In line with the continuing year of Supergirl that 2026 has become, we were introduced to a brand new Supergirl graphic novel aimed at a young audience called Supergirl’s Zoo-Per Heroes. The sort of cliffhanger at end as well as the subtitle “Krypto’s Big Break” makes it seem like this is a new series of graphic novels focusing on Supergirl and a variation of the Super-Pets. The story and art are by Rob Justus and the lettering is provided by Wes Abbott. Krypto’s Big Break came out just a couple weeks ago, as of this writing, on February 3rd. The book seems to be cashing in on the movie hype, with Supergirl and Krypto on the cover, while clearly targeting a much younger audience.
The Super-Pets are a concept that go back as far as the 60s and would be a semi regular feature in Superman and related titles throughout the Silver Age of comics often with Krypto leading the charge. More recently, in 2022, a film called DC League of Super-Pets also featured Krypto working alongside a group of animals that suddenly got super powers, which leads us nicely into the subject of today’s blog post. This will be a full synopsis so if you want the spoiler free section of my thoughts, skip down to the bottom 3 sections of this post, or pick up and read the story before you read this!
Chapter 1 opens with Krypto and Supergirl on the Justice League watchtower and we get a great idea bout who these characters are. Krypto is rowdy and unruly and often gets up to no good, and Supergirl loves him regardless and always expects the best of him. After at least 4 incidents, the League has put in a strict No-Krypto rule and a Krypto specific alarm for whenever he acts up which of course he does after smelling the dirty laundry of the Justice League. Supergirl tracks down the super pup and in trying to wrangle him the airlock is released shooting all the League’s dirty laundry out into space.
After telling Krypto to stay put, Supergirl rushes off into chapter 2 following the super-laundry as it falls to Earth. Against all odds, plot causes the costumes to pass through cosmic rays, solar winds, atmospheric radiation, lightning, an Eclipso’s magic which infuses the costumes with the DNA and super-powers of their respective super heroes. Supergirl is well on the trail when suddenly Krypto enters the scene. Krypto has it in his mind that if he successfully rounds up all the costumes before they fall into the wrong hands Supergirl will stop being mad at him and take him to the cosmic dog park so he wraps up Supergirl in her cape and rushes to catch up to the costumes.
The Metropolis Zoo is the main set for chapter 3 and it’s where we meet the rest of the cast of this book. Zookeeper Cass begrudgingly watches over the 4 nameless animals in the zoo; Lion, Rhino, Seal, and Sloth. The zookeeper steps in some poo and angrily walks off for the night as a storm rolls in. This storm brings lightning as well as DNA infused costumes. The costumes land on and clothe the 4 zoo animals turning them from mild mannered zoo animals into the powerful, justice driven Super-Lion, Bat-Rhino, Wonder Seal, and the Fastest Sloth Alive. With their newfound powers, the animals break out of the zoo and out into the streets of Metropolis.
Breaking out of the zoo and into chapter 4, we get to the real meat of the story as Krypto meets up with the new Zoo-Per heroes and Supergirl meets up with Zookeeper Cass. All the animals have a bit of a tussle before they eventually bond over their love of eating garbage. Supergirl shows up with Zookeeper Cass and try to get the zoo animals back to the zoo. Supergirl is just trying to make everything right but the Zookeeper has more nefarious plans of exploiting the animals to make more profit.
Zatanna’s costume, along with her powers, fall into chapter 5 onto the Zookeeper giving her magical powers which she immediately puts to use trapping not only her zoo animals but also Supergirl and Krypto too! While Supergirl is initially pleased to be labeled as a “Goddess from Krypton”, she wants no part in being part of the Zookeeper’s attractions. No matter what she tries however, be it laser eyes, ice breath, or bad breath, nothing is helping her break free of Cass’s magic clutches. Working together with Krypto, the pair are eventually able to figure out a plan and Krypto barfs up all the garbage onto the fiend which breaks her concentration and lets everyone free. Sloth helps out Bat-Rhino and the Batarang Blaster is deployed knocking off Zatanna’s hat and making Cass vulnerable now.
The Zookeeper is now behind bars and in chapter 6, and Supergirl is ready to round up the rest of the animals and get them back in their cages, but they begin to protest. Krypto and Supergirl have an almost conversation and come to the compromise that the rest of the Zoo-Per crew can stay together with their super suits at least until the rest of the Justice League costumes are back to safety. And thus the story ends with a promise of more Zoo-Per stories yet to come.
It was not my intention to talk about this story so soon after its release because I generally like to let things sit for a bit before I go too deep into my thoughts on the subject. That being said, it’s a really great story and I want more people to get their hands on this book, especially younger kids. I am a huge supporter of kids getting into comics and comics having options for kids to read and this story is a really solid one that would be great for young audiences. This holds up more than just for kids though, there’s some fun humor in it and it’s a fairly exciting story with great art and some solid action sequences. I’m also particularly fond of the running gag of Supergirl trying to talk in dog and Krypto understanding it as just absolute gibberish.
On the other hand, I do have a couple minor issues with this story. First is perhaps just my own personal gripe, Streaky isn’t in the story! Streaky seems to often get the short end of the straw when it comes to more recent Super Pets related stories and it bothers me! In a broader sense though, none of the characters seem to really be defined at all. All the animals seem pretty simple and don’t even have names which felt like a weird choice. The most defining trait of any of the animals is that they love eating garbage and don’t want to be caged up in the zoo. Rhino gets a bit of character to him as he begins to take on the properties of Batman, but it’s mostly just played for laughs. Even Supergirl herself is mostly just portrayed as a superhero and doesn’t have much nuance. It’s really just Zookeeper Cass that has a clearly defined character with clear goals and motivation. I’m also not super into this book setting itself up for a sequel, stuff like that always makes me nervous because it’s always up in the air whether or not the sequel will actually come out. Rob Justus does seem to be a fairly competent story teller and he’s already got 2 Superman Good Guy Gang books out so I reckon a sequel is on the horizon.
Most of my issues with the book are fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and I do think this story is worth checking out no matter what your age is. There are a handful of other Supergirl stories coming out in the coming months and Superman Day this year has been taken over by the maid of might so there’s plenty to look forward to for fans of Supergirl in 2026 and I hope you stick around and keep up with my coverage of Supergirl!
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