Boomzarro! (Superman #44 Comic Review)

Written by Patrick Gleason and Peter Tomasi

Pencils by Doug Mahnke

Inks by Jaime Mendoza and Doug Mahnke

Colors by Wil Quintana

Cover by Patrick Gleason and Alejandro Sanchez

Previously:

Superboy and his friend Kathy went to visit Bizarro World and met Boyzarro, Bizarro’s son. Boyzarro followed Superboy back home and met Superman. Superman and Superboy took Boyzarro back to Htrae with the help of Kathy and Maya Ducard, aka Beacon and Nobody. This angered Bizarro, who flew to the Noom as Htrae changed from a cube to a sphere behind him!

 

What Happened:

Superman flies right up to Noom to confront the raging Bizarro, who is fed up with the people of Htrae who take and take but never give back to him. The two immediately begin fighting, as Superman tries desperately to get Bizarro to calm down and recognize the effect his rage is having on Htrae. Back on the surface, Beacon’s tech tells her that the planet is imploding, and Superman instructs her to open and hold a portal back to Earth, and for all of the children to get back to safety as soon as possible. Hawkzarro, who had been frozen by Boyzarro a few issues ago, thaws out and is able to explain that the Super Foes have gone missing, taken by the Legion of Fun. She was flying to Bizarranch to get help, as she has a location frequency that will allow her to find and rescue her team. Superboy, Beacon, Nobody, and Robarro decide to go with Hawkzarro and save the Super Foes, and Boyzarro is inspired to join them. As they fly straight into battle with the Super Foes, Superman finally gets through to Bizarro, and the two head back to Htrae and provide support and victory for the Super Foes. Suddenly, Loiz Lane attacks Bizarro, and once again Htrae is in danger! Beacon’s portal is about to close, and the heroes run back to Earth, taking the lonely Boyarro with them!

 

Thoughts on the issue:

While not necessarily being the end of Boyzarro’s story, this is definitely the climax of the arc involving Htrae, and it all ends rather fast. There was a slow, thoughtful, and admittedly tedious build-up given all of the Bizarro-speak that ended with the cliffhanger showing the entire Legion of Fun and Super Foes, and in 20 pages we get a panicked slug-fest that was unable to give much more than a panel each to the various characters inhabiting Bizarro World. However, if you’re going to have a 20-page slugfest on Bizarro World, you could find few artists better suited to the job than Doug Mahnke, whose intense style gives appropriate weight to the quickened story. The big finish is certainly shocking though and is sure to reverberate for some time.

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