{"id":28821,"date":"2023-10-27T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28821"},"modified":"2023-10-26T18:23:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T18:23:31","slug":"bizarro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/10\/27\/bizarro\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarro"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Heath Corson<\/strong>, Gustavo Duarte<\/strong>, Pete Pantazis<\/strong>, Lee Loughridge<\/strong> & Tom Napolitano<\/strong>, with Bill Sienkiewicz<\/strong>, Kelley Jones<\/strong>, Michelle Madsen<\/strong>, Francis Manapul<\/strong>, F\u00e1bio Moon<\/strong>, Gabriel B\u00e1<\/strong>, Darwyn Cooke<\/strong>, Raphael Albuquerque<\/strong>, Tim Sale<\/strong>, Dave Stewart<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-5971-6 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

One of the most consistent motifs in fiction is the \u201cDark Opposite\u201d or \u201cplayer on the other side\u201d: a complete antithesis of the protagonist. Rock yourself to sleep at night if you wish, listing deadly doppelgangers from Professor Moriarty<\/em> to Sabretooth<\/em> to Gladstone Gander<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

The Caped Kryptonian\u2019s \u201cimperfect duplicate\u201d Bizarro<\/strong> either debuted as a misunderstood freak and unwilling monster in Otto Binder & George Papp\u2019s captivatingly tragic 3-part novel \u2018The Battle with Bizarro\u2019 <\/em>(Superboy<\/strong> #68, cover-dated October 1958) or in the similarly titled Superman<\/strong> newspaper strip sequence written by Alvin Schwartz (episode 105\/#6147-6242 spanning August 25th<\/sup> – December 13th<\/sup> 1958) with the latter scribe claiming that he thought up the idea months earlier. The newsprint version was certainly first to employ those eccentric reversed-logic thought-patterns and idiomatic speech impediment\u2026<\/p>\n

Although later played primarily for laughs, such as in his short tenure in Tales of The Bizarro World <\/strong>(June 1961 to Aug 1962 in Adventure Comics<\/strong> #285-299), most earlier comic book appearances – 40 by my count – of the dippy double were generally moving, child-appropriate tragedies, unlike here where we commemorate his 65th<\/sup> anniversary with possibly the funniest book of the last twenty years\u2026 at least if you\u2019re a superhero fan.<\/p>\n

Post Crisis on Infinite Earths<\/strong>, he was a darker, rarer beast, but this tale by screenwriter and comics scripter Heath Corson (Justice League: War<\/strong>, Nightwing\/Magilla Gorilla<\/strong>, Super Pets: The Great Mxy-Up<\/strong>) & Gustavo Duarte (Monsters! & Other Stories<\/strong>, Guardians of the Galaxy<\/strong>, Dear Justice League<\/strong>) stems from DC\u2019s brief New 52<\/strong> continuity sidestep and refers almost exclusively to his earlier exploits and character.<\/p>\n

Collecting 6-issue miniseries Bizarro<\/strong> and material from DC Sneak Peek: Bizarro<\/strong> #1, the saga starts as another misunderstood and deeply unappreciated visit to Metropolis – augmented by a new origin – sees the lonely, bored, eternally well-intentioned living facsimile teamed up with boy reporter Jimmy Olsen<\/em> on a road-trip to \u201cBizarro-America\u201d (we call it Canada)\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ostensibly to prevent a disastrous super-battle but more importantly, someone suggested that the journey could provide enough candid material for a best-selling coffee table book that could liberate the eternally cash-strapped kid from his financial woes\u2026<\/p>\n

Jim\u2019s certain he can handle the big super-doofus, but not so sure that applies to a pocket alien Bizarro picked up somewhere. After \u2018The Secret Origin of Colin the Chupacabra\u2019<\/em>, the story truly starts with \u2018Bizarro-America: Part 6\u2019<\/em> and a weary \u2018Welcome to Smallville\u2019<\/em> where the need to fix the car leads to a clash with a dynasty of very familiar villains at King Tut\u2019s Slightly Used Car Oasis. It all goes without incident until some other ETs give papa Tut a reality-altering staff and he seeks to achieve his great dream – selling everyone a used car\u2026<\/p>\n

Having navigated their way out of that bad deal, the Road Worriers further embarrass themselves in \u2018Bizarro-America: Part 5\u2019<\/em> with stopovers and pertinent guest stars in Gotham, Central, Starling and Gorilla City, before doing more of the same in Louisiana, Chicago and all points lost. Somewhere along the way they pick up a tail and in seeking to ditch their pursuers drive into Ol\u2019 Gold Gulch: a ghost town with real spooks and a distant descendant of a legendary gunfighter. Chastity Hex<\/em> is a bounty hunter too, which comes in handy when Bizarro is possessed by an evil spirit in \u2018Unwanted: Unliving or Undeaded\u2019<\/em> and a destructive rampage triggers the spectral return of great grandpa Hex as well as Cinnamon<\/em>, Nighthawk<\/em>, Scalphunter<\/em> and El Diablo<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Another issue (\u2018Bizarro-America: Part 3\u2019<\/em> if you\u2019re still counting) and another city sees the automotive idiots catching mystic marvel Zatanna<\/strong>\u2019s act in \u2018Do You Believe in Cigam?\u2019 <\/em>and fresh disaster as Bizarro\u2019s backwards brain allows him to accidentally access the sorceress\u2019 backwards spells, prompting diversions to many, many alternate DC realities and Jimmy and Bizarro trading bodies (sort of) before order – if not sanity – is restored\u2026<\/p>\n

As they near their final destination, the covert shadows finally move in. A.R.G.U.S. agents Stuart \u201cchicken Stew\u201d Paillard<\/em> and Meadows Mahalo<\/em> get their X-Files on: compelling the travellers to infiltrate Area 51, but aren\u2019t happy with the outcome once the idiots unleash every alien interned or interred there\u2026<\/p>\n

Ultimately the voyage concludes with \u2018Bizarro-America: Part 1\u2019<\/em> and long-deferred meeting with Superman (drawn by Tim Sale & Dave Stewart) in \u2018Who Am on Last?\u2019<\/em> The last of the Tuts returns for another stab at vengeance and high-volume marketing and as chaos reigns Colin comes up trumps, before assorted former guests coagulate as the never to be reformed Bizarro League to save the world in a way it has never been saved before.<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s left is to get Bizarro into Canada but there\u2019s one last surprise in store\u2026<\/p>\n

This outrageous romp is punctuated with a round-robin of guest illustrators (Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen, Francis Manapul, F\u00e1bio Moon, Gabriel B\u00e1, Darwyn Cooke, Raphael Albuquerque and more) adding to the manic madness via their signature characters, and a variant cover gallery provides more boffo yoks courtesy of Kyle Baker and Kevin Wada. Topping off the fun is an unmissable sketch section by Duarte, packed with many scenes and moments somebody was too nervous to publish\u2026<\/p>\n

Fast, funny, fantastic and far too long forgotten, Bizarro is a superb romp that would make a magnificent movie. Do not miss it.
\n\u00a9 2015, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heath Corson, Gustavo Duarte, Pete Pantazis, Lee Loughridge & Tom Napolitano, with Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen, Francis Manapul, F\u00e1bio Moon, Gabriel B\u00e1, Darwyn Cooke, Raphael Albuquerque, Tim Sale, Dave Stewart & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-5971-6 (TPB\/Digital edition) One of the most consistent motifs in fiction is the \u201cDark Opposite\u201d or \u201cplayer … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Bizarro”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,113,305,76,235,290,91,220,107,131,9,26,298,99,268],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-comedy","category-dc-horror","category-dc-superhero","category-deadman","category-dinosaurs","category-flash","category-jonah-hex","category-science-fiction","category-shazam","category-superman","category-swamp-thing","category-the-demon","category-westerns","category-zatanna"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4AFj-bizarro","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28824,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28821\/revisions\/28824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}