Like with ACTION COMICS, I had also taken a three-month hiatus from buying SUPERMAN. I don’t really remember why–possibly a feeling that my money was better spent on other titles. So there was a little gap in my collection. But as off-handedly as I left, I returned right as 1978 was on the way out, purchasing this issue, #333, from my local 7-11. What brought me back? Beats me. It really could have simply boiled down to me having some additional pocket change this week and figuring, “why not?” It certainly wasn’t because of this perfectly fine Ross Andru cover, though. I didn’t care one way or the other for Bizarro, and the situation here isn’t so especially gripping that it might have prompted me to buy the book to find out what happened.
I actually like this entire run of SUPERMAN quite a bit these days–enough so that I wouldn’t have ditched on it for a trio of issues. Writer Marty Pasko had been modernizing the approach to the Man of steel, giving the title running subplots and soap opera elements that made it feel more like a Marvel book, while at the same time hanging on to the charming goofiness that was DC’s stock-in-trade. I was also fond of the work of Curt Swan. While he was never a looming favorite, his quiet craftsmanship issue after issue was like a comfortable blanket. If you picked up an issue of SUPERMAN, you knew exactly what you were going to get. Comforting in an uncertain world.
This issue was set at just about the time when it saw print, on New Year’s eve, and Galaxy Broadcasting’s owner Morgan Edge is hosting a party for all of his best employees. This party is going to take place on the company’s new Super-Sonic aircraft. The idea being that the revelers will be able to ring in the new year four times as they fly from the east coast to the west, passing through the various time zones along the way. However, this party takes a turn for the worse when Bizarro bursts into the aircraft mid-flight. A future-scope on his homeworld of Htrae has indicated that all of Superman’s friends are going to die tonight, and so he’s come to Earth to see whether or not that’s true. Hapless Lois Lane is pulled through the gap in the fuselage and Clark Kent has no choice but to follow her, despite the risk to his secret identity.
Superman is able to come to Lois’ rescue and preserve his dual identity by speeding so fast that he appears to be in two places at the same time, as both Clark and Superman. He then comes up with a contrivance to seal Kent in the bathroom so that he can head off and take care of Bizarro. It’s a whole lot of work here protecting his secret identity, making every move three times harder. Superman tangles with Bizarro, whose powers have been mutated by a cosmic storm into the opposite of his own–cold-vision rather than heat vision, etc. Bizarro tells Superman why he’s here, that he’s come to save Superman’s friends, even though his ill-thinking methodology is the very thing that is endangering them.
Meanwhile, there’s a bit of drama brewing between Lois and Lana Lang. Last issue, apparently, Superman had told Lana that she doesn’t really love him, that she’s always just been dazzled by his fame and super-powers. This has sent her into a bit of a spiral of self-examination. Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep Superman from stopping him from saving the Man of Steel’s friends–by killing them–Bizarro knocks Superman into the prehistoric past. Or that’s what it seems like. Superman wastes precious moments trying to fly back to the present before realizing that he’s actually in the far future instead–Bizarro having done the opposite of what he’d said he would do, of course. Now, this really shouldn’t matter, as Superman ought to be able to return to the exact second that he left, but that isn’t the way the story plays things for some reason.
Having now worked out what Bizarro is trying to accomplish and also how his new powers appear to work, Superman sets up a scenario designed to get the misshapen creature to relent. He crafts a full size lead container and affixes it to the outside of the falling plane, then tells Bizarro to look inside it with his x-ray vision. Superman has worked out that Bizarro’s x-ray vision must only be able to see through lead, and he’s filled the inside of the container with replicas of Lois and Lana, already seemingly dead. Feeling as though he has accomplished his mission, Bizarro happily departs, leaving the Man of Tomorrow to bring the stricken plane to a safe landing.
The issue then concludes with a scene that really plays to Curt Swan’s strengths. After a number of issues in which Lois has felt cast adrift by Superman romantically, the big guy has a heartfelt conversation with her, in which he reaffirms his love for her and explains that his duties around the world take up so much of his time that he sometimes overlooks the people closest to him. Maybe if you didn’t spend so many hours safeguarding your Clark Kent disguise, you’d have the time, Supes! This entire exchange is overheard by Lana Lang, who is heartbroken at this confession of love, and who turns silently away. It’s a really nice moment, expertly conveyed.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Yeah, safeguarding his Clark Kent disguise, accepting a job as a TV newscaster/anchorman ( instead of staying a newspaper reporter ), safeguarding the world and other star systems ( galaxies too? ). Seriously how does the guy still have a job or a social life? Not having a secret identity to protect is probably why my 2 favourite Super-Heroes are the Silver Surfer & Sub-Mariner ( Granted if I had to choose whose powers I would want it would be the Silver Surfer, cause my butt would be out exploring the universe. He and Other Aliens Only should be dealing with THREATS to the Universe with Earth Heroes being the ones for a change oblivious to those threats as Aliens are in majority of Marvel’s Threats to The Universe or Star Systems stories ).
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Whether it is Bizarro or Sand Creature/Sand-Superman [ Superman#233-242 ( January-September 1971 ) ] or Super-Menace ( duplicate of Kal-El created by an accident that duplicated baby Kal-El & his rocket ) [ Superman#137 ( May 1960 ) ] or New Superman ( Ar-Val ) [ Superman#172 ( October 1964 ) ] or Kull-Ex ( disguised as Superman -Super-Outlaw on cover )[ Superman#134 ( January 1960 ) ], I just know why not use The Thing From 40,000 A.D.( shape-changing blob that can mimic Superman’s Powers too )[ Superman#87 ( February 1954 )/DC Comics Presents#89 ( January 1986 ) vs. Omega Men ] or Ultraman [ Justice League of America#29-30 ( August-September 1963 ) ] or Clayface ( Matt Hagen – mimics Superman & his powers ) [ World’s Finest Comics#140 ( March 1964 ) ]? Just like I don’t get why Marvel doesn’t use the Evil Sub-Mariner LLYRON [ Namor the Sub-Mariner#54 ( September 1994 ) instead of the Sub-Mariner after all the trouble John Byrne went to to explain his personality shifts, or use CENTURIUS ( Dr. Noah Black ) [ Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol.1#2 ( July 1968 ) who is the EVIL VERSION of the High Evolutionary ? Timely Comics has an Imperial Japanese Evil High Evolutionary too — unnamed Japanese scientist [ Marvel Mystery Comics#34 ( August 1942 ) Patriot story — Evolution machine evolved lizards into his Shaggy Men ( also called Ape-Men ) & he had Controller like discs to control them. He was devolved into a lizard on his artificial island ].
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Sorry, I mean I just DON’T KNOW WHY NOT USE …
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Pasko had a very good run that I bought faithfully.
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I liked the things Marty Pasko was trying to do — but I thought his execution of them was often clunky, and they didn’t flow as well as the stories by Cary or Gerry (or a little later, Len). Some real nice scenes, though, like this final page.
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That last page reads like a classic. I could almost hear the subtle string music in the background. đŸ˜‰ I’m not a Swan fan, despite him drawing the the large majority of the 1st 9 years of the Superman stories I’d read, beginning when I was 4 or 5. But that closing scene w/ Supes, Lois, & Lana was moving. I don’t think anyone could’ve drawn it better.
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I agree, inking aside, that last page is very well illustrated. I’m not a huge fan of Swan, either, but he did really solid work with the storytelling & emotions on that scene.
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As someone whose teenage years were spent avidly following the post-Crisis Superman books throughout the 1990s, I find that whenever I go back and try to read any of the Bronze Age Superman books that they just do not connect with me in any way.
My major hurdle is that Superman comes across as a gaslighting jerk, in that he’s publicly involved with Lois Lane, they are very much a romantic couple, but he refuses to confide in her that he’s actually Clark Kent. There’s no good in-story reason for Superman not to be completely honest with Lois. It all boils down to the whole editorially-mandated status quo of there “needing” to be a love triangle between Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
“My” Superman, i.e. the Superman of Byrne, Stern, Ordway & Jurgens et al, always saw himself as Clark Kent first & foremost, and he had no real interest in romancing Lois as Superman, wanting to win her over as his real self, they actually get engaged, and he finally reveals to Lois his dual identity. I realize it’s all subjective, but post-Crisis Lois & Clark just feels more real & healthy a relationship that Bronze Age Superman & Lois.
Also, as I’ve commented before, I *really* dislike Frank Chiaramonte’s inking over Curt Swan’s pencils, and it’s just depressing how often they were paired up.
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Really makes sense. He was Clark first, & is Clark. And post-Crisis Supes stepped up & came clean w/ Lois. Well said.
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That’s cause in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe Clark Kent was the mask and Superman was the real guy, while the Post Crisis DC Universe Clark Kent was the real guy and Superman the costume ( Hence why he acts more like George Reeves’ Clark Kent and Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent acts more like the wimpy Pre-Crisis Clark Kent ).
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I agree about the many improvements in post-crisis Superman, undoubtedly more in line with today’s super-hero approach and more “realistic”. Nevertheless, I repeat myself in telling that it’s shameful that no integral or even partial reprint of bronze age Swan’s Superman exists, the Pasko arcs surely would deserve a reprint, but, as Kurt says, Bates’s, Maggin’s and Conway runs would deserve more visibility. I understand they did not always fully deliver, but the average level was not far from other series of the same age (Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America…) that were reprinted in full more than once by the competition.
And again: I dare anybody to check among the hundreds of pages drawn month by month by Swan to find the tiniest perspective or anatomy error, even when his inker was not that good or in tune with him. I am not talking about a de-luxe hardback fine print edition, but for Pete’s sake, a B&W Showcase? Something from the new “DC compact” line?
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As for the Superman/Clark Kent relationship. I always thought what Jules Feiffer wrote in The Great Comic Book Heroes was spot on.
It is what Superman needs to do to fit in as an advanced alien living on Earth because he is morally advanced enough to not conquer the place or destroy it, but also indicates how he sees human in general.
Given Siegal & Shuster’s experience as Jews in a society dominated by Gentiles and as immigrants from Toronto, Canada to the US, it is not unusual the they “know the heart if the stranger” (Exodus 23:9) as did their creation.
As Americans have grown a bit less divided, the more “Clark Kent centric” interpretation has become the norm. We are not perfect but this is a sign of changing attitudes . .. .
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If Clark-the-wimp is how Kal-El the Kryptonian thinks of ordinary humans, that’s actually a bit disturbing. Something along the lines of “You’re a bunch of people made of cardboard, always frightened you’ll get hurt. But I like you anyway, so I’ll pretend to be one of you like that”. There’s a very thin line between that, and Evil Superman.
Each to their own taste, but I enjoyed the Pre-Crisis godlike alien who was LARP’ing as a human, much more than the Post-Crisis version who grew up as human and then discovered he had mutant powers, err, I mean, extraterrestrial powers. It was like someone looked at Thor and thought all the Asgard and Norse stuff was baggage and unrelatable. Thus they decided to reboot him back to the basics, Doctor Donald Blake who finds a magic artifact which gives him superpowers. That loses a lot, in my view.
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Well, it IS a very thin line, and many authors have elaborated this concept: from Injustice, to Brightburn, from Snyderverse to All Star Superman, in a different way. Superman is also the story of an adoption and how the way you are raised determines the person you are, and how you will overcome your traumas (and Kal El, especially the per-Crisis one, has some!) Birthright was a lot about that, also.
Surely, it has been sometimes handled a bit too lightly (e. g.: Byrne, in how Clark reacts to suddenly descovering he is adopted AND an alien, that would be enough for anyone to cross that thin line), but this is a founding part of the mythos.
And that cardboard-earthlings vision was a defining part of pre-Crisis Kal-El, look at poor Steve Lombard, or Josh Coyle.
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British bizarro! The third novel in the Dookie series and all new first comic launched 8th oct 24′. Check out DOOKIEBOOKS.COM
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CAPTAIN MARVEL ( Billy Batson ) beat SUPERMAN in having Duplicates too [ Captain Marvel Adventures#25 ( July 1943 ) Last Story – an inventor named Coggles was forced by criminal Wooden Nichols to create a Duplicator Machine ( criminals pushed Captain Marvel into it and 6 of him came out. Luckily the machine was reversible and by stepping back into it only one Captain Marvel emerged — CM’s duplicates were all good ( they only fought to test who was the real one and that failed ) but Thor’s duplicate worked with his creator Professor Zaxton – Journey into Mystery#95 ( August 1963 ) ] and a evil mirror duplicate NIATPAC LEVRAM [ Captain Marvel Adventures#139 ( December 1952 ) 8th story — Wizzo the Wizard used his magic on Captain Marvel’s mirror image who spoke backwards ( Zatara & Zatanna would be great translators ) ].
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Even aliens with advance technology have a hard time trying to create a perfect Superman duplicate [ Superman#225 ( April 1970 ) ]: Project Ultimo ( Mentor Vrol used Chromoplast in a vat to grow a living, breathing hyper-plastic copy of Superman — unlike Bizarro it looks like Superman with his memories but not his powers. So Vrol armed the double with a lead-lined belt of black-painted cartridges of Kryptonite, Super-Power Transfusor in his belt buckle to transfer the unconscious Superman’s powers and a Metal Transistor Circuit Disc in side the double’s skull ( He commits suicide to save Superman when he uses a metal melting blaster on the Disc in his skull ) ).
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The Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor might have failed to create a perfect Superman duplicate with Bizarro, but he did succeed in creating a perfect Clone of Superman [ Action Comics#524 ( October 1981 ) “If I Can’t Be Clark Kent… Nobody Can!” ] until he lost all his powers after being knocked into a museum case that had Gold Kryptonite in it ( as seen in the flashback ).
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