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Smallville Premiered 17 Years Ago Today

KryptonSite celebrates 17 years of Smallvlle.

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Just think… in one year, Smallville will be old enough to vote.

On October 16, 2001, the WB Network premiered the first episode of their “young Clark Kent before he was Superman” drama Smallville. The series was extremely well-timed; the Americana seen within plus the desire to see good in the world were strong with the horrors of 9/11 on the previous month. Creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar created a world and new additions to the Superman mythos — the meteor shower, Lionel Luthor, and Chloe Sullivan didn’t exist before they worked their magic.

Some may look back at the early “Freak of the Week” stories as formulaic; in retrospect, they were rather brilliant. Every week, a new audience member could tune in to Smallville and be able to follow it. Even when early Smallville added serialized elements it seemed to work. That first season is still a favorite to this writer.

Smallville introduced the world to Tom Welling, an actor who still has legions of fans who come to see him at conventions. Sure, he appeared on Judging Amy, but this was his first leading role. Michael Rosenbaum, who now hosts a successful “Inside of You” podcast show, brought us a Lex Luthor that shows us that comedians can often do the best and most layered dramatic work. Kristin Kreuk, who now stars in the drama Burden of Truth, infused Lana with a heart and beauty that was unmatched. Allison Mack’s Chloe, a new character for the show, was the audience’s key into that world; I can’t even count the number of Smallville fans I have met who were also editors of their high school newspapers. Sam Jones III’s Pete was the best friend you’d want when you needed a good product placement. And poor Whitney — Eric Johnson was so good, but as The Guy Who Got In The Way Of Clana, he didn’t stand a chance — fans never did forgive him for what he did to Clark in the series premiere.

And then there were the parents. How lucky were they to get John Schneider and Annette O’Toole to play the Kents? Schneider as Jonathan portrayed good values and an ability to teach Clark about right and wrong and being careful. Annette’s Martha was full of caring and love, and her best moments came when anyone would visit the Kents at their farm. And finally – Lionel Luthor, that magnificent bastard, played masterfully by John Glover. “Luthors aren’t afraid, indeed.”

In a time before shows like The Flash filled themselves with Easter eggs, Smallville did it first, referencing Oliver Queen’s family in one of the show’s first shots ever. With that said, they didn’t dip into the DC Comics well for guest heroes until Season 4’s “Run” where Kyle Gallner played the flashy Bart Allen a.k.a. Impulse. By series’ end, Hawkman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and even the Justice Society would appear on the series. When The CW seemed uninterested in genre programming when Dawn Ostroff was on the helm, attempts seemed to be made to kill the show by putting it in undesirable time slots… and it still thrived. The show ultimately lasted ten seasons, by far one of the most successful series in Warner Bros. TV history.

So….. let’s wish a Happy Birthday to the leafy little hamlet that started it all, shall we? Here’s to Smallville. Without you this website wouldn’t even exist!

Come break out your old KryptonSite Forum accounts and post your favorite memories here!

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Jordan Valdes

    October 16, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    Perfect choice for the header image ! Clana forever !!! Super retrospective on the show for its 17th birthday, Craig ! Happy birthday to the greatest series of all-time !

    I will always defend the “Freak of the Week” formula of the first four seasons! Many “Freak of the Week” episodes feel like just “classic Smallville” to me! It’s during that era of the show that I fell in love with it (I fell in love with it right from the pilot, which remains my second-favorite episode of the whole series)! There’s such a charm to the “Freak of the Week” format in my opinion!

    I’m totally with you on the cast! The entire cast is super, and Kristin and Michael are my two all-time favorite actors !

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Smallville

Smallville Creators To Attend 25th Anniversary Convention

Smallville creators Alfred Gough & Miles Millar will be attending Creation’s 25th anniversary convention.

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Every story has a beginning… and these two were there at the very beginning.

As if there weren’t enough reasons already to attend Creation Entertainment’s 25th Anniversary Salute to Smallville convention which is happening November 7-8, 2026 in Nashville… two new additions have been added to the already-packed lineup… two folks who were there at the very start.

Smallville creators Alfred Gough & Miles Millar will be attending the 25th anniversary show, which will run a few weeks after the 25th anniversary of the October 16, 2001 premiere of Smallville on The WB. They’ll be joining a lineup already populated by some huge names including Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance and more, and this year, there are even some new guests that are attending their first Creation Smallville show, including the legendary Helen Slater (Lara-El) and Phil Morris (John Jones!)

Beyond Smallville, Al & Miles have kept themselves very busy on several projects, most recently Netflix’s Wednesday and the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice film. Other credits of theirs include The Shannara Chronicles, Into the Badlands, and Spider-Man 2, the last of which is known by many as “the best live-action Spider-Man movie.” As far as we know, this is their first convention discussing Smallville since their time on the show way back when it was Season 7 being promoted at San Diego Comic-Con. If you’ve had questions about the show that you’ve been sitting on for over two decades, the two best people to answer them – Al Gough & Miles Millar – will now be there!

The anniversary convention will be co-emceed by KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne (that’s me!) and The House of El’s Derek Russell for the third year in a row, and we’d love to see you.

Get your admission passes, photo ops, autographs and more by visiting Creation’s website!

If you are still on the fence about going, Creation is offering 10% off all admission passes, photo op, autograph, and special event tickets for a limited time! Use the coupon code SMV10 and click “Apply” to get the discount (service fees and sales tax will still apply). The sale ends Saturday, July 18 at 5:00 PM PST.

A full guest list of the actors can be found below.

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Comics

Black Star: Pre-Order The Comic From Kristin Kreuk Today!

Kristin Kreuk’s comic book Black Star is available to pre-order from your local comic shop.

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July 29, 2026 will mark the release of the first issue of the new Titan Comics series Black Star which is written by Smallville alum and current Murder In A Small Town star Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang) alongside collaborators Peter Mooney and Eric Putzer with art by Joe Bacardo. The five-issue series is described as “a Northern Gothic Noir tinged with horror and dark humor.”

In Black Star, amidst skirmishings between two warring factions in the early nineteenth-century fur trade, Dashiell Carlyle discovers he has magical abilities… and that he’s not alone. Thrust into a secret order with designs to use their magic to build a new and better world, Dashiell discovers that their utopia may come at a horrific cost.

Here at KryptonSite, we of course are very supportive of Kristin’s new endeavor and hope others will by pre-ordering the first issue of the series. While there may be copies on the shelf on the day of release, pre-ordering means that you shouldn’t miss out… and the key pre-order period is what really helps for sales, as retailers have until Monday, July 6 to get their orders in. To find your nearest comic shop, visit the Comic Shop Locator website, and to ask then to pre-order a physical copy for you, call your local comic shop or, if in the UK or Europe, you can contact Forbidden Planet. Black Star will also have a presence (and an exclusive cover) at the Comic-Con International in San Diego later this month… just head to Booth #5337 (the Titan Publishing booth) to get yours! [Maybe while there, tell Titan you want more Smallville companion guide books from Craig Byrne! – shameless Craig]

The other thing you can do to ensure you get all five issues of Black Star is to  set up a “pull-list” subscription with your local comic store, which tells the retailer to put aside a copy for you each time a new issue is released, on a rolling basis. Some retailers will also offer you the option of pulling just the first issue of any new related series, so you can try it before you commit. Either way, you won’t have to worry about it selling out before you get your chance!

Finally, you can pre-order a digital copy online… and maybe get a few cents to KryptonSite from an affiliate link as well. You can do that here.

Now for the really fun stuff… want to see some interior pages as well as several variant covers they are releasing. Artists for the covers include Martin Simmonds (The Department of Truth), Joe Bacardo (Black Star), Robert Hack (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Alison Sampson (Sleeping Beauties)! Enjoy:

COVER-A-COVER-E-FOIL-COVER-G-VIRGIN-Black_Star_1_Martin-Simmonds

COVER-A-COVER-E-FOIL-COVER-G-VIRGIN-Black_Star_1_Martin-Simmonds
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Smallville

Smallville Ended 15 Years Ago Today

The final episode of Smallville aired May 13, 2011 on The CW.

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Do you know where you were on May 13, 2011?

If you were a regular visitor to KryptonSite back in the day, you know very well where you were – anxiously anticipating that Friday night’s airing of the final two episodes of Smallville on The CW. Would Clark finally put on the suit? How will Lex come back? Will Clark and Lois get married? Will Chloe change her name to become L– oh, never mind that one. 

Regardless of your thoughts on that finale, May 13, 2011 was a moment, and for a lot of us who stuck with the show for ten years, we really thought it was the end. We didn’t know the talented Bryan Q. Miller would be writing his own “Season 11” continuation comic soon after. We certainly had no idea we’d see Tom Welling as Clark and Erica Durance as Lois, in character again in the 2019 “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW. The KryptonSite Forums were certainly hopping, if you have any curiosity to see what people were posting that night.

And of course, now fans have the opportunity to see their favorite actors at conventions, including Salute to Smallville which has a big 25th anniversary panel planned for Gold Admission pass holders. (Though if you’re not Gold, trust me… there’s greatness for everyone else too!) KryptonSite webmaster and Editor-in-Chief Craig Byrne (that’s me!) has been lucky enough to have been a host of the event these past two years, and now is part of the team at Creation, making sure this event would be awesome. Creation has just listed a sale through Friday 5/15 where you can type in SMALL15 at checkout to get 15% off… one percent for every year we have sadly not had Smallville. So, definitely check it out! Many members of the show’s cast will be in attendance!

We’ve still got a lot coming up on the site to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show’s premiere… but as for today, the 15th anniversary of the show’s ending… have a good time… and keep holding on to Smallville.

And 15 years? WE’RE OLD.

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