Jimmy Olsen
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Jimmy Olsen (full name James Bartholomew Olsen) is a fictional character who appears in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, he first appeared as an anonymous "copy boy" in Action Comics #6 in 1938, but first appeared by name in Superman (volume 1) #13 in 1941.
Jimmy is traditionally depicted as a bow tie-wearing, red-haired young man who works as a cub reporter and photographer for The Daily Planet, alongside Lois Lane and Clark Kent, whom he idolizes as career role models. In most depictions of the character, he also has a strong friendship with Superman. As Superman's friend, Jimmy has special access to the Man of Steel, thanks to Superman's gift to Jimmy of a "signal watch," a wristwatch which with the press of a button emits a special ultrasonic frequency signal that Superman can hear anywhere on Earth.
In many Silver Age comic books, Jimmy was often seen sharing adventures with Superman, who saved him from various predicaments ranging from dangerous to merely embarrassing. This was particularly pronounced in the series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (published from 1954 to 1974), which saw Olsen in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations. Like most DC characters, modern portrayals of Olsen have been more serious in tone.
An important part of the Superman mythos, Jimmy Olsen has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character.
History
Golden and Silver Age versions
During the Silver Age, Jimmy starred in his own comic book, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which featured his various adventures with and without Superman; it debuted in 1954. The stories in the title would often feature particularly outlandish situations, ranging from Jimmy being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to dealing frequently with gorillas of all sorts. Because of these factors, the comic was regarded by some as a poorly written subsidiary title, although some readers still enjoy it for its camp value.
The major exception to this was in the early 1970s, when the singular writer/artist Jack Kirby took over the title and created his own distinctive stories as part of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, which introduced many additions to the DC Universe, including the supervillain Darkseid and Project Cadmus. The series revolved around Project Cadmus, and the genetic experiments held there, most notably cloning. The series ended in 1974 with issue #163, when Jimmy's book was folded into the anthology title Superman Family. In that book, Olsen became a more serious character who battled criminals as an investigative reporter in urban crime stories that rarely involved Superman.
The many transformations of Jimmy Olsen
Especially in the days of the Silver Age, Jimmy would often find himself temporarily transformed, for better or worse, or undergo a disguise for various purposes. The transformation tradition is still sometimes referenced in current day comics, usually through homage or parody. The following is a partial list of some of the various forms and powers that Jimmy has experienced:- Giant Turtle Boy: One of Jimmy's most frequently cited transformations was that of his turning into a giant turtle boy in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #53 (1961).
- Elastic Lad - Whether by serum or by alien virus, Jimmy could sometimes stretch himself, akin to Plastic Man or Mister Fantastic. Jimmy first appeared as Elastic Lad in Jimmy Olsen #37 (1959).
- Flamebird- name he took as a costumed superhero, with Superman disguised as Nightwing, in the shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor. These names were inspired by two native Kryptonian birds, the nightwing and the flamebird.
- Speed Demon - In 1956, a month before the debut of Barry Allen as the new Flash, Jimmy drank a potion produced by a Professor Claude and briefly gained super-speed.
- Radioactive - After being exposed himself, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence.
- Monstrous beard growth - The machinations of the sinister Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense beard.
- Alien-form - Aliens transformed Jimmy into a telepathic Jovian.
- Wolf-Man - In the vein of the popular Michael Landon 1950's film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Jimmy found himself transformed into a werewolf in Jimmy Olsen #44 (1960).
- Hippie - Jimmy grew a beard and joined a Superman-hating band of hippies in Jimmy Olsen #118 (1969). On the cover of this story's issue, Jimmy's seen wielding a rather humorous sign saying "Superman is a freak-out!"
- Transvestite - Jimmy would occasionally go undercover dressed as a woman, such as in Jimmy Olsen #44 (1960). Grant Morrison paid a brief homage to this in All Star Superman #4.
- Doomsday - Also in All Star Superman #4, Jimmy takes a serum and becomes a version of Superman's foe Doomsday.
- A genie
- A six-armed man
- A fire-breather
- A water-breather
- A human porcupine, in Jimmy Olsen #65 (1962).
- A gorilla's husband
Modern Age version
Despite recent modernization efforts, Jimmy Olsen has not been significantly changed in the Modern Age. He is still a cub reporter working for The Daily Planet, and is still friends with Superman. His look was made over as he stopped wearing bowties, and started wearing casual clothing (though this trend started in 1970s comics).While weird transformations no longer occur as regularly as they did in the Silver Age, Jimmy did become Elastic Lad on contact with the Eradicator. He has also taken the identity of "Giant Turtle Boy" in a series of pizza commercials, made when he was temporarily laid off from the Planet.
In the late 1990s, Jimmy moved to Metropolis broadcaster Galaxy Broadcasting, where he became more brash and arrogant. This came to an end when he thought (wrongly) he had discovered Superman's secret identity and said he would announce it live on air. He reconsidered his actions, but lost his job for wasting the timeslot. He was again rehired by the Planet.
June 2003 saw Jimmy Olsen as the focus of a twelve-part miniseries entitled Superman: Metropolis. Written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Danijel Zezelj, the series focused on the futuristic technology unleashed in Metropolis by Brainiac in a previous storyline, and how it affected the everday lives of Metropolis citizens.
Recently, Jimmy had taken a position as a regular star reporter for The Daily Planet, replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent. This caused a strain in the relationship between Clark and Jimmy. It appears, however, that following the One Year Later storyline jump, Clark has regained his original role as The Daily Planet's star reporter, and Jimmy has returned to being a photographer, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his photographic efforts.
Awards
Jack Kirby received a Shazam Award (for "Special Achievement By an Individual") for his work on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.Alternate versions
- In Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel Jimmy Olsen is featured as the writer of a Daily Planet article entitled "Truth to Power."
- In , an alternate reality in which a nail punctured the Kents' car, preventing them from finding the spaceship containing a baby Superman, Jimmy Olsen is revealed as the one behind all the other superheroes' troubles. Jimmy had served as an aide to Lex Luthor. Luthor grafted Kryptonian DNA onto Jimmy causing him to go insane and possess superpowers similar to Superman's. Jimmy played up the public's fear of superheroes via propaganda, hoping to have them imprisoned so he could use their DNA as well. When Jimmy attacked an Amish couple and their son during a battle with the JLA, the couple was killed, but the son was revealed to be Superman. In this alternate reality, the Amish couple had raised Superman, and brought him up as a pacifist, so he had never used his powers in conflict. Jimmy asked Superman to join him and when Superman refused, the two battled. During the battle, Jimmy's body started to refuse the Kryptonian DNA, causing him to disintegrate. The JLA then asked Superman to join them.
- In , Jimmy is depicted as an agent of the CIA, eventually becoming the director, and soon joins Luthor in his Presidential bid and becomes Vice-President.
- In Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman series, Jimmy shows up briefly in the Daily Planet offices in argyle socks; this Jimmy seems to be a refined version of the Silver Age vintage, with a signal watch halfway between McDonalds happy meal toy and haute couture. He's also shown with something that may be a jetpack. #4 of the series focuses on Jimmy and his adventures as the one-day director of the DNA P.R.O.J.E.C.T., a leftover from the Kirby-era Jimmy Olsen series.
In other media
- Jimmy Olsen has appeared in every major filmed adaptation of Superman. The first actor to portray Jimmy Olsen in live-action was Tommy Bond in the serials starring Kirk Alyn.
- On the Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves, Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Jack Larson. Larson also portrayed an unnaturally aged Jimmy Olsen in an episode of and Bo the Bartender in Superman Returns.
- In the four motion pictures starring Christopher Reeve beginning with , Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Marc McClure. McClure also played Jimmy Olsen in the 1984 spin-off movie Supergirl.
- On the television series , Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Michael Landes in the first season and Justin Whalin for the rest of the series' run. The reason cited behind the change is that Landes looked too much like Dean Cain as well as to emphasize Jimmy's youth.
- In , Jimmy was voiced by David Kaufman. One episode was called "Superman's Pal" as an homage to the old comic series, and Superman gave Jimmy the signal watch by the end of the episode. Jimmy had several cameo appearances in Justice League Unlimited, including one episode where Huntress tied him up and used the signal watch to attract Superman.
- In the television series Smallville, the character of Chloe Sullivan mentioned losing her virginity to a Daily Planet staffer named Jimmy who was "cute, in a bowtie sort of way." an obvious reference to Jimmy Olsen. It has been revealed that actor Aaron Ashmore will be starring as Jimmy in Smallville and that he will be romantically linked with Chloe. He is probably the same Jimmy that had an interaction with Chloe. [link]
- In Bryan Singer's 2006 movie Superman Returns, Jimmy Olsen is portrayed by Sam Huntington.
Cultural references
- The Spin Doctors had a minor hit with their song "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" on their album Pocket Full of Kryptonite, in which they portrayed Jimmy Olsen as infatuated with Lois Lane and jealous of Superman. In the period after the song became popular, artist Jon Bogdanove, who at the time was the regular penciler on the Superman: The Man of Steel comic, would occasionally depict Jimmy wearing a Spin Doctors T-shirt.
- Two Superman pastiches have featured notable Jimmy analogues. In , Mighty Mouse's greatest fan was a young mouse named Scrappy with a shock of red hair. Alan Moore's comic series Supreme featured Billy Friday, a cynical British comic book writer, very unlike Jimmy in personality, but who underwent weird transformations similar to those of the Silver Age Jimmy.
- On the show Boy Meets World, Topanga refers to a photographer as a "Jimmy Olsen freak."
- In episode 11 of Season 6 of the HBO series, The Sopranos, Syl mockingly refers to another character by saying "Jimmy Olsen, over here!", after the character referred to something plainly obvious at that point.
- In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Zeppo", characters twice refer to non-superpowered sidekick Xander Harris as Jimmy Olsen.
- Professional wrestler Corey Branson took the moniker Jimmy Olsen in a few New York promotions such as NWA Upstate.
- The Teamo Supremo episode "You'd Better Start Calling Me Chief!" revolved around an accident-prone newspaper reporter and photographer named Ollie Jimson who followed the titular trio around, screwing up their attempts to catch the bad guys.
External links
- [Supermanica: Jimmy Olsen] Supermanica entry on the pre-Crisis Jimmy Olsen
- [Jimmy Olsen's Signal-Watch]
- [Jimmy Olsen comic covers] commentated at I-Mockery
- [about Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen]
- [Comic Book Resources' Oddball Comics column] Detailing Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen #80, which references many of Jimmy's different forms
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