A dog is a man’s best friend, so how can ‘Superman’ live without a pet! In DC Super-Pets! Character Encyclopaedia, we get to know that like normal human beings, these beings with superpowers also need a pet who can give them the support — emotional or physical — whenever required. From Superman to Batman, Wonder Woman to Green Lantern and even Lex Luthor to Bizarro, every good and bad comic book character needs a pet, and this book introduces us to most of them.

This character encyclopaedia wouldn’t have been possible without writer Steve Korte and illustrator Art Baltazar, who joined hands to bring forward the super-pets of every superhero and super-villain in the DC Universe. Every pet gets a full page (or half a page, depending on their importance) where its stats, such as birthplace, favourite food, and species, is mentioned alongside their pictures and superpowers.

Not just that, you also get to know their weaknesses, their secret bio and a fun fact, besides their owner’s picture, so if you are a super-villain, you would know when to strike, where to strike and how to strike.

But there is a drawback — the good guys can strike back as this book also covers every super-villain pet, its superpowers, its weaknesses, etc. Every superhero and a super-villain has multiple pets that are not just loyal to their owners, but also resemble them as well. So don’t be surprised if you find out that if Superman had Krypto at his side, his nemesis Bizarro had Bizarro Krypto, who had the exact opposite powers to our superhero’s pet.

How many of you out there knew that Batman’s super-pet is named Ace, Commissioner Gordon has Gumshoe, an aardvark as a pet, and Power Girl’s cat is named Stinky? As for the villainous pets, they look so much like their masters that you won’t need more than one guess to know who owns who!

Darkseid’s prime pet is a Parademon Omegan, while Harley Quinn has a laughing hyena to make her day. Don’t worry about the illustrations if they seem straight from Teen Titans, they have been drawn in that manner to suit younger readers like you!

Finally, there is the Secret histories of these super-pets make their origin all the more interesting! There is a Legion of Super-Pets like Justice League of America, in which not only dogs live in harmony with cats, but it has other members like a horse, a monkey beside other animals. The Pet Size Chart at the end of each section also helps the readers get accustomed to these super-pets and know all there is to know about them.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 8th, 2021