Bizarro World (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Bizarro World is a loose sequel to 2001's Bizarro Comics. Whereas the earlier book was a collection of vignettes and previously cancelled material from some of the industry's top Indy talent, book-ended by a story in which Mr. Mxyzptlk is aided by Bizarro to save his 5th dimension home from an alien invader, the later work was a strict anthology in every sense of the word.

Featuring the talents of the Hernandez Brothers, Evan Dorkin, Raina Telgemeier and a host of others, 2005's Bizarro World pales in comparison to it's processor with one major deviation: Christmas stories! 

Andy Merrill and Roger Langridge's 'Jing Kal-El' is an oddball Elseworld in which we see what would have happened to the Last Son of Krypton if his rocket ship had crash landed into Santa's work shop at the North Pole. In 'Batman Smells', actor-comedian Patton Oswalt reveals the origins to the alternate lyrics of Jingle Bells. Artist Bob Fingerman takes viewers on a tour through Gotham City sewers and the Batcave in order to discover the answer. A couple of other stories have scenes that take place in otherwise non-holiday themed tales. But it adds to the unexpected merriment of an otherwise lacking anthology.

For being a graphic novel named after the Superman Family character, Bizarro is noticeably absent from a majority of this book. He does appear in the title story by Chris Duffy and Scott Morse, explaining that 'Bizarro World' is a DC Comics themed amusement park designed from a Bizarro point of view. However, the real Bizarro #1 is a closeted intellectual who milks his backwards persona for profit. Only those riches come at the cost of the anti-villain's dignity. A Harvey Pekar penned farce also stars Bizarro bringing the total number of appearances to 2. 

Not counting the cover by Jaime Hernandez. Batman is the winner of most starring roles in this book with a grand total of 8! The Legion of Super-heroes comes in third with a trio of appearances.

While a very Batman heavy book, just about every character in the DC Universe appears in this book, if only for just a 'Wheres Waldo?' type-cameo as part of the background scenery of a panel. Supergirl, The Spectre and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth are among the characters who star in this collection of over 2 dozen short stories that look at DC Comics with an askew view.

Completing this review completes Task #12 (An Anthology) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Bizarro Comics

Bizarro Comics is a rather odd collection of stories written and illustrated by a star-studded cast from the realm of Indy comics. It's book-ended by a Mr. Mxyzptlk/Bizarro yarn that's straight out of Chuck Jones' Looney Tunes!

An alien conqueror arrives in the 5th Dimension with the intent of adding it to his domain. But this despot wants to be fair. He's willing to play a series of games (best out of 5) for the plain of existence. 

With Mxy appointed as the de facto ruler of the 5th Dimension, it's the imp's role to win those games. But when he's caught cheating, Mxyzptlk must appoint a substitute champion. Naturally, he wants Superman to win the games for him. But what version? Faced with the Golden Age Man of Steel, that time the Man from Tomorrow's head was replaced with an ants, and that ill-fated electric Superman from the 90s, Mr. Mxyxptlk stumbles upon Bizarro! 

Not the Superman he was hoping for, a technicality makes Bizarro the champion of the 5th Dimension. And that's where the craziness really begins. 

Sidekicks, giant apes, teen angst and an apocalyptic concert for the ages, there was a wide assortment of stories in this book. But what really was the selling point for me was the inclusion of the Letitia Lerner: Superman's Babysitter story that resulted in the recall and ban of the Elseworlds 80-Page Giant. 

That legendary comic has now since been re-released (and I own a copy) but it was a while before I finally got around to reading. Actually, No! That's not true. This is a re-read. But other than that Elseworlds tale, I just don't remember this book at all. Now that I think about it, I must have checked this out from the library and then later found a really cheap copy. 

Yeah. That's what I did!

Was it worth a second chance? Yeah. For the most part. Some of those stories were truly weird. But I enjoyed the chance to substitute some 2020 insanity for some good ol' fashioned DC Comics lunacy. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars. 

Tales of the Bizarro World

Growing up, I loved reading my dad's old Superman Comics. To me, I always felt that the Man of Tomorrow had some of the best villains... The Parasite, Brainiac, that ape with Kryptonite eyes... But the one that always was a delight was Bizarro! A faulty duplicate of the Man of Steel, Bizarro always got things wrong. 

Ugly was considered beautiful. The Earth was supposed to be square, not round. Prisoners broke into jail- not out. That kind of stuff.

This book collects the original 15 back stories that ran in the early 1960s in the pages of Adventure Comics. A couple I had read as a kid and a couple I had read sometime in the last year. I seem to have started this book and when I came to the Halloween issue, I stopped to wait to read it when the holiday came around. And then I forgot all about it until almost a year later. In some ways, I too was Bizarro in my reading of this volume.

Another childhood favorite Superman villain of mine, Mr. Mxyzptlk is featured here. (I love how I still know how to spell his name without looking it up- as long as I do it phonetically.) That imp from the Fifth Dimension has a Bizarro counterpart roaming around a couple of these tales. Instead of creating mischief, this fella tries to do good deeds. 

Along with a good Lex Luthor, who was a refreshing take on the one Superman character I have actually grown tired of over the years, this was a really great read from long ago. I only wish there was a Bizarro Brainaic who would try to put cities into the Bizarro World, and watch the chaos of urban development!

Featuring some Superman legends of the DC bullpen including Jerry Seigel, Curt Swan, and Wayne Boring, I love the cover done by Love and Rockets' Jaime Hernandez.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Harley Quinn, Volume 3: Welcome to Metropolis

It's just too hot to be in Gotham right now. So Harley and Poison Ivy hightail it to Metropolis! If they're going to make it big in Superman's hometown, they've got to find a place to live, find jobs, and even make friends, like Jimmy Olsen and Bizarro!

Then Harley Quinn finds herself in the hottest water imaginable when she awakes in Hell. It's okay. This isn't a spoiler since the back of the book talks about Harley's final destination. 

A very interesting collection of stories. Many years ago, I saw a Bizarro Harley Quinn action figure and thought to myself that DC will do anything to sell action figures. Little did I know, that the Bizarro-Harley was taken from an actual comic! Okay, maybe this one was a spoiler. But these books are nearly 15 years old now!

Another interesting aspect of this volume is for an early 2000s book there is a frank depiction and defense of homosexuality. It's not something I have a problem with in this book. It's just how bent out of shape people are on social media about gays in comic books nowadays. Even though I wasn't actively collecting or reading comics at the time these Harley Quinn comics were being released new, I really do not recall people losing their minds over the same-sexual content of this series. 

Maybe I missed something. Well, there is one thing I miss- the utter civility of comic book fans, new and old in 2000-2005. 

Another great addition into the Harley Quinn mythos, though I wasn't so fond of the J'onn J'onnz storyline. It just didn't seem to fit. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Bizarro

 Bizarro has arrived on earth. Taking inspiration from a certain flying hero from Metropolis, Bizarro decides to become a superhero as well. But with his skewed ‘up is down- down is up' logic, Bizarro’s heroics has the city in near shambles.

   Taking inspiration from an idea of Clark Kent's, Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen decides to befriend Bizarro in hopes of taking him on a cross-country venture to what would be the would-be hero's new home- Bizarro America (Canada!) And if this results in a best-selling coffee table book, well it's a win-win for Olsen. Along the way, the new pair of ‘Worstest Friends Ever!’ encounter a chupacabra named Colin, a pair of Egyptian themed villains, an actual ghost town, not so secret agents, and much more bizarre insanity that will have Jimmy Olsen rethinking the whole crazy scheme!

  It's really hard to do Bizarro right or is it wrong? See to the quasi-hero, everything is backward. Good is bad. Bad is good. For example, if the car Bizarro was driving in broke down, he would proclaim “This am the best thing to never happen!“

   Only a few writers have ever gotten Bizarro imperfections just right. Creators Otto Binder and George Papp were the closest, with Curt Swan doing an admirable job as well. Series writer Heath Corson did a really great job on not just Bizarro but the whole series. I loved how not only does Corson capture the essence of Bizarro but he takes the character into areas that have never been explored such as having Jimmy and Bizarro switch personas a la a failed magic trick.

Yet after over 60 years none of the writers of Bizarro have ever got him 100% right. Because if everything is backwards to him wouldn't he introduce himself not as “Me am Bizarro” but “Me no am Bizarro” instead? Am I picky? Sure, but I am trying to stay true to the character folks… When something great happens, Bizarro should not respond with 'Awww-some!"

 While the buddy-cop dynamic between Olsen and Bizarro was a laugh a minute riot, they were overshadowed by a bit player. The minute chupacabra Colin dwarfs over the regular sized characters and guest stars that pepper this book. Saying not a word but “hiss,” Colin's body language speaks volumes and he's really funny. That's all thanks to the fantastic cartoonish renderings of artist Gustavo Duarte ( and a slew of guest artists extraordinaire like Kyle Baker, Francis Manapul, and the late Darwyn Cooke.)

   What with DC rebooting the DC Universe this summer and Bizarro to become a member of Red Hood's Outlaws, a sequel probably isn't on the horizon anytime soon. But to forget Colin would be a crime against all of comicdom. I hope we see him paired with Bizarro in the Outlaws book. Colin is that great of a character to be forgotten.

  Worth Consuming

  Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Adventure Comics 80-page Giant No.1

Some of the best and brightest stars of Adventure Comics return for this 1998 80-page special. Most of the tales are fabulous. 

For example, the Bizarro tale about the origin of the Bizarro Code, i which everything is opposite from the ways of earth (such as criminals are rewarded and law-abiding Bizarros are put in jail) was a laugh riot. 

Another awesome tale is the Green Arrow story in which Oliver Queen's son, Connor, tries to follow in his father’s bow training footsteps. I'm not very familiar with the character of Connor, but the writing was very good.

Unfortunately,  the Supergirl tale was a mess. I love Superman's blonde cousin and I’m used to the Kara Supergirl- not this Linda Danvers/ Matrix version. When Supergirl all of sudden sprouts fiery angel wings and it's revealed that her Danvers identity had a past history of sexual abuse, I was completely lost. (Thanks Wikipedia for filling in those gaps.)

Not a bad title. Like any anthology, you have to take the good with the bad. That goes for writing and art as well. Thankfully, I got this little gem in a dollar box. In fact, I may have paid less than that.

Worth Consuming.

 

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Bizarro Comics

  This is actually like 54 comics in one. The best and brightest Indy artists and writers team-up to provide the most absurd, strange, hilarious, and of course bizarre assemblage of comics to star the heroes of the DC Universe. The book starts off in the 5^th Dimension with Mr. Mxyzptlk being awarded the role of President. But it’s all a ruse as an inter-dimensional being named ‘A’ has arrived to conquer the realm. Mxy is allowed to choose a champion in his stead since he kinda cheated during a game of checkers. Hoping to pick Superman, the imp accidently selects Bizarro.

   Seeing that Bizarro really isn’t up to snuff, ‘A’ allows Mr. Mxyzptlk to train Bizarro for one hour on the whole being a superhero thing. Sadly, this idea blows up in everyone’s faces as Bizarro spends his time drawing story after story of ‘Bizarro Comics.’

   Then for about 200 pages, we get a mix of artists and writers who aren’t known for doing anything ‘superhero’ as well. Some of these tales are very clever and witty. Some are not. The best tales involve bath time with Aquaman, a return to Bizarro World, and a too short story starring the Challengers of the Unknown. The worst tales involve Wonder Woman at the mall and a Batman story by Tony Millionaire and Paul Pope that should’ve blow away the other stories with the level of talent behind the adventure.

The book ends with a conclusion to the 5^th Dimension story that opened this whole comedic can of worms. A bunch of super-hero guest stars and a best out of 7 tournament of games that seemed like a Tex Avery Looney Tunes adventure finishes the book with satisfaction and a wonderment- “Is there a sequel?”

The only thing that I am really unsure of about this book is how to classify it? Is it a Superman book? Is it just a DC Universe graphic novel? How about an Elseworld? It has the controversial ‘Superman’s baby sitter’ story in which baby Clark Kent is put in a microwave and nuked. So, which is it?

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.