You'd think it would be easy to track the many Bizarros of Superman's life, as Luthor used a duplicate of an imperfect duplicator machine to make Bizarro No. 1 in
Action Comics #254 (July, 1959 by
Otto Binder and
Al Plastino), with Lois Lane making a Bizarro Lois Lane in
Action Comics #255 (August, 1959, also by
Binder and
Plastino), to stop Bizarro from fighting Superman....but, you'd be wrong.
Here's a few of the most notable other Bizarro creations!
Bizarro Supergirl
Supergirl had her first Bizarro version created in
Superman #140 (October, 1960 by
Otto Binder and
Wayne Boring), along with "The Son of Bizarro"! Bizarro No. 1 and Bizarro Lois Lane have a child, who originally doesn't look like a Bizarro, and he ends up on Earth, at the Midvale Orphanage that raised Supergirl, no less! This baby accidentally creates the Bizarro Supergirl (and Superman creates blue Kryptonite by using the duplicator machine on green Kryptonite, to stop an army of Bizarros from invading Earth to get the baby back). Sadly, the Bizarro Supergirl dies being near some blue Kryptonite. This tale is also reprinted in
Action Comics #347, with Bizarro Supergirl's only Silver Age cover appearance on this
giant Supergirl reprint!
Bizarro Superboy
Superboy also got the Bizarro treatment, as he faced the first Bizarro back in
Superboy #68 (October, 1958, by
Otto Binder and
George Papp) with "The Boy Of Steel Versus The Thing of Steel". Professor Dalton created the original duplicator machine that he used on Superboy, creating the original Bizarro, an imperfect duplicate of Superboy. This Bizarro was just a little slow, and tried to be helpful, but people were scared by his bizarre appearance. His only friend came with a blind girl, Melissa, whom he sacrificed his life to restore her site. Bizarro No. 1 likely has the memories of this Bizarro, as he has the memories of Superman (who was Superboy grown into a man), and this story found its way into
Superman Annual #2 of January, 1961 and
The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told of 1987.
Bizarro Krypto
Superboy faced the menace of a Bizarro again, but this time it was a duplicate of his best friend, his super-dog, Krypto in
Superboy #82 (July, 1960 by
Jerry Siegel and
John Sikela), created by two new villains, the Brain and the General in their "War Against Superboy!" with Bizarro Krypto created by the Brain to distract Krypto, and his robots lured away, Superboy had no help against these fiendish foes..
...but got lucky and was able to beat them anyway, and this Bizarro Krypto was destroyed, but there would be more versions in the future.
This story was also reprinted in
Superboy #138 (May-June, 1967).
Bizarro Legion of Super-Heroes
Speaking of the future, there were Bizarros there as well. Superboy traveled through time to join a group of 30th Century kids called the Legion of the Super-Heroes, who all had powers of their own and counted him as an inspiration. A new Bizarro Superboy showed up at one of their meetings, trying to join, but the Legionnaires wouldn't accept him.
This Bizarro Superboy created his own Legion of Stupor-Bizarros, making imperfect duplicates of Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy and Invisible Kid...
...and then added versions of Cosmic Boy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy, all doing the opposite of the Legion of Super-Heroes, creating menaces instead of solving problems.
Thankfully, this team only appeared once, in
Adventure Comics #329 (February, 1965 by
Jerry Siegel and
Jim Mooney) in "The Bizarro Legion", though the story was reprinted in
Best of DC #57 of February, 1985 and in the
Legion of Super-Heroes Archive #4 of 1994.
It's only fair that the Legion featured Bizarros in an issue, as they
took over the spot Bizarros held there from
Adventure Comics #285 of
June, 1961 to
Adventure Comics #299 of August, 1962.
Bizarro Enemies
A few of Superman's friends introduced with Bizarro versions were introduced during the Bizarro Adventure Comics run of the early 1960s, including a modern Bizarro Krypto in
Adventure Comics #285 (June, 1961 by
Jerry Siegel and
Wayne Boring, who also appeared in
#287,
#288,
#289,
#290,
#291,
#293,
#294,
#295,
#296,
Superman #150 and
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80).
Jimmy Olsen got his own Bizarro, starting with
Adventure Comics #287 (August, 1961 by
Jerry Siegel and
John Forte), along with Perry White. Bizarro Jimmy Olsen also appeared in
Adventure Comics #288,
#290,
#295,
#296,
#298,
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80 and
#87 and
DC Comics Presents #97 and Bizarro Perry White also appeared in
Adventure Comics #288,
#290,
#295,
#296,
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80 and
#87 and
DC Comics Presents #97.
Even Superman's ex and Jimmy's girlfriend had duplicates, with Bizarro Lana Lang appearing in
Adventure Comics #292,
#294,
#295,
#296 and
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80 Bizarro Lucy Lane appearing in
Adventure Comics #292 and
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80 and Bizarro Morgan Edge making a solo shot in
Superman #333.
Best of all, the Bizarro Adventures series can be found in
Superman: Tales of Bizarro World tradepaperback of 2000, with the Bizarro story from
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80 being in the
Superman: The Amazing Transformation of Jimmy Olsen tradepaperback of 2007.
Bizarro Friends
But, Krypto, Jimmy, Perry were Superman's friends (thus, by Bizarro logic, they'd be Bizarro's enemies). So, what of Superman's enemies (who, would be Bizarro's friends?).
Well, Mr. Mxyzptlk got the treatment, with Bizarro Kltpzyxm, who first appeared in
Adventure Comics #286 (July, 1961 by
Jerry Siegel and
John Forte), who would say his name forward to go away (since he does the opposite of his doppleganger, and wants to go away, by saying his name forwards instead of backwards). He also appeared in
Adventure Comics #287,
#288,
#292 and
#294.
Titano got the Bizarro treatment, with
Adventure Comics #295 (April, 1962 by
Jerry Siegel and
John Forte) in the story of "The Kookie Super-Ape", where Bizarro No. 1 created Bizarro Titano to wrestle with Bizarro Lois Lane so she could be defeated and not become wrestling champion (and thus, by winning, be exiled from Bizarro World....).
Bizarro Titano won the match by running away!
Ah, the wonderful Bizarro logic....in Bizarro Titano's only appearance.
Luthor, who started Superman's Bizarro menace also got a Bizarro version of himself, with "The Good Deeds of Bizarro-Luthor" in Adventure Comics #293 (February, 1962 by Jerry Siegel and John Forte), with Bizarro Luthor going good deeds on Earth (or what he thinks are good, but aren't as much), and returns home to Bizarro World and gives the Bizarro Supermen reverse "S" symbols to make up for his crimes of doing good. Bizarro Luthor returns in
Adventure Comics #294,
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #80, and in
Superman #379.
Bizarro Justice League of America
Superman's fellow super-heroes even got the Bizarro treatment, with the Bizarro Justice League, who appeared in
Superman #379 (January, 1983 by
Cary Bates,
Curt Swan and
Dave Hunt) and
DC Comics Presents #71 (July, 1984).
Superman #379's "The Bizarrobuster Is Loose" introduced the world to the Bizarro Justice League and members Bizarro Yellow Lantern (the Green Lantern duplicate, whose weakness is also green, and can't charge from his green battery), Bizarro Aquaman and Bizarro Hawkman, as well as members Bizarro Batman and Bizarro Flash.
DC Comics Presents #71's story of "The Mark of Bizarro" by
E. Nelson Bridwell,
Curt Swan and
Dave Hunt also introduces a Bizarro Wonder Woman to the BJL (and reveals that Bizarro Batman left the team to join the Insiders, the Bizarro Outsiders), as well as Bizarro versions of the Joker (the only sad, sane person on an insane world), another Bizarro Supergirl, a Bizarro Shaggy Man (who only sits and thinks), and a Bizarro Amazo (who gives people super-powers instead of taking them).
But, Bizarro Batman and Bizarro Flash have a bit of history before this, with their first appearances being in
World's Finest Comics #156 of March, 1966 and in
Superman's Girlfriend. Lois Lane #74 of May, 1967. But, in true Bizarro logic, if you want to know about them, go backwards and
read here!
