Bizarro Comics!

This book features DC comics characters in stories by alternative cartoonists. The stories are not part of the regular DC continuity, so the artists are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want with them. This is not just a series of short stories, though. The book has a framing story where 5th Dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk has to defend his dimension by playing a series of games with a creature called "A". After he gets himself disqualified, Mxyzptlk is forced to find a "champion" to play on his behalf, and he accidentally picks Superman's imperfect duplicate, Bizarro. Mxyzptlk tries to teach Bizarro how to be a hero by showing him a bunch of comic books. So, Bizarro draws his own comics, which are really the ones created by the aformentioned alternative cartoonists. As for the comics themselves, well, they are different, that's for sure. Some are funny, some are serious and some are just plain weird. The most notorious story here is "Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter", By Kyle Baker. It was originally supposed to be in a comic called "Elseworlds 80-Page Giant", but that comic was recalled and destroyed because some people at DC got cold feet over the comic's contents. (I don't want to give away what happens, but the story involves baby Superman having things happen to him that would kill an ordinary baby). This is a fun book that features interesting interpretations of super-heroes.

I liked this book, which, as other reviewers have said, features indy talent doing mainstream comics. I liked the framing story, which has Mr. Mxyzptlk, mischievious imp from the 5th dimension, waking up to find himself declared president of his home dimension. Unfortunately, the great dimension conquering gamesmaster A invades and challenges Mxy to a duel. After disqualifying himself, Mxy is allowed to picked a champion to represent himself from a catralogue which has every single version of every single superhero. Figuring that Superman does such a good job kicking him out of his dimension, Mxy selects him. But after the real Superman blows him off, Mxy accidently selects Bizarro, Superman's weird, backwards (and possibly insane) clone. Given 30 minutes to train him, Mxy exasperatedly gives Bizzaro a bunch of comics to read. But this makes the mixed-up Bizzaro to decide to defeat A by drawing comics... And this is the result. Many of the short vignettes are quite good, Some are funny ( the Metal Men one, the Solomon Grundy gets bored one, the Superpets, the green lantern boot camp, the Aquaman in the bath tub, etc.), some are poignant (Supergirl and Mary marvel, the Bat cave, the sidekicks, etc.), and some are just cool. There a re very few stinkers here (the only one I can think of is the pointless Hawkman story. My only problem is that a lot of the stories are too short ( one or two pages) and that several writers or artists are iinvoloed in a huge amount of the stories, while others are barely there at all. Overall, a good book, and I'd read something like this again (sequel, anyone?)

The variety of storytelling styles by the dozens of creators who worked on this book almost guarantees that no reader will like every single story (or, conversely, hate every one). The types of humor vary widely also: there's MAD- and PowerPuff Girl-style parodies, Ren-and-Stimpy-type weirdness, also some outright slapstick. The Kyle Baker story reads exactly like a Chuck Jones cartoon. One of the Aquaman sketches reads like Spy-Vs-Spy. A few, like the Eddie Campbell story, manage to be extremely bizarre without being particularly funny.The stories are all 10 pages or less with the exception of the two-part 75-page framing tale involving Mxyzptlk (which is entertaining although not quite as funny as the best of the shorter works). The creators are generally people who have worked on Vertigo and "indy" comics.

Mainstream comics companies are not known to experiment much; sure, they'll kill off a main character to resurrect him/her in a later "special issue," and they'll insert cultural relevance from time to time in order to boost sales. Still, they don't dare radically change the big characters because (a) financially, those characters represent valuable properties and (b) the comics fanbase want the heroes to preserve their mythic proportions. For these reasons, BIZARRO COMICS offers a refreshing take on many prominent characters from the DC Comics Universe. Numerous comics creators from the smaller prestige presses and the remnants of the "comix underground" offer their interpretations of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash and others. Since these stories take place outside the current DC continuity, they should appeal to a wide range of readers. People unfamiliar with the various forms comics writing and art can take will discover a wide range of styles here. Regular comics readers will enjoy the interpretations of familiar, beloved characters.The impressive roster of creators for this book all deserve mention, but readers should pay special attention to the award-winning story "Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter" by the creative team of Kyle Baker and Liz Glass; imagine a teenaged girl sitting a super, invulnerable baby as depicted by a Tex Avery cartoon. "Inside the Batcave" by Paul Pope and Jay Stephens explores many kids' fantasies--to actually make it into the Batman's real lair. The Wonder Woman story by Bob Fingerman and Dave Cooper, "One-Piece, Two-Piece, Red Piece, Blue Piece," should appeal to the fashion-challenged frustrations in everyone. These and the many other stories approach the DC characters with pleasure and wonder, and this volume manages to balance a postmodern savvy with a kid-friendly appeal.DC Comics deserves credit for presenting BIZARRO COMICS, and you'll be doing yourself a favor to read it and share it with your friends. (THIS PORTION TO THE READERS WHO DO NOT USUALLY READ COMICS) Look, I'm deliberately not going to mention the hip, respectable comics that have earned literary praise from academia and the mainstream press, because I'd like for you to consider that the comics genre itself does not focus solely on stories for children. Like prose fiction, drama, and music, comics can address numerous genres and themes. Comics provide a forum for many types of expression--not just juvenile literature. You'll have fun with this book; portions are endearing, laugh-out-loud funny, surprising, and/or poignant. You won't regret giving BIZARRO COMICS a chance.(THIS PORTION TO THE READERS WHO USUALLY READ COMICS) If you enjoy CHASING AMY, GHOST WORLD, LOVE & ROCKETS, and the like, you will want to read BIZARRO COMICS. Even if you prefer mainstream superhero books, however, look at BIZARRO COMICS as an introduction to comics creators you may not encounter often, and then enjoy finding their other work. Y