Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #2
Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 16, 2025
Cover date: September 2025
“Chapter Two: Fall”
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Mike Norton
Cover: Jae Lee
Variant Cover: Rafael De Latorre
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
At the end of issue #1, Krypto finds his way to Metropolis after initially finding only uncaring resistance people, Lex Luthor finds him. This second installment starts out with Krypto tearing apart Lex’s clothes. Lex is not taking it well. After disciplining Krypto in his own way, he leaves Krypto alone, locked in his small bedroom.
After waking up from his nap, Krypto destroys some furniture in the room. Lex returns to find one of the posts of his bed destroyed. In retaliation, he puts Krypto in a cage. Letting him know he has to learn respect if he wants freedom. It takes time, but Krypto does not learn respect as much as he learns docility.
Ironically enough, Lex believes Krypto is the only one who understands him. He has not even bothered giving him a name. Even this young Lex is self-absorbed and believes his welfare is above even the lives of his caretakers. So, he is constructing an incendiary device. His hope is to gain the life insurance money from the death of his caretakers. For him to become rich and rise above his humble condition, to him regardless of the cost, it is for the greater good.
Leaving to run errands, Lex, frustrated by his caretaker, slams his bedroom door, unknowingly knocking his bomb on the floor and activating it. He has also left Krypto locked in his cage. As the young Luthor is coming home, he sees the fire, and after realizing that it is his building, he rushes in and saves Krypto. After realizing that his caretakers are still inside, Krypto starts barking to alert the community for help.
While we do not know if Lex would have tried to save them if he could, the community believes he would, but Krypto believes differently. He uses this opportunity to run away and again be on his own.
Story – 3: This is an okay installment of “Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton”. Krypto is largely used to introduce us to Lex Luthor. He is also unfortunately used to show us Lex’s character too. Despite the warning at the beginning of the issue, it is still jarring to witness how Lex treats Krypto. The ends in this case do not justify the means.
This origin of Lex seems to take aspects, or ideas, from the Lionel Luthor origin in the “Smallville” series. As Lionel is believed to have killed his parents for insurance money.
I am reminded of the comment that the Els made in the first issue, “And no way to know where it is sending him! Or when!” We know Krypto found his way to Metropolis, but we do not know when. This issue gives us little insight into when. We see a skyline with no details in the background of a few panels. The only close-up buildings we see are sheet metal housing structures that look like they are from Great Depression era slums.
Art – 4: With most of the story happening in the small room of a shack, there is little room for Mike Norton to break out. There is an intro splash page and an outro splash page, but even those are uninspiring pages. The intro splash page sets the scene in a modest room. A cooped-up Krypto is taking his frustration out on Lex’s clothes. The rest of the issue’s art is good, but it is the artistic storytelling that shines. As it is the art’s job to show us what Krypto is experiencing and how he reacts to those experiences.Cover Art – 4: The main cover is again by Jae Lee, as he is the cover artist for this mini-series. The cover features Lex reaching out with one hand, offering Krypto a hotdog while hiding a bear trap behind his back with the other. We can see Lex is poor as he is wearing a worn sports jacket with oversized pants. Subtle but nice details are shown with the coloring of Lex’s shirt, his traditional green, and just a slight hint of a purple tie.
The variant cover by Rafael de Latorre shares Lee’s Fall theme with a flying or jumping Krypto. Latorre’s Krypto design is closer to the movie than the book, but that is a good thing for potential fans brought to comic shops inspired by the movie.
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