One of the big changes when John Byrne rebooted Superman in 1986 was the removal of all the other Kryptonian survivors. including poor little Krypto, his super-pet. Though it was never expressly articulated, the idea of a super-animal (especially one in a cape) was one that editorial seemed to think was too silly for the oh-so-serious ’80s, but if you ask me, Krypto is delightful. As unlikely as it might be that Kal-El and his puppy would end up on the same world with super-powers, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief a little bit higher to give Superman a little joy, leading to today’s canine query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would have made the question “Krypto: Great Idea or THE GREATEST Idea,” but thought better of it, asking: Is a super-powered pet like Krypto too silly or unbelievable to enjoy?
5 Comments
After reading “What happened to the Man of Tomorrow”, I have to take Krypto seriously.
In the realm of superheroes, the concept of a super-powered pet isn’t inherently too silly or unbelievable to enjoy, but some craftings of stories around that concept might be. But the story could be crafted to be too serious or verite to be enjoyable, as well. So it all comes down to what kind of tone you’re trying to achieve in the work that said pet appears. The tone of Byrne’s Superman had no place for a superpet, and was likely a stronger story for that choice of consistency.
Nostalgia writers like a Geoff Johns might have different stories to tell, but the years immediately post-Crisis were more about getting past the chains of nostalgia that were dragging the narrative down and providing a barrier for entry to new readers. Byrne had a vision for how to do that, and the sales of Superman books that started with his revamp and continued well through the 90s under other creators, I think, bore out the strength of that approach.
And now we get to have Krypto back anyway, because someone found new stories to tell, and the property continues on through more re-envisionings that bring hopefully equally successful and enjoyable reads.
Well put.
I don’t want to meet the person who thinks the idea of a superpowered pet is “too silly.”
It’s no more silly than idea of of a superpowered human.