772 – Flame-Dragon from Krypton

A panel from Superman #142, November 1960
A panel from Superman #142, November 1960

In Superman #142 (Nov 1960), Superman encounters a “flame-dragon from Krypton”. The beast appears and breathes fire at Clark, incinerating his clothes in front of Lois. It’s mostly a cutesy-but-tired-and-unrealistic story about how Superman manages to yet again disprove her “Clark-is-Superman” theory (with the help of Batman and Supergirl this time).

Superman wraps up the dragon in a ball of ice and flings him into orbit around Pluto so that he can return in later stories. As I mentioned before, I do have an affection for the “flame-dragon from Krypton”, since a later story with it appeared in a compilation paperback novel I had as a kid 🙂

Another panel from Superman #142, November 1960
Another panel from Superman #142, November 1960

Known surviving Kryptonians: 1,000,009 (including a dog, a monkey, and now a flame-dragon)