Writer – Sterling Gates

Artist – Jamal Igle

Metropolis is under siege by an unknown threat. A young boy is looking for his parents when cars crash into each other, narrowly missing him. A small flame and rushing gasoline spell danger for the child until he is saved by…Jimmy Olsen? As Jimmy gets the boy to safety, the Daily Planet photographer heads back into action to snap pictures of the carnage. He gets as close as he can to document the tragic circumstances until he comes face to face with a female Bizarro in a Supergirl costume. Goodbye! IT AM BIZARROGIRL!

At the Daily Planet, Lana Lang and Perry White are looking for Jimmy when pictures from his camera are instantly uploaded to the Planet’s computers. Lana asks an intern to zoom in on the photos and she learns that Bizarrogirl has dragged Jimmy away. Perry is alerted that a rocket ship crash-landed into S.T.A.R. Labs twenty minutes ago. Lana overhears this conversation and rushes to the woman’s bathroom and calls Kara. Lana asks Kara where she is and fills her in about this strange new visitor. Lana tells Kara she has two options: continue to wallow in self pity after Kara was unable to stop New Krypton from being destroyed or get to the city and save whoever she can. Lana gives Kara Bizarrogirl’s last know location before wishing her good luck and saying she knows Kara will do what’s right. Unbeknownst to Lana, Cat Grant has overheard the whole conversation. Kara decides to suit up and face Bizarrogirl.

Jimmy wakes up in a sewer tunnel, trapped alongside Gangbuster and other citizens of Metropolis. Gangbuster tells Jimmy to quiet down or else Bizarrogirl will hear him. The last person to shout for help was shut up by the evil doppelganger permanently. Before Jimmy can take Gangbuster’s advice, Bizarrogirl places her hand over Jimmy’s mouth and shushes him. Just before Bizarrogirl can harm Jimmy, Kara bursts through the tunnel wall and punches Bizarrogirl. As the two battle each other, Bizarrogirl gets a punch in that knocks Kara for a loop. Kara throws a piece of rocky debris at Bizarrogirl, who deflects it. The rock hits Bizzarogirl’s rocket ship and she freaks out. Kara says if she doesn’t let the captives go, she’ll destroy the rocket. Bizarrogirl hits Kara with a blast of green rays from her eyes. As Gangbuster asks what’s happening, Jimmy says that if Kryptonians have x-ray vision, Bizarros must have vision that make things solid. The issue ends with Kara trapped as a statue, Bizarrogirl gleefully and evilly saying, “You am pretty like me now, Bizarro me!”

Out of all the Supergirl runs we have had over the years, the Gates/Igle run was one of my favorites. This run should have been the basis for the Supergirl TV series. I enjoyed how Lana Lang was the mentor of Kara during this period. Cat Grant as the foil to Supergirl was a nice twist to the Superman mythos. Cat Grant wrote a piece called “Why the World Doesn’t Need a Supergirl” that added fuel to the fire alongside General Sam Lane’s xenophobic stance on Superman. Adding Jimmy and Perry to the supporting cast would have been the cherry on top.

I do like the possible implications of Cat figuring out Kara’s secret identity. Cat may be a pretty face, but she is much smarter and underhanded than she appears to be. This tidbit of information could finally be the one thing that destroys the love and adoration the populace of Metropolis has for Kara. If they can’t trust Supergirl, her never-ending battle will be over before it began.

This issue does a good job summarizing the New Krypton storyline that ran in all of the Superman titles during the late 2000s/early 2010s. For those that need a quick summary, Kandor was returned to normal size which brought 100,000 Kryptonians back to the world at large. Kara was reunited with her mother and father. However, General Lane and the duplicitous duo of Metallo and Reactron teamed up to kill the newly restored Kryptonians, leading to the death of Kara’s parents.

Adding Bizarrogirl to Supergirl’s rogues seems kind of cheap, lazy, and tacky, but her introduction to Kara’s world leads to storyline where Kara and Bizarrogirl must team up to save Bizarro World. If I’m not mistaken, it might take place over the course of the next couple issues.

I’ll finish my review by taking a page from Bizarro’s playbook – THIS ISSUE TERRIBLE AND WASTE OF TIME! ME TAKE IT NEGATIVE 3.5 STARS.

Next Issue – Enter: Bizarro Supergirl! But how did she get to Earth and just what does she want? The real Supergirl had better find out fast, or else there won’t be much left of Metropolis to save!