Bizarro

Bizarro is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman and first appeared in Superboy #68 (1958).

Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books (1956 - 1970), the character has often been portrayed as an antagonist to Superman, and appeared in both comic books and graphic novels as well as other DC Comics-related products such as animated and live-action television series, trading cards, toys, and video games.

Publication history

Bizarro debuted in Superboy #68 (cover-dated Oct. 1958, but on sale in August), writer Otto Binder casting the character as a Frankenstein's monster pastiche that possessed all the powers of Superboy. Shunned for his grotesque appearance, the teen version of Bizarro only appeared in a single comic book story. An adult version appeared around the same time in the Superman daily newspaper comic strip written by Alvin Schwartz, debuting in Episode 105: "The Battle With Bizarro" (strips 6147-6242: Aug. 25, 1958 to Dec. 13, 1958). According to comics historian Mark Evanier, Schwartz long claimed that he originated the Bizarro concept prior to the character's appearance in Superboy. The newspaper storyline introduced the strange speech patterns that became synonymous with the character, with all of Bizarro's comments meaning the opposite (e.g. "bad" means "good"). The newspaper version wore a "B" on his chest, as opposed to his distinctive "S".

Superman the Ride

Superman the Ride (formerly known as Bizarro and Superman: Ride of Steel) is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Built by Intamin in 2000, it features a 208-foot (63 m) lift hill, a 221-foot (67 m) drop, and over 1-mile (1.6 km) of track. The park has announced plans to rename the ride to Superman the Ride for the 2016 season.

Superman the Ride has been voted the number one steel roller coaster in the world in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards five times since 2003 and has not been ranked lower than #2 in that same poll. It has swapped with Millennium Force at Cedar Point for the top position five times in the last eleven years. Since its debut, the roller coaster has undergone several safety modifications as the result of two serious incidents.

History

Prior to the 2000 season, Six Flags New England was known as Riverside Park. Six Flags purchased the park and added their own DC Comics theming. The site that Superman the Ride operates on is the former site of the Riverside Park Speedway. The Speedway was demolished after the 1999 season to make room for a new themed area, DC Superhero Adventure. As part of the $40 million expansion, the park built Superman: Ride of Steel. Six Flags worked with Swiss manufacturer, Intamin, to build and design the ride a year earlier. The final track piece of Superman was installed on March 27, 2000, about 40 days before opening day. The ride officially opened on May 5, 2000 as the tallest and longest roller coaster on the East Coast of the United States. The entrance and station were themed to Superman with Superman logos and a picture of him located above the entrance. The second tunnel also had a mist effect.

Bizarro (comic strip)

Bizarro is a single-panel cartoon written and drawn by cartoonist Dan Piraro. Launched January 22, 1985, the panel appears daily in 350 markets throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Initially syndicated by Chronicle Features, it moved to the Universal Press Syndicate and then King Features.

Characters and story

Bizarro gives an eccentric, exaggerated and, as the name implies, bizarre look at everyday life. Piraro has described it as "about the incredibly surreal things that happen to all of us in our so-called 'normal' lives." The situations are surreal, yet often plausible. Some cartoons involve celebrities, such as Sheryl Crow and Penn Jillette, while others make reference to themselves or characters from comics or animation, such as Superman and Gumby. Comics critic Tom Heintjes described Bizarro's themes, cryptic aspects and expansion into performance art:

Hidden symbols

Most Bizarro cartoons since 1995 include one or more of these devices hidden somewhere in the cartoon: