Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #5
Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 15, 2025
Cover date: December 2025
“Chapter Five: Summer”
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Mike Norton
Cover: Jae Lee
Variant Covers: Karl Kerschl and Dan Mora
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
The story starts with Krypto walking through a cornfield. He picks up something with his super-hearing. He goes to investigate after he hears what sounds like someone being threatened.
The Dog of Krypton crashes through the house to find a woman with a handgun threatening a family for not wanting to sell their farm to her employer. Recognizing that a dog just crashed through the wall, the lady’s first instinct is to turn the gun on it and shoot. The bullet hits its mark but bounces harmlessly off Krypto’s face.
Instinctively retaliating in anger, Krypto backs down because he remembers the sadness of death. The lady, however, mistakes Krypto’s compassionate mercy as weakness and counters with a punch. Only to break her hand on Krypto’s face. Followed by the father of the family being held hostage, knocking her out with a frying pan from behind.
After witnessing the powers displayed by Krypto, the family believes him to be Superboy’s dog. Krypto smells Kal-El and leaves to find him. He lands hard in the field near the Kent farm, almost killing Jon Kent and destroying a combine.
Jon takes him back to the house, where Krypto finds Clark. Seeing that the powers of the dog are like Clark’s, the Kents are reminded of the metal collar they found in the spaceship along with Clark. For the Kents, this is proof enough that Krypto belongs to Clark.
Story – 4: A good story, but with the predictable ending of Krypto finding Clark. As unbelievable as it sounds, the main action piece of the story centers on a lady working for a land speculator threatening a family with a handgun because they refuse to sell their property. After Krypto saves the family intensity goes from 10 to 3, as immediately the kids start playing with the Krypto. It is moments like this that make this series hit or miss. If you can overlook these moments this is an enjoyable series.Art – 4: Great art throughout the issue. The standout page is the last, a splash page of Clark and Krypto reunited as they take flight over the Kent house. Watching from the front porch of their house, the Kents are saying, “…I think our Krypto finally found his way home”. Mike Norton has been excellent throughout this series, and without a doubt the best part of this book.Cover Art – 4: The final issue of Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton features the last cover by Jae Lee. The focal point of the image is a northern star in the top third of the image. Superman and Krypto, with their backs to the viewer, are sitting on a cloud looking up towards the star. At the bottom of the image is the Kent farm and fields of crops centered by a windmill, as everything else is bending towards the center, drawing our eye up to the northern star.
The David Talaski variant has a really nice painted feel. Krypto anchors the image, as he is perched on a rock. Superboy is in the top corner of the page, flying across the top third of the image.
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