Superman 23.1
Special “Villains Month” Title: Bizarro 1
Sholly Fisch, Jeff Johnson
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
The Superman Villains Month tie-ins are off to a good start with this issue, which is a bit of a surprise because, to be quite honest, the regular Superman titles have been really struggling ever since the line-wide reboot a couple of years ago. And it came as another surprise to me that this was a good read because, first and foremost, the writer is the backup writer from Grant Morrison’s too-weird-for-Superman run, and secondly, it’s about a character that has never really been one of my favorites. A broken and dumb version of Superman? No thanks. I’ll read the Hulk if I want that. So imagine my genuine delight when the comic was not only readable, but in fact, quite good.
It’s a decent Bizarro tale, even if we’ve seen it literally dozens of times before. The narration by Lex Luthor is a nice touch, being that he’s significantly more likeable nowadays than the Man of Steel himself has been coming off. Especially during the events of Trinity War. Anyway, it’s always nice to be reminded just how great of a character (and villain) Luthor is, even if it’s at the cost of the life of another could-be great villain. That’s right. Bizarro appears and dies in this issue. But that’s okay, because Luthor’s a dreamer and will stop at nothing to build his Superman-like army. This confirmed the “mad scientist” version from the Morrison run, but also hinted at the “corrupt businessman” version from the Geoff Johns interpretation. I’ve always liked Luthor because he’s one part Norman Osborn (minus the schizophrenia) and one part Wilson Fisk (minus the morbid obesity). He’s essentially a threatening Marvel villain.
Overall not worth the extra dollar, but a decent enough issue, so go ahead and get the regular cover. It’s a nice breath of fresh air into the Superman titles, which could not have come at a better time. I’m looking forward to the rest of the villains because if I liked Bizarro this much, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the characters I already love. So far, Villains Month has been a pretty well-done mini event-within-an-event. And it serves as a great reminder of just how much I love DC Comics epics.
My Rating: 4/5
