''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

series published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

supporting character

Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has ...

, it contains stories often of a humorous nature.

Publication history

The 1952 television series '' Adventures of Superman'' co-starred actor

Jack Larson Jack Edward Larson (February 8, 1928 – September 20, 2015) was an American actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer best known for his portrayal of photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the television series '' Adventures of Superm ...

, who appeared regularly as Jimmy Olsen. Largely because of the popularity of Larson and his portrayal of the character, National Comics Publications (DC Comics) decided to create a regular title featuring Jimmy as the leading character, which debuted with a September–October 1954 cover date.

Curt Swan Douglas Curtis Swan (February 17, 1920 – June 17, 1996) was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 195 ...

was the main artist on the series for its first decade. In 1958, a second title was introduced, ''

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics. The series focusing on the adventures of Lois Lane began publication with a March/April 1958 cover date and ended its run in September/October 1 ...

'', which revolves around another supporting character in a similar fashion.

Lucy Lane Lucy Lane is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics. She is the younger sister of Lois Lane, and one of several characters who have assumed the Superwoman identity. She was played by Maureen Teefy in the 1984 film ''Supergirl'' and Peyton ...

was introduced in issue #36 (April 1959) and became an on-again, off-again romantic interest of Jimmy Olsen. In issue #57, he marries

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

( Kara Zor-El/Linda Lee Danvers) after she loses both her powers and memories of being Supergirl, only for her to recover her powers and memories after their marriage; once she lets him know that she is Supergirl, he is perfectly happy with it. She was also the anonymous "Miss X" whom Jimmy kissed in issue #44 to break the spell that turned him into a werewolf. When

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...

began working at DC in 1970, he insisted on taking on this title since it was the lowest-selling in the publishing line and without assigned talent at the time, so he would not cost someone their job. Kirby's first issue was #133 (August 1970), and made a very clear break between the old style and the new. During his run, Kirby introduced many memorable characters, notably the Fourth World's

New Gods The New Gods are a fictional extraterrestrial race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in ''New Gods'' ...

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer-artist Jack Kirby to serve as the primary antagonist of his "Fourth World (comics), Fourth World" metaseries, and was firs ...

Project Cadmus Project Cadmus is a fictional genetic engineering project in the DC Comics Universe. Its notable creations included the Golden Guardian (a clone of the original Guardian), Auron, Superboy (Kon-El) (a clone from Superman's DNA), and Dubbilex (a D ...

and Transilvane. He also reintroduced the

Newsboy Legion The Newsboy Legion is a teenage vigilante group in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, they appeared in their own self-titled feature which ran from ''Star-Spangled Comics'' #7 (April 1942) to #64 (January 1947). In 1970, ...

and

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. The faces of the Superman and Jimmy Olsen figures drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino or

Murphy Anderson Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...

. Comedian

Don Rickles Donald Jay Rickles (May 8, 1926 – April 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He became known primarily for his insult comedy. His film roles include ''Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958) with Clark Gable, Carl Reiner's '' Enter La ...

guest starred in a two-part story by Kirby in issues #139 and #141. Kirby left the series with issue #148 (April 1972). Lucy Lane was believed to have died in ''

'' #120 (March 1972) but was later revived in a story in ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #160 (October 1973).

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was induct ...

was the cover artist for ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' for issues #154–163. ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen''; ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane''; and the short-lived ''

'' title (launched in 1972) ended in 1974 by merging into the new omnibus title ''

The Superman Family ''The Superman Family'' was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1974 to 1982 featuring supporting characters in the ''Superman'' comics. The term "Superman Family" is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters o ...

''. The new series continued the numbering from ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen''. ''Superman Family'' itself was canceled in 1982. A ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' special one-shot was published in December 2008, following on from the "

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

" storyline, and leading into '' Superman: New Krypton''.

Jimmy's transformations

Many of the issues include Jimmy undergoing some form of transformation. These include: * Speed Demon - In 1956, a month before the debut of Barry Allen as the new

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

, Jimmy drank a potion produced by a Professor Claude and briefly gained super-speed. * Jimmy the Imp - An prankster imp vision of Jimmy. * Colossal Olsen - A Colossal Kid version of Jimmy Olsen. * Radioactivity - After being exposed to a radioactive substance, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence. * Super-Brain - Jimmy briefly evolved into a "man of the future" with superhuman mental powers. * Monstrous beard growth - The machinations of the sinister Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense

beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. Throughout the course of history, societal at ...

. * Gorilla - When Jimmy switched minds with a gorilla, he went about his reporting duties as a gorilla in Jimmy's clothes. * Elastic Lad - As Elastic Lad, Jimmy, by serum or by alien virus could sometimes stretch himself, akin to the recently reintroduced

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...

. As Elastic Lad, Jimmy was inducted as an Honorary Member of the

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st c ...

. * Alien-form -

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

transformed Jimmy into a telepathic Jovian for a week. This turned out to be a

Jovian Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter and may refer to: * Jovian (emperor) (Flavius Iovianus Augustus), Roman emperor (363–364 AD) * Jovians and Herculians, Roman imperial guard corps * Jovian (lemur), a Coquerel's sifaka known for ''Zoboomafo ...

week which is much shorter than an Earth week, about 70 hours (slightly less than three days). * Fire-Breather - An accident involving an experiment gave Jimmy fire-breath. * Human

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

- After eating an extraterrestrial fruit, Jimmy grew four extra arms. According to Superman, this was actually a hallucination, but Jimmy suspected that Superman said this to teach him a lesson since Jimmy had foolishly ignored advice from the Man of Steel that would have saved him a lot of trouble. *

Genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

- Jimmy found a genie's lamp and was tricked into replacing its villainous occupant. * Wolf-Man - In the vein of the 1957

Michael Landon Michael Landon (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in ''Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in ''Little House on the Pr ...

film ''

I Was a Teenage Werewolf ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf'' is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager, Yvonne Lime and Whit Bissell. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen and was one of the most successful films release ...

'', Jimmy found himself transformed into a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

. * Woman - Jimmy would occasionally go undercover dressed as a woman in #44, #67, #84, and #159. * Morbidly Obese - Jimmy tried to get fat in an attempt to stop a jewel smuggler and to impress a Circus Fat Lady. * Giant

Turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

Man - One of Jimmy's most frequently cited transformations was that of his turning into a giant turtle man. * Human

Porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...

- Jimmy transformed after rejecting the romantic advances of an imp from the Fifth Dimension. * Bizarro Jimmy - Although Jimmy has a counterpart on

Bizarro World The Bizarro World (also known as Htrae, which is "Earth" spelled backwards) is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Introduced in the early 1960s, Htrae is a cube-shaped planet, home to Bizarro and companio ...

, he was briefly turned into a Bizarro himself. *

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

- Investigating a colony of hippies at "Guru Kama's Dream Pad", Jimmy grew a beard and participated in a mock "hate-in". On the cover of this story's issue, Jimmy is wielding a sign that says "Superman is a freak-out!" *

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

- Jimmy put on Viking armor and mistakenly believed he had been transported 1,000 years backward in time.

Proposed TV series

In 1959, the producers of the action/adventure series '' Adventures of Superman'' were hit by a snag as to how revive the now-canceled series after series star

George Reeves George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer; January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series '' Adventures of Superman'' (1952–1958). His death at age 45 from a g ...

had died that summer from a gunshot wound.

, who played Jimmy in the series, was approached with the idea of continuing the franchise as a spin-off for two new seasons of 26 episodes each to begin airing in 1960. Titled ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'', it would focus on a more serious angle of Olsen's rising career as a reporter and journalist with Larson reprising his role. In place of Reeves,

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

of Superman flying and a look-alike

stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

would be used to play the Man of Steel. Disgusted at the thought of the producers trying to cash in and make money over the death of Reeves, Larson rejected the proposal, and the project went unmade.

Collected editions

* ''

Showcase Presents ''Showcase Presents'' was a line of black-and-white paperback books published by DC Comics (from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like Marvel Comics' ''Essential Marvel'' volumes, each book usually included over 500 pages of r ...

: Superman Family'' ** Volume 1 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #1–22, 576 pages, March 2006, ** Volume 2 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #23–34, 520 pages, February 2008, ** Volume 3 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #35–44, 576 pages, March 2009, ** Volume 4 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #45–53, 520 pages, March 2013, * ''Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen'' includes stories from ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #22, 28, 31–33, 41–42, 44, 49, 53, 59, 65, 72, 80, 85, and 105, 192 pages, July 2007, * ''Showcase Presents: Supergirl'' Volume 1 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #40, 46, and 51, 528 pages, November 2007, * ''Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor'' includes ''Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #53 and 69, 200 pages, October 2007, * ''DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories, Vol. 1'' includes ''Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #57, 192 pages, September 2005, * '' Legion of Super-Heroes Archives'' ** Volume 2 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #72, 224 pages, 1992, ** Volume 3 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #76, 224 pages, 1993, ** Volume 7 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #106, 240 pages, May 1998, * ''Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby'' ** Volume 1, collects ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #133–139, and 141, 160 pages, August 2003, ** Volume 2, collects ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #142–148, 192 pages, December 2004, * ''Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus'' ** Volume 1 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #133–139, 396 pages, May 2007, ** Volume 2 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #141–145, 396 pages, August 2007, ** Volume 3 includes ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #146–148, 396 pages, November 2007, * ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

Special: Jimmy Olsen'' #1 (January 2008): collects ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #136 and #147–148.

References

External links