From: Superman #144 and Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961)
Remember the time Superman destroyed the Earth by accident and they never let him live it down? No? Then there must be some kind of Silver Age shenanigans at work. It's a lazy day in the Fortress of Solitude, with Superman, Supergirl and Krypto just chillin', when a plane decides it's going to land on the ice outside. Well, that must be prevented on the off chance someone discovers the location of the Fortress! That impregnable mountain HQ with the giant key only a Kryptonian can lift, yeah? Quick, give me all your capes!
The pilot sees the makeshift flags and flies off, fearing thin ice. So what now? How about opening up a lead-encased alien machine you found in a spaceship graveyard?
Oh well crap. There goes Earth, and the Kryptonians survive it's the Capitol building falling down around their ears. Note that only Krypto is actually choked up about us, the others are too busy going "me me me. (At least Superman later spares a tear-drenched thought about his friends at the Daily Planet.) Things get even more terrible when it turns out Earth's fragments have been turned into glowing green Earthite, which has the same effect Kryptonite does (So can we just call it Destroyedplanetite?) and the heroes fly off, thinking way too much about red kryptonite and how it can't possibly be that because the Fortress is immune to radiation etc. etc. so you know red K will turn out to be the culprit, until they're arrested by the Cosmic Police.
Superman is tried and convicted of criminal negligence leading to the destruction of a planet (to lose one may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness). When Supergirl and Krypto dare speak up, they are sentenced to share his fate. Which is? To lose their powers permanently and go into exile on a planet filled with monsters. Doesn't take long before they get into trouble and - jeers! - it's Krypto's clumsy-ass fault!
The shock of seeing his cousin and dog die wakes Superman out of the shared dream he was having. Then he gets a call from the Kandorians, those tiny peeping toms, who explain that they were INDEED affected by red kryptonite, a dust cloud of which came down from space and covered their red capes while they were playing at being flags. Ah yes, of course, happens all the time. Lesson learned.
How many distant lifeless worlds must perish for your hobbies, Superman? HOW MANY?!
Meanwhile, in Superman's boyhood... Superboy is turned intangible and invisible by the Phantom Zone projector and Krypto flies right through him.
Makes him cry. If a boy can't play with his dog, the Earth might as WELL blow up, you know what I mean?
Comments
I've had it sitting open now for a FORTNIGHT and revisited each day.
Are these scans from digital archives or from your own physical collection?
I'd love 'em in higher res...
Casper and Richie Rich were for a slightly younger age group, but 50's USA mainstream humour had a certain sweetness about it in both camps.