So the girl at the register asks, “Find everything you need this week?”
I said, “Yeah, I guess so, thanks… Actually, I did have one question, if you happen to know the answer offhand. I noticed last month that the next issue of Superman was supposed to focus on Krypto the Superdog. And this month’s issue doesn’t seem to feature Krypto at all. What’s going on there?”
She said, “Oh, well… sometimes they rearrange the order in which the issues are released. I’m sure they’ll get to the story about Krypto in the next month or so.”
“Ah, okay. Thanks for the information… I was just wondering.”
“No problem,” she said. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first person this week who was interested in finding out what’s happened to Krypto.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that I was ‘interested,’ so much as ‘curious’…” I replied hastily. “I just remembered that there was supposed to be a Krypto issue this month. I’m not saying that I’m hugely disappointed, or anything.”
“Oh, of course not,” she said placatingly. “I know what you mean. Honestly, it’s fine… lots of people like Krypto. I’m a big fan of Krypto myself, actually.”
Look: Just because I happen to ask a question about Krypto, that doesn’t mean I’m a ‘huge Krypto fan,’ okay? It was merely an idle query in passing, with no deeper significance to it. I happen to appreciate the mythology of the character on a conceptual level, is all. I don’t go around buying stuff just because it has Krypto on it. I’m not some freak with an unhealthy Krypto fixation. I have other things in my life besides Krypto.