Superman 44: "Let's Go Home"

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Bizarroverse, Part 3:  "As a Family We Go"

Written by: Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi, Pencils by: Doug Mahnke, Inks by: Jaime Mendoza & Doug Mahnke, Colors: Wil Quintana, Letters: Rob Leigh, Cover: Patrick Gleason & Alejandro Sanchez, Associate Editor: Jessica Chen, Editor: Paul Kaminski

Initial Reactions:

This final arc for Tomasi and Gleason continues to be very strong.  Sure, each issue takes a little bit for me to get used to reading Bizarro-speak, but the family parallels that are dealt with hit a strong chord.  At first, I was wondering why Tomasi and Gleason would tell a Bizarro story for their last full arc.  As we go, it continues to emphasize the strength Superman finds in his family.  In my opinion, this has been the core of their run, so it actually makes perfect sense for this to be their curtain call.

The Story:

We open on Htrae, which is now overrun by bizarros.  The opening monologue is Bizarro on his moon (noom), and he is blaming Superman for the current state of affairs.  As the two of them are punching each other on the noom, Jon, Nobody, and Kathy confirm that Htrae is directly linked to Bizarro.  As he is losing his grip on reality, his world implodes.  We also learn that Hawkzarro was actually coming to get Boyzarro after the rest of their team went missing, but he was not willing to cooperate.  Superman continues to try to reason with Bizarro, but also gives the order to Kathy to open the portal and get everyone else to safety immediately.  Bizarro continues to complain about his life, and insists that he is a villain.  

Back on the ground, Jon, Kathy, and Nobody devise a plan that could buy Htrae a little time, and Superman reluctantly agrees to let them help.  He deputizes Jon to be the leader of this mission.  Everyone is on board, except for Boyzarro.  Jon appeals to their friendship, telling him that being a friend means sometimes doing the difficult thing.  He agrees, and they unite.  We see Loiz uncover something, while she thinks to herself that everyone is against her.  Up on the noom Superman shows Bizarro that they are the same at heart, that he is not a villain.

When we turn the page, we see an awesome splash page of Jon's team fighting the Legion of Fun in order to free the Super Foes.  The next few pages are dedicated to this fight.  Everything is crazy, and something you definitely need to experience for yourself.  At the end, we see that the team and the Super Foes are about ready to lose.  Just then, Superman and Bizarro arrive to tip the scales.  

They free the Super Foes, and immedieately the Bizarro Wonder Woman begins flirting with Superman.   The Bizarro-Trinity begin laying into Bizarro and he begins to enter back into his depression.  Loiz shows up out of nowhere with an escape ship and shoots her husband.  They start fighting, which is devastating to Boyzarro.  Superman commands Kathy to keep the portal to their earth open while they watch the fight.  Htrae is about to collapse, and there is nothing they can do about it.  It appears that Bizarro killed Loiz, and he enters the ship.  Boyzarro wants to go in the ship with his dad, but Bizarro tells him he is a bad father, and leaves without him.  With tears in his eyes, he watches his dad abandon him on the dying world.  At the last second, Superman reaches out his hand and pulls him into the portal.  We see that Kathy, Jon, Nobody, and Robzarro are all safe.  We end the issue with Superman telling Boyzarro, 

"...Let's go home."

Final Thoughts

While Tomasi and Gleason are clearly having fun with the bizarro concept, the heart of this arc is Boyzarro.  It is devastating for us to see his dad actually abandon him, which is the bizarro version of Jor-El and Lara's sacrifice so that Superman could make it to earth.  Watching a father do that to his son is hard to read, but fortunately Superman and family save him.

I consider myself fortunate to have an amazing dad, but I know everyone is not so lucky.  However we do have a Heavenly Father which wants nothing short of our salvation.  Like Superman in the final page of this issue, God reaches out for us.  We could choose to reject His loving hand, but I hope that is not your choice.  Even though Boyzarro is far from perfect, Superman still extended his loving hand to him and welcomed him into his family.  Know that God loves you so much, that even though we are awful sinners, he still offers us salvation.  He loves us, and wants us to be a part of His family!

What did you think of this issue?  I would love to talk about it with you.  You can comment below, or find me @behindthecapes on Twitter, or by liking the Behind the Capes Facebook page.  Also, something new, Behind the Capes has a group called Behind the Capes' Nerd Out Round Table, where we talk about a bunch of geeky stuff.  It is technically a closed group, but anyone can join if they agree to the simple rules laid out in the group.  I would love for this group to grow!