DC Earth 1 Character Backstory questions

[dans]

Does anyone know the name of the sports teams for Smallville High School in the 60s? On TV they are the Crows, but did they have another name in the comics?

Also, in our version of Earth 1, where is Smallville?

[DocQuantum]

No idea offhand, but I’m sure they’ve been named. Check Darkmark’s index first, but I recall 1950s and 60s Superboy stories featuring the football team at least,

Smallville is probably an hour’s drive at most from Metropolis, on the East Coast but inland.

[redsycorax]

An alternative name was the Smallville Giants, but that name was applied post-Crisis: dc.fandom.com/wiki/Smallville_Giants

And here's the DC database reference to the Smallville Crows: dc.fandom.com/wiki/Smallville_Crows

They also have a baseball team, the Smallville Tigers, which dates from Superboy 121 (June 1965): dc.fandom.com/wiki/Smallville_Tigers

[DocQuantum]

By the time of the Superboy Spectacular #1 (1980) the high school baseball team was renamed the Smallville Sabertooths. It's a natural progression from Tigers to Sabtertooths, I guess.

The Smallville High football team showed up several times since the early 1950s, but they weren't named in any of the stories that I could find on a cursory glance. However, I believe the football team's name may have started with an "S" because the initials "S.H.S." are seen on the cheerleader's megaphones, indicating the football team to be called the Smallville High S______ (Adventure Comics #456).

Maybe the Samsons? Could be a subtle reference to the Jewish heritage of Siegel and Shuster.
Or the Sentinels, though I think it's overused.

I do like the name of the Smallville Giants, which is what Dan Jurgen used in the Post-Crisis era, since it's a fairly clever play on words.

[dans]

It turns out that this was kind of a random question, as the football team reference I was going to make is now written out of the story. But if I get back to it, I will use Giants for the Smallville High School sports teams in the mid-60s. I like that too. Thanks, Doc!

They can change it later to Tigers or Sabertooths if the kids want a new name.

[dans]

If Smallville is an hour outside Metropolis, it must be in Pennsylvania or New York, unless it is east of Metropolis, in which case likely in Connecticut. On the one hand, it is supposed to be in Kansas. On the other hand, there are numerous times it is shown to be near Metropolis. I guess it doesn't really matter where it is...

Next question - do we know any of any other contemporaries of Lana and Clark other than Pete Ross? In the world where Lana became Gravity Girl permanently, who would have become the Insect Queen? Of course, Gravity Girl might have saved the alien and be Insect Queen at the same time...

[DocQuantum]

I think we’ve discussed the Pre Crisis Smallville location several times here and in the old forum. There’s a map somewhere that indicates Metropolis to be in Delaware and Smallville in Maryland approximately. But whenever I reference them I just say Metropolis, USA or Smallville, USA like they do in the comics.

[DocQuantum]

There are several guys referenced, but few are recurring characters except for Bash Bashford.

There are a few other girls but few that don’t appear just once. Lisa Davis is an option, but she might not have been around at the time. Of course this is an alternate universe so she could have lived there a year or two earlier.

[DocQuantum]

And, of course, there is a teenage Lois Lane that became friends with Lana at summer camp.

[dans]

that would be an interesting story... it IS an elseworlds universe... another option would be to have Barbara Gordon gain those powers instead of the Mighty Girl powers:

from our E1 timeline:

August, 1964

While at Camp Smallville 11-year-old Barbara Gordon is briefly imbued by magic to become Mighty Girl until Superboy deduces her power source and takes it away. Barbara vows to become a superhero someday. [Adventure Comics #453]

[dave]

Here are a few of my notes about Smallville and the Boy Blockbuster (late 40's Early 50's Superboy stories).

Clark's first romantic encounter was with a girl named Betty. as they went on a few dates

A young Clark Kent become one of two contestants, the other being Lois Lane, in a newspaper competition to find the best Junior reporter. A year or so later Clark succeeds at getting a job as a cub reporter over Lois Lane, but he is soon fired foe on competence.

Superboy had a overweight school mate who was a friend of Clark Kent's and a braggart named Tommy Tuttle.
Later he met a lad named Freddy Shaw who became Clark Kent's best friend. The only boy to whom he ever revealed his secret identity. Unfortunate,ly Freddy died of incurable brain fever short time later.

People who were flown by Superboy form a club which expands if the person qualifies and wants to join called the Super Fliers Club.

[dans]

Thanks, Dave... if I continue with the Gravity Girl alternate universe I think I'll have Lois rescue the insectoid alien, which could set up an additional rivalry between Lois and Lana. And maybe teenage Princess Diana on Paradise Island will somehow see them through the Magic Sphere and come to 'Man's World' and scold them for their jealous behavior...

March, 1965

March 22-23: After spending an all-night vigil at Aphrodite's altar on Paradise Island, 15-year-old Princess Diana is given her bracelets of submission to Aphrodite by her mother Queen Hippolyta that signal she is a full Amazon.

[dans]

Lana, Clark, and Lois all met at a summer camp when they were in their mid teens (I would guess between Jr. and Sr. year of high school). My impression is that Camp Hiawatha (the camp for teenage girls) and Camp Chieftain (the camp for teenage boys, which was just across a small lake from Camp Hiawatha) were fairly near Smallville. Lois grew up in Pittsdale, which is in Iowa. Why would Lois have been attending a summer camp so far from her home?

[dave]

She may have summered in the area around Smallville and Metropolis. There are couple stories involve a teen aged Lois and Clark besides the one you site. In the first one a young Clark Kent become one of two contestants, the other being Lois Lane, in a newspaper competition to find the best Junior reporter. Given the way were drawn I suspect they were not yet in High School Superboy Vol 1 #1 March 1949. I don't think the tale had them going to school as I believe it took place in the summer. Same with another tale when they definitely in high school Clark succeeds at getting a job as a cub reporter over Lois Lane, but he is soon fired for incompetence. Again, it occurs during the summer.

[DocQuantum]

I question Pittsdale being in Iowa. If it isn't in a canonical Earth-1 comic-book, it isn't necessarily true. What is your source?