With all the discussion about Jimmy Olsen here, I got to thinking about our Carrot-Topped Cub Reporter a bit and came up with these:
- Did Jimmy ever go to college? I can't recall ever seeing him in a school enviroment. He must have graduated high school. Or did he? I would imagine that a college education would be something Superman would encourage him to get.
- We know that Jimmy knows Batman and Robin's secret identity. Did he ever appear in any of the Bat-titles? Even Lois got to team with the Darknight Detective in Brave & Bold.
- I've read several stories where the Legion helped Jimmy with his problems but really, did Jimmy ever really assist them as to warrant him being an honorary member?
- He had several alter egos: Elastic Lad, Flamebird, Agent Double-5 but was he a good fighter? Could he hold his own as well as, say, Snapper Carr?
- How much of a celebrity was Jimmy? He had his own fan club but he still had to work his forty hours a week. He was supposed to be famous around the world, yet pined for Lucy Lane. He travelled to distant worlds and across time yet barely got any respect. Who was the real Jimmy Olsen?
- Dare we label Jimmy a "super-hero"? His book had more issues than Green Lantern, the Atom and Hawkman combined in the Silver Age! Or could he have become one? Was there any hint that the title could have changed to The Adventures of Elastic Lad or some other identity?
- Was being Superman's Pal a bad thing? Did it stagnate his growth? He could do anything, get in all kinds of trouble and the Man of Steel would always bail him out? Did it make him bold or foolish? Dynamic or reckless?
- Did he ever suspect Clark of being Superman? He hung around with Lois and Lana; he must have heard their theories and schemes. Was he never curious about it himself?
- In the 70s, an older Jimmy became Mister Action, a trouble-shooting reporter/adventurer who was a millionnaire. Obviously this did not last long. But why not?
- And finally (for now), Can Jimmy be a star today? He's been downplayed in the comics since Man of Steel #1 in 1986 and in the films from the beginning. Is there a place in the DCnU for........Superman's Friend, Jimmy Olsen?
Jeepers, guys, what do you think?
Replies
To try and answer what I can of your questions Phillip:
*I thought Jimmy's honorary Legion status was based upon all the assistance he gave Superman. When Craig Shutt/Mister Silver Age gets to this thread, hopefully he can add a lot of insight towards your inquiries.
*Jimmy could hold his own in a traditional fight. If someone pulled a weapon though, the writer would automatically have Olsen surrender, since he wasn't invulnerable, and they probably didn't want kids to attempt some of Jimmy's stunts as it was.
*As far as a Jimmy Olsen, let alone a Lois Lane solo title, today... Both, especially Jimmy, are being portrayed more as Clark Kent's friends. Jimmy was starting to come into his own again before the abrupt switch over of Flashpoint, so I like to think either character could support at least an occasional mini-series, but how much of the Silver Age sales were dependent upon Superman to begin with?
After all, the titles were Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen and Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane, so you see who got top billing and made at least a cameo in every issue.
Jimmy was given the name Mr Action in Jimmy Olsen #155. I don't have enough of Jimmy's stories from Superman Family to say when it dropped out of use; it may be that it was mainly used in stories by writer Leo Dorfman. My recollection is in-story it referred to his being a reporter who could get action in the sense of getting a problem tackled. What it really referred to was the action element in the stories of the era, in which Jimmy was often in danger and fought a lot. In this period Jimmy was a good fighter. I don't have enough of his Superman Family stories to say whether the post-Dorfman Jimmy fought as much, but he still fought sometimes.
I think the millions you're thinking of are the ones Jimmy obtained at the end of the lead story in Superman Family #164, the first issue of that title. (The numbering was continued from Jimmy's own title.) At the end of the story he pledged to use the money building special communities for disadvantaged kids, and he wasn't afterwards depicted as a millionaire.
Jimmy did show up in Superman's own feature in the 70s, but he rarely had an important role in the stories. So his primary vehicles were his own series and then his series in Superman Family. Initially in Superman Family "Jimmy Olsen", "Superman" and "Lois Lane" alternated as the title's new feature and the issues were filled out with reprints. This situation continued up to #181, after which the title switched to an all-new format. Jimmy's feature continued, but soon became a back-up feature. After the title was cancelled in 1982 Lois's feature continued for a year in the back of Supergirl's new title but Jimmy wasn't given a replacement slot.
I've read several stories where the Legion helped Jimmy with his problems but really, did Jimmy ever really assist them as to warrant him being an honorary member? >>
As per his Hero History in http://majorspoilers.com/2008/10/08/hero-history-the-honorary-legio... Jimmy was recruited for the LSH basically against his own will, by suffering their hoaxes and behaving with enough grace.
Hey, it was good enough for Superboy. It happened in Jimmy Olsen #72 (october 1963), it seems.
He had several alter egos: Elastic Lad, Flamebird, Agent Double-5 but was he a good fighter? Could he hold his own as well as, say, Snapper Carr? >>
Was Snapper any good as a fighter? Jimmy was at least a competent hand-to-hand fighter ever since he became a featured player in World's Finest, I think. It lasted quite a while; the DNA saga in the 190s of Superman Family had some impressive fights with him.
How much of a celebrity was Jimmy? He had his own fan club but he still had to work his forty hours a week. He was supposed to be famous around the world, yet pined for Lucy Lane. He travelled to distant worlds and across time yet barely got any respect. Who was the real Jimmy Olsen? >>
That was very much an open question, and I thought of it as his main appeal as a protagonist. He had a knack for being both exceptional and everyday at the same time.
Dare we label Jimmy a "super-hero"? His book had more issues than Green Lantern, the Atom and Hawkman combined in the Silver Age! Or could he have become one? Was there any hint that the title could have changed to The Adventures of Elastic Lad or some other identity? >>
I don't think so. Jimmy doesn't really work as well when he lets go of his everyman quality. It was fun to see him become Elastic Lad or Flamebird or even Turtle Boy every once in a while, but his true and main identity is by necessity that of Jimmy Olsen.
Was being Superman's Pal a bad thing? Did it stagnate his growth? He could do anything, get in all kinds of trouble and the Man of Steel would always bail him out? Did it make him bold or foolish? Dynamic or reckless? >>
It inspired him - and it seems to me that he inspired Superman back to some degree. One of the post-Crisis issues of Adventures of Superman elaborates on how Superman reminds Jimmy of the possibility of improvement and nobility of purpose; I think that is true of all interactions of the characters.
Did he ever suspect Clark of being Superman?>>
Not consciously. One of the latest stories in Superman Family makes a plot point out of how sure Jimmy is that Clark can't possibly be Superman.
He hung around with Lois and Lana; he must have heard their theories and schemes. Was he never curious about it himself? >>
Apparently not. Unlike Lana and Lois, Jimmy was confortable with his usual place in Superman's life and had no incentive to try and find his secret identity.
In the 70s, an older Jimmy became Mister Action, a trouble-shooting reporter/adventurer who was a millionnaire. Obviously this did not last long. But why not? >>
I don't know that it did not; he was pretty much Mr. Action still in the 190s of Superman Family. But ultimately, the main difference between Mr. Action and just plain Jimmy Olsen is that Morgan Edge and Perry White allow Mr. Action to have a lot more of adventure for adventure's sake. It is not a clear-cut distinction.
And finally (for now), Can Jimmy be a star today? He's been downplayed in the comics since Man of Steel #1 in 1986 and in the films from the beginning. Is there a place in the DCnU for........Superman's Friend, Jimmy Olsen? >>
It really depends on the writer. From a marketplace standpoint, there is a lot of emphasis on powers these days, so I think it would be a challenge.
Did Jimmy ever go to college?
We never saw it, as far as I know. I’m sure he graduated from high school, but he may have done it early, to give him more time to work at the Planet, or he could’ve worked there while he was finishing up. He was a “cub reporter” until #124, when he was promoted to reporter. A college degree probably would’ve helped him, but he seemed to be doing okay without it. Maybe he took classes at night.
Did he ever appear in any of the Bat-titles?
I don’t think he ever appeared there—I doubt Kashdan or Julie saw a benefit to adding Jim to a story, and he probably wasn’t as big of a draw for B&B as Lois would’ve been (and she didn’t appear until 1981).
Batman appeared in SPJO #111, in “Jimmy Olsen, Boy Wonder” when Jim was rejected from the famed Mystery Analysts. Robin helped Jim impersonate Robin to fool Batman. That didn’t work so well. Robin was more Jimmy's style than Batman.
Did Jimmy ever really assist the Legion as to warrant him being an honorary member?
Well, he’s an honorary member, not a real member, after all. He got that honor for all his help to Superman. Although since he was over 18, why the Adult Legion didn’t go back to get him and make him a member instead was never explained. He helped on several adventures, but I wouldn’t call him so invaluable he was worth calling out of space-time for it.
Could he hold his own as well as, say, Snapper Carr?
LOL! Based on the evidence, I think Agent Double-5 could’ve kicked Snapper’s butt to here and back. Where are you seeing Snapper as the epitome of fightin’ mascots? (Hi, Commander!)
How much of a celebrity was Jimmy? He had his own fan club but he still had to work his forty hours a week.
Today’s notion of “celebrity” has changed from then--it’s quite easy to be “famous” today and still have to work for a living. Back then, I imagine he was at least as famous as newspaper columnists or politicians. IOW, recognizable, but not someone who’d cause traffic to stop on the street.
He travelled to distant worlds and across time yet barely got any respect.
Back in the mid-1990s, I was walking down the street with Neil Gaiman near the San Diego Con, and nobody looked, nobody cared, because he wasn't THAT well known. But we walked inside the door and BAM! everyone was stopping and staring and murmuring and saying hi, etc. I imagine Jim had that kind of localized celebrity, where some people were star-struck, and others, maybe a lot, especially outside of Metropolis, didn’t know him at all.
Actually, that’s kind of the way it is today, with so many reality shows and series spread all over the dial. I could be standing right next to Honey Boo Boo and might not even know it. Okay, I probably would, but you get the idea.
A lot of his adventures did not really count as national news, he just caught crooks or helped Superman out of a jam that nobody would know about. Plus, there were never reporters or TV crews around when he did it. If you look at Jim's adventures and figure out how many would've made news outside of possibly the Planet, there weren't so many.
Dare we label Jimmy a "super-hero"?
Mm, not seeing it. He sometimes had super-powers, but that’s par for the course in Super-Family books. Those times he certainly was, and his book was a super-hero book because of Superman’s presence, but he mostly wasn’t.
Was being Superman's Pal a bad thing? Did it stagnate his growth?
His growth as what? He was a teenager who got to learn how to think on his feet, visit strange worlds, become world-renowned (at least to some people) and visit the 30th century! And he wasn’t really all that special. Being Superman’s Pal was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to him!
Did he ever suspect Clark of being Superman?
I don’t think he cared, and he was smart enough to know it wasn’t information that was good to have. Lois and Lana had ulterior motives for wanting to know, and they had suspicions. Maybe with Jim, familiarity bred contempt.
Define “star.” He recently had his own back-up series that was collected into a one-shot, and it was really good. I doubt he could carry his own comic today, because the market has changed as to what readers want (IOW, I'd read it). He’s been downplayed so much that it’d be hard to attract many people on his name alone at the moment, but I wouldn’t say that’ll last forever. Forever is a long time.
-- MSA
How much of a celebrity was Jimmy?
People may scoff at the notion of Jimmy Olsen - a "mere reporter", in his own comic book being a celebrity - yet in our day and age there seem to be an awful (a very appropriate word in some cases!) lot of so-called "celebrities", who are arguably only famous for being "famous" (hello, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton).
Heck, I've seen people who are merely married or partner to some minor "celebrity" who manage to get their heads (or bodies) plastered all over newspapers, or on TV, all too often, and for no discernible good reason which I can make out!
Today, on TMZ...Jimmy Olsen. Can he really tug on Superman's cape? ;)
Jim Croce will never die!
John Moret said:
I really miss seeing Jimmy regularly. That Nick Spencer strip really showed that Jimmy has something to offer - he's plucky, smart and (pardon me Blue Devil), a trouble magnet. He brings a different flavour to Superman's world - I wish he had a back-up in Action, or shared a Daily Planet book. Jeepers, that'd be great.
The Wild Olsen