Nearly half a century before Smallville star Tom Welling was even born, there was Superboy. In 1944, Superboy first appeared in More Fun Comics #101 as a younger version of Superman (rather than a Teen Titan-style sidekick in the mold of Robin, Speedy or later Kid Flash).

His junior years so fascinated readers that the character began to appear on More Fun Comics covers. Before long, though, he moved over to Adventure Comics before branching out to star in his own comic title in 1949.

There, the character base for Superboy began to expand beyond Ma and Pa Kent. In Superboy's eighth issue, a Superbaby was introduced, and in its tenth an enchanting love interest appeared in the person of Lana Lang. In fact, some of Superman's most famed and fearsome nemeses got their starts in the Superboy comic, including Mr. Mxyzptlk, the Phantom Zone villains, and of course, a young Lex Luthor.

Superboy has since appeared in many incarnations and media-- a 1961 animated TV series, The Adventures of Superboy, a 1966 Andy Warhol film, Superboy and a 1980s live action TV series, Superboy (developed by Superman film producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind).

Aside from his original 1949 comic title, Superboy appeared in Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes and New Adventures of Superboy.

After some time out of the spotlight, the character of Superboy (well, a character of Superboy) has returned to the DC universe in the recently revived Adventure Comics.

Since I can't stand the new character of Superboy Prime I won't even give him tiome on this page. I can not believe DC would have a Superboy turn so evil that he knocked peoples heads off, ripped arms off and put his fist through a person's heart among multiple other atrocities. What a shame.