Top Of The Pile: Adventure Comics #3

In my limited exposure, over years of comic book reading, to Krypto The Superdog he's always been portrayed as just another superhero - who happens to look like a dog - or, worse, another superhero who happens to look like a dog pretending to be a dog.

Unsurprisingly, it's taken Geoff Johns in Adventure Comics to present us with a version of Krypto who actually behaves like a dog with superpowers. I'm no dog lover, but his scenes - ably assisted by the beautiful art of Francis Manapul - made Krypto not only a totally convincing character, but a wholly adorable one as well.

After the glorious pre-credit sequence of Connor (aka Superboy) bonding with Krypto (and Krypto 'fetching' various unconscious supervillains for his master), the action shifts to Paris where Connor - on his hunt for Lex Luthor - teams up with Red Robin (aka Tim Drake, former Teen Titan, former sidekick to Bruce Wayne's Batman).

In a few brief, tightly-scripted panels, for those of us who can't afford to buy the Red Robin title as well and are waiting for the trade paperback, Geoff Johns summarizes Tim's unshakeable belief that Bruce is still alive (somewhere) and his methodical quest for clues to his fate.

This leads to a powerful and emotional exchange, in one of Luthor's abandoned labs, between the two best friends as they catch up and swap secrets, not with bombastic outbursts and property-thrashing rampages, but through quiet moments of reflection; a stunning study of true friendship.

Then right at the end of the story we cut to Luthor and Brainiac for the set-up for the next story arc as Luthor decides it's time he claimed what is rightfully his... ie. Superboy!

After the dazzling writing of the main feature, it's a shame that the Legion of Super-Heroes second feature, despite some good character interaction between Polar Boy and Sun Boy, feels like so much filler.

While it's good to read any Legion Of Super-Heroes story in a DC Comic these days, it's a real shame - especially given how the series ended so suddenly - that the Legion doesn't get its own book back. It deserves it, but it's never going to win any new fans, even with Geoff Johns writing it, if it's stuck at the back of Adventure Comics without room to breathe.