Bizarro-Year None #1 // Review
Alvin Schwartz was looking for a mirror image of Superman when he came-up with the idea back in the mid-1950s. He would be just the reverse of everything Superman had come to be some 15-20 years since his debut. Since then the character has had many lives in many different formats. This year he gets another look courtesy of the writing team of Kevin Smith and Eric Carrasco. The story gets transported to page and panel by artist Nick Pitarra. is Bizarro-Year None #1 is a fun interpretation of the character that plays comic superhero space fantasy deliciously twisted into some kind of Twilight Zone.
Jimmy Olsen was delivering coffee to the office the morning that it happened. There HAD been an alien-looking spacecraft of some sort htat had been down not far from the offices of Olsen’s workplace, but as this WAS the city of Metropolis, it wasn’t like that was a perfectly unprecedented occurrence. Just another Monday morning in the biggest city in the U.S. Just another Monday morning on the way to work for Superman’s pal. Of course...things were going to end-up getting a bit off the rails as the day progressed. Olsen and his boss were about to find themselves in a different place altogether...
The concept of a reverse world that still somehow manages to be a lot like Earth is a remarkably appealing idea for any comedic writer to sink their teeth into. Smith has a sharp and witty execution with the idea with a deep love and respect for aspects of the DC Universe that shines through a particularly well-grounded intro to the series. The opening issue features the kind of ensemble-based comedy that Smith had been so clever at developing in his movies. There’s an editorial meeting at the Daily Planet offices as a massive Toyman automaton looks on. Deliciousl absurdist stuff. Once Smith and company crossover into the other world, things get particularly fun.
Pitarra’s art is a fun fusion of the hyper-detailed line work made popular in the superhero comics of th early 1990s with a goofy, far more cartoony sense of rubbery silliness that isn’t often associated with a whole lot of detail. It’s not always a combination that works terribly well, but Pitarra makes the two styles work brilliantly together in an issue that with a visual presence that suggests quite a bit of depth beyond the whimsically goofy surface of the premise. There’s an appealingly immersive quality to the work that works on quite a few levels.
Given how appealing the character of Bizarro is...it’s actually kind of surprising that he hasn’t had more of a presence on the comics rack over the years. DC did try a series starringBizarro some 11 years ago or so, but it’s just...it’s just kind of strange that this sort of title hasn’t had a stronger presence on the comic rack over the years. Few supporting characters have had the kind of appeal that Bizarro has had over the past half century. It’s nice to see the backwards Superman return to the page under his own name once more with such appealing scripting.
