Krypto suffers a bit from being based more on the tone of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons than the tone of the original Krypto comics. The only remotely sad part of the backstory is the bit that involves Superman in the pilot episode, and even that is rapidly resolved to the satisfaction of all involved. From there most of the cartoon episodes follow a tone of simple, lighthearted, abject comedy.

“Ace the Bathound wasn’t on BTAS, although a Great Dane named “Ace” popped up in Batman Beyond (terrific comic fan in-joke, I thought). I think Lynxara was referring to the Joker & Harley Quinn’s hyenas, who did show up on BTAS several times.”

Ok. Thanks for the clarification.

“And as far as I can tell (which is really limited to this article, Streaky the Supercat has always been male.”

Yup. My friend Rick on the classic comics board here at CBR verifies this. Still LOOKS like a girl cat to me. And I’m an expert.

OK, I volunteered at the animal shelter for two summers.

“I think much of the exposition stuff was omitted from the Krypto tie-in comic on the assumption that the kids reading it are already fans of the show, and thus know all the details already. Whether this is a good assumption to make or a good technique for a comic is debatable.”

Well, it wasn’t in MY case. But it might be overall.

And I was sounding a little like grumpy comics purist above, so lemme clarify:

I do think the premise for the Krypto show is strong; Stronger, in fact, than any comics Krypto.

A regular boy and his Superdog is a stronger idea than Superboy and Superdog. The general set-up with the in-the-know kid sister and the oblivious parents is well thought out, too.

The lack of emotional contrast does bother me; But that would be true of any piece of children’s fiction.

Alice in Wonderland works because it’s SCARY. Ditto Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, probably the best piece of children’s fiction I’ve read in the past few years.

Winnie the Pooh (Especially the original novels) works because it’s SAD at the end.*

Pokemon works because it mirrors the nihilstic lens through which turn of the century Russian Novelists view the Jewish disapora.

…Or maybe not. But the best, most engaging kids stories have some kind of emotional dissonance, both happy and sad.

And as far as I can tell (which is really limited to this article, Streaky the Supercat has always been male.

I think much of the exposition stuff was omitted from the Krypto tie-in comic on the assumption that the kids reading it are already fans of the show, and thus know all the details already. Whether this is a good assumption to make or a good technique for a comic is debatable.

Thanks. I didn’t know any of that. Makes some stuff clearer. An’ it’s been a few days since I read the book… I might’ve mis-remembered some details. Or a Universal Translator.

Heh. Pretty funny that Ace was on the Batman Animated Series. (Which I have seen a few episodes of.) He was the best part of the comic. Just a really funny visual, even if he didn’t DO anything funny.

I might’ve been wrong on Streaky’s gender in the comics, too. I know he/she/it was Supergirl’s pet, so I THOUGHT that would make her a girl. But maybe not. That’s gonna bug me. Does anyone know?

As for Hellblazer, the decision to drop the fill-in story in the middle was goddamn baffling, especially considering that the only reason “Empathy is the Enemy” and “The Red Right Hand” aren’t a single continuous storyline is because DC apparently wants to get two TPBs out of it instead of one. Still, it’s not as bad as Azzarello’s run, which was essentially a single 35 issue storyline that withheld the most important details establishing the basic premise until the last few issues.

Yea.. there are some days I miss the days of “My Ruby Quartz visor is the only thing that holds back my DEADLY optic blasts!” every third panel.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Kind of odd that the first issue gets criticized for too much exposition and STILL managed not to explain any of this stuff….

Yeah, not a good combo.

The Joker and Harley Quinn had a pair of pet hyenas referred to frequently as “The Babies” in Batman: The Animated Series. Paul Dini worked on the development of the Krypto TV show and so established them as regular villains for Ace the Bathound over there. Catwoman’s pet cat Isis from B:TAS also makes regular appearances as a villainess, who is naturally a sort of cat burglar.

Incidentally, Krypto himself is a direct reference to Superman: The Animated Series; in the pilot movie, young Kal-El is shown playing with a white puppy. The Krypto pilot episode picks up directly during the S:TAS pilot, and shows puppy Krypto being launched toward Earth in a test of the rocket that eventually carries Kal-El to Earth!

Krypto doesn’t speak human; Kevin has a “universal translator” he got from Krypto’s that lets him speak to animals, who can all naturally speak to each other via cartoon logic. There’s an episode of the cartoon specifically about what happens when Kevin loses the translator for a bit.

Kind of odd that the first issue gets criticized for too much exposition and STILL managed not to explain any of this stuff….

(I like Jack Staff, but I wish Grist were a tighter plotter.)

It is based on a (presumably) brightshiny kids cartoon but the happiness comes off happier if there’s some sadness as counterpoint.

Plus:

Krypto speaks HUMAN? How dumb is that. I got no problem with the K-dog being adopted by a regular kid, but they shouldn’t be talking to each other. It’s a boy and his superstrong dog that flies. Anything more than that damages my suspension of disbelief. (smiley)

We never saw Streaky introduced, but in the second story there she was. What’s up with that?

AND she’s a coward? Laaaaame. A friendly rivalry between equals woulda been way awesomer.

Also the Joker’s hyenas? DOES the Joker have hyenas? Is this a cartoon thing? Anyway, it felt sort of nerdy and lame.

Ace was cute, though.

And King Shark is a Green Lantern.

Damn you, Guice!!!

I don’t suppose someone could link that Busiek interview that mentions the water hand, could they? I wonder what else about the story I’ve missed because of the murky art….

I think, though, it gave the art a nice, softer touch.

Brian -

When you say something is “Not Recommended”, does this instantly mean that you didn’t like it, or does it mean that while there may have been some things that you liked about the book, overall you just wouldn’t feel comfortable telling someone else to read it because you know that its not very good? Or do you actually get some level of enjoyment out of reading a bad comic?

Just curious, because I’d like to think that you’re getting SOME enjoyment out of the 2/3rds of the 120 comics that you didn’t reccomend last month…

Oh, totally, Jer.

I laid my reviewing methods out in detail here – http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/04/25/cronin-theory-of-comics-comic-reviews/

But a quick summation of the method is this:

“Recommended,” to me, means that I am willing to say, “Yeah, I think there is a darn good chance that most people will (or, to be more egotistical, should) enjoy this book.” That’s all. Therefore, when I DON’T recommend a book, it does not mean that I think the book is bad. If I think the book is bad, I’ll make sure to say I think the book is bad. So, while most books will end up as “not recommended,” that does not mean that most comics are terrible, or anything like that. I just think we should make it a point just to make sure people know which comics are specifically GOOD.

Yeah, but I missed that one completely, and might have kept missing it if Busiek hadn’t pointed it out in a recent interview. The art is pretty damn murky.

Yep.

Yeah, but I missed that one completely, and might have kept missing it if Busiek hadn’t pointed it out in a recent interview. The art is pretty damn murky.