Bizarro-World and the Scourge of Extra-Earths

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2143

 

Nothing quite says "bizarro" like the bizarre¹--and there has been plenty of that on this blog.  There have been a number of places that I have identified as Bizarro Worlds, but so far it seems that the only self-proclaimed Bizarro World is this one, from the Superman² comic book--a place that was the opposite of the Superman-y traits that made Superman Superman.  Somehow to equate bizarreness on this world everything appeared as geometrical shapes with basically no sphere or rounded edges.  (How Braque or Picasso and company would have reacted to this is unclear.) 

It is evident that Bizarro World inhabits a place in the universe that allows for bizarre things to happen, a sort of bizarrograviation, that also allows for shadow to be cast in space without regard to light source. 

It is a lovely to addition--if only by this brief note, to a continuing series on Extra-Earths.  This is an Earth, and it is Extra, hence:  Extra Earth.   Some of the other Extra-Earth posts include:

--Extra-Earth Humano-Alien Souls From Outer Space Repopulate Earth-Hell!!(??),

--Mondo Bizarro, Science Afflictions and the Dubious Mind—Bad Science, Part 1. NYC in Space (?!)

--The Battle of the Extra Earths: Mini-Extra-Earth Vs. Full-Sized-Standard-Earth (?)

and some others, all quite findable on this blog via the Google search at left. 

I've just noticed that these Extra-Earth posts share something else that few of the other 2500+ posts on this site do not:  extra exclamation points!

And to end, I should point out that this is not the first time I've encountered a square Earth, bizarro or not:

 

Notes

1.  "Bizarre", via the OED: At variance with recognized ideas of taste, departing from ordinary style or usage; eccentric, extravagant, whimsical, strange, odd, fantastic

• a1648   Ld. Herbert Life,   Her attire seemed as bizare as her person.
• 1668   Dryden Secret-love Pref. sig. a1,   The ornament of Writing, which is greater, more various and bizarre in Poesie than in any other kind.

Bizarre quality

• 1741–70   Lett. Mrs. Carter (1808) 207   The bizarreries which arise from the mixture of good and bad which makes up the composition of most folks.
• 1828   Scott Tapestr. Chamb.,   Rich in all the bizarrerie of the Elizabethan school.
• 1844   Foreign Q. Rev. 33 60   Bizarreries.
• 1858   W. Bagehot Lit. Stud. II. 194   The bizarrerie of Mr. Dickens's genius.

2.  "Superman" in the OED:

A. "In Nietzschean thought (also with capital initial): an ideal superior man of the future who transcends conventional Christian morality to create and impose his own values; = Übermensch n.   More generally: a man of extraordinary power or ability; a superior being. Cf. superwoman n.In later use sometimes influenced by sense 2"

• 1894   Forum May 302   The ‘cosmic, super-man’ of the future.
• 1903   G. B. Shaw Man & Superman 196   We have been driven to Proletarian Democracy by the failure of all the alternative systems; for these depended on the existence of Supermen acting as despots or oligarchs.
• 1909   T. Common tr. F. Nietzsche Thus spake Zarathustra ii. xxvi. 108   Never yet hath there been a Superman. Naked have I seen both of them, the greatest man and the smallest man... Verily, even the greatest found I—all-too-human!
• 1925   H. V. Morton Heart of London 110   Above the kneeling priests is the Pharaoh, that ancient superman.
• 1969   G. Jackson Let. 28 Dec. in Soledad Brother (1971) 179   How could there be a benevolent superman controlling a world like this.
• 2008   K. Hawkins Talk of Town 241   Poor Nick. He's determined to be a superman and resist emotional entanglements that could cloud his judgment.
• 2010   M. G. Kendrick Heroic Ideal ix. 161   The Zarathustrian vision of a post-Christian faith rooted in the real world and dedicated to the creation of the superman, inspired a whole generation of radical Russian artists and Marxists.

B. "With capital initial. (The name of) an almost invincible superhero having the power to fly and typically depicted wearing a tight blue suit with a red cape; a person likened to this superhero.The character first appeared in 1938 in a U.S. comic strip by writer Jerry Siegel (1914–96) and artist Joe Shuster (1914–92) and has since been the subject of radio and television series, as well as numerous films."

• 1938   Action Comics June 1   So was created..Superman! champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!
• 1940   Time 26 Feb. 44/3   Last week Superman took to the air in earnest, as a three-a-week serial.
• 1958   Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Apr. p. xx/4   The impression remains of a sense of values associated with ‘Superman’ and American comics.
• 1968   S. Ellin Valentine Estate iii. iv. 142   ‘How the hell did he come to miss me?’.. ‘You're Superman,’ the first man answered. ‘Bullets bounce off you.’
• 1980   F. Weldon Puffball 77   ‘Now it's our turn.’ ‘I don't want it to be,’ she said, as if he, like Superman, could turn the world the other way.
• 1995   FourFourTwo Oct. 135/1   Presenting Shearer as a goalscoring Superman seems a bit OTT.

 

Comments

[Smut Clyde]

A cubic Earth features at the end of Dan Galouye's "Infinite Man", IIRC.