Original Superboy Questions

[Vakanai]

Curious, I know in a lot of the older continuities Clark was the first Superboy, and some of that was in future stories with the Legion, which makes sense, but a lot of it apparently was also in Smallville, which makes less sense. What kind of dangers could threaten Smallville on a monthly basis? How does such a small town avoid becoming a huge news story and attraction with a costumed hero flying around? So I was wondering if there are any particularly good Clark as Superboy in Smallville stories, or are they mostly Silver Age campiness (not that there's anything wrong with that)? Thanks for any info.

[Kuwagaton]

The superhero story dynamic is that they're lightning rods for problems. Why didn't the Green Goblin just move to San Jose? It's not like Spider-Man used to drive. Sure it goes beyond our logic, but it makes sense in the idea that they're the protagonists of their own stories. Challenging and overcoming the hero becomes a logical objective from where they sit.

The classic Superboy is probably the best defender of this concept and beyond, because he could go virtually anywhere in time and space under his own power and had a sometimes curious thirst for adventure and justice of all sorts.

What works is subjective. I've never been so into silver age DC, or Superboy in general. Despite that I'm a really big fan of Dorfman. Siegel, Bernstein, Haney, and Binder have also done some stories I really enjoy. Bronze age New Adventures of Superboy had some stuff I really liked too, first thing that comes to mind are Yellow Peri and Kryptonite Kid stories. Those should speak to how Superboy worked in Smallville decently.

You probably wouldn't have a hard time tracking down the phantom zone trade, decent on Superboy content, the very late issues of Adventure Comics like 454 and 455 or New Adventures the series.

The tv show adaptation took basically the same stuff and transported it to late 80s Florida.