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Superman #42

Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 7, 2018

Cover date: May 2018

"Bizarroverse" - Part 1: "Father of Boyzarro"

Writer: Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi
Artist: Patrick Gleason & Alejandro Sanchez
Cover: Patrick Gleason & John Kalisz
Variant Cover: Jonboy Meyers

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel
Click to enlarge


On Htrae, Bizarro, Loiz and Boyzarro have made a life for themselves in Bizarranch.

In their own way their lives mirror that of Clark, Lois and Jon in Hamilton County with events of Clark's earliest days as playing out in a twisted fashion as only they could in Bizarro's world. When Boyzarro's powers manifest with the attack of a vicious hawk, instead of the events playing out as they did for Superboy, a portal from Earth opens and appearing in the swirl of energy are Kathy and Jon.

As the twins discover one another and attempt to touch, the portal shuts down in an explosion of energy.

Jon and Kathy think little of their visit to another dimension and catch up with each other after their time apart.

When Jon gets back to Metropolis his secret visits to Kathy are exposed by his parents and when they pry a little into his relationship with the young girl Jon races to bed.

It's a lonely night, but not for long as it turns out Jon's visit to Bizarro World accidentally brought back a passenger, and he's not very happy!

To Be Continued...

5Story - 5: ME AM HATING THIS STORY.

Anything feeling familiar? It should, as the Bizarroverse story opens it is clear that this is the closing chapter to Superman's Rebirth story line and that everything that happened to Clark, Lois & Jon after Convergence also happened in parallel on Htrae. There is a loving attention to detail as the events play out, if you picked up Superman: Rebirth #1 you might really enjoy looking at the pages of both issues at the same time. I feel very sad for Kathy living alone in Hamilton and though the story revealed that Jon had secretly been traveling back to Hamilton periodically, I can't help but feel she should not be left behind, like Lana once was. Of note to fans of Bizarro in "Red Hood & The Outlaws" and the one on Htrae... they are not the same character.

The arrival of Boyzarro promises some fun ahead for their entire family - more on that in a moment...

5Art - 5: Yes, I did see a Bizarro Hawkgirl, no you didn't imagine it.

There has been a great deal of work put into this story line - it isn't just in the writing, but hats off to Gleason and Tomasi for going back to June 1, 2016 and showing us just how far the characters and creative team has come. The artwork style has grown spectacularly when you compare issue #1 with #42, is it the inking, the pencilling or investment emotionally into the character? I find it difficult to tell.

5Cover Art - 5: A twist on a classic, with a darkness to it.

I love that it embraces the theme of the story and explores it, as a classic with a new but familiar twist.

Just like Superman is a classic and Bizarro is his 'twist', I think Otto Binder and George Papp would be extremely proud of what has been achieved with their chalk white creation and his strange new family.

5Variant Cover Art - 5: Meyers has done a fantastic job of recapturing the magic of issue #1 and has worked in every aspect of Bizarro's first days, kept it fresh made it feel just as special as it was at launch, I might even go so far as to say I like it a lot more than the original.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2018

Note: Except for digital first releases, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018

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