Krypto
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Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is Superman's pet dog in the various Superman comic books published by DC Comics. Krypto's first appearance was in a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #210 in March 1955.
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Original Krypto
As explained in his first appearance, Krypto was originally the toddler Kal-El's dog while they were on Krypton. Jor-El, testing prototypes for the rocket that would eventually send Kal-El to Earth, decided to use Krypto as a test subject. However, Krypto's rocket was knocked off-course; the rocket drifted through space for years until it eventually landed on Earth, where Krypto was reunited with the now-teenaged superhero, Superboy.
Like all denizens of Krypton under a yellow sun and lower gravity environment (vs. Krypton's red sun and heavy gravity), Krypto possessed the same powers and abilities as his master, although his physical abilities were proportionate to his smaller size and species, similar to an ordinary canine vs. a human. Krypto also had super-canine intelligence (approximately human level, though with his canine traits and interests still present); the comics expressed this via the use of thought balloons indicating what Krypto was thinking.
Krypto was drawn as a white dog of generic pedigree (his closest analog to an Earth dog breed might be a white Parson Russell Terrier), and when fighting crime, he usually wore a gold collar, a miniature facsimile of the famed Superman-"S" symbol for a dog tag, and a dog-sized version of Superman's cape.
When not accompanying Superboy/man, Krypto spent much of his time romping through space; while on Earth, however, he stayed with the Kent family, posing as their pet dog, "Skip."
The Modern Era Krypto
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Following the 1985-1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, Superman's history was extensively rewritten, eliminating many of the survivors of Krypton in the revised version of his origin, including Krypto.
Eventually, however, Krypto (in several forms) was reintroduced to the Superman mythos, the first being as a small white pet dog named by Bibbo Bibowski and later acquired by the modern Superboy, Kon-El; however, this version of Krypto was an ordinary Earth dog with no superpowers, and the dog and Kon-El didn't get along at all. The dog was eventually dropped from the series, remaining in Hawaii when Superboy returned to Project Cadmus.
The second and more familiar version of Krypto was introduced in the early 2000s Superman comics, as a dog from a false, idealized Krypton (that coincidentally resembled the pre-Crisis Krypton) that was created as a trap by one of Superman's enemies; Superman was able to defeat the trap, and when he returned to Earth, Krypto followed him.
This new version of Krypto has all the physical abilities of his pre-Crisis predecessor, but with a normal canine intellect, which initially caused a great deal of trouble for his new master when, for instance, he would scratch at a door to indicate he wanted to go out and unintentionally gouged big chunks out of the door with his super-strength, or when combating villains (since Krypto would fight them the way a regular canine would, only without being careful about his super-strength). Superman has gone to great lengths to train the dog, and he now accompanies the Man of Steel on missions. Batman never misses an opportunity to poke fun at Krypto when Batman and Superman don't see eye-to-eye.
In other media
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Smallville
In episode 4-14 of the 2000s television series Smallville, the show introduced an Irish Setter named Krypto, with similar powers as Clark Kent's. This Krypto had originated from an experiment with kryptonite.
Animated series
Krypto's first appearance outside the world of comics was as a companion of Superboy in the 1966 television cartoon The New Adventures of Superman.
In April 2005, Cartoon Network debuted an animated series starring Krypto, teaming him with fellow animal superheroes Streaky the Supercat and Ace the Bat-Hound. In this series, Krypto lives with a young boy in a Metropolis suburb, and fights crime against various foes, including the Joker's pet hyenas and a pet iguana of Superman foe Lex Luthor. This version of Krypto shares the origin of the first Krypto, having been launched by Jor-El from Krypton in a similar turn of events, but he did not arrive till after Superman was already grown. Otherwise, the show is an original interpetation created just for this series, and is not based on any of the previous comic book versions.
External links
- Supermanica: Krypto (http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Krypto) Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Krypto
- Starwinds Howl: The Epic Story of Krypto the Superdog by Elliot S! Maggin (http://theages.superman.ws/users/maggin/starwinds-howl/)
- Krypto's Doghouse of Solitude (http://theages.superman.ws/krypto/)
- TV Tome entry for the Krypto animated series (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-27664/)it:Krypto