smallville
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DC Comics Inc. is one of the largest and most popular companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. DC Comics produces material featuring a large number of well-known characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, the Teen Titans, Green Arrow, the Justice League and the rest of the DC Universe.

Smallville comics published

Series Year(s) Issues
Smallville: The Comic 2002 1
Smallville 2003-2004 11
Smallville: Volume 1 2004 1
Smallville Season 11 2012 - 2015 28
Smallville Season 11 Special 2013 - 2014 5

Elements from DC Comics brought into Smallville


General impact of Smallville in DC Comics and other media

Smallville as a TV show, during its ten year-long run, inspired many changes to the DC Universe itself.

A lot of stories focusing on Superman's origin, which took some inspiration from Smallville's version of the story, were published, like the twelve-issue comic book limited series Superman: Birthright (2003-2004) and the six-issue comic book limited series Superman: Secret Origin (2009-2010). Moreover, a lot of characters that were tied to Superman's origin and were main characters on the show, like Lana Lang and Pete Ross, started to appear more frequently in the modern day comics, after the success of the show.

Due to the show, Lex Luthor's origin was also altered in the Modern era. Brightright offers an alternate look at Luthor's history, including his youth in Smallville, and his first encounter with Superman. The story has many similarities to the series and one main plot element shared by the comic and the show is Lex Luthor's problematic relationship with his wealthy father.[1] After Brightright, Lex's origin was revisited many times in Countdown to Final Crisis #34, Action Comics #850 and in Secret Origin mini-series but what all of them had in common was the story element of Lex spending time in Smallville and meeting Clark, Lana and Pete, like in the TV show. Moreover in most of these stories Lex's father was referred to as Lionel, a name that it was originally given to the character in the TV series.

Jonathan and Martha Kent's appearances in the comics, were also altered in the Modern Age of comics, to resemble the younger versions of the actors who portray them in the television series. Although now shown wearing glasses, Jonathan has a full head of blond hair, and Martha has long red tresses. This younger portrayal of the Kents has persisted in the regular DC Universe since Birthright was published.[2] After Infinite Crisis various aspects of Superman's past were clearly retconned from the Birthright version but there was little to specifically indicate that the Kents themselves had been substantially changed. They were initially still depicted with younger appearances and the Schneider and O'Toole likenesses, however this eventually gives way to older, more traditionally generic, gray-haired representations.

Chloe Sullivan was the show's first totally original character and due to the popularity of the show and her character, there were many attempts to bring the character to the main DC Universe. DC representatives and writers initially hoped to bring Chloe into DC continuity in 2007. According to writer Kurt Busiek, the problem of bringing Chloe into the mainstream comic book universe, and keeping her television background, was that she would have filled two roles, which both had already been filled by the adult comic book versions of Lana Lang and Lois Lane, so the plan was to give the character a new background. Busiek hoped to make Chloe the younger sister of someone Clark had gone to school with, who was a now interning at the Daily Planet. Busiek believed that this would make her different from Lana and Lois, but still familiar to readers who also watched the show. Another distinguishing feature would be that this version of Chloe would not know Clark's secret, nor would she be meteor infected. These ideas never came to fruition. In Superman: Secret Origin several nods were made to the character of Chloe. She did not appear in the mainstream DC Comics Universe until 2010, when she was introduced in Jimmy Olsen's Big Week, a serialized Jimmy Olsen story. Writer of the mini-series, Nick Spencer stated that introducing Chloe has been his first "positive contribution" to the DC Universe.

The Red-Blue Blur/Blur name was used by Clark Kent before becoming Superman originally only on the show. However, it was alluded to in the comics too. In Superman/Batman #73 (August 2010), a close-up shot of Lois Lane researching on her computer, shows a newspaper headline in the background that reads, "RED-BLUE BLUR" GETS A NAME.

Smallville featured the first incarnation of the character of Cyborg that was included among the founding members of the Justice League (on the show Victor is in Clark's age), as in the comics he didn't joined the team until the New 52, where he became a founding member, replacing Martian Manhunter. Before Smallville and later the New 52, he had been a long time member of the Teen Titans.

In the Superman 80-Page Giant (2011), Kara is seen sporting the Smallville clothing attire of the character, that was featured in the very first episodes of the seventh season and its promotional photos.

The character of Faora was reintroduced in the New 52, due to the popularity of the character after her appearance in the film Man of Steel. Before that, Smallville first featured the character as Zod's right hand woman and wife, instead of traditionally using the character of Ursa, who had replaced Faora in both comics and other media for decades. The use of the character in the film indicates that the creators were inspired from Smallville's version of the character and decide to use her once again.

In the New 52, Green Arrow's appearance seems to be based on Smallville's version of the character with highlight his new costume. Oliver is now younger, and lacks his trademark facial hair, like in the series. Though the character later started resembling more the newest version of him, who appears on the TV show titled Arrow.

Smallville featured Doomsday, having a Kryptonian background rather that being created by humans, as it was in DC comics. This story element was later used in the New 52 as well.

Otis is a character that was first created to appear exclusively in Superman: The Movie (1978) and its sequel (1981). There were some references to the character and he did some cameo appearances in Elseworlds stories over the years but he didn't crossover into the main DC Universe until 2014. In 2012, Otis was introduced and also reinvented in some way in Smallville: Season Eleven as a major recurring character, where he was also given a last name for the first time in the character's history. After his appearance on Smallville, he made his first animated appearance on Young Justice and he finally made his debut in the comics in the New 52's title, Forever Evil.

On Superwoman #6, Lillian Luthor made a cameo appearance. However unlike Smallville, where she is Lex's mother, she is introduced as Lex and Lena's aunt, who also raised Lena and mentored her. Lex and Lena's mother is also referred to as "Leticia", a name traditionally associated with that character.

Elements from Smallville brought into DC Comics

Characters

Original Characters
Character Revamps

Object

Locations

Concepts

Elements from Smallville brought into other media

Miscellaneous

Notes

References

  1. ↑ http://theages.ac/History/birthright/review.html/
  2. ↑ http://theages.ac/History/birthright/review.html/
  3. ↑ Warrior