Krypto is Awesome!

 

cover art by Curt Swan

Krypto is by far my favorite Superpet. Beppo can be a little annoying. Comet is just plain weird. Streaky is... well, a cat. But Krypto is simply awesome.

And in "A Bad Day for Junkyard Blue (written by Bob Toomey and drawn by John Calnan)," we see several reasons why Krypto is awesome. First, it starts out with a reminder that being a dog--without any real responsibilities--is a lot of fun. Krypto is galavanting through the skys, flying rings around airplanes and joining a flight of birds for a few moments. He's not doing any harm. He's just having a good time.

Then the scene shifts to two guys who I think should have gotten their own comic book series. Burt and Harry are two incompetent and none-too-bright bank robbers who make a mess of their latest attempt to rob a bank. Toomey's script and Calnan's lively art combine to give us some sincerely funny slapstick involving these two. If Bud & Lou--or perhaps Stan & Ollie--had turned to villainy, this is how they might have turned out.

Anyway, as they make their getaway in a wreck of a car that soon breaks down, Krypto spots them and joins in the chase. He does so more because he just enjoys the chase than because he wants to see justice done, but we'll soon see that Krypto does feel moral responsibility. 

When the getaway car breaks down, Burt and Harry scale a fence and end up in a junkyard. Here, they are cornered by Blue, the junkyard dog. Krypto lands next to Blue, figuring he can help.

But his sudden appearance startles Blue, who panics and hides in a wrecked car, which is then lifted up by one of those junkyard giant magnets to be dropped into a crusher. Krypto quickly saves him while the cops are arresting Burt and Harry.

Blue, in an effort to regain his pride, snarls at Krypo. In a sweet moment, the Dog of Steel realizes what's happening and makes Blue happy by running off in apparent fear. I love it.

Darn it, why doesn't my dog have superpowers? This is about as active as he ever gets:

I really which, though, that Burt and Harry had returned for more goofy attempts to be successful criminals. Heck, a great running gag would have had them appearing in successive issues of Superman Family and Batman Family, running across a different regular character in each one and failing miserably at crime each time.

In two weeks, we'll return to Superman Family for another Jimmy Olsen story. Next week, we'll drop in on the Man from U.N.C.L.E.