Bizarro. Written by Heath Corson, Art by Gustavo Duarte. DC Comics, 2016. Trade Paperback, Collecting Bizarro 1-6. (8 out of 10)
I’ve always been a fan of Bizarro, the twisted duplicate of Superman. Depending on which one we’re talking about, he’s either a faulty clone of the Man of Steel or his own person, from a cube-shaped Bizarro World. Either version is usually fun, with his backwards-speaking and thinking (if he says something is “hot” it’s actually “cold,” if he says he “loves” Superman, he actually hates him) making for an unusual read. When I saw “Bizarro” recommended as a new trade paperback, I knew I had to pick it up.
The book collects six issues of a limited series by Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte. The premise is that Jimmy Olsen is going to go on a road trip across America, and he’s taking Bizarro with him. Jimmy will photograph the entire trip and turn it into a coffee table book, achieving the fame and fortune he’s looking for in his life. Knowing Bizarro, things won’t go well.
Their trip takes them to a Used Car Lot run by King Tut, to a wild west ghost town populated by actual ghosts, and Branson, Missouri. We meet Jonah Hex, Zatanna, Superman, Riddler, Flash, and a chupacabra sidekick who is more than it seems. We also have FBI agents tailing Jimmy and Bizarro throughout the book, looking an awful lot like Mulder and Scully from “The X-Files.”
In a DC Universe that has skewed towards the dark for so long now, this is a refreshingly light book. The artwork is stylized and a bit cartoony, which works perfectly for the characters. Each chapter has a page from a guest artist who’s more famous for other books — Francis Manapul’s Flash for example. So you see different interpretations of the characters and story from Darwyn Cooke, Kelley Jones, Tim Sale, etc.
You don’t need an encyclopedic knowledge of DC Comics, Bizarro, or Superman to enjoy this book, you just need to be able to unclench your jaw a little and enjoy the fun of it. There’s magic, there’s mayhem, and there’s even a little bit of depth that grows out of this “buddy movie” relationship between Jimmy and Bizarro. I wouldn’t want every DC Comics book to be like this one, but wow. It’s a fun ride.