By the time I started reading
Superman comics in 1958 or 1959, Krypto was already a well-established and
well-behaved member of Superman’s expanding “family.”
But he didn’t begin that way.
Introduced in Adventure
Comics 210 (March 1955), Krypto was revealed to be baby Kal-El’s pet puppy,
sent into space in a test ship by Jor-El shortly before the planet Krypton’s
explosion.
I don’t think anyone here has ever
considered naming a puppy “Eartho” or “Terra,” but I won’t quibble about
Kryptonian customs in this area.
Superboy is joyful when his pet arrives
on Earth, but quickly understands the headaches involved when Krypto playfully
rips the wing off a passenger airliner. Finding his dog has fled into space at
the end of that first story, Superboy pretends to be glad.
But isn’t.
Krypto would, of course, return
soon and for good, playing a role in many Superboy and Superman adventures. In
fact, the Dog of Steel would become a member of two distinguished organizations of super-animals — the 30th century
Legion of Super-Pets and the Space Canine Patrol Agents.
Krypto would also be the ancestor of
a surprisingly large number of superhero dogs that would include Ace the
Bathound, Underdog, Dynomutt, Hong Kong Phooey, Marvel’s Lockjaw and (arguably)
Disney’s Super-Goof. Radar, Alan Moore’s version of Krypto, could talk thanks
to a super-translator installed by Supreme in his dog collar, and is a
particular favorite.
Krypto was created by artist Curt
Swan and writer Otto Binder, and that seems appropriate. Swan was one of the
most iconic artists ever associated with Superman, and Binder, a long-time
writer for Captain Marvel, used Krypto to bring a little of that famous Fawcett
feature’s heartwarming whimsy to Superman’s “serious” universe. The Big Red
Cheese had vanished with Marvel Family
89 (Jan. 1954), just a year before the Dog of Steel arrived on Earth.
Look, I know Krypto’s presence
makes Superman even sillier than he already is, but I really don’t care. Given
the volumes of anecdotal evidence that attest to canine loyalty and bravery,
the idea of a superhero dog has a kind of deep psychological resonance for us.
And Krypto brings a quality of
heart to the Superman feature than underlines and counterpoints the recurring
theme of the superhero’s loneliness — something Moore understood implicitly.
I defy anyone to read Krypto’s
part in Moore’s 1986 story Whatever
Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? without finding that the room has suddenly
become unaccountably dusty.
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