What's I found quite intriguing about the show since rewatching it is the amount of Pre-Crisis elements other than Clark and Lex knowing each other in Smallville.
- Lana Lang getting different powers during the course of the show is very reminiscence of how Pre-Crisis or even Modern comics Lana would gain powers temporarily.
- Lexa being portrayed as a morally ambiguous character calls back to the Lexor stories or the way Pre-Crisis writers like Elliot S! Maggin used to write the character.
- Pre-Daily Planet Chief editor then reporter Perry White meeting Clark in one episode and Lois meeting Clark in Season 4 are reminiscence of that two separate occasions in the Golden Age Superboy comic where young Clark Kent went a then inexperience reporter Perry White and a young Lois Lane.
- Clark meeting up with younger versions of certain heroes.
- That one time/episode where Lana was put in charge as editor of the school paper, like her comic counterpart during Pre-Crisis.-
The season 3-4 plot of Lana moving to France in an attempt move on with her life is pretty similar to how Pre-Crisis Lana picked an assignment in Europe to forget about Superman (Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #109).
-Jonathan Kent running for a governmental office in Smallville was basically the last over arching storyline the Superboy comics were doing before Crisis On Infinite Earths rebooted the DC entire Universe.
-Even the idea that Smallville was picked as a destination for the rocket ship with baby Kal El to land via young Jor El's experience on Earth and the coordinates' signal being traced by Dr. Swan (Christopher Reeve) in the 70's sounds somewhat similar to the idea that Jor El sent a tracker to Earth with a recorded message when it landed near Albert Einstein's home, requesting the best environment for Kal El to land and be raised in from Elliot S! Maggin's Last Son Of Krypton novel.
Also while people tend to think of Clark's red jacket and blue shirt look when they think of the early seasons, Clark also wore a red t-shirt or sweatshirt/pulover a lot, which remind me of the red pulover he wore in his youth during Pre Crisis.