Cover Art for Bizzaro: Year None #2
Written by Eric Carrasco and Kevin Smith
Art by Nick Pitarra
Colors by Michael Garland
Letters by Dave Sharpe
Cover Art by Nick Pitarra and Michael Garland
Bizarro: Year None #2 begins to dive deeper into the mystery of what the hell is going on in this version of Bizarro World. We haven’t seen a version of Bizarro quite like this in the comics before, and it’s made very clear throughout this issue that something is very, very wrong in this world. Jimmy and Perry are the driving force behind this issue once again, and they both had some great moments throughout the issue. With a narrative that's picking up steam and some really cool art, Bizarro: Year None #2 is a worthy follow up to the debut issue. Let’s get into it. Spoiler Warning for Bizarro: Year None #2 Now in Effect!
Recap of the Issue
This issue is bookended by a scene in the recent past at Bizarro’s house, where he’s being interviewed by Lois Lane in his backyard. Lois asks him about his motto and just what exactly “Truth, Justice and the American Way” means when they aren’t even in America, and how Bizarro defines what the “truth” is. We’ll rejoin that scene at the end of the issue, but it’s time to check in with Jimmy and Perry and see how they’re adapting to life in this new place.
Jimmy and Perry both realize something is very, very wrong on this planet, and while they do need to figure out how to get home to their own Metropolis, in the meantime, they’re going to try to figure out what’s wrong in their current world. After a brief opening scene at the “Daily Planet,” we get a montage of scenes throughout the “Daily Planet” and “Metropolis” describing how a simple newspaper from our world is the cause for this entire place. Bizarro tried to re-create the world he found in that newspaper, and everything is just wrong. Things are out of place, people’s personalities are all wrong, and this “god of nothing” created an imperfect place.
The next big part of this issue has to deal with the deepening mystery of this Bizarro World. Perry notices someone spray painting a backward Superman “S” on a brick wall next to a glowing, purple outline of a human body, and he has questions. After delivering the staff at the “Daily Planet” their coffee, Perry slips Jimmy a message that tells him to meet at the place where he discovered the purple outline and the graffiti. After Jimmy slips away from Bizarro, he meets Perry and has some information for him as well. Jimmy mentions that things aren’t essentially just backwards but he feels they’re “impressions” of what Bizarro feels is right. Things are off and Jimmy feels that while Bizarro did the best he could in making this strange world, he's frustrated by the fact it’s not better than what he envisioned.
As for Perry, he tells Jimmy about this strange purple outline of a person he found and about the person tagging the backwards “S” by it. He doesn't believe the masked person created the purple outline but thinks the backwards “S” is meant to be a message that something is wrong. He mentions how in the army, an American Flag is put upside down as a distress signal, so he thinks this backwards “S” might be someone trying to bring attention to this phenomenon. Jimmy attempts to touch the strange purple outline, but when he does, his finger reacts badly and turns all rainbow colored before he goes back to normal. Jimmy and Perry break off with Jimmy heading back to the “Daily Planet” while Perry chases down the lead of the person with the mask who was tagging the “S.”
Jimmy finds Bizarro and says he wants to write a profile on him for the Planet, and Bizarro thinks it’s a great idea and tells Jimmy he reminds him of another reporter. Bizarro’s skin colored makeup begins to fall off as the grey skin of his is revealed more underneath… Meanwhile, Perry finds “Superman’s” house and sees yet another purple outline on the floor in the shape of a woman… He also finds a typewriter with this almost Bizarro type manifesto written on it, before being ambushed by the person in the strange mask with the backwards “S” painted on it.
The person mentions that someone died here, and her name was Lois Lane, as they tackle Perry to the floor. We rejoin that conversation with Lois Lane and Bizarro at the close of the issue, and we find out some very important details: Lois Lane has figured out that everyone on that version of Earth is a copy, a “bad copy,” and Bizarro doesn’t want the truth to get out. He flies her up into the air and drops her from the sky as she crashes through his house and dies as a purple outline of energy takes her place.
Thoughts on the issue
This story continues to get more uncomfortable as it goes on. It’s very tough to describe the feeling this book gives off, but the best way I think I can describe it is that it just feels… off. The art style 100% contributes to that with an almost demented cartoon feel to the entire book. There’s something that feels wrong about a version of Bizarro trying to go against his normal nature, where everything is backwards. In trying to make this new version of the world and new version of himself, he’s just made this strange, sideways version of his own demented version of reality. It all comes together as being even more off-putting than regular Bizzaroworld normally is.
I also like that the driving force behind this book is the duo of Jimmy Olsen and Perry White. It only makes sense for this strange book to have an unlikely duo leading the way. With Perry free of the Editor-in-Chief chair, he's free to chase a mystery as he did in his early reporter days, and that just might be what saves the duo and lets them find their way home. Meanwhile, Jimmy is learned about all the responsibility it takes to run a newspaper, and he comes to learn to respect Perry in a way he never could have unless he was in his shoes. This issue does a nice job of advancing their plot forward.
So just how is Bizarro making these copies of people from our world? What other strange secrets might he have locked away from prying eyes? Who is the masked graffiti artist trying to bring attention to Bizarro’s misdeeds? Why is Bizarro covering up his grey skin with makeup? The mysteries deepen in this second issue, and I’m very eager to start getting some real answers soon. The shock of seeing Bizarro murder a version of Lois Lane was an insane visual and shows how, no matter what coat of paint Bizarro puts on this world, he will never be like Superman.
Bizarro: Year None #2 takes us deeper into this strange version of Bizarroworld and sets Jimmy Olsen and Perry White up for solving some of the book's biggest mysteries. Featuring some incredible art that gives the book a strange feel, and some shocking moments from Bizarro himself, Kevin Smith and Eric Carrasco’s weird mini-series continues to get stronger and stranger.
Rating: 8.5/10