4 out of 5

So Steve somehow does it again, slipping a book into one of the big publishers that crosses over with their mainstream universe but totally exists on its own terms.  However, it was the late 90s / early 00s, not the 70s, so, I suspect, despite whatever type of response the book may have gotten, unless DC could figure out a way to tie it into an upcoming CRISIS, something like A.Bizarro was fated to remain a standalone mini.  Still, it’s nice that it was given the space that it got.

The premise here is that Lex Luthor was dying at some point and one of his science cronies was working on making, perhaps, a replacement body or something for Lexxy by messing with Bizarro DNA.  Luthor employee Al Beezer is run through a process and then sent home.  Years later, an electrical storm fries a storage facility with some old Lex tech stuff, and a coffin-sized container’s contents – one Al Beezer Bizarro – is shocked to life.  This is a Bizarro of a slightly different breed, thanks to science guy’s tweaking, maintaining the same level of intelligence, perhaps, but closer, genetically, to human (which is really only important in the sense that “Al” Bizarro won’t go to genetic pieces and can even make Bizarro babies, extending the potential for the character to continue if the lords of comics had decided, and also giving Luthor some impetus to track Al down and study him for other applications).  I think when I first read this series, I didn’t really look at it properly, thinking that all the humor should stem from Al’s word and concept mix-ups.  Yes, there are some dumb jokes worked in there, but, as was the case with his Malibu book ‘Sludge,’ Steve thankfully uses it less as an ongoing gag and just writes the jokes when they come to mind, otherwise allowing the narrative to move forward and work with the dialogue.  Evidence of this is in the editorials that are in the back of a couple issues, written in the voice of the Bizarro.  Isolated to just text and not part of a story proper (either Steve asking, via Al, for support for the book or just having fun), Gerber can go off the rails and be his giggly, random self, having a lot of jabby fun with the character’s over-simplification of things.

The story is a lot of fun, as Al inadvertently gets involved with a Boom Tube, visiting Darkseid and crew, becomes a rock star (one of the more convincing satirical applications of this in comics than you normally see) and becomes a revolutionary.  Old schooler M.D. Bright does an adequate job of sketching all of this, his loose style a good fit for the tone of the book.  And the pacing works properly also, the 1-event-per-book style keeping things changing but spaced enough to be compelling and not just jokes, and the subplot of Luthor’s attempts at grabbing Al a believable threat.  Perhaps the best part of this, though, is the lack of bite.  The subtle commentary behind Al’s involvement with the different societal scenes reminds me of Steve’s HTD MAX series, but it’s just not as angry.  Which is actually a good thing.  Steve writes better when he’s smiling vs. snarling, so the humor isn’t at Al’s expense, and most people actually treat him pretty fairly, whereas other authors may have picked up the torch and tried to make the more obvious jokes about the character’s intelligence.

The flipside of this is what the book lacks, which is just a sense of… import.  4 issues for this was awesome, and would never happen nowadays unless DC could figure they could swing it into a movie or 40 different offshoots.  Steve writes his story and gets out.  It’s not all out random, it’s not heavy-handed, it’s not especially tied to the comic universe in any big way, so it feels like what it is – someone dipping their toes in the pool.  Steve had been around long enough to know the game by this point, I suppose, to know exactly how much oomph to put into things.  It makes the read breezy and fun, but also lasting lacking impact.