DC Finest Superboy: The Superdog from Krypton

by Otto Binder

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Superman

544 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2025

About the author

Otto Oscar Binder. Used these alternate names: Eando Binder (together with his brother Earl Binder -E and O Binder-), John Coleridge, Gordon A. Giles, Will Garth, Ian Francis Turek, Ione Frances Turek and Otto O. Binder.

Reviews

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been vaguely aware of Superboy but I don't think I've read any of his adventures before picking up this volume. My taste in Silver Age Superman family stuff always veered more towards Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and to an extent the core Superman books, thanks to growing up on an internet where stuff like the old Superdickery website was constantly showing the wackiest covers from those comics. So of course I wanted to find out what was actually in them.

But I don't remember a lot of Superboy covers featuring in that sort of stuff, and now that I've read some Superboy I can see why. Superboy feels nicer than a lot of the equivalent Superman stuff. Yes, there's still no lack of Silver Age wackiness. Superboy over the course of this volume meets not just Krypto (surprisingly only twice, given the Superdog is on the cover) but encounters other alien pets, boys who also have superpowers, magic curses, apes, etc.

And there are threats to Superboy's identity, generally from his friend Lana Lang. But even though she's in some ways as much of a headache as Lois is for the adult Superman, Lana never feels quite so bad. For one thing, in this teen incarnation, Lana is just a normal high school girl, so she isn't constantly throwing herself off buildings to get Superman to rescue her or doing any of the other nonsense Lois is. And while adult Lana is equally obsessed with marrying Superman as Lois, teen Lana doesn't even seem that interested in dating the Boy of Steel. Most of Lana's schemes just involve forcing Superboy and Clark to appear together, and since Superboy doesn't have an army of robot duplicates, it leads to some actually creative if often dippy solutions. The highlight is probably using superspeed plus a really, really bright flashbulb to project an afterimage of Clark and Superboy together.

So the stories certainly benefit from lacking a lot of the undertone of misogyny at worst, "girls are icky" at best of the Lois stuff of contemporary Superman comics. There's also no equivalent to Jimmy Olsen for Superboy to constantly torment and/or be fakeout killed by. (Though a young Jimmy himself shows up in a story towards the end of this volume.) And I was surprised to discover there's no Lex Luthor, either. I'm familiar with the story of Lex and Superboy being childhood pals, with a chemical accident that robbed Luthor of his hair causing him to turn against Superboy. But apparently that was a retcon not established till 1960. So Luthor at this point is off in Clark's future, and instead he's mostly battling a series of crooks. In fact while they're so samey it's possible I wasn't paying attention and missed a specific name being reused, I think the closest to a recurring foe teen Clark has is Lana's attempts to expose his double life.

So in the end these stories wound up being a little more pleasant to read than equivalent Superman stories from the same era. I mean, the Silver Age Superman stories are still fun to read, but they often provoke a "WTF" reaction from me, while these Superboy tales generally had me going "oh, that was a fun little adventure". I don't know if there'll be a follow up volume anytime soon, but this did make me curious to read more of Superboy's adventures from this era, so I may have to track them down in some form in the near future. I expect that as I read more DC Finest there will be volumes I enjoy significantly more, especially the stuff that's really quality and not just Silver Age fluff, but this was a nice way to ease into DC's new softcover collections.

[S.E. Martens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume reprints Superboy and his stories from Adventure Comics from the mid 1950s. These are silly, wholesome little tales with a focus on problem solving (albeit using Superboy's incredible powers) to snag criminals or handle natural disasters in absurd, amusing ways.

Krypto's first appearance has been reprinted in many other anthologies over the years, but the majority of the other stories haven't been reprinted (that I know of, maybe in a Showcase Presents edition?) so this was a lot of fun. I have a real soft spot for Superboy, in any incarnation.

These episodic adventures do start to feel very similar/formulaic after a while. There is no attempt at serialized storytelling or character development, which was just the way comics were written back then. I also wish the supporting cast got fleshed out a little further. Still, all in all these are fun, diverting little reads.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This Superboy volume—reprinting the Boy of Steel tales from Adventure Comics 199 through 216 and Superboy 33-43—are pretty much uncharted territory for reprints. It's cover feature—“The Superdog from Krypton,” introducing Krypto (a rather cartoony and dumb-looking mutt in his earliest appearances, even drawn by Curt Swan), is the hook to get people to buy this volume (what with Krypto being the real star of James Gunn’s Superman movie this summer). All the stories in this volume are from 1954 and 1955 and I’ve never seen most of them. It’s a fascinating read; Superboy is definitely a gateway drug for Superman, and these stories are written for a younger crowd, mainly by Otto Binder, Jerry Coleman, and Alvin Schwartz. As such, they kind of mimic the later Supergirl stories in that Superboy saves the day a lot by doing something at super-speed, thus averting catastrophe in the blink of an eye. All of the villains are petty crooks and schemers (like “Angles Anthony”), who have come up with some kind of plan to trick Superboy while they rob the Smallville bank. The art is pretty much split between John Sikela and Curt Swan—this character seems to be Swan’s entry into the Superman family, art-wise. Sikela has a simplistic style of art, kind of like halfway between Swan and Jesse Marsh, who drew Tarzan for decades when it was published by Dell and Gold Key. Sikela’s Superboy is about a head too short, figure-wise, giving him an almost charming, gnome-like look.The stories are enjoyable, but man … are they text-heavy! Not sure how kids waded through some of them, but maybe it made the comics-reading experience more enjoyable in the mid-1950s by taking FOREVER to read one book. While the industry was burning to the ground in this era, Superboy seems to be a stolid beacon of innocence for comic book buyers in those turbulent times.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, an inordinate amount of people in Smallville were building rocket-powered robots in their basements back in the 1950s. Also, getting your hands on round handheld bombs with slow-burning wicks was apparently really easy to do. And for a town called Smallville, there sure were a lot of very tall buildings for people to fall off of.

Listen, if you're looking for exceptional storytelling, you might want to look elsewhere. If you're looking for a time-capsule of a naive and innocent era, this will scratch that itch nicely. The science is ridiculous, the environmental disasters Superboy created when solving problems were crazy, Lana Lang is clearly an idiot with zero critical thinking skills, but, man, some of these stories were really fun despite the stupidity. Many of the authors are credited as Unknown which I at first thought was due to the poor record keeping of the times, but quickly realized it was more likely because the writers were likely too embarrassed to have their names attached to such drivel - Nobody had any idea how collectable these funny books were going to become, and all the better for me to enjoy because the anonymity became part of the fun while reading this collection.

Final thought: Some truly dumb stories, but with a lot of heart and a nostalgic innocence that can't help but make you smile. I was hoping for more Krypto based on the cover, but regardless, this was still a fun read.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am giving this 2 stars because a week after reading it I can't recall one story from it. but I will say - I did like the collection and it was a fun read as I was reading it. It's just (because of the comics code) we get no super villains, no interesting sci fi stories, we get a lot of stories of Clark trying to protect his secret identity from Lana Lang. Which is fun in an Archie/Richie Rich way but does not lead to memorable stories.

The art is good when Curt Swan is drawing but even this is not peak Curt Swan. The other artists are fine but not strong by today's standards.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this as a DC Finest (the line which this book is a part of) to get. There are many others you should get first. However, these stories have not been collected often and not in an affordable format like this (in colour) so it is a treat for silver age fans (like me) to get to read these stories and see the style of the times.

[Darik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I never used to care for the idea of Superman operating in Smallville as a child, with a full costume and a high profile, public-facing persona. Always seemed like it would just make it easier to figure out he was Clark Kent when he moved to Metropolis, right?

Took me nearly forty years, but I finally pulled the stick outta my ass.

These stories are genuinely a delight! Sure, they can get a little formulaic and repetative-- Superboy sure does love solving problems by building oversized tools outta scrap metal, or using his super-breath or heat vision from a distance to fool people he's trying to manipulate-- but there's a good deal of imagination on display, and it's all very charming and fun.

Just know going in that Krypto only actually appears in two issues, despite his name being in the title of the volume!

[Steven desJardins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel a little bad rating all these Silver Age (and pre-Silver) volumes two stars, but the stories really aren't that good. Worth picking up for nostalgia, but you get the sense that the authors felt they didn't have to try very hard because the audience was kids, which leads to a lot of sub-par plotting.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff, if you’re a fan of “the silver age” of DC comics. It’s an odd subtitle though, since Krypto the super dog is not in it very much. It’s really mostly stories about Superboy. - Superman when he was a boy!
I grew up on these comic books and I love them!

[Matt Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really dumb but fun stories in this. The characters acted insane, especially Lana Lang, and the amount of villains who rocket into Smallville is mind boggling. At least Krypto is introduced in this. Covers 1954-1955.

[Constantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great collection of comics