For those of you who are Superman fans, you know the character Bizarro. He’s Superman’s imperfect and deformed duplicate.
Bizarro does the opposite of what the big blue boy scout does. You have probably seen him in a Super Friends or a Justice League episode. Or you probably might’ve seen him in a Superman or Justice League-related comic. Sometimes, Bizarro totes the line between good and bad.
In addition, there have been other Bizarros: Batzarro (Bizarro Batman), Bizzarra (Bizarro Wonder Woman), Bizarro Flash, Bizarro Lois Lane, Bizarro Jimmy Olsen and many more. Bizarros also have their own planet called Htrae (Earth spelled backwards), or Bizarro World.
However, there is also a Bizarro who is not a doppelganger or duplicate of a well-known DC Universe character.
Enter Al, a Bizzarro of an ordinary man.
“A. Bizarro,” a four-issue comic series written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Mark Bright and Greg Adams is a story is about a Bizarro who is trying to figure out who he is and his place in life.
The comic begins when a Bizarro breaks out of a Lex Corp warehouse. The lifeform tries to ask himself who he is. Several panels show the Bizarro’s distorted memory. In one memory, a lilliputian blonde tells him that his name is Al. The duplicate learns that diminutive blonde represents the woman his progenitor had an affair with.
From another memory, he learns that the original Al worked a public relations job at Lex Corp. He also learns that his progenitor was married to a woman name Olivia.
When the Bizarro visits Olivia, the woman is languishing in drunkenness. Olivia tells Al that she divorced the original Al due to his affair with Sam. The duplicate tries bonding with the Oliva but, she snaps when he mentions Sam. Olivia ends up shooting him on the forehead only for it to not kill him. Al finds an envelop that has the name and address of his progenitor: Al Beezar.
The panel where Bizzarro Al meets AL Beezar is a poignant one. While the duplicate displays childlike admiration for the original Al, Beezar refutes this. The progenitor tells the duplicate that “I stand before you a pathetic heap of failed ambitions and moldering dreams.”
Beezar also discovers that Lex Corp had called him to return to the company so that Luthor could snatch Al.
Beezar advises his clone to get away from Metropolis before Lex Corp finds him and to “remember all the choices I made in life and do exactly the opposite.”
After Superman rescues Al from getting hit by a truck, the duplicate tries to remember Beezar’s choices. He tries doing the exact opposite of what Beezar did by killing himself since he thought Beezar chose life. However, Al does not die and eventually ends up in Suicide Slum where he meets a panhandler name E. Wilbur Wolfingham, or Wolfie. Al does several con jobs with Wolfie until the local vigilante Guardian stops them. Guardian lets Al go since he feels that Wolfie caused the duplicate enough trouble. After this misadventure, Beezar tries harder to remember Beezar’s choices and he finally begins to remember his progenitor’s childhood.
The panel shows a flashback of Beezar originally wanting to be a rockstar only for his father to torpedo those dreams. The duplicate also remembers Beezar’s marriage to Olivia and his job in PR giving him a sour perspective on his life since he did not live his dreams. Al declares that he will live Beezar’s dreams of becoming a rockstar.
However, Luthor captures the duplicate and has him examined. The duplicate breaks out of Lex Corp and unwittingly steals a motherbox and ends up on Apokolips.
Al ends up enslaved under Granny Goodness and befriends a young female furry name Seera. Al becomes enamored by Seera’s musical talent when she plays her musical instrument called the Apokolute. The two bond over their love of music when Al tells Seera his dreams of becoming a rock star. This also prompts the two to escape Apokolips with the help of the motherbox and return to Earth where they reunite with Wolfie. With the help of Wolfie, Al and Seera start successful career as rock musicians.
However, Al’s rise to stardom catches the attention of Luthor who begins to seize his assets as his. Luthor also tries to have the police arrest him. With the help of Serra and the mother box, they escape to San Latte, a country in Central America. Here, the trio meet a group of resistance fighters led by a man name Ernesto Del Valle. Coincidentally, the resistance is revolting against a dictatorial president who is profiting from a coffee plant own by Luthor. Also, Clark Kent happens to be investigating Luthor’s activity in the country.
Ernesto tells the Bizzarro about his movement’s fight against the Luthor-backed dictatorship. He informs the duplicate that his people are forced to work for less while Luthorcorp and the president profit. In addition, Al meets Ernesto’s sister Rosamunda who inspires him to galvanize the resistance. She tells the Bizarro that the men won’t listen to her since she is a woman.
After Al’s motivating speech, the fired-up resistance group does a full-on assault on the San Latte capital. Later in the battle, Superman helps with the resistance.Ultimately, Al and his allies win the battle and overthrow the president. Ernesto becomes the new president of San Latte, Serra becomes a in charge of the country’s arm, Wolfie becomes the country’s minister of finance, and Al settles down with Rosamunda and starts a new life with her. At the end of the comic, the duplicate comments that he is a “pretty happy guy” for an “inorganic life form.”
“A. Bizzarro” is an underrated Superman story about a duplicate of a man who felt that he did not live his full potential. The duplicate saw himself as imperfect but yet lived what many would argue a perfect life. He lived free and did not care how others saw him. He became a friend, a rock star, a revolutionary, and a soon-to-be dad. As Clark Kent would put it, after seeing the people of San Latte cheer for the Bizzaro, Al’s story would “make a great story if anyone believes it!” People who read “A. Bizzarro” would agree.
