Girls, villains, and x-ray vision; in the hit show Smallville, the teenage Clark Kent experiences a sort of superpuberty in his journey to not only survive high school, but become a true American hero. (arts).

IN THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE WB SERIES SMALLVILLE, A teenage Clark Kent collapses at the feet of Lana Lang, the girl of his dreams. His books scatter onto the ground, among them a copy of The Portable Nietzsche. As Lana returns the book, she demonstrates that, like all well-rounded high school students, she is up on the philosopher Nietzsche and his idea of a "superman" weighing good and evil. "So which one are you," Lana asks, "man or superman?"

"I don't know," Clark sputters, still weak in the knees from her kryptonite necklace. "I haven't figured it out yet."

It's one twist in a series well stocked with surprises. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Smallville, a prequel to the Superman saga, is one of the few new shows this season to have attained breakout status. It's the second-highest-rated show on the teen-centric WB network, behind 7th Heaven, with 4 million households tuning in.

Smallville has succeeded because it has something few shows achieve: soul--that, and an intuitive feel for the zeitgeist, the current intellectual, moral, and cultural climate.

Set in a Kansas town that proudly advertises itself as "the creamed-corn capital of the world," Smallville peddles its own classic all-American corn. It's served with a pinch of Dawson's Creek angst, a hint of Buffy paranormality, and a fresh take on one of the most durable icons in pop culture history. The show is by no means perfect--thanks to some lame villains, occasional lack of humor, and cliched lines--but overall, critics and fans have round it a satisfying meal.

The show also benefits from what was left out: the red-and-blue costume. Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, a pair of screenwriters, had agreed to take a stab at a TV show based on Superman as a boy, but only if that meant the main character wouldn't be Superboy.

POWERING UP

Instead, Smallville operates with the motto "No flights, no tights." The concept that Superman's powers aren't fully operational from birth--that they come into existence gradually, as he moves into puberty--is the cornerstone of the series. It gives the story of the teenage Clark, played by 24-year-old Tom Welling, a powerful sense of discovery.

In an early scene, Clark is hit by a Porsche and is knocked off a bridge into a river. He walks away without a scratch and even rescues the driver: current friend (and future enemy) Lex Luthor. The shock and surprise Clark feels at his powers --and the sense of real panic--are genuinely disturbing.

"The idea that puberty changes everything for Clark was an important idea for us," Millar says. "In a way, the superpowers are just like puberty. They sort of show up one day, and at first they're rather scary, and he can't always control them. "

Superman will someday take the spotlight in the city of Metropolis, but in the town of Smallville, he doesn't exist yet. "Clark's journey is the classic hero's journey," Gough says. "In that sense, it is very much like the Harry Potter story. Both he and Clark are boys who grow into heroes."

If figuring out who you are is a source of anxiety for the average teen, it's a staggering problem for Clark. And figuring out who Clark is was almost as difficult for Gough and Millar. They had to get inside the head of a character who has seemed remote and inaccessible and perhaps a little too good to be true. "Superman has always been noble and has always done the right thing, but I never knew why," Millar says. "He did it because he was good. But, for me, there was a lack of complexity there."

EMBRACING THE INNOCENCE

The temptation was to follow the Batman-style trend in comic books toward a more cynical antihero. But instead of fighting Superman's innocence, Smallville embraces it.

"One of the things that I always emphasized in my notes to Miles and Al about the show, is that if Clark had landed one cornfield over, he might have become a totally different person," says Jenette Kahn, president of DC Comics and unofficial keeper of the Superman flame. "If is because he was found by Ma and Pa Kent--and because they are raising him in the way that they are, and giving him these true values in the American grain, and this sense of unconditional love--that he grows to be this exemplary figure."

Gough sees family as one of Smallville's four main ingredients, next to heart, mystery, and most important, hero.

"I really think it is a tribute to the enduring appeal of Superman," Gough says. "If you look over the decades, from the radio show in the '40s, to the TV show in the '50s, the movies in the '70s and '80s, to Lois and Clark and on through to the animated series, there is something about Superman that permeates the American psyche. Perhaps it is because he symbolizes the best of what we want to be. Whatever it is--and especially right now more than ever--he represents a sort of comfort food for the American soul."