Setting the table for a number of appearances in Adventure Comics as Connor/Superboy takes that book over, Krypto's new Secret File revises his origin once more. Gone is the story about the Phantom Zone Krypto as Geoff Johns simplifies everything by bringing back the super-dog's Silver Age origins. He's once again the Kryptonian dog who tested Jor-El's first rocket, got lost and wound up on Earth later. Once again, young Clark Kent had boyhood adventures with his super-dog (if not to the original stories' extent - note that Krypto doesn't have any enemies... yet). Krypto is long-lived enough that he enjoys some vitality even though Kal-El has grown up. And I think that's all great. We're done with the apologetic comics that are ashamed of their super-dog. Krypto's back as he was always meant to be. With a secret identity of Pal, too. And he lives with Ma Kent, not on some depressing asteroid or in the aptly-named Fortress of SOLITUDE. Dogs are social animals!
And best of all, he's going to be drawn by Francis Manapul for the immediate future. So gorgeous!
Comments
just look at the new 52 bad (superman without their parents, the return and permanence of Barry Alen) and good (the origin of aquaman or expand the mythology of the lanterns (at least until the new 52 arrives)
The answer is no. Wally is clearly better than Barry. Jay is better than Barry. Bart is better than Barry. Hal Jordan is better than... no, wait, sorry, that's going too far.
But yeah, there's a balance. Being ashamed of silver-age stuff just because it's old is stupid. "What would you prefer, yellow spandex?" is so sneery. But lots of later additions to superhero mythos are great. I love Lex being a successful businessman. I like Aunt May as a less fragile person who actually has her own motives and ambitions beyond "worrying about Peter". I think the Winter Soldier is the best "retconned death" story we've ever had. And I think Barry dying and Wally learning to live up to (and surpassing) his legacy was good for both characters.
The lesson from all this being, any character can be written well or poorly.
I don't want to argue whether Barry or Wally is better, as that is primarily a matter of how well they're utilized. But I will point out that Barry's return should have been a watershed moment for Wally, because prior to that he really was just a Barry stand-in. Tell me who this sounds like: super-fast character in Central City, wears a red unitard with yellow boots and a lightning bolt belt, fights Captain Cold and Heat Wave and Abra Cadabra, dates a reporter in his private life. While Barry was gone, Wally had to do Barry's whole gig ... but when Barry returned, that freed Wally up to become his own man. Sadly, DC never pursued that. (Personally I would have had Wally relocate to the American Southwest, where the wide-open spaces would really lend themselves to speed.)