REVIEW: Krypto The Last Dog Of Krypton #1
Krypto The Last Dog of Krypton #1, “Krypton” sets out to definitively define Krypto’s origins for the All In era. The five part mini-series gives us Krypto’s point-of-view of his journey and this first issue brilliantly has us wanting more. We all may know how the tale ends, but getting there is going to be a fascinating ride.
The standard cover is by Jae Lee and June Chung. It’s an incredibly adorable image if Krypto keeping baby Kal-El from falling off the top of his rocket. Lee & Chung’s work is always top tier and it’s exciting they’re on standard cover duty for the mini-series.
Another top notch artist, Dustin Nguyen, gives us the credited variant for this issue. Emerging triumphantly from his crashed spaceship, Krypto stands poised for his incoming adventures. Blending newer film style visuals with more classical aspects of Krypto, Nguyen treats us to a version of Superdog that would appease just about anyone.
Dan Mora rounds out the amazing talent of cover artists with an uncredited ‘Superman’ movie variant. Mora unsurprisingly captures David Corenswet’s Superman and the Ozu inspired Krypto perfectly.
Writer Ryan North would be more appropriately referred to as Director of this issue as the art tells most of the story. Not to say there isn’t relevant dialogue, it’s just filtered through Krypto’s perspective. To emphasize this, Letterer Lucas Gattoni does a creative job of muting and highlighting the speech around Krypto. It’s a brilliant visual that adheres to the animal centic storytelling trope while still giving the reader written context. It also suggests Krypto understands spoken languages, but just pays attention when it suits him.
Mike Norton and Colorist Ian Herring expertly convey the story through their work as interior artists. They start with a typical day in Krypto’s life on Krypton which includes the most adorable scene in comics as he cuddles up to a sleeping baby Kal-El. It’s very obvious he is cared for, loved, and happy even as Jor-El and Lara struggle with how to save the people of their dying planet. This origin reclaims the version where Krypto was used as Jor-El’s first living trial subject of his spaceship design, but shows how conflicted Jor was in making that decision. A random cosmic anomaly tragically interferes with the test and before Jor and Lara can reverse the rocket’s course, Krypto is thrown through time and space arriving fairly safely on Earth. Lost, lonely, hungry, and afraid, Krypto manages to find himself on the streets of Metropolis where an interesting twist to his story is about to begin.
(10/10) I’ll admit I’m biased when it comes to Krypto stories but this book really is fantastic. The art is incredibly emotional and the lettering approach is brilliant. A superb first issue with a potential of only getting better as the series unfolds.
