Bizarro may have been born a stranger in a world he never made, but he had a father (of sorts).
In Action Comics 199 (Dec. 1954), writer Bill Woolfolk and artist Wayne Boring gave us The Phantom Superman, a substantial gray shadow of the Man of Tomorrow created by Luthor using his Three-Dimensional Materializer.
“The atoms are glowing with new life — and each and every atom is an exact duplicate of Superman!” the criminal scientist exults. “My invention is a success! I’ve done it! I’ve created a living duplicate of … Superman!”
Luthor’s pearly super-slave lacks only Superman’s ability to draw strength from solar radiation.
“Each charge of atomic energy lasts only a few hours,” Luthor explains. “I have to keep renewing the strength of my Phantom Superman! But no matter … soon he and I will smash all opposition! He will help me to rule … as emperor of crime!”
In short order, the Phantom Superman flies off with a U.S. government lightning gun, steals diamonds from an African mine and smashes a newly constructed dam. Superman stops him from destroying an ocean liner and the Daily Planet Building, deducing that the Phantom Superman must be some creation of Luthor’s who requires an outside energy source.
Superman runs him ragged, then leaves him drained on the ocean bottom. Disguised as the Phantom Superman, the real article then traces Luthor’s energizing beam back to his lab and captures the crooks.
“Bah! The one thing my phantom lacked was your super-brain!” Luthor says scornfully.
Four years later, another “imperfect duplicate of Superman” would prove to have more staying power.
“(Otto Binder) wrote the first story in comic books featuring Bizarro, the imperfect artificial copy of Superboy created by a scientific experiment gone awry,” noted Bill Schelly in American Comic Book Chronicles. “While writer Alvin Schwartz created Bizarro for the Superman daily newspaper strip, the book-length Bizarro introduction in Superboy 68 (Oct. 1958) appeared in print before the character’s appearance in the daily strip. (Editor Mort) Weisinger had passed the concept to Binder after reviewing Schwartz’s story. The timing was such that Bizarro appeared first in comic book form.”
“The Boy of Steel vs. the Thing of Steel harkened back to Charlie Chaplin’s silent film City Lights, a story about a blind girl who fell in love with the Little Tramp, unaware of his outward ‘hobo’ appearance.”
Given that double jump start, the various Bizarros made several more popular appearances and finally landed a “Bizarro World” series in Adventure Comics (their world was a cube, of course).
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