DC Finest - Superman Family

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I haven't been looking forward to this collection quite as much as the upcoming Superboy one, but still I'll likely get around to reading it sooner rather than later, hence the stub. (If anyone else wants to delve into it ahead of me, please feel free to do so.) This one includes Action Comics #266 & #277-278, Adventure Comics #287, Superman #142-143 & #147, Superboy #87, #90 & #92, Lois Lane #19-28 and Jimmy Olsen #47-56. I don't know why these issue in particular, but at least their choice demonstrates that someone has put some thought into it.

I used to like those b&w DC Showcase and Marvel Essential collections... at least I liked the idea of them. Although I would have preferred color, I bought the ones I didn't have and didn't expect to see reprinted in color any time soon, including the DC Showcase edition  of Superman Family. I am pleased to report there there is very little duplication between the  DCF volume and the four Showcase editions:

• Vol. 1 - Jimmy Olsen #1-22 and Showcase #9
• Vol. 2 - Jimmy Olsen #23-34, Showcase #10 and Lois Lane #1-7
• Vol. 3 - Jimmy Olsen #35- 44 and Lois Lane #8-16
• Vol. 4 - Jimmy Olsen #45-53 and Lois Lane #17-26

That's only 15 issues of duplication, and only with Showcase volume four.

(All covers illustrated by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye unless otherwise noted.)

[Philip Portelli]

In Jimmy's defense, he thought that it was Superman and Perry White getting into the spaceship but it was really Bizarro #1 and Bizarro-Perry White! 

But this story is "special" because it is the debut of Bizarro-Perry White and Bizarro-Jimmy Olsen. The Bizarro World of Htrae was always shown being populated by numerous duplicates of Bizarro #1 and Bizarro-Lois but now there are individual Bizarro doubles of Superman's supporting cast to go with Bizarro-Krypto and Bizarro-Kltpzyxm!

And they don't have super powers either, thus expanding what it means to be a Bizarro!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #55:

• "The Monster that Loved Aqua-Jimmy!" - by (unknown) and Al Plastino - This one has such an incredibly unlikely premise I could hardly get past it: Aquaman has a "mission in outer space" and chooses Jimmy Olsen (Jimmy Olsen!) to fill in for him. The entire point of this story seems to be simply to show Jimmy in an Aquaman costume. the premise is established in a single panel: ""This helmet will temporarily give you the same powers [Aquaman] has," says Superman. Aquaman adds, "And her's a spare costume of mine! Use my powers wisely!" "Super-duper!" chimes in Jimmy. "What a deal! You can trust me!" Too bad this story was not written by Robert Bernstein (who wrote the other two stories this issue). This "story" is so incredibly lame (about a prehistoric sea monster falling in love with Jimmy) I wonder if the writer requested his name to be withheld?
• "Jimmy the Red, Thor's Best Pal!" - by Robert Bernstein and Curt Swan - I had fun with this one imagining Thor, Loki and the other Aesir to be the Marvel versions. (And this one is written by "R. Berns," who would himself be writing Thor stories in a few short years.) Early on, just before Jimmy translates an ancient rune stone which sends him into the past, Lois asks him to hold her purse. That seemed odd to me, so I suspected this simple action would become the crux of the story's resolution. In this story we learn that, like Merlin in the days of King Arthur, Loki is also a 5th dimensional imp, whom Jimmy must trick into saying his name backwards.  It ends with Thor throwing Jimmy through the time stream back to 1961. Also, Superman is on a "scientific mission" in the future in this story. But what about Lois's purse?
• "Jimmy Olsen's Secret Power!" (cover story) - by Robert Bernstein and Curt Swan - Superman gives Jimmy a series of "scoops" which will play out over the course of the next four days. Professor Potter invites Jimmy to witness the demonstration of his new invention, which he calls "boomerang power." It is a horseshoe that absorbs any enegy directed at it and repels it with equal force. But readers know that Potter is out of town and has been replaced by an imposter. "If he only knew what's inside that horseshoe!" the imposter thinks. As the days go by, none of Superman's scoops pay off, and he begins to suspect that Jimmy is betraying him. Superman eventually figures out that, hidden inside the hhorseshoe Jimmy has been carrying, is "an electronic radio that relayed out conversations to the crooks!" But there is one huge, gaping plot hole (as I see it): how does "boomerang power" work? I got the impression that everything about it was faked, but Jimmy used it repeatedly throughout the story. I can only conclude that we are supposed to believe that this is a real invention of Professor Potter's and the crooks just added the radio.

Superman's "Missions": 8

[Captain Comics]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #55:

"The Monster that Loved Aqua-Jimmy!" - by (unknown) and Al Plastino - This one has such an incredibly unlikely premise I could hardly get past it: Aquaman has a "mission in outer space" and chooses Jimmy Olsen (Jimmy Olsen!) to fill in for him. The entire point of this story seems to be simply to show Jimmy in an Aquaman costume.

That sounds right to me. Why Aquaman would give his powers to Superman’s sidekick instead of Aqualad, Mera or someone else in Atlantis is preposterous, and Superman trusting Jimmy with ANYTHING is preposterous. Realistically, if he was going to pick, he’d probably go with Batman.

Further notes:

• They happen to have a helmet lying around that can transfer super-powers. Gee, you’d think that would have come up before.
• “Aqua-Jimmy” sounds like a fisherman’s tool.
• “It’s a good thing I know a lot about fish!” You don’t seem to know any more than I do, Jimmy, and I learned everything I know from Aquaman comics.
• Lori Lemaris just happens to be listening in again? That’s the third time in this book! Get a hobby, lady.
• Rather than put “Lizzie” back in cold storage, why doesn’t Lori have her prehistoric monsters take Jimmy’s prehistoric monster back to wherever they live?

I don’t mind a silly premise if they (and I) have fun with it. But this was just lame start to finish.

"Jimmy the Red, Thor's Best Pal!" - by Robert Bernstein and Curt Swan

I had fun with this one imagining Thor, Loki and the other Aesir to be the Marvel versions.

There’s clearly some influence, because Thor didn’t fly in the Norse sagas. He had a chariot that could, pulled my magic goats.

But I won’t call foul, because this mirrors a lot of Lois Lane stories, where she goes back into the past and falls into the same relationship with an ancient hero that she does with Superman in the present.

Early on, just before Jimmy translates an ancient rune stone which sends him into the past, Lois asks him to hold her purse. That seemed odd to me, so I suspected this simple action would become the crux of the story's resolution. … But what about Lois's purse?

I assume that’s where Jimmy got the loose change to trick Loki. He was wearing a Viking costume and had no pockets.

In this story we learn that, like Merlin in the days of King Arthur, Loki is also a 5th dimensional imp.

It’s starting to look like all historical magic came from the Fifth Dimension in Mort Weisinger books. Also, the song “Up, Up and Away.”

More notes:

• Why does Superman have to destroy the tablet? Can’t an ordinary person do it? Maybe the professor really, really wanted to meet Superman.
• Giving something dangerous to Jimmy Olsen has a really bad track record. You’d think people would stop doing it.
• “As you know, Jimmy Olsen’s ancestors were Vikings!” I did NOT know that. Had it been established somewhere?
• “Luckily, I know something of your language.” That IS lucky!
• Thor drinking all the water comes from the “Lokrur” saga, in which Utgard-Loki challenges Thor, Loki and Thialfi to various contests.

"Jimmy Olsen's Secret Power!" (cover story) - by Robert Bernstein and Curt Swan –

But readers know that Potter is out of town and has been replaced by an imposter.

Did anyone else hear the Mission Impossible theme when the crook pulled on the rubber mask?

As the days go by, none of Superman's scoops pay off, and he begins to suspect that Jimmy is betraying him.

Boy, Superman sure jumped to the “Jimmy’s a crook” conclusion fast. Even told Lois, who sticks up for him better than his “pal” does.

“Say, that’s funny! Jimmy’s talking to Big Nick Kaye, a gangster pal of the thugs I expected on the plane!”

As I’ve mentioned before, Lois, Jimmy and Clark (in this case Superman) seem to know every crook in Metropolis on sight. That’s sure convenient!

How does "boomerang power" work? I got the impression that everything about it was faked, but Jimmy used it repeatedly throughout the story. I can only conclude that we are supposed to believe that this is a real invention of Professor Potter's and the crooks just added the radio.

You’ve convinced me! I sure don’t have a better explanation.

[Philip Portelli]

My comments on "The Monster that Loved Aqua-Jimmy!"

• This story is included in Showcase Presents Aquaman Volume 1 as is Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #12 "The Mermaid From Metropolis!"
• It came out the same time as Aquaman's Showcase run.
• Superman says at the beginning, "Come with me, Jimmy! I've got a fascinating adventure lined up for you! I'll tell you about it on the way!" Jimmy goes, "You bet, Superman! Whatever you say!" Ask some questions, Jimmy! Did you clear this with Perry White, your boss? And Superman is deliberately putting Jimmy in harm's way! What if one of Aquaman's enemies attacked him? 
• And, of course, Jimmy receives zero training and little instruction! 
• And the Coast Guard put their faith in Aqua-Jimmy! 
• "Lizzie" gets no explanation! Just floating around in an iceberg! Wait a minute! Did this story inspire the return of Captain America?
• Lori's Sea Monsters are never seen again as Superman and Supergirl must always save her Atlantis! 
• It would have made more sense if Superman had asked Lori to keep an eye on Jimmy.
• Maybe Aquaman should have put Lori in charge in the first place!

[Captain Comics]

 

Maybe Aquaman should have put Lori in charge in the first place!

Which raises the question: Why does anybody need to have Aquaman's powers while he's away? I mentioned giving them to Mera or Aqualad above (instead of Jimmy), but Lori's a good choice, too (albeit from a different kingdom). But, again, why give them to anybody? Mera's more powerful anyway, so let the queen handle the kingdom while the king's away, as has been done for centuries.

I think Jeff of Earth-J had it right when he said the point of the story was to put Jimmy in an Aquaman costume. It might have been a cover idea at some point. 

It would have made more sense if Superman had asked Lori to keep an eye on Jimmy.

That is now part of my head canon. "Hmm. I want to do Jimmy a favor, but he's an idiot. I'll have Lori shadow him and fix all his blunders." Or maybe Aquaman never left at all, and he was backstopping Jimmy, for whom this was a present of some kind. That would change the nature of the story, whereas the Lori fix is just a missing sentence, so that's the one I'm sticking with for now.

[Philip Portelli]

Mera wasn't around at the time of "Aqua-Jimmy". She first appeared in Aquaman #11 (S'63) and wouldn't be Queen of Atlantis until #18 (D'64) when she married the King of the Seven Seas.

Lois should take notes as it took only seven issues for Mera to marry her man!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

"Why does anybody need to have Aquaman's powers while he's away?" is a compelling question... but I'm wondering why anyone in outer space needs Aquaman's help?

Of course, the answer to both questions is: to give Jimmy Olsen something new to do.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE #28:

• "The Lois Lane of the Future!" by Jerry Siegel and John Fotre (cover story) - As the story opens, Lois Lane is collecting money to buy a wedding gift for a pair of Daily Planet reporters who are getting married. Clark Kent is to be the best man. When a window washer opens the window, a breeze blows all of the cash outside, and Clark cannot stop it without revealing his secret. Lois and the rest of the Planet staff run outside to retrieve the money, but Clark stays behind (so he can switch to Superman and save the cash). This infuriates Lois, who already blames him for failing to stop the bills from blowing out the window in the first place. When Superman returns the money to her, she asks him if he'll be the best man at the upcoming nuptials. (I don't know what gives Lois the authority to choose the groom's best man, but she does and he accepts.) In Metropolis Prison, Lex Luthor gives the readers detailed instructions how to bridge space and time using eight cans of orange juice, a spring, a light bulb and a flashlight: "Citric acid from the orange juice, adhering to the inside of this telescope-like tube [of empty OJ cans] should combine with the tungsten... then the flashlight beam, oscillated by the tungsten-citric concentrate and passing through the coil spring, should produce a torque in the space-time continuum." I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure that won't work. (This is not the only scientific implausibility in this story, but it is possibly the most egregious.) Luthor fires it at the Man of Steel (who just happens to be flying by), and Superman finds himself in the year 2961. The first person he meets is Lois 4XR, a dead ringer for guess who. She also has super-powers, as does everyone on Earth in the 30th century. (Funny, but I don't remember that from any LSH stories...? Odder still is that Luthor got the idea for his "time gun" from Cosmic King!) Lois 4XR explains that, back in the year 2441, a ringed planetoid skimmed across the surface of Earth and destroyed Metropolis (which I don't recall being mentioned in any LSH stories, either). "As far as historians have been able to discover," Lois 4XR explains, "strange chemical gasses emanating from the rings of the planetoid gave everyone on Earth super-powers!" So, based on nothing more than her name and her looks, Superman concludes that Lois 4XR must be descended from him and Lois Lane, and sets out to prove his theory. First they travel to the ruins of Metropolis, but don't find any evidence there. "Most of the Metropolis ruins... must have been drawn into the gavitational field of the planetoid and carried out into space!" he concludes. They fly into space, and Lois loses control of her powers as depicted on the cover. They find an old copy of the Daily Planet with the partial headline: "Superman a[...] Planet Reporter[...] Wed[...]" along with an accompanying picture of him and Lois. He takes this a proof that he and Lois will be married in the near future, even though in the very next panel he mentions the wedding of the Planet reporters. He then flies back to his own time via the time barrier (which raises the question of what Lex Luthor was trying to accomplish in the first place by sending Superman to the future). After the wedding, he sees the untorn copy of the paper with the whole photograph and complete headline: ""Superman at Planet Reporters' Wedding!" Last week I tried to get in touch with my "feminine side," crticized a scene from the DC's FCBD comic as being "anti-woke" (or whatever) and was told I was off-base, so I'm reluctant to do so again. But I think Lois 4XR has set cause of feminism back... well, 1000 years. See what you think. First, she agrees to follow Superman's orders, but (she thinks) "only because you're a man and even we 30th century super-women find it smart to let men feel they're needed." Okay, that's not so bad (because she's only pretending), but when she loses control of her powers  (in airless space) she thinks, "If only he could tell me how to stop myself... a girl does need a man after all!" Finally, she concludes, "I really feel much more secure this way, staying just a little bit behind him! Perhaps this is a good lesson to me in keeping a husband, when I get married!" So, is it just me or is that sexist?
• "Lois Lane's Super-Lesson!" by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger - With a title like that, you just know this story is going to be more enlightened than the first... not! Perry White sends Clark and Lois to Kyberaghdad, India to interview the Rajah Bandhi, who is immediately smitten by Lois and asks her to marry him. She accepts, but confides to Clark, "Not that I love that slobbering idiot, but maybe it'll make Superman jealous, and he'll propose to me!" Yeah, Lois, I'm sure it'll work out just that way. She sets for the Rajah a series of tasks so difficult that he'll never win her hand, but Superman helps him complete them all. This story is pretty straightforward, with out the usual set-up/twist formula. There is a "twist" (if you can call it that), but only that the Rajah displays more sense than Superman ever did: "I've changed my mind! I don't want to marry a demanding female like you, Lois! You're headstrong! Unpredictable! You'd probably organize the 50 wives in my harem  so they'd go on strike!" 
• "Lois Lane, Gun Moll!" by Bill Finger and Kurt Schaffenberger - One day, a "crackpot inventor" shows up at the offices of the Daily Planet to demonstrate his new invention. "There are good and evil tendancies in all people," he explains, "but my machine can make good triumph over evil!" Lois ridicules him, so he turns the machine on her in reverse, turning her evil. Overnight she becomes the villainous "Leopard Lady," looking for all the world like a villain from the Batman TV show, still five years in the future. (A "gun moll" is early 1900s slang for the female companion, girlfriend or mistress of a male professional criminal or mob leader. I think a better title would have been "Lois Lane, Super-Villain!" or better yet, simply "Lois Lane, Leopard Lady!") Just to prove she's turned evil, she immediately begins smoking cigarettes (well-known shorthand for "bad guy").  Looking about for the "clue panel" on which the story's dénouement is to be based, I settled on the one in which she says, "No head doctor for me! A leopard doesn't change her spots! I'm staying just as I am!" As it happens, there is a "clue panel," but that's not it. Actually, the entire story is an elaborate hoax. The "crackpot inventor" turns out to be Lex Luthor in disguise, and what we thought was Lois Lane was actually a robot all along. )Lois herself doesn't appear until page eight.) The "clue" was when Luthor went to light "Lois's" cigarette and held the light too close to her face. She felt no pain, ergo she must be a robot. (Incidentally, Superman returns from a "space mission" in this story, but since he was in the whole thing, I can't really count it.)

[Richard Willis]

Finally, she concludes, "I really feel much more secure this way, staying just a little bit behind him! Perhaps this is a good lesson to me in keeping a husband, when I get married!" So, is it just me or is that sexist?

I guess Mort and Jerry Seigel were men of their time.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #56:

• "The Son of Jimmy Olsen!" by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger (cover story) - An "Imaginary Story" in which the the titular son of Jimmy and Lucy Olsen marries the daughter of Superman and Lois Kent. (Does it seem odd to you that, on the cover, Jimmy refers to Lola Kent as "the daughter of my friends, Clark and Lois," when Lois is his wife's sister?)
• "The Jinx of Metropolis!" by Jerry Siegel and John Fotre - While researching a story on Superman's boyhood in Smallville, Jimmy ubcovers "a strange trinket... studded with jewels, with a big reversible gem in the center!" "It's probably worthless," he concludes, "but it's an interesting curio! I'll slip it in mt pocket!" That's a relief. These stories have conditioned me to expect him to slip it in his mouth. the item is actually [SPOILER] a tiny projector Jor-El invented which emits invisible rays that can repel meteors by destroying iron [END SPOILER]. There's virtually no mystery to this story at all. We all know what's causing the "accidents"; the only "mystery" is why Jor-El put it in baby Kal-El's rocket in the first place. Noteably, Superman turns the device over to President Kennedy at the end of the story. But that cameo is nothing in comparison to the next story. 
• "Jimmy Olsen's Sweethearts!" by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino - Perry White has sent Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane to Hollywood to cover the world premiere of a new movie. Lucy Lane is also in town due to writer's fiat. Jimmy asks Lois to cover for him at the premiere, while he asks Lucy out on a date. (I'm sure Perry would be thrilled to know that the Daily Planet sprung for a plane ticket and Jimmy just blew off the one thing he was sent there to cover.) Lucy breaks he date with him and he makes her jealous by dating a succession of Hollywood starlettes. There is little more to this story than an excuse for Al Plastino to draw likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Tuesday Weld, Gina Lollabrigida, Brigitte Bardot and Jayne Mansfield, plus Rock Hudson. [SPOILER] The "stars" are really celebrity lookalikes. [END SPOILER]