With all the hoopla over the 100th episode of Smallville, the Fortress Keeper believes the time is ripe to look back at an earlier show covering the Man of Steel’s teenage years: the aptly named Superboy.
Premiering 1988 on syndicated TV, the show starred John Haymes Newton as Superboy, Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang and Scott Wells as Lex Luthor. Set at a fictional college rather than Smallville, the show was about as good as most syndicated programs - meaning it was mediocre at best.
However, toward the end of the season, Mr. Mxyzptlk (!) appeared in an excellent episode written by Denny O’Neil (!!)
After a season of standard TV superhero adventures, “Mxyzptlk” was the first time the comic mythos had been rendered so faithfully.
In the second season, Newton gave way to the superior Gerard Christopher and Wells was canned in favor of the older, but much more maniacal, Sherman Howard.
Cast in place, the show began to evolve as more comic book writers (Michael Carlin, Andy Helfer, J.M. DeMatteis) seeped into the credits. Characters like Metallo and Bizarro began to appear, and the rivalry between Superboy and Luthor grew more complex.
By the time the show ended in 1992, it had evolved into a fine comic book translation. Christopher’s Superboy had matured into a confident, yet grounded, hero while Haiduk’s Lana (a particular fan favorite, in contrast to Kristin Kreuk’s “Dawson’s Creek” portrayal) was more an equal partner than an excuse for soap opera romance.
Sadly, legal wrangling has kept the show off the air for more than 10 years and many have forgotten it ever existed. Yet, for a few years, fans had a rendition of Superboy that took the best concepts of the Silver Age and made them fresh for a new generation.
