Superman #140
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman #140 is the Silver Age issue that permanently expanded DC's Kryptonite mythology by introducing Blue Kryptonite — a substance created by running the Bizarro duplicator ray over a chunk of Green Kryptonite — which affects Bizarros precisely as Green Kryptonite affects Superman, yet leaves actual Kryptonians completely unharmed. The issue simultaneously delivers the first appearance of Bizarro Supergirl, a perverse mirror-image of Kara Zor-El conjured when Bizarro Jr. accidentally activates the duplicator machine inside the Fortress of Solitude, and provides the origin of Bizarro Jr. himself, the first child born on Bizarro World. Together these three debuts — Blue Kryptonite, Bizarro Supergirl, and Bizarro Jr. — mark the peak of editor Mort Weisinger's systematic expansion of the Bizarro corner of the Superman universe during the Silver Age. The issue also quietly articulates a genuine piece of in-universe biology, with Superman deducing that Bizarros are born looking like normal humans and only develop their chalk-faced appearance with age, a piece of world-building that writers returned to for decades.
Bizarro-Lois gives birth to Bizarro-Jr. No. 1, a child who thinks like a Bizarro but looks like a young Superman. When the boy’s existence becomes public, Bizarro hides him in an abandoned space capsule, which crashes on Earth and brings the infant to the Midvale Orphanage—where Linda Lee, the future Supergirl, also lives.
In a quirky twist at the Fortress of Solitude, Supergirl finds herself tangled in a mix-up when her Heat Vision accidentally sets off a lab mishap—leaving her convinced that the baby Bizarro Jr. #1 has been transformed into a Bizarro! Meanwhile, Superman and the two robot guardians oversee the young clone’s care, unaware of the chaos brewing as the boy’s mysterious past begins to stir.
In a delightfully twisted twist on the Superman mythos, Bizarro-Jr. #1 stumbles upon Lex Luthor’s original Imperfect Duplicator in the Fortress of Solitude and accidentally creates Bizarro-Supergirl—her look, her powers, all gloriously backwards. When Superman and Supergirl attempt to return the misfit Bizarro-Jr. #1 to the Bizarro World, Bizarro-Supergirl refuses to let him go, sparking a chain reaction that shocks the entire Bizarro community. With Bizarro #1 finally seeing his child as "acceptable," the entire Bizarro population rises in a chaotic, off-kilter war against Earth—just as the first stars of the conflict begin to align.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The story, titled 'The Son of Bizarro!' and structured across three chapters, was scripted by Otto Binder — the writer DC's editorial office leaned on most heavily for Superman-family invention in this period, having already co-created Supergirl, Krypto, and Bizarro himself. Interior art was handled by Wayne Boring with inks by Stan Kaye, while Curt Swan and Stan Kaye produced the cover; editor Mort Weisinger shepherded the issue through production, as he did the entire Superman line at this time. The issue carries a cover date of October 1960 and was published by DC on approximately September 30, 1960, at the standard Silver Age cover price of ten cents across 36 pages.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of Blue Kryptonite, synthesized by running the Bizarro duplicator ray over Green Kryptonite; it is lethal to Bizarros but entirely harmless to Kryptonians such as Superman and Supergirl.
- First appearance of Bizarro Supergirl, accidentally created when Bizarro Jr. activates the duplicating machine inside the Fortress of Solitude and trains its beam on Kara Zor-El; Bizarro Supergirl perishes at the story's end, killed by exposure to a pile of Blue Kryptonite on an asteroid.
- Origin of Bizarro Jr. #1 — the first child born to Bizarro and Bizarro-Lois on Htrae; the issue establishes that Bizarros are born with normal human features and develop their characteristic distorted appearance as they mature.
- First team appearance of the Bizarro Family as a distinct unit (Bizarro #1, Bizarro-Lois #1, and Bizarro Jr. #1).
- Story written by Otto Binder; interior pencils by Wayne Boring; inks by Stan Kaye; cover penciled and inked by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye; edited by Mort Weisinger.
- The main story 'The Son of Bizarro!' is divided into three chapters: 'Part I: The Son of Bizarro!', 'Part II: The Orphan Bizarro!', and 'Part III: The Bizarro Supergirl!' (also rendered in some sources as 'The Supergirl Bizarro!').
- Reprinted multiple times, including in Action Comics #347 (March–April 1967), Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies (Crown Publishers, 1971), Showcase Presents: Superman Vol. 2 (DC, 2006), Showcase Presents: Supergirl Vol. 1 (DC, 2007/2008), and Superman: Escape from Bizarro World (DC, 2008).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Action Comics #347 (1967), Supermann #8/1968 (1968), Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies #[nn] (1971), Giant Supergirl Album #4 (1973), Showcase Presents: Superman #2 (2006), Showcase Presents: Supergirl #1 (2008), Superman: Escape from Bizarro World #[nn] (2008), Superman: Escape from Bizarro World #[nn] (2009), DC Finest: Supergirl: The Girl of Steel #[nn] (2025)
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