Action Comics #263 (1960)
by Bill Finger & Wayne Boring
cover by Curt Swan
This am the last appearance of Bizarro World.
This am the sequel to… ehm… no I’m not going to do the bit for the entire review, that would be distracting.
This is the sequel to several previous Bizarro stories, including the creation of Bizarro Lois.
I thought Bizarro built his own world, but nope: he found an abandoned one.
Missed opportunity for a story featuring “the true origin of Bizarro World”.
Bizarrely enough (pun intended), in order to duplicate himself Bizarro doesn’t use the same duplicating ray that created him and Bizarro Lois… he uses a completely different ray he finds laying around.
Which I guess makes sense… well, as much as a Bizarro story CAN make sense… because the Bizarro duplicator ray creates imperfect duplicates, while for this to work the duplicates must be as bizarre as him.
And Superman just happens to be around this planet shortly thereafter.
Don’t expect to see ANY consistency on the look of this planet, but for once it’s deliberate.
Title drop!
The only question for any Bizarro World story is how crazy the “reverse everything” gimmick will go. We start off pretty tame.
Don’t think too much about what they reverse and what not; for example, the customer still pays.Actually don’t think too much about anything in a Bizarro World story, that’s the whole point.
Wait shouldn’t Bizarro Lois hate Superman instead of… whoops, I started thinking again, my bad!
Everyone knows Silver Age Superman can squeeze coal into diamonds, but did you know he can also do it in reverse?
The only consistent thing about Bizarro World, other than its craziness, is the law against making anything perfect.
Most Bizarro World stories are more amusing in concept than getting an actual laugh, but this panel got a chuckle out of me.
What I find fascinating about Bizarro World stories is the mixture of basic jokes…
…with unintentional psychological horror. Just imagine finding yourself fully in control of your mind but in a twisted body, surrounded by your clones in the same situation, and enslaved by other crazy copies of yourself.
Also, Bizarro has a gun that can take away the powers of other Bizarros.
I don’t think this shows up again.
Some fanservice for monster fetishists. I’m not judging.
The fact that Superman’s powers come from a yellow sun was established in the previous issue, but he still can’t re-charge Bizarro.
But since they are Bizarros, getting an X-ray suntan means they can’t get heatstroke.
Superman refuses to have Bizarro Lois get him out of prison.
The Bizarro World legal system is something.
And this is a cliffhanger!!!
Action Comics #264 (1960)by Bill Fin
ger & Wayne Boring
cover by Curt Swan
Not the weirdest Daily Planet workday, honestly.
After recapping the previous issue, Superman’s sentence is stopped because it’s suddenly a holiday.
Superman has a nightmare about being turned into a Bizarro…
…which takes up most of the second story.
But then, instead of being transformed into a Bizarro, he’s in a gladiatorial match how.
Superman’s least known power: super-we-can’t-show-that-in-comics.
Superman is a winner because he lost, and as a prize he gets executed earlier.
Superman gets the help of an imperfectly perfect Bizarro Lois, only for her to be IMMEDIATELY caught. What even is this story???
Superman argues his way to freedom by pointing out that Bizarro World is not as imperfect as it claims, since it’s still round.
Superman corrects that by making Bizarro World square, ensuring that the imperfectly perfect Bizarros won’t be able to use the same legal excuse.
Historical insignificance: 10/4
Bizarro World am appearing mostly after the Silver Age; adaptations am show up frequently, but beside parodies the concept am too serious to last in any other form.
Age-ness Silver: 10/□
This am very serious story. It am below the rare infinity score only because being perfectly logical am accidental instead of being on purpose.
Am it stand the time of test? 10/0
This am not as good as you would think, even though it am much to say besides trying to make you sad. But I am appreciate its dishonesty: it is trying to be an intelligent story and always lies about it.
You never am get what you expect from a Bizarro World story.
That being said… no, this can exist only in any era that am not the Silver Age.
What else was in Action Comics #263 and #264?
We are now in the period I covered during the Supergirl retrospective, but I didn’t review ALL her appearances on Action Comics so I will briefly mention stories I skipped.
The story from #263 begins with Supergirl secretly saving a boy lost at sea who is then sent to her orphanage.
Supergirl suspects he’s discovered her secret identity, so she prevents him from being adopted (!!!).
TWICE.
She eventually proves the boy is an alien…
…and she’s going to be her defense attorney.
She’s better at this than Superman, honestly.
As for the Supergirl story of Action Comics #264, I reviewed that one.
To give you an idea of when we are in the retrospective: there’s a PSA about Hawaii becoming the 50th state.
Interesting letters: readers are ALREADY arguing about Supergirl marrying Superman.
