Superman #88 (April 1994)
Superman #88 (April 1994)
Bizarro’s World, Finale! The cover above is actually pretty misleading: Bizarro doesn't punch Superman in this issue, but he does punch… your heart. Lex Luthor Jr. has captured Bizarro and wants to kill and dissect him on the off-chance that his bizarre-o DNA contains the key to cure the affliction that has slowly been turning Lex into Professor X (minus the powers).
Superman and Lois Lane show up at LexCorp to save Bizarro, since they now realize he’s just an innocent doofus with a crush on her. While Superman is stalled by some armored Lex-Men, Dr. Sydney Happersen works tirelessly to analyze Bizarro’s body in hopes of finding a cure for his beloved boss – you have to love your boss to continue working despite the fact that a monster burned half your face off like a day ago (in comic book time).
Happersen manages to isolate the key to curing Luthor… just as Superman arrives and clumsily sets fire to Lex's computers with his recently augmented heat vision.
As Superman tries to contain that fire he started, Happersen orders an armored goon to “get a piece of Bizarro’s tissue” – which the goon takes to mean “stab the bastard.” Happersen uses that tissue to finally create a cure for Luthor while Bizarro dies on the arms of his beloved Lois, who finally sees him as Superman, even if for just a second.
It’s a beautiful and dignified end for the chara– oh wait, no, he isn’t dead yet. Right before shuffling off for good, Bizarro summons one final bit of strength to destroy the computer containing the cure and screw Lex over. Which, in a way, is an even more dignified end.
They should really start making these computers heat vision-proof. Anyway, that goon who stabbed Bizarro seems to be taking this rather badly and breaks down in front of everyone – because, to Lois’ shock, he’s actually a frail and completely bald Lex Jr. in disguise.
Wait, where's Superman during all this? Oh yeah, he had to fly off into space to get rid of a tank of burning chemicals before it exploded, but just as he's about to head back to Earth he notices he’s somehow getting more… swole?
TO BE CONTINUED!
Plotline-Watch:
Obviously, Lex had everything that happened in this issue coming, but the fact that Happersen had a cure for the Clone Plague and Superman/Bizarro destroyed it kinda sucks for the other clones living in Metropolis. How many more died between this issue and the end of the storyline? Then again, there’s a big chance LexCorp would have kept the cure to itself without Superman being able to do anything about it anyway.
Don Sparrow says: “Lex's sleight of hand, digitally altering his appearance while instructing Team Luthor is quite prescient of today, and the various Instagram filters, which can automatically change a face in real time.” That’s a good point. Did Lex Luthor invent Snapchat filters in the ‘90s? Did he ever accidentally press something and make it look like he had dog ears and make-up on?
Among the many examples of Superman’s powers going out of control in this issue is a scene where he flies so fast while carrying Lois that she can’t breathe. Shouldn’t that happen every time they’re flying too fast for other people to see, though? I always figured Superman’s aura gave her a little pocket of breathable air or something.
Moments after that (and accidentally throwing a Team Luthor goon off a building while trying to push him away), Superman willingly uses his heat vision right next to Lois to break some handcuffs a goon slapped on her. Dude, seriously? You’re lucky she didn’t burn up like a LexCorp computer. Unless Superman was just casually looking at the handcuffs and did that by accident and tried to play it cool?
Patreon-Watch:
Shout out to Superman ‘86 to ‘99’s Pals, Aaron, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, without whom we wouldn't be having two new posts this month (we're only at the "one post per month" tier, but still). Obligatory link: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99
And now, more from Don Sparrow! Take it (up, up, and) away:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We start as always with the cover, and it's a pretty good one. The time-honoured (and rarely seen, during this era, where they're hard at work at the upcoming Superman/Doomsday mini) team of Jurgens and Breeding showing Bizarro throwing down with Superman, with an emaciated Lex behind them. The computer screen is a bit confusing in how much of the screen it takes up (it reminds me a bit of Jurgens' drawings of "entropy" in the upcoming Zero Hour mini-series, but in green).
Inside the book we're greeted by a full page splash of a sickly Lex (surprisingly ratty blanket for a billionaire!) in our second straight guest issue by Stuart Immonen. Immonen excels at most things, but technology here looks particularly believable. A little further into the issue, the facial expressions between Superman and Lois tell the story well, as Superman doesn't recognize how much his speed has grown over the usual. Immonen's Superman has more of a mane than we've seen in other books up to now. A couple of pages later, the tall thin panel arrangement really gives the sense of height appropriate for a skyscraper.
We've mentioned throughout the series how many parallels there are between Bizarro and Frankenstein, and being restrained to a table once again reminds me of the monster. Immonen's signature rim lighting is use to good effect on the scenes with Happersen at the computer.
Once Lois and Superman arrive to rescue the guy Superman's been fighting the last few issues, the desperation and pain in Bizarro's face is haunting on page 13. It's a small detail, but as the lab goes up in flames, the background silhouette of Superman dousing flame with his cape is masterful--lots of motion and gesture, even for a totally darkened figure.
There never seems to be a shortage of Lois pieta poses in these pages, and this issue is no different--the exchange between them at the end of the issue is particularly affecting. The effect of the now-dead Bizarro fully crystalizing is a good one as well, as he looks completely stripped of life and colour--though I don't fully get how his clothes also lightened. [Max: I still don't understand how they darkened from regular Superman colors in the first place last issue. Let's go with "unstable molecules."]
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
I personally prefer the more Ed-Hannigan-inspired Lex suits, but it's nice to see consistency, as these ones look a lot like the ones Mxyzptlk played with all the way back in Superman #31 (aside from the purple colour, rather than the stormtrooper white we get here).
I've already stated my one-and-only-beef with Stuart Immonen's Superman is that he's sometimes not handsome enough, but how youthful he draws the Man of Steel is certainly a breath of fresh air.
Not much for "B" storyline here, the struggle to free Bizarro takes up pretty much this entire story. [Max: True, I guess the only "B" story is Superman's powers growing out of control… which is about to become the "A" story in the following issues.]