"Hailing from the Big Met, Chloe was a relative newcomer to Smallville." (p. 284)
Of course she is! She did not exist in any previous version of the story. (Metafiction: a fictitious text acknowledging its fictitious status.)
In Superboy comics, the question, "Who is Superboy?", asked by Lana Lang, could have led to Clark Kent. In the Smallville TV series, the question, "Why do weird things go down in Smallville?", asked by Chloe, could lead to Clark Kent. Thus, we have recognisably the same story structure but in a vastly improved and updated format.
Many locals blame strange growths on contaminants from the Luthorcorp fertilizer plant so the main villain of the Superman series is already on-stage but, again, more plausibly.
Alan Grant, writing this novel set in Smallville, seamlessly fits his story into the established scenario. Thus, the police investigating whether a mutilated man was killed by an escaped tiger naturally ask:
" '...about private zoos. Like, does Lex Luthor have one out at that place of his?' " (p. 283)
Unfortunately, the horrific death results from meteoric radiation and thus is another possible clue to Clark's extraterrestrial origin.
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