Superman #87 (March 1994)
Superman #87 (March 1994)
Bizarro's World, Part 1! Bizarro is back! Hey, wait, didn't this guy explode the last time we saw him, back in 1986? Yep: this is a completely different defective Superman clone who is appearing for the first time, so I'm not sure why he's saying "Me am back!" on the cover. Then again, he is a Bizarro, so maybe he means "Me am appearing for the first time!"
This new Bizarro is created by Lex Luthor Jr.'s main lackey, Dr. Sydney Happersen, in an effort to help cure the mystery illness that's making Lex lose his hair -- and also killing him, but the hair is the main thing for Lex, especially since Cat Grant's gossip show has aired some paparazzi photos of his newly balding head. Unfortunately, the first thing Bizarro does is zap Happersen in the face with heat vision and fly off. Lex berates poor Sydney, not terribly concerned by the fact that his face is burning.
The second thing Bizarro does is destroy a bunch of ships and set the bay on fire while trying to steal a launch called "S.S. Lois." Yes, Bizarro apparently thought his beloved Lois Lane was a boat, but honestly I'm just impressed he can read. He must have realized that he didn't have the actual Lois pretty soon, though, because he then pays her a little visit at her apartment.
Of course, Superman is blamed for Bizarro's shenanigans, including Lois' kidnapping (even his friend Inspector Henderson seems to think Metropolis' protector might have randomly decided to start kidnapping reporters). The issue ends with Cat's gossip show reporting that eyewitnesses saw Supes snatch Lois -- so hey, Happersen's plan to cure his dear boss may not have worked, at least he succeeded in getting those paparazzi shots off TV.
CONTINUED!
Creator-Watch:
This issue is the start of artist Stuart Immonen's looooong association with the Superman titles -- so long, in fact, that he outlasted the rest of the Super-Team, having been spared in the editorial massacre of 1999. He's only a guest artist now, but he'll soon become a regular one and eventually a writer too. More on Immonen (and why his style looks so familiar today) in Don Sparrow's section below!
Plotline-Watch:
So not only did Lex kill Dr. Teng, the first Bizarro's creator, but he also steals his intellectual property? His tendency to mistreat his employees is gonna come back to bite him in the ass one of these days…
Happersen's logic for re-cloning Bizarro to cure Lex is kinda iffy; this would make a lot more sense if the Clone Plague was causing all the infected to slowly turn into backwards-speaking albino Frankensteins like Bizarro, but that's not the case. Then again, the original Bizarro did somehow end up curing Lucy Lane's blindness upon exploding, so I guess anything's possible. In fact, Lex might be able to cure every illness in the world if he created enough Bizarros and had them explode over everyone in the planet, but of course he's far too evil to even think of that.
One thing I don't understand is why Bizarro's suit turns dark (beyond "Silver Age Bizarro's suit was dark"). In the Byrne issue, it conveniently darkens after Superman burns his clothes, but here it just sorta fades into that color as Bizarro's body itself turns all white and ugly. Did Happersen simply cheap out on the fabric?
Clark thinks it's "weird" that he accidentally broke a light bulb by misjudging his strength, because he STILL hasn't noticed his powers are out of control after like three months of scenes like this one in every issue. Are his journalism powers also faltering? He also mentions that he had to stop wearing a watch Lois gave him because the band was getting too tight. Spoilers: he's gonna have to enlarge a lot more than that pretty soon.
It's nice to see Cat back on the job again and all, but is it me or is spreading gossip about the man who caught her son's killer kinda dickish?
Patreon-Watch:
You know who isn't dickish? Our patronsAaron, Murray Qualie, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts,Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer,Kit, Sam, Hank Curry, and Bol, so shout out to them! Obligatory Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99
And now, as promised, more from our Canadian correspondent Don Sparrow!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with the cover, and it's quietly a real classic with Bizarro breaking through a brick wall, Superman-style. The trade dress is all reversed, which is already eye catching, and we're helpfully given a supra-title letting us know this is part one of a multi-part story. The word bubble with Bizarro's trademark primitive speech lightens the mood a little bit, which is a good thing, as the cover would otherwise bequite terrifying.
Inside we're treated to the very first Stuart Immonen Superman story,an artist and eventual author who will have a huge impact on these books. It's a bit strange to evaluate his art style, which has now more or less become the official modern house style at Marvel Comics (Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments). In 1994, though, his crisp and shadowy artwork was totally unique, and something very brand new. Even in these early, expositional pages, he shows a lot of flair, drawing both figures and television equipment with very well rendered simplicity. The colourist lets him down a little bit in the early going here, with the seemingly random rim lighting on Lex Jr's emaciated face being particularly confusing. [Max: It's the Clone Plague! He's Bizarro-ing!!]
On page 3, we get a good look at both a strength and a weakness that defines Immonen's Superman work. One strength is his attention to attire, particularly Clark's outfits. His mid-90s baggy shirt and high-waisted dockers look very of its time, without being so fashionable that you lose that it's Clark Kent. The weakness (and it might be his only one, as he really is a stellar artist!) is that I never thought he drew Superman/Clark's face handsomely enough. While I appreciated that he makes Superman look quite youthful (relative to, say, Jackson Guice's Superman) the facial features always looked a little slight, weak-chinned, and average-looking to me. But that might just be me!
The full page reveal of "Superman" leaving the cloning chamber is a good one, despite, again, some weird colouring choices. Immonen's style lends itself well to rim lighting, but the bright whites on the arm and the blobs of colour on the abs don't quite pull together (but I get it--this is an in-between era, after the flat newsprint colour, but before fully airbrushed looking digital colouring took over.
On the following page, there's a great, subtle piece of drawing, as in the background the weakened Lex carefully holds himself up as he descends the staircase, which is a great gesture. Bizarro zapping Happersen looks horrifyingly painful, and I dig that Bizarro is drawn less crystalline than Frankenstein-like, which is appropriate, given the original 1958 Superboy story that introduced the character.
So much of this issue is well drawn, it's hard to narrow down the best panels, when you could select almost all of them, but the show ofSuperman darting away from Lois' apartment is a particularly great image. Immonen's Superman seems to have the longest hair of this period. Drawing funnels of water as Superman douses the tankers is really well done, as water is notoriously difficult to render believably. One last detail I love is the use of candid photosin the broadcast of Cat Grant's Hollywood news magazine. It's a great real world detail that the photos that sort of journalism would use might not be subject submitted. On the whole, a very exciting issue,art-wise, and a good kickoff to the reintroduction of a major Superman character.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Uhh, what exactly does Jimmy Olsen's t-shirt say? [Max: "Thank You," obviously. Jimmy is a huge Alanis Morissette fan. Must be a bootleg t-shirt, though, because she spells it "Thank U."]
Now, this book was written decades before doofy "Nice Guy" meme culture, but Clark is kinda laying it on thick with all the "milady" business here, and it hits the modern ear in a dorky way. [Max: At least they didn't spell it "m'lady."]
Canadian Stuart Immonen places a CD by fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen on Lois' shelf. Canadian Don Sparrow notices. [Max: Chilean Leonard Cohen fan Maxwell Yezpitelok never did until now! Pretty sure I didn't know who that was when I first read this issue at age 11 or something, though.]
It's interesting that Jurgens specifically points out how careful Superman is to discreetly come and go from Lois' apartment--it's a good detail,and also sets up the contrast of Bizarro's door crashing indiscretion.
The fact that so many people mistake Bizarro for Superman is actually a pretty good defense of the believability of the Clark Kent secret identity. If witnesses like the neighbour, or the ship captain see the hideous Bizarro in action, and still mistake him for Superman, it's clear that people are distracted by the muscles and brightly coloured uniform, and clearly aren't looking closely at his face. Which is exactly how Clark's true identity has stayed secret for so long.