From: Superboy (v1) #92 (October 1961)
Let's celebrate our 150th Krypto post with a story I somehow missed when I was covering the Silver Age! "Krypto's Arch-Enemy!" starts as many of these things do, with Superboy gallivanting in space and saving alien civilizations and telling his dog to go and patrol a lesser world called Earth while he takes care of real business. Meanwhile, Young Lex Luthor is meddling with the forces of nature and in trying to give himself Kryptonian powers, accidentally shoots his dog Wolf with the one-time-only power ray.
Don't worry about Wolf, he's now invulnerable! Time to break out the Bone Signal and train us an evil super-dog!
This is just like White God, isn't it? Wolf is redubbed Destructo, but before he can earn his cape (aww, look at the happy pupper!), he's gotta wear that ugly read one and frame Krypto. And so begins a crime spree on Lex's behalf, and all sorts of shenanigans worthy of Krypto's flair for the convoluted. For example:
Don't laugh, magnet robbery was a big deal in 1962. Anyway, the cops don't want to do it, but they break out the kryptonite to deal with this menacing mutt... and just in time for Krypto's arrival too.
I call shenanigans. That is a HUMONGOUS piece of Green K, and yet Krypto escapes by saying (thinking) it's too small to have much of an effect. It's weak alright! But it allows Krypto to sniff at some clues and follow Wolf's stink back to Lex's cabin laboratory. Then, it's just a matter of stealing change from Pa Kent's store to lead the coppers there and clear his name.
Battle is joined! And apparently lasts for hours. It's a real chess game of move and counter-move as Destructo tries to free Lex from jail and Krypto deals with his every distraction.
Destructo eventually succeeds and brings his master to the "emergency lab" where, lickety-split, Lex tweaks his power machine to transfer Krypto's powers to Wolf. Only Silver Age convenience saves Krypto (just don't ask how he "borrowed" the Green K from Chief Parker's office in the middle of the night without his powers).
Stands to reason that with TWICE the power, Destructo would be TWICE as vulnerable to Kryptonite. Right?! RIGHT?! You're asking too many questions, friends. To give Wolf a fighting chance (aww, Lex has a heart after all), he gives Krypto his powers back (never a thought to pointing that second trumpet at himself?), but just then, Superboy returns, not much affected by the Greek K either, and steals Destructo's powers.
Sadly, Wolf was never seen or heard from again. That's what happens to pets when their owners go to jail. One should hope he was adopted by a nice Smallville family.
Comments
REMEMBER BIRON
He even has its own entry in the source book