Jack Kirby’s run on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen in the early ’70s delivered a firehose of imagination as well as the beginning of the Fourth World saga, and it was also a ton of fun.
What Is It?
In 1970, after legendary comic book artist Jack “The King” Kirby had departed Marvel (where he co-created many of that company’s major-selling titles with Stan Lee) and jumped on board with DC, one of his first projects was to take over the title Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. He then proceeded to transform what had been a rather mundane comic–with the young reporter finding himself in predicament-of-the-month situations requiring and intervention by Superman–into a wild ride unlike anything on the stands at that time. Kirby resurrected the Newsboy Legion and Guardian characters that he had co-created with Joe Simon back in the 40’s as clones of the originals and teamed them up with Jimmy Olsen to set off for adventure in the supercar known as the Whiz Wagon. This group encountered the high-tech hippie subculture known as the Haires, a miniaturized planet populated with movie monster characters, and even Don Rickles and “his long lost alter ego Goody”. On top of that, the series also introduced Kirby’s Fourth World universe and gave us the very first appearance of Darkseid.
Original Run:
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 – 139, 141 – 148 (1970-72)
Legacy:
This series delivered a bat-shit crazy, roller-coaster ride of a comic book that followed its own anarchic path, and while it flamed out after only fifteen issues, it was great fun while it lasted.
A Closer Look:
Prior to Jack Kirby taking over the series, the Jimmy Olsen comic book mostly consisted of juvenile stories that have Olsen finding himself in some sort of pickle and having to pull out his secret “signal-watch” to call Superman to the rescue. In addition, Olsen would often find himself transformed–for any of a number of reasons–into some sort of silly character like a wolf man, a giant turtle boy, the Elastic Lad, or the human porcupine. These self-contained, throwaway stories stopped when Kirby took the reins, though. He had requested the book when he began at DC–not, as legend has it, because it was the company’s lowest selling title, but because nobody was assigned to it and thus nobody would lose their job because of Kirby–and quickly set about making it his own.
He used the book to lay the seeds for his coming Fourth World series (his first issue of Jimmy Olsen would precede New Gods #1 by several months) with the D.N.A. Project which was secretly being manipulated by Apokolips and which produced the Newsboy Legion and Guardian clones. But the Jimmy Olsen series was only tangentially related to the Fourth World books, helping set the stage for that story before heading off in its own wild direction which would deliver such things as the traveling Mountain of Judgement, the D.N.Aliens, and the planet of monster movie characters known as Transilvane. And then there’s the dueling Rickles . . .
The series was definitely off the wall, nothing like what Kirby had worked on at Marvel, and much different in tone and story direction than his three Fourth World titles which would follow. He successfully tapped into the spirit of the Golden Age comics where his Newsboy Legion stories originated from. But then he threw in plenty of sci fi elements and an epic sense of scale which surely had many unsuspecting DC fans scratching their heads when they encountered this at the comic stands. Kirby basically created all new worlds each month that existed far apart from the real world and that exploded off the page. This series delivered a firehose of unchecked imagination that may have jumped the shark several times, but it tapped gleefully into the spirit of fun and adventure at the heart of the comic book medium. And Kirby himself was definitely well versed in this as he had been working in comics since the late 30’s and had co-created any of a number of legendary characters by the time he moved to DC in the early 70’s (Captain America, Boy Commandoes, Challengers of the Unknown, Fantastic Four, Thor, etc.).
Unfortunately, the anarchic journey Kirby took Jimmy Olsen on seemed a bit much for DC fans to stomach and his tenure on the book would end with issue number 148 (and not long after he would see his Fourth World titles cancelled as well). But the fifteen issues he did produce are definitely worth checking out, whether you are fan of Jack Kirby or comics in general. Prepare for a thorough suspension of disbelief, and just latch on and let Kirby take you along for this wild ride where sci fi and fantasy clash together. It may not all make sense, nor follow all (any?) of the rules of logic, but it sure is great fun!
Cancelled Too Soon?
Legend has it that when Kirby first came to DC he told them to give him their worst selling title and he would make it their best. And whether or not there is any truth to that, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen was the first regular title he worked on and it never turned into a best-seller for DC. His early issues definitely delivered a boost in sales because of the name-recognition he brought, but it was so far different from what DC fans expected that it was eventually handed over to another creative team. Kirby didn’t leave the book on a cliffhanger, but he never provided a resolution to the main storyline he had going through his run. But that was generally expected at that time, and it was pretty common to hand off a book to another creative team. Jimmy Olsen would revert back to stand-alone stories similar to what was published prior to Kirby taking over the title, and then it would end with Issue #163, though the character would would jump over to The Superman Family anthology series where he had a ongoing segment.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Jimmy Olsen, the Newsboy Legion, the Guardian, and other characters from Kirby’s run would make appearances in other DC titles throughout the years and also revisit some of the themes that The King first explored with the book. However, it would certainly be fun to produce a new book that carries on directly from Kirby’s tenure. It could be considered an “Elseworlds” story or something that does not impact the current continuity of the DC Universe, and it could continue to explore the D.N.A. project and other concepts from the legendary early-70s books. The right creative team could do a lot with that and perhaps DC will let that happen at some point.
Where Can You Read It?
The Kirby run on Jimmy Olsen was originally collected in two trade paperbacks that have since gone out of print, though you can find them at a reasonable price from Amazon Sellers and other sources. They were also collected with the Fourth World Omnibus volumes, which I say is the better way to go because you get the New Gods, Forever People, and Mr. Miracle as well. Buying up those is going to be a little bit more expensive, but ultimately a better value. The cheapest way to read the series is the eBook version which is available from Amazon and comiXology.
Interesting Facts:
The malevolent god Darkseid, who has since become a central character in the DC Universe, made his first appearance during Kirby’s run on Jimmy Olsen. His introduction comes in issue number 134 in a quick cameo, but interestingly the coloring of Darkseid’s face is wrong in the panel that contains our initial glimpse of his visage. Apparently the colorist did not get the memo on how the character should look and his face is colored with a flesh-tone making him look like a normal (though very grim) man wearing a helmet. This was later corrected in the reprint editions, though.
DC did not like the way the Kirby drew the faces of Superman and Jimmy Olsen because they varied from the established look of the characters. They had other artists redraw the faces after the fact to fit within their editorial guidelines, a point that was always a contention with Kirby.
