From: Superboy #126 (January 1966)
Nature or nurture? Is Krypto heroic because he had terrific examples in Jor-El and Superboy, or is it in his blood? Let's use Superboy's mind-prober helmet to retrieve memories of his puppyhood when Jor-El was keen on recounting tall tales of Krypto's ancestors, starting with Krypto's father, Zypto.
Zypto got a chance at herodom during the lightning-induced plague (only on Krypton, folks) that gave dogs a deadly virus that might have eventually jumped to humans. Zaro City officials decided to have all the dogs exterminated!
But this is a Krypto precursor we're talking about, so he has to be launched to safety in a rocket ship! Or "jet cart".
So Zypto made it all the way to the open window of the very scientist who was on the cusp of creating a serum that gave you wings (because Krypton). As you know, dogs will eat anything, so it was an easy matter to get Z-dawg to drink up. Voilà, wings. The wings do get him out of trouble with the roaming dog extermination squads when his owner points out dogs don't have wings, and Zypto reintegrates the family, avoiding any radioactive substance so he doesn't lose his wings. You'd think that would be easy, but this is Krypton...
And maybe that's why Krypto wasn't born with feathers. It's also quite possible Jor-El is full of it. I mean, what happened to the plague? Did they eventually cure it? Zypto just never contracted it? We need details not bedtime stories!
And yet, that's exactly what we'll get all week. Come back every couple days for another Krypto precursor as we climb down his family tree!
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