Smallville is one of the most popular and fascinating spinoffs of the original Superman comics. The way the story spans across both viewing and reading mediums so seamlessly is truly a work of art.
If you’re a fan of the character, the comics, or just want to get started with this franchise, you’ve arrived at the right place. So, let’s dive right in.
The Smallville franchise consists of the main live-action TV series, animated series, tie-in novels, and comic books. These are interspersed to form the origin story of Superman and how Clark Kent became the Man of Steel.
1. Smallville Release Order
I’ve segregated the entire Smallville franchise into three categories based on the media/format. This way, the release order can be simple to grasp and understand.
I. Smallville TV Series
- Season 1 (16 October 2001, 21 Episodes)
- Season 2 (24 September 2002, 23 Episodes)
- Season 3 (01 October 2003, 22 Episodes)
- Season 4 (22 September 2004, 22 Episodes)
- Season 5 (29 September 2005, 22 Episodes)
- Season 6 (28 September 2006, 22 Episodes)
- Season 7 (27 September 2007, 20 Episodes)
- Season 8 (18 September 2008, 22 Episodes)
- Season 9 (25 September 2009, 21 Episodes)
- Season 10 (24 September 2010, 21 Episodes)
- Unaired Pilot Season 1 (25 September 2017)
Smallville had an incredible run for most of its time, but the show’s rating drastically dropped towards the end. In fact, the producers even considered making a tenth season. However, considering the popularity of Tom Welling (the protagonist), they decided to take the punt one last time.
However, the story of Smallville doesn’t end there. There is, in fact, a Season 11, but it is in the form of digital comics, which we’ll be looking at later. Next, we’ll be looking at all the Smallville animated and web series.
II. Smallville Animated Series and Web Series
- Smallville: Chloe Chronicles (2003, 12 Episodes)
- Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles (2006, 6 Episodes)
- Smallville: Oliver Queen Chronicles (2007, 6 Episodes)
- Smallville: Justice and Doom (2007, TV Movie)
- Smallville Legends: Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton (2008, 6 Episodes)
III. Smallville Novels and Comic Books
- Smallville: Dragon (01 December 2002, Novel)
- Smallville: Flight (01 December 2002, Novel)
- Smallville: Strange Visitors (01 December 2002, Novel)
- Smallville: Hauntings (01 January 2003)
- Smallville: Animal Rage (01 March 2003, Novel)
- Smallville: Whodunnit (01 March 2003, Novel)
- Smallville: Shadows (01 September 2003, Novel)
- Smallville: Silence (01 February 2004, Novel)
- Smallville: City (01 March 2004, Novel)
- Smallville: Volume 1 (01 May 2004, Comic Series)
- Exile and the Kingdom
- Beauty
- What I Did on My Summer Vacation
- Vows
- Paterfamilias
- Chimera
- Phelan
- Raptor
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 1: Guardian (23 April 2013)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 2: Detective (20 August 2013)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 3: Haunted (22 October 2013)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 4: Argo (25 March 2014)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 5: Olympus (14 October 2014)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 6: Alien (12 May 2015)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 7: Lantern (27 October 2015)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 8: Chaos (31 May 2016)
- Smallville Season 11 Volume 9: Continuity (2 January 2018)
- Smallville Season 11 Specials
- Effigy (29 May 2013)
- Valkyrie (31 July 2013)
- Hollow (30 October 2013)
- Titans (29 January 2014)
- Harbinger (30 July 2014)
The various comics in Smallville: Volume 1 were released at different points but were all compiled and reprinted in Volume 1. In essence, this is the complete franchise, and having a proper reading/viewing order might be difficult. But it isn’t impossible. In fact, I’ve created a holistic read/watch order for you to follow.
2. Smallville Complete Chronological Watch/Read Order
In this complete chronological watch/read order, I’ll take you through all the comics, TV series, web series, and novels. However, here’s a small heads up.
For Smallville Seasons 1 and 2, you’ll be shifting between the different formats and media of content. So that list might look a bit intense. However, from Season 3 onwards, it’s a piece of cake. So, let’s get right into it.
I. Season 1
- Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton
- Oliver Queen Chronicles
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 1-3
- Smallville: Dragon
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 4-7
- Exile and the Kingdom
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 8-10
- Smallville: Flight
- Smallville: Animal Rage
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 11-14
- Smallville: Strange Visitors
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 15-16
- Smallville: Whodunnit
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 17-18
- Beauty
- Smallville: Hauntings
- Smallville Season 1 Episode 19-21
II. Season 2
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 1
- What I Did on My Summer Vacation
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 2
- The Chloe Chronicles Introduction
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 3
- The Chloe Chronicles, Video One
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 4
- The Chloe Chronicles, Video Two
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 5
- The Chloe Chronicles, Video Three
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 6
- Vows
- Smallville: Silence
- The Chloe Chronicles, Video Four
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 7
- Paterfamilias
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 8-9
- Smallville: Shadows
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 10-11
- The Chloe Chronicles Volume 2 Episode 1-7
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 12-13
- Chimera (Part 1 and 2)
- Phelan
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 14-15
- Smallville: City
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 16-20
- Raptor
- Smallville Season 2 Episode 21-23
III. Remaining Seasons, Novels, Comics, and Animated Series
- Smallville Season 3
- Smallville Season 4
- Smallville Season 5 Episode 1-15
- The Vengeance Chronicles
- Smallville Season 5 Episode 16-22
- Smallville Season 6
- Justice and Doom
- Smallville Season 7
- Smallville Season 8
- Smallville Season 9
- Smallville Season 10
- Smallville Season 11 (Comic Series: All volumes and specials in order of release)
Besides all this, you can still catch a glimpse of Tom Welling’s Superman in the Arrowverse. If you don’t believe me, read that again. Welling appears in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover in Batwoman’s episode.
So, this is the complete watch order. But wait, if you’ve already come this far, let me help you with a couple more questions you might have to get started.
3. Smallville Skippable Episode Guide
As you can already see, the watch/read order is pretty extensive. It might even be exhausting for you to go through the various formats of content. There’s also a great chance you came here merely for the Smallville main TV series guide. Well, I’ve got that as well.
In the below list are the must-watch episodes of the show. These are necessary for you to get the crux of the show, characters, plotline, and arcs. For the rest, you can either read the synopsis or even skip them.
I. Season 1
- S01E01 – Pilot
- S01E04 – X-Ray
- S01E12 – Leech
- S01E16 – Stray
- S01E20 – Obscura
- S01E21 – Tempest
II. Season 2
- S02E01 – Vortex
- S02E03 – Duplicity
- S02E04 – Red
- S02E07 – Lineage
- S02E10 – Skinwalker
- S02E17 – Rosetta
- S02E22 – Calling
- S02E23 – Exodus
III. Season 3
- S03E01 – Exile
- S03E02 – Phoenix
- S03E08 – Shattered
- S03E09 – Asylum
- S03E14 – Obsession
- S03E18 – Truth
- S03E19 – Memoria
- S03E20 – Talisman
- S03E21 – Forsaken
- S03E22 – Covenant
IV. Season 4
- S04E01 – Crusade
- S04E02 – Gone
- S04E05 – Run
- S04E06 – Transference
- S04E11 – Unsafe
- S04E12 – Pariah
- S04E15 – Sacred
- S04E17 – Onyx
- S04E22 – Commencement
V. Season 5
- S05E01 – Arrival
- S05E03 – Hidden
- S05E04 – Aqua
- S05E08 – Solitude
- S05E12 – Reckoning
- S05E13 – Vengeance
- S05E15 – Cyborg
- S05E21 – Oracle
- S05E22 – Vessel
VI. Season 6
- S06E01 – Zod
- S06E04 – Arrow
- S06E06 – Fallout
- S06E08 – Static
- S06E11 – Justice
- S06E15 – Freak
- S06E17 – Combat
- S06E22 – Phantom
VII. Season 7
- S07E01 – Bizarro
- S07E02 – Kara
- S07E11 – Siren
- S07E14 – Traveler
- S07E16 – Descent
- S07E20 – Arctic
VIII. Season 8
- S08E01 – Odyssey
- S08E03 – Toxic
- S08E04 – Instinct
- S08E05 – Committed
- S08E09 – Abyss
- S08E11 – Legion
- S08E22 – Doomsday
IX. Season 9
- S09E01 – Savior
- S09E06 – Crossfire
- S09E07 – Kandor
- S09E11 – Absolute Justice
- S09E19 – Sacrifice
- S09E20 – Hostage
- S09E21 – Salvation
X. Season 10
- S10E01 – Lazarus
- S10E04 – Homecoming
- S10E05 – Isis
- S10E09 – Patriot
- S10E10 – Luthor
- S10E11 – Icarus
- S10E20 – Prophecy
- S10E21 – Finale
I know you’re wondering why there are so few episodes on the list. Well, as great as the show is, it still had a lot of fluff. But if you have more time, here’s another link to a tweet. This user has posted a list of all the episodes across the ten seasons in a color-coded format.
He has essentially put them in five categories/colors that range from Must-Watch to Skip It. You can use that to watch the series as well.
4. Where to Watch and Read Smallville
All comics and novels are available on Amazon for you to purchase. While there are other websites where you could digitally read the comics, isn’t it better to get your hands on a hard copy and flip through those pages IRL?
The main TV series is streaming on Hulu and you’ll have no problems finding them. As for the rest of the animated and web series, they would be slightly more challenging to find and watch. The functional websites differ from country to country. But you can mostly find all of them on YouTube.
5. Binge Duration and Runtime
Every Smallville episode runs for 42 minutes, and there are ten seasons with about 20 to 23 episodes each. This might take some time, considering you also have other things to watch and read.
So, the best way to do it is by segmenting the entire chronological watch order. Since Seasons 1 and 2 are pretty long, you can break them down at your convenience. However, from Season 3, you can binge entire seasons without too many detours to the other formats.
6. About Smallville
Smallville is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough Ink, Tollin/Robbins Productions, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television.
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