Superman: Escape from Bizarro World

by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner

Book Overview

" The dynamic writing team of Geoff Johns & Richard Donner joins artist extraordinaire Eric Powell (Eisner Award winning writer/ artist of THE GOON) for SUPERMAN- ESCAPE FROM BIZARRO WORLD! Bizarro,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401220339
• ISBN13: 9781401220334
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: DC Comics
• Length: 157 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Great Story, Great Artwork, Great Comic!

With a story by star writer Geoff Johns and Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner, you'd expect this to be pretty great. Coupled with artwork by The Goon's Eric Powell, you'd expect this to be phenomenal. Well for once, expectations are met. Introducing the modern Bizarro World and a Bizarro JLA, this comic is hilarious and action-filled. A must have for any Superman fan.

Imperfect, but excellent Bizarro story

Escape from Bizarro World isn't perfect, but is certainly the greatest Bizarro story ever told. Using the silver-age concept of Bizarro World as a backdrop, writers Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis) & Richard Donner (Superman: The Movie), tell a story about acceptance and misunderstanding that is excellently illustrated by noir artist Eric Powell (The Goon). Here they portray Bizarro at his best: misunderstood, but not evil. Under normal circumstances Powell's work would not lend itself to a superhero story, but since this is a horror/comedy, it works perfectly for the darker style. Highlights include glimpses into young Clark's past, the Bizarro JLA and Bizarro Mxyzptlk. Bizarro Lex Luthor is truly a treat, every bit as manipulating in his need for attention and praise as the real one. The book is not perfect though, at three issues for the main story, it is rather short for a graphic novel (although this does tighten up the story well enough to eliminate the need for any filler). Vernacular for the Bizarros switches back and forth between toddler speak and Bizarro backward speak, which can occasionally be confusing, and at least once there is an instance of Jonathan Kent asking Superman the same question twice simply to remind readers of the individual issues what happened last time. However, these are all nit-picks that don't take away from the overall story. After all, what would a story about imperfect Bizarros be if it were perfect?

New Found Appreciation for Bizarro

I've always loved Superman, but like every fan, I have my personal favorites among the Superman universe cast of friends and villains. Bizarro has never been one of my favorite Superman villains. What can I say? I'm a big Lex Luthor fan. (In case you should wonder, I had pre-ordered this because of the list of names associated with it -- Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, and John Byrne). But this book got me interested in Bizarro and made me appreciate the character in a way that I hadn't before. The older comics included in this collection along with the small essays on Bizarro were interesting, but it was the main story that I really got into. I liked Pa Kent having such a large role. The story of Clark's childhood relationship with Pa Kent, and child Clark's desire for friendships were effectively interwoven into the Bizarro World storyline. I was moved by Bizarro's yearnings for attachment and his bewilderment about where he'd gone wrong in his attempts to find it. I've gone from not particularly caring about Bizarro to hoping that the authors will write more stories featuring him.