07 August 2012

Onscreen History of Krypto the Superdog


Although Jimmy Olsen is Superman's Pal, Superman's best friend must be Krypto the Superdog who first appeared in 1955's Adventure Comics #210.


In 1958, a pilot was made for a live action Adventures of Superpup series with Bark Bent, Pamela Poodle, Professor Sheepdip and other canine characters - though none was Krypto. Perhaps in this world, Krypto would have been a human though we shall never know as the series did not get past the pilot.



The adorable super powered pet Krypto first appeared in episodes of The Adventures of Superboy animated series in 1966 and was one of the series best elements.
 

It would be over 25 years before fan would get their next glimpse of the Last Pup of Krypton who made a cameo appearance as a toy in the 1994 episode of Batman: The Animated Series episode Deep Freeze.


Krypto made another cameo in Superman: The Animated series in the very first episode The Last Son of Krypton. The wee pup could be spotted playing ball with a wee Kal-El before the destruction of [SPOILER ALERT] Krypton.



And in yet another cameo appearance, Krypto  appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode For the Man Who Has Everything. In Superman's fantasy, Krypto was the best friend of Kal's son Van-El.



After a string of cameos, Krypto landed his own series in 2005. Krypto the Superdog and his crew of Super Pets including Streaky and Ace ran for 39 episodes this time giving the cameo to Superman.


In one of the series lesser episodes aptly (or not so aptly as the case may be) named Krypto, Clark Kent adopted a temporarily powered dog. The dog was just a "lab" experiment and not of alien origin. Although he toyed with the name Krypto owing to the dog's cryptic powers, he settled on the name of Shelby... and he forgot to walk or feed that dog for episodes at a time.



Krypto was once again due for a cameo in the Legion of Superheroes animated series. Message in a Bottle dealt with the inhabitants of the Bottle City of Kandor including an eventually empowered Superdog with a striking resemblance to Krypto.



Not a fan of Kara Zor-El, Krypto made his next quick appearance in the Superman Batman: Apocalypse animated movie barking at the new girl in the Fortress.


Most recently the extraterrestrial pooch made a pair of appearances in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Its good too see that despite the dozens of underused characters appearing on the show, Krypto was not overlooked. And hopefully everyone's favorite flying canine will be back soon, maybe along side Comet the Super Horse.In the mean time, enjoy this animated parody (Super)man's Best Friend.

2 comments:

  1. Heh... even Krypto get his own "onscreen history"... When we will see Alfred Pennyworth in an article like that?!

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  2. Alfred is on my to do list, but it may still be some time.

    ReplyDelete