Bibbo Bibbowski is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. He is typically portrayed as a close friend and supporter of

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

. Bibbo Bibbowski first appeared in '' The Adventures of Superman'' #428 (May 1987) and was created by

Jerry Ordway Jeremiah Joseph Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books. He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining ''Crisis on Infinite E ...

and

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade (character), Blade, and DC Comi ...

. He is based on Ordway's friend Jo Jo Kaminski, described as a "hard-as-nails softie". Bibbo Bibbowski has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Superman.

Brad Garrett Brad H. Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Garrett was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Taking advantage of that success in the la ...

Miguel Ferrer Miguel José Ferrer (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017) was an American actor. His breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in the 1987 film ''RoboCop''. Other film roles include Harbinger in '' Hot Shots! Part Deux'' (1993), Quigley in '' Blank ...

, and

Charles Halford Charles Halford (born February 28, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Chas Chandler on the NBC series '' Constantine'', Yago in Episode 4 Season 8 of '' The Walking Dead'', Big John in ''Outer Banks The Outer Banks (fre ...

have voiced the character in animation.

Fictional character biography

Bibbo first appears in a

Suicide Slum Metropolis is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Superman and his List of Superman supporting characters, closest allies and some of his List of Superman enemies, foes. First app ...

bar called the Ace o' Clubs. When

comes in looking for information, Bibbo, thinking this is "some clown in a Superman suit", punches Superman, damaging his hand. He gains respect for the Man of Steel. He would later refer to Superman as his "fav'rit" hero. During the Eradicator saga, Bibbo teams up with Lobo and Raof, a teleporter and a tribute to Marvel's Nightcrawler, to witness Lobo kill Superman. Lobo gives Bibbo a set of special goggles that will record the battle. All three, however, get drunk on Okarran liquor and thus suffer loss of all memory of the battle, which Superman won by a ruse engineered by the Eradicator artifact. Additionally, Bibbo wore the goggles backwards, and thus the entire recording was of his reactions. As a result, the aliens who retained Lobo to kill Superman have no proof that there even was a battle. Bibbo becomes a more significant part of the comic when he finds a winning

lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

ticket dropped by Gangbuster and uses the money to buy the Ace o' Clubs bar and to help those living in the slum. Bibbo attempts to assist Superman when Superman becomes involved in a fight against

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

. Bibbo works with Professor Hamilton on a plan to blast Doomsday with a large laser. They score a direct hit, but Doomsday is unaffected. When Doomsday and Superman kill each other, Bibbo is on the scene and helps Hamilton use a device to try to perform CPR on Superman, despite the risk of the device killing Bibbo himself. The plan fails and Bibbo is injured. Hamilton takes over CPR but also fails. Shortly afterward, Bibbo encounters a young man who, his family rendered homeless by Doomsday's rampage, is blatantly selling "Death of Superman" commemorative souvenirs during a public commemoration honoring the Man of Steel. At first outraged at the man's crassness, Bibbo feels some sympathy for his losses and buys his entire inventory to get him off the street, then offers him a job at the Ace O' Clubs. While Superman is gone, Bibbo takes to putting on a 'disguise' of sorts and helping out on the streets. Around this time he saves a man from suicide. This is mostly told through tall tales concerning various super-villains. Bibbo briefly takes care of a small white dog named Krypto whom he had saved from drowning, not to be confused with the Kryptonian dog of the same name. The name was supposed to be "Krypton", but the engraver Bibbo hired to make a name tag made an intentional mistake, trying to extort more money from Bibbo (the price accorded was for six letters). Bibbo took the tag as it was. A poster seen by the hero Aztek indicates that at one point, Bibbo fought the hero

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

during a charity boxing event. Later in the series, The Ace O' Clubs bar is the site of a battle between

Parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

and Aztek. Bibbo and his friends ignore the fight, playing cards instead and trusting others to handle the villain. In '' The Power of Shazam!'', Ordway introduces Professor Bibbowski, Bibbo's pacifist scientist brother. Bibbo reappears in ''Superman'' #679, shown as one of the champions of Metropolis that

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

defeated. He is established by then as having worked in the Ace of Clubs, even bringing himself to boldly menace Atom Smasher for "talking trash about Sooperman". Bibbo returns in 2016 ''Superman'' vol. 4 #4. He is seen arm-wrestling Hacken and easily beating him, before Superman's fight with Eradicator moves into his bar. Bibbo is shocked to see what appears to be Superman running away from the fight, but quickly realizes Superman is simply trying to lure Eradicator somewhere when there are no innocent bystanders. Later Bibbo and his niece show up in Superwoman. When Ultrawoman takes over Metropolis, Bibbo is seen trying to start a fight with her minions but is saved by Natasha Irons and Traci 13.

Perry White Perry White is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the '' Daily Planet''. The character maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards and i ...

recommends Clark and

Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...

take their son over to Bibbo's 'Ace O' Clubs' for burgers. At one point, Superman saves Bibbo from being murdered by gun-wielding muggers. Bibbo and his history with the Clubs bar is examined in '' House of Brainiac''. As Bibbo tries to help Perry White's run for mayor, he reminisces working at the bar since he was a child. Bibbo also gets involved in related mayoral issues, namely that Perry's opponent is leading a

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

campaign.

Other versions

* An alternate universe variant of Bibbo Bibbowski appears in '' Superman: The Dark Side''. * The pre-'' Zero Hour'' incarnation of Bibbo Bibbowski appears in ''

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

''.

In other media

Television

* Bibbo Bibbowski appears in the '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' episode "Double Jeopardy", portrayed by Troy Evans. * Bibbo Bibbowski appears in '' Superman: The Animated Series'', voiced by

. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version is an unemployed

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship, inc ...

who frequents Hobb's Bay. * Bibbo Bibbowski appears in ''

Young Justice Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team was formed in 1998 when DC's usual teen hero group, the Teen Titans, had become adults and changed their name to the Titans. Like the original ''Teen T ...

'', voiced by

Film

Bibbo Bibbowski appears in the

DC Animated Movie Universe The DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU) is an American media franchise and shared universe of Animation, animated films distributed between 2013 and 2024 by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment. Based on characters from the DC Universe ...

films ''

The Death of Superman "The Death of Superman" is a crossover story event mostly featured in DC Comics' Superman-related publications. The crossover, which originated from editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and ...

'' and '' Reign of the Supermen'', voiced by

Video games

* Bibbo Bibbowski appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''. * Bibbo Bibbowski makes cameo appearances in the Metropolis stage in '' Injustice 2''.

References

External links

Bibbo at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibbowski, Bibbo Characters created by Jerry Ordway Characters created by Marv Wolfman Comics characters introduced in 1987 DC Comics film characters DC Comics male characters Fictional bartenders Bibbowski, Bibbo Fictional sea captains Fictional sailors Superman characters