WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #77

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN is a resolutely strange series, albeit one that was incredibly successful for two decades thanks to the lasting appeal of Superman and the performance of actor Jack Larson as the cub reporter on the syndicated ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television program. Every young reader of the period knew exactly who Jimmy Olsen was at the time, whereas today he’s more of a relic of a bygone era, a character who has outlived his primary purpose of being an identification figure for young children (and somebody for Clark Kent/Superman to talk to on the radio.) In keeping the series vital for so long, editor Mort Weisinger steered directly into the strangeness of things, regularly deforming his lead character in absurd ways and having him face plots whose dreamlike logic doesn’t stand up to even a cursory examination, but which were entertaining nonetheless. As I’ve said before, the real key to Weisinger’s Superman output was that it was resolutely emotional on a level that even a small child could understand and relate to.

Nobody seems to be quite sure who wrote the three stories in this issue of SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN, but this opening tale was illustrated by Curt Swan and George Klein. Swan had become the central Superman artist in this period, and looking at his work as compared to his fellow artists of the period, it’s easy to see why. He drew the feature with a naturalistic grace, a sense of Norman Rockwell Americana that was always pleasant without being undramatic. Swan didn’t often exaggerate for effect, he drew his images directly and reservedly, counting on their charm to connect with audiences. And it did.

This opening story is a typical Olsen affair. When Titano, the giant ape with Kryptonite vision somehow returns to the present from where Superman had exiled him in the prehistoric past, Jimmy is forced to use an enlarging serum that Colossal Boy of the future Legion of Super Heroes gave him for some reason to become a giant himself and stop the ape’s rampage, since Superman can’t get near him. Along the way, he’s awful to his would-be girlfriend Lucy Lane, and is wooed once again by an old suitor, Allura, who is a giantess from another world. But when the growth serum wears off, Lucy remembers Jimmy’s earlier asinine behavior and won’t have anything to do with him.

Next came the Jimmy Olsen’s Pen Pals letters page, in which Weisinger answered questions from his young readers and hinted at upcoming story developments like a pro. On this page, he takes a rare stance on an actual issue, capital punishment, which he is against.

Plus a house ad for the fist SUPERBOY Annual, with beautiful typography by Ira Schnapp. Though the copy here cheats quite a bit: the term “The Golden Age of Comics” was just coming into use among comic book aficionados, and it really referred to the formative years of the business in the 1940s primarily. But here, it’s used for this collection of Superboy stories none of which is more than a couple of years old. But it’s interesting to see the term gaining traction in real time.

This second story is also illustrated by the combo of Swan and Klein. In it, the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club–yes, Jimmy had an active fan club thanks to his association with the Man of Steel–is targeted for a hustle by con artist “Skip” Wallow, the son of a famous gambler. He proceeds to trick the hapless fans into a series of bets with him, bets that are all rigged to be unwinnable by them. He cleans the crew out of all of their Jimmy and Superman souvenirs except for their prized possession, one of Jimmy’s bow ties, which he feels is worthless. So when Jimmy shows up at the clubhouse, the dejected kids are forced to bring him up to speed on the situation. Jimmy vows to give “Skip” a taste of his own medicine.

And Jimmy is as good as his word. Pursuing “Skip” to a remote skiing lodge where he’s going to attempt to sell the trophies he’s just won, Jimmy challenges “Skip” to another series of bets, using the cool Superman robot he’s brought with him as collateral. Just as before, through cleverness, Jimmy is able to do all of the things he bets “Skip” that he can do–and without any assistance from Superman or any other super hero–it’s all him. Finally, at the very end, once the club members have their lost mementos back, including the new addition of the Superman robot, Jimmy makes one more bet with his prospective girlfriend Lucy Lane. It too is a trick to get her to kiss him, and Lucy is properly annoyed when she realizes this. But Jimmy was actually clever and resourceful on his own in this story, so we’ll let him get away with this touch of inappropriateness just this once.

Before we transition to the third and final story in the issue, there’s time for a raft of new Coming Super-Attractions previewing soon-to-be-released issues. The Composite Superman, who has all of the powers of the members of the Legion of Super Heroes! A Superboy from 800 years ago! Lightning Lad incarcerated for breaking the Legion code! This was pretty potent stuff to a follower of Mort’s Superman titles.

The last story in the issue was drawn not by Curt Swan but rather John Forte, although George Klein also inked it. And you can see at once how much livelier and more natural Swan’s work on the feature is, and why his style became the defining one for the Superman family. Forte’s work is fine, it’s straightforward and diagrammatical in that way that Weisinger preferred. But it’s also pretty wooden, lacking in life and animation. He tells the story, but without any particular excitement or emotion of any sort. His characters all feel like robots to me, striking poses and mimicking human emotions without actually experiencing them.

The story opens with Jimmy on an intergalactic goodwill mission to distribute Superman trophies to friendly worlds. He’s forced to land on an alien world to recharge his ship’s batteries, and while there, he dons one of their translator helmets so that he can speak their language. In doing so, however, Jimmy is struck with an overwhelming desire to steal things. Turns out that this is a world of criminals and that stealing here is legal and admired. What’s more, the belt buckle of the uniform Jimmy stole produces rays that deaden his conscience, driving him to his criminality. The crooks are all in awe of Jimmy, though, as they assume that he must have stolen the Superman trophies his ship is full of from the Man of Steel himself. Chagrined, and with his engines recharged, Jimmy makes a hasty departure. And that’s it–that’s the story. There’s really no conflict, and no comeuppance–it’s just Jimmy stealing strange alien devices when he knows that he shouldn’t and being absolved by circumstances by the end of the tale.