From: "My Super-Pet, Krypto" Superboy #51 (September 1956)
For the first time, Krypto appears, but isn't featured on the cover. Maybe Superboy is jealous and afraid he might get replaced. But then why does he tell us this story, in his own words? The whole thing is suspect, frankly.
It starts with Krypto returning to Earth and proceeding to play with Superboy, as normal, until the Boy of Steel gets a piece of green Kryptonite falls on his cape in a cave. Powerless and prone, Superboy shoos his dog away while he tries to think of a way out. Uhm... unclasp the cape and crawl away? Krypto can't even go get people to help, because of all the molten lava. Lava?!
Somebody somewhere didn't read the script. But just accept that Superboy is trapped because this is about to be Krypto's big day. HE has to do all the life-saving. Like when a rocket gone wild falls on Smallville. Off Krypto goes, sometimes led by Superboy's super-ventriloquism, but usually having to think for himself. Yes, think!
"Great bones!" Krypto even has his own patois. And lovely, he's saving other animals. Other ASTRONAUT animals. So he pulls the rocket back down to the launching pad. Then Superboy sees a guy in the Arctic portion of Canada (in comics, the ONLY portion of Canada) trapped on an ice flow. The guy has a dog sled, but no dogs, so Superboy sends his pup to help, except the dude hasn't exactly been vetted.
The guy's on the run from the Mounties and tries to kill Krypto so he doesn't lead the RCMP to his location. Well, one engineered avalanche later, and the guy's trapped. And at no point do the leads think of the sled as a way to get Superboy out of the cave!In any case, there's no time because the next problem is a trapped submarine. Krypto can't read, and Superboy forgets he's seeing all this with X-Ray/telescopic vision, so they miss the warning banner on the side of the boat there.
So the sub is full of green kryptonite (ALL of Krypton must be on Earth), and Krypto gets all weak (whine!). He's lucky the submariners somehow get him inside and torpedo him out to save themselves! So now Krypto's dealt with three problems without Superboy's help, so he's ready to tackle the main problem: His master's total lack of resourcefulness. Krypto's solution? He creates a cave-in that pulverizes the kryptonite (but harmless to Superboy who really should be more vulnerable with the green K poisoning, no?), and then wags his tail to blow the dust away!
So how many things is Superboy outright LYING about, do you think?
Comments
I just want to point out that the sub was not setting a trap for Superboy. They were trying to get rid of the kryptonite. The writing on the side of the ship is warning him away and the crew of the sub explain that in the next panel.