ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #510, DC Comics, March 1994
Post-Crisis, the Superman mythos took on a more reasonable bent, but we lost a little something too. One Silver Age concept deemed too silly for John Byrne's new Superman was Bizarro World. We still had a Bizarro, but instead of having been created by Luthor's whacked copy machine, he was a failed, confused clone.
After one brief appearance in the Man of Steel mini-series, he was punched into a fine powder by the Son of Krypton, seemingly never to be seen again. But that's the funny thing about clones... They have a habit of making comebacks. Back in Adventures of Superman #510, 1994 triangle #11, the latest Superman copy unveiled his version of Bizarro World. But this isn't your father's Bizarro World, no, it's actually called Bizarro's World.
I'm sorry to be underwhelmed, but after decades of a planet punched into a cube shape by Superman's mighty Silver Age fists, suddenly having to settle for the interior of a warehouse takes some getting used to.
Not to mention's Bizarro's haircut.
Bizarro uses his new digs to recreate the dangers of Metropolis and then hopefully saving Lois Lane from them (the Jimmy Olsen dummy doesn't fare so well).
But the big question is: Is this Bizarro's World "opposite"? Well, let's see, Superman still saves Lois from dangers (but he causes them - opposite!). However, he still works at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent and hates Lex Luthor. Not so opposite. There are still some callbacks to the old square planet though:
A blocked exit. Oh, my sides! I do like Lois' typewriter though:
It uses audio tape (written word the opposite of audio)! I don't understand the castle though, and the makeshift Perry White represented by a bottle of Perrier, well... that's not opposite, it's just part of the surreal (read: lame and often incomprehensible) sight gags found throughout Bizarro's World. I mean, what does this mean? (Other than indicating this is the biggest warehouse you ever did see.)
Is that a rebus in the top right hand corner? Crib-Toe-Dog-Soup?
Look, even Lois knows this isn't an exercise in opposites, perhaps recalling some long lost pre-Crisis memory:
The comic's saving grace is that Lois beats Bizarro all by her lonesome, with Superman only showing up to clean the mess.
Now that is opposite!
Post-Crisis, the Superman mythos took on a more reasonable bent, but we lost a little something too. One Silver Age concept deemed too silly for John Byrne's new Superman was Bizarro World. We still had a Bizarro, but instead of having been created by Luthor's whacked copy machine, he was a failed, confused clone.After one brief appearance in the Man of Steel mini-series, he was punched into a fine powder by the Son of Krypton, seemingly never to be seen again. But that's the funny thing about clones... They have a habit of making comebacks. Back in Adventures of Superman #510, 1994 triangle #11, the latest Superman copy unveiled his version of Bizarro World. But this isn't your father's Bizarro World, no, it's actually called Bizarro's World.
I'm sorry to be underwhelmed, but after decades of a planet punched into a cube shape by Superman's mighty Silver Age fists, suddenly having to settle for the interior of a warehouse takes some getting used to.Not to mention's Bizarro's haircut.
Bizarro uses his new digs to recreate the dangers of Metropolis and then hopefully saving Lois Lane from them (the Jimmy Olsen dummy doesn't fare so well).But the big question is: Is this Bizarro's World "opposite"? Well, let's see, Superman still saves Lois from dangers (but he causes them - opposite!). However, he still works at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent and hates Lex Luthor. Not so opposite. There are still some callbacks to the old square planet though:
A blocked exit. Oh, my sides! I do like Lois' typewriter though:
It uses audio tape (written word the opposite of audio)! I don't understand the castle though, and the makeshift Perry White represented by a bottle of Perrier, well... that's not opposite, it's just part of the surreal (read: lame and often incomprehensible) sight gags found throughout Bizarro's World. I mean, what does this mean? (Other than indicating this is the biggest warehouse you ever did see.)
Is that a rebus in the top right hand corner? Crib-Toe-Dog-Soup?Look, even Lois knows this isn't an exercise in opposites, perhaps recalling some long lost pre-Crisis memory:
The comic's saving grace is that Lois beats Bizarro all by her lonesome, with Superman only showing up to clean the mess.
Now that is opposite!
Comments
Look at the Bizarro Code. It does indeed say "Us do opposite of all Earthly things!" But I think the final bit is the real organizing principle of Bizarro, so to speak: "Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!"
Bizarro isn't the "opposite" of Superman, per se, he's an imperfect duplicate of Superman. He's imperfect in all ways, including being imperfectly opposite!
What drives me up the wall about many recent Bizarro stories is that they write him as being perfectly opposite. Where his every utterance should simply be parsed to its reverse. That am not what Bizarro am all about!
This story has its flaws, but it's infinitely superior to having Bizarro show up, hit Superman, and say something like "Goodbye, Bizarro am not hitting you now because me am happy with you!"
Anon: Thanks! I knew SOMEone would dekrypt it. (Stop me before I pun again.)
Superboy was a product of the Cadmus Project, which was (as I recall) not connected with LexCorp, and existed primarily as an excuse for Dan Jurgens and Roger Stern to bring back the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion.
Good lord, do I know way too much about mid-'90s Superman continuity.