Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Action Comics #785

Next up for the month is one that is definitely cooler than the Prankster: Bizarro. While the character has been revamped over the years, the main attributes are still the same. Bizarro is a “mirror image” of Superman whether he’s created by science or magic. He’s kind of in a gray area since he’s not a full-on villain. He can’t speak normally nor comprehend certain things, so he can sometime get led astray. He first appeared in Superboy #68 and has had the weird, pasty, monstrous look from the beginning. He's appeared just about everywhere  and even in live-action.

While he was around for a bit in the Pre-Crisis, he barely appeared in the Post-Crisis. I was going to originally look at the storyline, “Bizarro World,” from 1994, but I thought I’d move ahead to the 2000’s. Today’s issue is Action Comics #785 from 2002. This takes place sometime after the major event, “Our Worlds At War.” I haven’t caught up to this yet in my read yet, so my knowledge on this era is slim. Joe Kelly is the writer of the book. Pencils are handled by Duncan Rouleau. Inks are done by Marlo Alquiza. So, let’ see Clark deal with his other half and a few surprises.

Action Comics #785

Writer: Joe Kelly

Pencils: Duncan Rouleau

Inks: Marlo Alquiza

Colors: Moose Baumann

Letters: Comiccraft

Editors: Eddie Berganza and Tom Palmer, Jr.

"Demento"

After I realize that the issue is completely in reverse (more on that later), we start out at the Daily Planet. Lois is reeling after the loss of her dad, so she took a leave of absence. Clark is wondering if things are okay with them, but Perry reassures that things will be fine. Perry then sends Clark on an assignment to Pokolistan. Since “Our Worlds at War,” General Zod has been the dictator of the country. I can’t even explain why Zod is here, so this should have it make sense. Anyway, Clark is worried Zod will recognize him in civilian form. Meanwhile, Zod is thinking to himself about how he’ll play the world’s politicians and beat Superman.

Two things:

1. Lex as President is so relevant today!

2. Doctor Doom, I presume?

The meeting of the world’s politicians go as expected but Clark stays in his room. Meanwhile, Bizarro is outside being goaded by some demonic imps to attack the conference. Before Bizarro gets to do anything, a tank finds him. Clark hears it in the distance and goes to investigate in his tux. He finds Bizarro who’s finished beating the tank and its occupants. The imps try to goad Bizarro into fighting Clark, but he doesn’t since he remembers Clark. Clark wonders how Bizarro is here and Bizarro tells him that a being named Ignition kidnapped him and had him imprisoned for Zod. Zod would in turn torture him.

Meanwhile, Zod figures something’s amiss, so he leaves his own party and goes to the woods. He only finds Bizarro since Clark went to hide. He didn’t want Zod finding out his identity. Zod beats the crap out of Bizarro until Clark is able to switch into costume. Zod wants to go at it with Superman but Superman reminds him of his little party. Zod leaves and tells Superman that if he comes back to Pokolistan, it’ll be an act of war. Superman tries to check on Bizarro but was taken by the imps to their leader, Ignition. Ignition tells Bizzaro to leave but it takes about an hour for him to do so. When he does, he proclaims (in his screwed up speech) that he will help the people and leaves.

Oh yeah, I forgot. We get a couple of pages where a woman leaps to her death in Metropolis. When the corners come to get her, they joke about her not being high enough for Superman to rescue her. She then gets up and goes to find a higher building. Yeah, it was definitely... "bizarre."

…………………………………………………….

This was a weird issue and it's not because of Bizarro. By the way, while I liked that the creative team wanted to really make the issue “bizzare,” reversing the page order was a bit much. I already got to deal with Bizarro’s backward talk! Anyway, this was a fine issue. It’s not big on action and that’s fine here. Not only do we get Bizarro, we get a version of Zod I know little about, a little bit of President Lex, and other weirdness. We also got Superman trying to not start an international incident.

Of course, the main star is Bizarro and he’s okay. As I said above, the backward speech can get annoying after a while. Still, this version is a funny character. I liked his interactions with everyone from Clark to that weird demon thing. I know I got a lot to look forward to when I reach the Loeb years. The artwork is fine for the most part. It fits with the weird motif the issue’s going for.

There some things I’m not a fan of, though. Clark seems off. I guess it’s because Lois is gone but even then, he’s too much of a sourpuss here. As I previously stated, the Bizarro talk can get annoying after a while. Other than those things and a couple of nitpicks, this was a fine issue. While Bizarro isn’t one of my personal favorites, I do like him. He can be all over the place. He can be a hero, villain, or a mix of both. Next time will be another silly villain who’s probably one of the better ones. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.