I was up very late last night and my brain’s not working very well this morning… I’m going on almost no sleep. That’s kind of appropriate for todays sketch… because my thoughts FEEL like the kinds of things that BIZARRO might say at this point. I’ve tried to start this post in a half-dozen different ways and had to scrap them all (writing, I mean), simply because I can’t seem to gather my thoughts. I suppose what I WANT to say is that what I like the most about the major iconic characters of both Marvel and DC is (are?) the colorful rogues galleries they have as adversaries. I love the main characters themselves… BATMAN, SUPERMAN, SPIDER-MAN… the FANTASTIC FOUR… but it’s their villains that define them, to a great degree. It’s their villains who add to the tapestry that makes up their individual comic worlds.

BIZARRO is one of those great characters. He sort of fell out of favor after the mid-80’s CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS mega-crossover. But in recent years, he’s had a resurgence of use in the DCU. Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness used him a lot in their SUPERMAN run… and he was a great addition to the WB animated SUPERMAN cartoon helmed by Bruce Timm. He was even the namesake for the two volumes of BIZARRO COMICS that DC published a couple of years back (some of the best stuff they’ve put out in recent years– by far– IMHO). He’s both funny and tragic at the same time… which is a large part of his appeal; that twisted-mirror image of SUPERMAN, who both idolizes and hates him. He obviously has wide appeal– because I’m always seeing him drawn in posts on such forums as DRAWINGBOARD.ORG (which is pretty much of what prompted me to do this drawing).

So– what are some of your favorite bad-guys from your favorite icon’s (or ICONS’) rogues gallery(s)….?

OK…. gotta go drink more coffee and try to jump-start my flagging brain….

This is Entry 344.

Mike