Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #142-148

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #142-148

Originally released in 1971

Written by Jack Kirby

Art by Jack Kirby

I've covered three of the four series that were involved in Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga for DC, so it's about time that I covered the fourth: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen.  Yes, seriously.  Earlier issues (which I had read in a collection before starting this blog) introduced Darkseid (yes, seriously) and the DNA Project (which would later become known as Project Cadmus, an organization that's mainly known for cloning technology).

As well, Kirby's run on Superman's Pal brought back the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion, some of Jack Kirby's Golden Age creations for DC.  The Guardian was a creation of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, a man who mostly wore blue and fought crime with a virtually indestructible shield - the fact that Captain America is also a creation of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, and a man who mostly wore blue and fought crime with a virtually indestructible shield, likely isn't a coincidence.

Unfortunately, despite the involvement of vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein's monster in the first storyline, Jimmy Olsen does not turn into a vampire, werewolf, and/or Frankenstein's monster, much to my dismay. (he does turn into a caveman in a later issue, though)  Kirby's run on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen wasn't as goofy as I was hoping for from the book, though it does give some good development for Superman that continues over from the Forever People.

Jimmy is accompanied by the Newsboy Legion, clones of the Golden Age group of the same name. (the originals are higher-ups in Cadmus)  I get that they're audience stand-ins, but much like the Teen Brigade in early Avengers comics and Snapper Carr in the early Justice League stories, I'm not a fan of them, and they get a lot more focus here than those other examples get in their respective comics.

The current owner of the Daily Planet, Morgan Edge, is working with Intergang, a criminal organization with ties to Darkseid, and he's sending Jimmy on several assignments that are thinly-veiled assassination attempts. (such as sending him to a Scottish lake to photograph a mysterious dinosaur-like creature, only for their guide to be an Intergang assassin - oddly enough, the lake is called Loch Trevor instead of what you would be expecting)

The expedition to Loch Trevor uncovers various other prehistorical animals created by the Intergang-run counterpart to Cadmus, giving Kirby the opportunity to draw various monsters and animals. (if I ever feel like taking a break from superhero-themed comics, I could look into the monster comics of the 1950s)

On their way home from Scotland, Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion encounter the final villain of Kirby's run on this series - Professor Victor Volcanum.  Weirdly enough, he has absolutely nothing to do with the conflict between Apokolips and New Genesis - he's just a guy who drinks fire and wants to take over the world.

Victor Volcanum isn't all that memorable of a character, but he feels like a transition between Jack Kirby's use of the Jimmy Olsen series to show Earth as the site of a proxy war between New Genesis and Apokolips and a more traditional/episodic Jimmy Olsen run once a new writer takes over.  Unlike the New Gods or Mister Miracle, the end of Kirby's run on Jimmy Olsen doesn't feel like an ending. That's understandable since, unlike those other series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen wasn't a creation of Jack Kirby's. (I've read that when he switched to DC, he asked to be put on a book that didn't have consistent staff so that he wouldn't be putting anyone out of a job)

I was hoping that Jack Kirby's run on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen would be wackier, but it was still enjoyable, and it wound up being an interesting take on Cold War politics, unless I'm reading too much into it. (It made Earth feel like the intergalactic version of Vietnam or Korea, where two powerful civilizations were using it as a battleground rather than openly going to war with each other)

Now that I've given all of Jack Kirby's Fourth World series a try, I'd say that Mister Miracle was my favourite of the bunch.  New Gods got much better in its final issue, though that was years after the initial run.  Jimmy Olsen didn't reach those heights, though I'd definitely put it above the Forever People, which I should finish some day.