relatively small American town.
External links
- Supermanica website's entry on Smallville (http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Smallville)fr:Smallville