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That’s right! Superman had a best friend; a four-legged sidekick; a trusty dog to help him fight crime!
Krypto was his name, and he first appeared in March of 1955 in Adventure Comics #210. In the original Silver Age comic, Krypto was the El family dog on Krypton. He was used by Jor-El as a test subject for his work on the escape rocket he was building for Kal-El. When the experimental rocket was launched with Krypto inside, however, it got knocked off-course and Krypto drifted in space for years until he eventually landed on Earth, reuniting with the (now teen-aged) super-hero, Superboy!
Since he was from Krypton, Krypto (obviously) had superpowers and super intelligence, which helped him fight crime alongside his human counterpart.
Krypto was drawn as a white dog of generic pedigree. When fighting crime, he usually wore a gold collar, a miniature Superman “S” symbol on his dog tag, and a red cape. And when he wasn’t helping Superman leap tall buildings in a single bound, he spent his time romping through outer space. When he was on Earth, he stayed with the Kent family, posing as their family dog, Skip, and wore a brown patch on his back as a disguise.
Krypto the Superdog didn’t make consistent appearances in the Superman comics or movies. In fact, we’re saddened to learn that Krypto won’t be highlighted in the new Warner Brothers Film that releases Friday, Man of Steel. Why not?
However, he did have his very own cartoon for a while! Do you remember this?
