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The Smallville Torch, often referred to simply as The Torch, was Smallville High School's student newspaper. As such, it was supposed to report on relevant school events: Sports, dances, clubs. However, under Chloe Sullivan, the Torch became what Principal Kwan viewed as Chloe's own tabloid: reporting on the supposed weird stuff happening around the town of Smallville, rather than on school events.[1]

Staff[]

While attending Smallville High, Chloe Sullivan was the editor of the Torch, from her freshman year to her senior year. Chloe considered the paper her pride and joy, and her editorial was a big part of her school identity. Especially during the freshman year, it was the only place where Chloe could regularly interact with her fellow reporter and unrequited love interest, Clark Kent.

In addition to Clark and Chloe, other reporters for the Torch included Pete Ross (sports columnist) and Lana Lang, who briefly served as the substitute editor when Principal Kwan suspended Chloe from duty for writing unverifiable meteor freak stories. Chloe's cousin Lois Lane also reluctantly started writing for the Torch during her short time at the school in 2004, in order to accumulate missing extracurricular points for admission into Metropolis University.

Ironically, former Torch staff have a long history of becoming psychotic and committing murder:

  • Greg Arkin - used to work as a science columnist and had a strong entomology interest. He killed his own mother and kidnapped Lana.
  • Justin Gaines - illustrated a serialized comic Flaming Crows Feet for the Torch. He eventually killed Principal Kwan and attempted to murder his former colleague (and romantic interest) Chloe.
  • Van McNulty - used to service the Torch computers. He shot and killed two people, Leonard Wallace and Jake Pollen, and attempted to kill Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.
  • Tim Westcott - occasionally submitted op-ed articles for the Torch. He attacked Lana Lang and Jason Teague, framed Alicia Baker and later murdered her.
  • Brendan Nash - one of the photographers for the paper. He built a replica of Smallville High in a warehouse and kidnapped six of his former classmates from the school yearbook's senior "Who's who" list, including Chloe and Lana. He turned them into wax statues and murdered one of them when they attempted to escape.
  • Gabriel Duncan - serviced the Torch computers. He murdered his own father (a USAF colonel), hijacked a missile silo (killing two silo workers), shot and killed a de-powered Clark (who was later revived), and launched a nuclear missile aimed at the town of Smallville.

History[]

The Torch was burned down by Coach Walt Arnold during Chloe's freshman year (Hothead). It was rebuilt, and Lex Luthor donated computers for a new lab at the Torch (Craving). The Torch was again wrecked a year later (Witness). Eventually Lionel Luthor seized the computers back to get Chloe Sullivan's hard drive, revealing that the computer had not been donated but leased (Delete).

The Torch seemingly closed down after Chloe and Clark graduated. When Clark returned to the school in 2010, he found the old Torch office abandoned, and seemingly turned into a storage area. However, when he met new Smallville High students Zoe and Clayton, Clark learned that one aspect of the Torch was still alive, in a new digital form: the Wall of Weird.

Wall of Weird[]

Main article: Wall of Weird
Chloe's Wall of Weird

Chloe's Wall of Weird

The Wall of Weird was a mural made of magazine and newspaper articles detailing the strange and bizarre things happening as the result of the 1989 meteor shower. It started out as a scrapbook that Chloe Sullivan kept but she eventually began to hang the articles up in the darkroom of the Torch office. She later took down the Wall of Weird permanently when she graduated. Even after it was dismantled, Clark and Chloe would sometimes speculate on whether or not strange events were "Wall of Weird material". [citation needed]

By 2010, students Zoe and Clayton had continued the Wall of Weird legacy by uploading it online.

Issues[]

Torch newspaper

The Torch

The Smallville Torch website was regularly updated during the time Clark and his friends attended Smallville High School. It currently remains defunct, but many back issues can sometimes be viewed on the UK-hosted site.

Season One[]

Season Two[]

Season Three[]

Season Four[]

  • May 19-Jun 2, 2004, Volume 53 Issue 22- Junior Year wrap-up. Bidding goodbye to Lana as she departs for Paris, 22 Things Chloe learned that year, Smallville's sister city in Spain.
Torch Old
Torch New

Notes[]

  • The name of the paper might be a reference to The Glenville Torch, a high school newspaper that Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster collaborated on or Torchy Blane, a 1930s movie character, who inspired the character of Lois Lane.
  • While the Torch was sometimes depicted as having additional staff (consisting of one-off guest stars, who had never been mentioned before), it was generally depicted as consisting of just a few of the main characters. In Devoted, Chloe states that she only has two reporters: Lois Lane (who left the school at the end of the episode, to attend Metropolis University) and Clark Kent (whose involvement with the Smallville Crows, his senior year, forced him to dial back his involvement with the Torch), leaving Chloe to do a lot of the work herself.[2]
  • It is never explained how Chloe ended up being the editor of the Torch, at the start of her freshman year (and remained the editor until her graduation, four years later). Though, the newspaper's near complete lack of students involved (as highlighted by the episode Devoted),[2] and Homecoming depicting the Torch as having died after Chloe's graduation,[3] makes it possible that no other students were interested.
  • The Torch and its contents appears to have been unpopular with students and the local population. In Rogue, Chloe is briefly forced out of her position as editor, due to complaints from parents about the newspaper's content.[1] Alicia Baker, a metahuman and former Smallville High student, accused Chloe of having engaged in poisoned pen writing with her articles about "meteor freaks".[4] It is unknown if other meteor infected/metahuman Smallville High students felt the same as Alicia. It is also unknown how said articles might have affected the mental health of the school's meteor infected/metahuman Smallville High students. A 2003 Torch article shows the views of the newspaper among the students ranged from feeling that it engaged in irresponsible journalism, and being tired of the constant meteor stories, to (especially in the wake of the deaths of Leonard Wallace and Jake Pollen, whose murders could be linked to the Torch) outright hating the school newspaper.
TorchMadStudents

2003 Smallville Torch article about the students feeling about the school newspaper.

See also[]

References[]

Chloe Sullivan in Smallville
Family Gabe SullivanMoira SullivanLois Lane
'Ships ClarkLoisLanaPeteLexLionelJimmyOliverDavisEmil
Work Smallville Torch (poll) • Daily PlanetIsis FoundationSuicide SquadJustice LeagueWatchtowerStar City Register
Chronicles Chloe ChroniclesVolume TwoVengeance Chronicles
Other Wall of WeirdSullivan's TravelsChloe's letterChlois theoryNear-death experiencesEpisodes


Clark Kent in Smallville
Family Kents: Martha , JonathanHouse of El: Jor-El (ai, clone), Lara, Kara, Zor-El, Conner Kent
Relationships ChloePeteOliverEmilJohn JonesLex (destiny) • LionelBrainiacJimmyTessDavisZod
Romantic interests Chloe SullivanLana LangKyla WillowbrookAlicia BakerLois Lane (destiny)
Work Smallville TorchJustice LeagueDaily Planet
Details Powers (loss, vulnerabilities, training) • secretattireglassesbloodfighting style
Homes Krypton (knowledge) • Kent Farm (house, cellar, barn, loft, truck) • FortressApartment (telescope)
Other KalKal-El (ship) • Superman (suit, crest) • aliasesdestinyvisionNo tights, no flightsNear-death experiencesEpisodes

External links[]

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