What, have you got a problem with disciplining?  

I'm much the same. As soon as Byrne left and they started pushing him back towards being the all-powerful, always in control character he'd been pre-Crisis, I started losing interest again.

It's probably been the same time frame for me.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty ignorant on the topic of Superman. The character just never really appealed to me. In fact, the only DC characters that I've followed on a consistent basis over the last 30-35 years are Batman, Flash and Swamp Thing.

But in my experience with Golden/Silver age Supes and the portrayal of the character following Byrne's run...he just seemed to always have everything figured out from the get-go and was essentially omnipotent. Just made for a really boring read most of the time IMO.

I don't understand why she needs the transparent rocket shell Supes built for her. I thought she had the same powers he has.

I don't recall ever seeing him take the poor little bugger for a walk, either. Superman-a dog is for life, not just for Krypton!

Not in the conventional sense, but he is Superman after all. People joke about the cape on a dog, but it serves the same function as a leash. A regular leash is both impractical and unnecessary, since both dog and owner have super speed. But I'm betting that Superman has MORE super speed, so he can just grab the cape when he needs to control the animal. Capes are indestructible, right? So the cape is a leash: a tool for grabbing an inferior by the neck. 

This solves the problem of how Kryptonians can function as a group on Earth, when each one has such enormous power. How do they keep each other in check from day to day?

Superman has more power than Krypto, and (being larger) he probably has more power than Supergirl. Indeed, the power dynamics we see, and the fact that the comics reflect American life in the 1930s-1950s, almost guarantees that Superman has more power than Supergirl. it appears that each Kryptonian wears a cape-leash that they are not allowed to remove (even under other clothing). Social superiors can control social inferiors by the threat of choking them.

EDIT: clearly this is the established way throughout the universe. Here is Vartox (an older, more experienced superman, who Superman described as a "force for good" in Superman 375) keeping Supergirl in line. I deplore this, by the way, but simply provide this as evidence that their society is even more violent than ours.

There's an old super-hero trope that when the hero reveals his/her secret identity, his confidant will soon wind up dead. it's a curse, the kiss of death. Does the hero bear responsibility for this outcome? Hard to say. However what Superman did early in 1963 has effected all of us directly and changed the course of history for better or worse



Please note that FDR, Truman and Eisenhower never knew Superman's secret