Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Bizarro

Bizarro is a fictional character who was Superman's not-so-identical double. Created by an unsuccessful attempt to duplicate Superboy, he lived on the square world Thrae (cubic, in fact, but the comic says 'square'). Almost everyone on Thrae looked like an ugly Superman (and possesed super powers) or an ugly Lois Lane. He wore a button that said "Bizarro No. 1."

In the Bizzaro world, society is ruled by the Bizarro Code, which states that it is a crime to do anything well or to make anything perfect or beautiful. Predictably camp lines abound. In one episode, for example, a salesman is doing a brisk trade selling "Bizarro bonds. Guaranteed to lose money for you". Later in this episode, the mayor appoints Bizarro #1 to investigate a crime, "Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together". This is intended and taken as a great compliment.

Bizarro is certainly not to everyone's taste. Some see it as simply silly and irritating. Others see the concept as foreshadowing the enormously successful surrealistic school of farce that includes Monty Python. Just the fact that male Bizarro babies possess super powers while little girls do not dates the concept severely (though this is ostensibly because male Bizarros are copies of Superman, who has super powers, and female ones copies of Lois Lane, a normal human). There are also hints of making fun of the handicapped.

External link


Bizarro is also the name of an unrelated cartoon strip series by Dan Piraro.