Reign of the Supermen #33: Supermutant

Source: All-Access #4 (1997)
Type: Amalgam
At the end of the All-Access mini-series, Access amalgamates the X-Men and the JLA, merging Superman with Bishop of all people. Now, what I know about Bishop could probably fit in a single line, and his amalgamation with Superman is so brief, there's not much to say about it.

I imagine that he's a mutant rather than an alien, and if Superman is a solar battery, and Bishop an energy converter, Supermutant might use any energy type to fuel his Superman-like powers. At the very least we find out if Superman can rock a goatee.

Comments

Austin Gorton said…
merging Superman with Bishop of all people.

Yeah, that was just...bizarre. This wasn't even during the (brief) height (and not very high) of Bishop-mania.
Siskoid said…
Like Cable, this was a "mutant" with a name that had nothing to do with anything and who found a reason to wield guns.
Anonymous said…
They never even finished up Bishop's initial story arc; he's sort of a leftover sitting in the back of the fridge growing mold and occasionally getting noticed.

I remember it like it was almost 20 years ago. In the early 90s, John Byrne first introduced us to Bishop, a mutant peace officer in the future, where it was known that at some point in the past the X-Men took in someone who eventually betrayed them. In short order Bishop found himself stuck in the past, the X-Men took him in, and Bishop hoped he'd have a chance to stop the unknown X-Traitor.

So who, you might ask, was the mysterious X-Traitor? Well, we never got an answer before Byrne left the book, though Byrne gave us a very unconvincing red herring in the form of Gambit (who survived until Bishop's future and wouldn't tell Bishop who the traitor was). But anyone acquainted with Byrne's attempts at cleverness knew where he was going with this: "I ... I have become the very X-Traitor I was hoping to stop!"

So Bishop's probable storyline never got completed, and like a low-density poop, he never quite got disposed of and occasionally bobs back to the surface. And as for the X-Traitor ... ? When Professor Xavier's evil persona "Onslaught" showed up, they tried to shoehorn it into the role of X-Traitor, but it really wasn't a good fit.
Austin Gorton said…
@kingbeauregard: John Byrne first introduced us to Bishop

I've always been curious what Poratico, who's credited as plotter on those Uncanny issues Byrne scripted that first introduced Bishop, intended for the character.

Byrne definitely came up with the whole X-traitor business cuz that came up over in X-Men, but I wonder if Portacio had any ideas beyond, "look, he's from the future, and with guns!"

he's sort of a leftover sitting in the back of the fridge growing mold and occasionally getting noticed.

It's funny cuz it's true.
Siskoid said…
Thanks for the background beauregard! Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
Anonymous said…
All Access sucked, but I really enjoyed Unlimited Access. I think Karl Kesel wrote it, and Pat Oliffe provided the art. It was one random Marvel/ DC team-up after another, but quite entertaining. There was a part of the story in which several Marvel & DC heroes got amalgamated, but I don't remember if Superman was among them.

- Mike Loughlin
Siskoid said…
He was. Tune in again at this time next week to see who with!