How 'Smallville' Paved The Way For The Golden Age Of Comic Book TV

In the current television landscape — where there are more comic-book and superhero-inspired shows available at our fingertips than there are days of the week — it can be easy to forget that geeks who love people in tights have not always been so spoiled for choice.

Although it was by no means perfect, The CW's Smallville — a Superman origin story that ran for an impressive 10 seasons between 2001 and 2011 — was one of the first small-screen series to portray a sense of reverence for the source material, and marked a massive step in the right direction for comic-book adaptations. It wasn't without its issues, but it did much to correct some of the more egregious missteps of its predecessors, and laid the groundwork for the present Golden Age of superhero TV.

"I think we really broke the mould and created a space for this genre to exist."

That's a fact not lost on series alumnus and upcoming Supanova guest Allison Mack, who remained a fixture of Smallville throughout its tenure in the role of Chloe Sullivan, aspiring investigative journalist and thorn-in-side to ambitious evildoers everywhere.

"I think we really broke the mould and created a space for this genre to exist," Mack says. "We were the first, so I think in a lot of ways we were the ones that opened the door and allowed for that to exist in the way that it does."

Despite the significance of the show, Mack says that she's largely "moved on" from the character of Chloe, having since gone on to other projects such as joining the cast of FX's Wilfred in 2012 as well as landing guest roles in US series The Following and American Odyssey.

"Not so much these days, no," Mack says when quizzed about whether Chloe remains an important part of her life five years on from Smallville. "More just when I do conventions and things like that am I reminded of that part of my life, but it's been a while now and I've pretty much moved on.

"I'm grateful to the show and to the time that I spent with Chloe but I don't think about her much unless I go back to more nostalgic times, which, really, is only triggered when I'm around fans."

Indeed, Mack's focus these days is primarily on developing The Source, a school that she founded for "artists and actors and people who want to get better at expressing in a more genuine way", she says. It's still early days — they've only been in operation for a year-and-a-bit, and don't have a website yet — but, hearing her effuse about the project, it seems as though Mack has already found another true calling.

So, despite the fact that current CW darling The Flash has recently widened its scope to include alternate universes — and the station has the rights to the Smallville world and characters — it's not certain that we'd see the intrepid Ms Sullivan rearing her head for any (at this stage purely hypothetical) crossovers, Mack says.

"It would really depend on the project and the timing and lots of different things," she says. "So… never say never, but don't commit to anything."