Batman/Superman World's Finest #42 came out this week, the second chapter of the Bizarro World storyline. As usual for this book, there are some fun moments in the book as writer Mark Waid unravels the intricacies of the backwards Bizarro mentality. There is also a pretty solid character moment for Robin in this book as we see how Dick is maturing and learning about the world.
You knew there was going to be a 'but' right?
This issue felt a little bit padded to me with a side battle where Bizarro and Superman fight Bizarro Brainiac. While intriguing to see what a Bizarro Brainiac does and also interesting to see the 'sane' Bizarro teaming up with Superman efficiently, it felt like Waid knew where he wanted this issue to end and suddenly realized he had some pages to fill. I don't know if the scene added to the overall story in a meaningful way.
Adrian Gutierrez remains on art and brings his usual frenzied style to the proceedings. This world is crazy. The action is crazy. His art is appropriately crazy. His Bizarro with these odd blackened eyes works well. The insane Batmobile is fun. The art works very well with the story.
On to the book.
In a desperate attempt to convince them, this alien creates the 'sanity plague' hoping that normal thinking Bizarros would heed the danger and escape. But he made the plague too well, it began to change this scientist's mind into a Bizarro-thinking one. He cannot live thinking that way and kills himself.
Last issue ended with our heroes heading to the Bizarro Bat-Cave where the Bizarro World's Finest have succumbed to the 'sanity plague' and are talking normal.
As usual, Waid is working some magic around the Backwards Bizarro logic. For example, Bizarro Robin is in jail for braining Bizarro Joker with a crowbar. That is backwards. But don't think too hard about it. This is young Dick Grayson Robin. Did the Bizarro World predict Joker killing Jason Todd Robin?
The Bizarro World's Finest needs our heroes to save their world. The Bats will seek out Bizarro Luthor, the smartest man on their planet. But the Supers can't join because Bizarro Brainiac attacks at just that time.
Bizarro Brainiac's signature move? Enlarging cities. Not shrinking and bottling them.
That is pretty funny.
And Bizarro Brainiac's forcefield doesn't repel anything that touches it. It makes things stick to it. So for a couple of pages, our Superman is literally attached to Bizarro Brainiac leading to some shenanigans.
Perhaps the best moment of the book is Dick learning to accept people and different ways of thinking.
Dick wonders if all the Bizarros start to think sanely that eventually the panic will subside and everyone will think 'normally'.
Bizarro Batman schools him a bit. The 'normal' outlook is like mental illness for the Bizarros. No one asked to have their mind retrained. This isn't right.
Love that last panel as Robin thinks it through. He is a young hero. He is learning.
Bizarro Luthor is still intelligent. His 'backward-ness' is manifested as loving Superman! Now that made me chuckle. Hearing Luthor ask if Bizarro-Superman asked about him is hilarious. And Gutierrez plays it up with Lex's place plastered with Bizarro Superman memorabilia.
But this Lex knows the epicenter of the plague, a place for the Bats to investigate.
In another amusing moment, we see that Bizarro bubble gum makes square bubbles.
A silly side diversion and definitely didn't add to the story. But only three panels, unlike the pages of the Superman fight.
The Bizarro Brainiac is defeated. The double World's Finest teams meet up. They find a crashed alien ship in the UnCentral City limits.
There they read the journal of the captain. This explorer learns that Bizarro World is being ripped apart by gravity. A cube world cannot exist and physics is going to destroy it. When he tells the Bizarro denizens, they laugh him off. Of course they do.
There is a sort of Krypton exploding and the citizens ignoring the warning feeling.
And unfortunately, the explorer was right. The planet is about to rip itself apart.
Now that is a good cliffhanger, an appropriate ending. We just had to get there.
I am wondering if I am having a bad week. Perhaps I am judging that middle scene too harshly and just let the silliness wash over me. Or perhaps it is the high bar I expect from this title that made that stand out a little more to me.
Overall grade: B-
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