Comments on: 365 Reasons to Love Comics #23

By: The Kirbydotter

The Kirbydotter — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:10:47 +0000

I prefer the original Popeye-parody of Captain Strong (another childhood favorite of mine) drawn by the great Curt Swan! First appearance in ACTION COMICS 421. He was popular enough for a second appearance in ACTION COMICS 439. He came back at the end of the Julius Schwartz era of editorialship (in the early 80's) in another ACTION COMICS issue (which I can't seem to find) that was drawn by Marshall Rogers.

He ate a kind of alien-seaweed (called sauncha) that made him as strong as Superman but also a little crazy.

Seeweed is much better than beer for your health.
Too much beer makes you stupid.
Too much sauncha makes you stupid but very strong.

By: MoggIntellect

MoggIntellect — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:03:18 +0000

The images are cool, and even though it eats up my fragile line, they're usually worth they wait. Often, much like today's, they will show me something I've not seen before, and will also inspire me to hunt them down.

I just about shat myself when I saw the Bibbo and Lobo Showcase #6. That's definitely gonna be in my next backissue purchase!

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:36:05 +0000

Yeah, 'gree. I assume that the Kirby and Kirby-ish characters were all Kessel.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:18:57 +0000

I do not believe it was Jurgens. I think it was all of the writers. Ordway, to wit, loved most of the characters. So did Louise Simonson. So did Roger Stern. And yeah, so did Jurgens, but he left the book the same time Louise Simonson officially left the book (she had left the book but came back for a little run).

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:44:07 +0000

Bibbo pretty much vanished during the big writer change in Fall of 1998. It's my theory that it was Dan Jurgens who was maintaining all of those supporting characters (Bibbo, Lucy, Ron, the aforementioned Alice the copy girl, Keith, Jose Delgado, Guardian, the Newsboys, Colin Thornton, Lana as a decent person, Luthor actually having recurring goons with personality, etc).

Yeah, I miss Jurgens a lot.

By: Matt Brady

Matt Brady — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:57:34 +0000

Maybe Grant Morrison will catch wind of Bibbo's fandom and plug him into a future issue of ASS. That would be cool.

By: James

James — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:21:54 +0000

One of my favorite moments from Superman: The Animated Series --

It's in the first of Worlds Finest episodes. The Joker has shifted operations to Metropolis. Clark Kent dons the reporter's hat and starts asking questions. He visits the bar and asks Bibbo if he knows anything about the Joker. "Sure, Mr. Kent! Which one? There are plenty of jokers around here."

Ah, what the heck. I thought it was funny (funnier when you hear Brad Garrett read the line, I guess).

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:08:13 +0000

I think it all came about in the big creative team shift--the writers who used Bibbo left, and the new people coming in did a lot different. That's still editorial, though, in a sense--the editors kicked out the whole crew for all four books (in what I'm given to understand was not a wholly graceful transition, he understates) and found people who would deliver a totally different approach. They probably didn't say, "No Bibbo!", but they went and found people they didn't have to say that too. And probably a good thing. I ever find a DC editor screaming, "No Bibbo, no Bibbo!"...let's just say I'm aiming for the head, just like in a Romero movie.

By: Mr.Chris

Mr.Chris — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:30:32 +0000

Man, Bibbo was awesome. When was the last time he was in a Superman book? I remember him being in the wedding issue, but not much after that.

I think it became some sort of editorial decree that Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White were the only necessary supporting characters for Superman. Or maybe Jeph Loeb decided that back when he started writing Superman. It seems like I remember reading something to that effect in an interview somewhere a few years back.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 07:34:06 +0000

For a character created in 1991, Bibbo Bibbowski certainly does seem like a suprisingly well-considered idea.

I'm not sure where you got that year from, but I'm pretty sure he was created in 87 or 88 in Marv Wolfman's run on Adventures of Superman

By: Josh Elder

Josh Elder — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:38:49 +0000

Bibbo made me into the lunatic "S"-tattoed Superman fan that I am today.

Seriously.

The scene that Jacob T. Levy highlights from "World Without a Superman" was one of the first Superman books I ever read as an adoloscent (I was a total Marvel zombie up until that point), and the first comic that ever got even the least little bit choked up.

Bibbo believed in Superman, and I believed in Bibbo. Ergo I came to believe in Superman as well.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:59:13 +0000

I think Bibboâ€™s scenes in World Without a Superman (or early in Reign, I forgetâ€“ the scene that ends with him pulling on the goofy S-jersey) are some of the most emotionally well-done bits with any civilian in a super-hero comic, ever, and a real highlight of that arc. Totally tear-jerkingly wonderful.

I had this scene in my head the entire time I was writing today's column. It's one of my favorite moments from the Superbooks.

Great character choice, Mr. Reed!

Thanks, man. I'm glad to see such a healthy response for Bibbo. I guess the Bibbo love *is* strong.

By: Kevin Street

Kevin Street — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:54:27 +0000

Great character choice, Mr. Reed!

Man, I love that Showcase 95 cover. Bibbo thinks he's got the situation covered, but you just know the bulldog is going to walk away with all his money.

Good old Bibbo was fun. Back in the 90's I thought comics were pretty grim and gritty (compared to the 80's), but it's hard to imagine a character like Bibbo being tossed into a story now, when everything is supposed to be so dramatic and important. There don't seem to be a lot of supporting characters out there who are humourous foils.

Matthew E said â€¦
"So Superman had *two* Popeye characters appear in his comics - Bibbo and Captain Strong?"

Wasn't Bibbo an updated Captain Strong?

By: John

John — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:30:15 +0000

From what I understand, Bibbo actually originates from an old Honeymooners episode (ex-Superman editor Mike Carlin is a big Honeymooners fan). I don't think Bibbo became as much of a Popeye analogue until he was adapted into the Superman animated series.

By: Anthony Strand

Anthony Strand — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:10:31 +0000

Just to confirm - Bibbo was Brad Garrett on the cartoon, yeah.

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:02:19 +0000

I think Bibbo's scenes in World Without a Superman (or early in Reign, I forget-- the scene that ends with him pulling on the goofy S-jersey) are some of the most emotionally well-done bits with any civilian in a super-hero comic, ever, and a real highlight of that arc. Totally tear-jerkingly wonderful.

By: Matthew E

Matthew E — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:26:00 +0000

So Superman had *two* Popeye characters appear in his comics - Bibbo and Captain Strong?

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:02:01 +0000

For a character created in 1991, Bibbo Bibbowski certainly does seem like a suprisingly well-considered idea. But I think it's good that he makes himself scarce these days. It's hard to Superman having a realistic, drunkard Popeye tag along and maintain a tone of anything but surreal, Indie comic-like "goofy awesomeness."

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:46:49 +0000

I wonder why Supe's supporting cast was dumped so one-fell-swoopedly. Was it ediorial, like Thou Shalt Not Use These Characters? Or was it just the writer switch-a-round?

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:16:26 +0000

I miss having Bibbo in Superman. I miss having a lot of the citizens of Metropolis in the books.

Don't even get me started, or I will rave for hours about Ron Troupe and Alice the Copy Girl.