Broken Frontier

“Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!”

“No wait! It’s his dog!”

At this point, I’m certain you’re thinking “he’s going to talk about Krypto the Superdog.” The only question is whether you’re doing that with a smile on your face, or while rolling your eyes. I’ve noticed that there are usually two types of comic book fans - those who “love it” and those who “hate it.” We comic fans rarely take the middle ground. I reside firmly in the pro-Krypto camp, and as a fan of the character, I’ve encountered both people who love and hate the Dog of Steel. I’ll be the first to agree that a white, flying, super-strong dog might not be a protagonist that everyone can relate to. If you don’t like the character, I can respect that.  What I can’t understand are those people who call down the character and would prefer that the Dog of Steel never see the light of day again. To appreciate Krypto, you need to look back at his beginnings.

Krypto’s origin begins not on the planet Krypton, but rather with a comic book editor named Mort Weisinger. Thanks in part to the successes of “The Adventures of Superman” television program; the Superman property was enjoying a resurgence of popularity in the early 1950’s. Weisinger used this momentum to bring a new “kid-friendly” vision to the Superman titles – what he called the “Superman Family.” The introduction of the Dog of Steel (1955) was part of this movement, the success of which can be found in the flurry of super-powered animals that followed in Krypto’s wake – Beppo the Supermonkey (1959), Streaky the Supercat (1960) and Comet the Superhorse (1962). Typical super-pet adventures tended to be silly and straight forward but provided young readers with a simple, exciting entry gateway into the world of comic books.

By the mid 1980’s, comic books were in the need of something new. Books like Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Batman: Year One and the Dark Knight Returns all helped usher in a new era of “realistic” heroes, “mature” themes and “serious” storytelling. I have no doubt that this was a move that needed to happen, as the comic book industry was at a point where it needed to branch out and try different things. A whole new range of possibilities opened up to comic book readers, but unfortunately “moving forward” became synonymous with “leaving the past behind.” In the move to make comic books into a serious form of literature, anything that might possibly be regarded as campy was disregarded. This movement succeeded in keeping a generation of fans reading comics into their teens and adult years, but has had a harder time in attracting new readers. 

With the successes of the Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans, The Batman and the recent launch of Krypto the Superdog, I can see the opportunity for this “either/or” attitude to be abandoned. 

Looking at the younger market, both Titans and Batman vary wildly from their comic book sources, especially in visual style. These shows aren’t made to appeal to the same audiences that made Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and the Justice League cartoon successful. They are aimed squarely at kids (and if teens or adults happen to like them, all the better). Both programs have been spun off into print format, posting respectable numbers (February 2005 saw Teen Titans Go place at 13,980 copies sold, while Batman Strikes sold 11,102 – both ranking above other “kiddie” titles like Sonic the Hedgehog, Uncle Scrooge and Powerpuff Girls). 

Krypto the Superdog has been marketed in a similar vein, this time towards the 2-5 age range (and, considering that DC has announced the production of Krypto merchandise for 2005, a comic book seems quite possible). Just like how the DC Filmation, Superfriends and Super Powers cartoons drew children of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to comics, so too do Teen Titans, The Batman and Krypto the Superdog provide children of today with an early exposure to the exciting characters that live in the realms of comic books. If these characters resonate with kids, they might be moved to try Batman Strikes… and as they grow, perhaps Batman, Detective Comics or any of the other thousands of comic books on the market. I can’t think of any way in which gaining new readers to the hobby can be a bad thing.

And for us older kids? Jeph Loeb’s touching and sad “Bad Dog! A Tale of Krypto the Superdog” in Superman #170 (a story that explores what the consequences would be if an animal were to possess immeasurable power) proved to me that any character can shine in the hands of the correct writer. I highly recommend it to any of those comic fans that would disown Krypto from his place in the world of comic books.

After all, shouldn’t everybody have a dog to call their own?

- Fletch Adams