WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #70

Here’s another issue of SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN that I got as part of my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, where I bought a box of around 150 Silver Age comics from a guy I met at my local Post Office for the measly sum of just $50.00. There were proportionately more Mort Weisinger Superman titles in that box than anything else, as those books were largely considered worthless by collectors at the time. Nowadays, they’re appreciated a bit more, and looked back upon with some nostalgic fondness. In the 1980s, though, fans were embarrassed by these books as often as not. They wanted darker, more serious super hero stories, ones that woudn’t get them laughed at.

More than anything, it was the 1950s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television show that made it possible for Jimmy Olsen to headline in his own comic book. While he’d been popular since the 1940s when he was introduced on the Superman radio program, it was the regular exposure to Jack Larson’s portrayal of the character that cemented him in the minds of young readers. It’s also worth pointing out that SUPERMAN’S PALL JIMMY OLSEN, like all of the Superman titles, was a top seller, easily outpacing all material that is considered superior for most of the decade. Jimmy may seem to be an odd subject to carry his own magazine, but audiences were ready for more Superman and liked the character from his media exposure.

In the style of the period, this issue of SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN contains three short stories, The first is written by the Man of Steel’s creator Jerry Siegel and drawn by John Forte. In it, Jimmy makes a series of mistakes while visiting the Smallville chapter of his fan club that Superman gets pissed off at him and dissolves their friendship. But of course, there’s something more going on behind-the-scenes, something complex and impractical. In this case, it’s that the so-called fans were really plants, part of the Superman Revenge Squad who are attempting to strike at the Man of Tomorrow through his friendship with Jimmy by causing those blunders to happen. But Jimmy is wise to what’s going on from the start, thanks to a ridiculous bit of nonsense; the Superman Revenge Squad’s members for some reason dislike ice, and so when none of the fan club members drink their soft drinks, Jimmy realizes that they are impostors. Sure, that all tracks, right?

House Ad time, this one once again for one of the upcoming DC Annuals, this one dedicated to Batman. Ira Schnapp’s work on these house ads was consistently beautiful.

The identity of the author of the second story in this issue is lost to the passing of time, but it was illustrated by Curt Swan and George Klein, who were the best combination of artists working in the Mort Weisinger editorial office during this period. Swan always did great work on Superman, but his softer, more Norman Rockwell approach really fit the ethos of Jimmy Olsen stories well. And he didn’t have a better inker during this period than Klein. His clean, diagrammatical artwork is a pleasure to look at all throughout this story, and he makes even the most ridiculous plot developments seem plausible in the direct manner in which he depicts them.

The story in this one involves Jimmy being turned into a robot by some Venusians after he’s subjected to rays which will otherwise turn him into stone. Jimmy doesn’t seem especially bothered by his new situation at first, but over the course of the story, he finds himself liking it less and less. But this is, of course, all a hoax concocted by some criminals who intend to use Jimmy to locate Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and then detonate a kryptonite bomb secreted inside Jimmy’s fake robot suit. Jimmy realizes what’s going on when he sees that the controls to the ship that brought him back to Earth from Venus were demarcated in English, so he and Superman get the jump on the bad guys, an all ends well.

Next comes the letters page, Jimmy Olsen’s Pen Pals. Editor Weisinger seems a hair more combative in this one, jousting with readers who attempt to point out seeming mistakes in earlier stories.

But it’s the third story in this issue that is something special. Like the second one, its writer is uncertain but again this one was illustrated by Curt Swan and George Klein. In it, on the important date of June 13, Jimmy begins a quest to locate Silver Kryptonite, a new form of Kryptonite never before mentioned. Kryptonite was like a magic charm in the Superman titles–while the green version was deadly to the Man of Steel, other varieties produced an array of different effects. So the introduction of a new type of Kryptonite would have enticed the readers of the book no doubt. After everybody tells Jimmy that Silver Kryptonite doesn’t exist, he begins gathering up silver objects to deliver to Professor Potter’s laboratory, where the scientist is experimenting with Silver Kryptonite.

Superman is, of course, concerned that Jimmy and Potter are working on something that can harm him, but despite his best efforts, he can’t get any information about just what the mythical Silver Kryptonite is. And that’s because the entire thing is–you guessed it–a hoax perpetrated by Jimmy. The characters in Mort’s books never did anything in a straightforward manner if the same thing could be accomplished through a hoax. In this case, it’s all been a cover to keep Superman from finding out about a silver statue that is being made to commemorate the 25th year since he arrived in Metropolis and became the city’s protector. Of course, this doesn’t really work in-world at all, given that Superman’s age has consistently been given as 29. But this issue was published on the 25th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in ACTION COMICS #1, and so it was a celebration of the character and his history more than his adventures in his fictional world.