From: Action Comics #440-441 (October-November 1974)
It's late 1974 and Krypto hasn't appeared since 1970. Where has he been? That's a question writer Elliot S! Maggin wanted to answer, and it's kind of clever to do so in a Green Arrow/Black Canary story... seeing as they were then appearing in back-ups in Action Comics! According to the letters' pages, readers at the time weren't fooled. The lost dog, though it doesn't seem to remember its powers, is too clever by far and is interested in what it sees as a "flying man". In lieu of Superman, the errant Krypto helps Oliver Queen against some tech smugglers.
Later, it shows up at Canary's flower shop, its paws dirty and bearing a piece of advanced tech, which causes hallucinations.
And it's this white mutt that saves the day by turning the device off before Canary kills Ollie. For that, he's awarded a name: Demien.
In the next issue, "Demien" shows some improbable strength when left behind by the heroes, and for the reader at least, the deal is sealed.
It's a good thing he has a thirst for helping costumed heroes too, because Ollie and Dinah end up on the wrong end of an aging ray, which only a super-dog can disable.
As the evil Professor Steelgraves enacts the end of a Scooby-Doo episode, it dawns on Star City's heroic twosome: Super... dog?!
But Krypto has flown the coop, and though they give Clark Kent a call, we won't find out how the canine crusader lost his memory until next time. For the readers of the Bronze Age, that would be another 6 months. For you, today's Krypto fan, just a week. See you then.
Comments
Being a bronze age baby the art style, ink/paper-textures and 64-colour palette brings an unexpected sense of comfort! Wow.
I was a fan of silver age but it was bronze which brought me from the cradle...
It's also interesting looking at the colour choices.
In recent months I've been trying to work as if to the print limitations of this period. The 64 colour palette doesn't leave much room to move, yet each colourist still makes unique choices. It's bizarre to look at this artwork and to know every single colour and what percentage of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow it contains. An odd feeling of familiarity with a comic I never read.
That never happened when I worked in watercolour.....