Jack Kirby , I could tell, even when I was a nine-year-old, had so much imagination that he could take the most mundane comic book -in this case, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen - and turn it into the coolest magazine ever. When Jimmy Olsen #133 (October cover date) came out in August, 1970, I was floored! After years of stories revolving around Jimmy turning into a wolfman, a sea monster or Elastic Lad (don't ask), or variations of plots that had Jimmy try to (or unwittingly try to) discover his pal Superman's real identity, Kirby comes along (doing his first work for DC since leaving Marvel Comics earlier that year)and lays waste to what came before! And I dug it!
(A typical pre-Kirby issue of Jimmy Olsen.)
(The Newsboy Legion in the 1940s.)
The plot was actually more delirlous than any previous issue. Jimmy, on assignment from "The Daily Planet" (and backed by the suspicious new publisher of the Planet, Morgan Edge, who has ties to the underworld), goes with the young sons of a legendary "kid gang", the Newsboy Legion (a strip Kirby & Joe Simon did for DC in the 40s) has to investigate strange goings-on in a place just outside of Metropolis called "the Wild Area", run by a group of cycle-riding hippies called the "Outsiders". There, Jimmy & the kids discover (with the aid of their "Whiz Wagon" -don't laugh!), that another secret society further up in the "Mountain of Judgement" are doing strange things.
Meanwhile, after having survived an attempt on his life (as Clark Kent) that was set up by Morgan Edge(!) -Clark had been asking too many questions about Jimmy's assignment- Superman , drawn by Kirby (and "fixed" by another artist to look like DC's Superman, not Kirby's; even after 38 years, I still feel cheated) takes off to the Wild Area -and after being told off by Jimmy (!!!) gets knocked out by a kryptonite-powered stun gun that one of the Outsiders just happens to have! When Superman recovers, he tries to warn Jimmy and the Newsboys away from investigating the Mountain, but the kids ignore him, and with the assistance of the Outsiders (Jimmy now having been made leader after taking out the previous chief in a typical Kirby-drawn brawl) prepare to investigate. Continued Next Issue!!!
(Jimmy takes command of the Outsiders!)
If I had more time, I'd go on about how this issue led to more wild plots (including a tie-in with Kirby's other books for DC at the time: The Forever People, The New Gods and Mister Miracle), such as "The DNAliens" (Kirby predicting cloning in 1970 and teaching fourth-grade me all about DNA in general), the return of the original (now grown) Newsboy Legion , the resurrection of the 1940s super hero The Guardian, "The Four-Armed Terror", Metropolis about to be destroyed in a nuclear blast, Don Rickles (with the famous tag line on the cover he'd appear in: "Don't Ask! Just Buy It!") and so much more! But Kirby, fed up by editorial interference ("Superman can't do that, he can't do this..."), left the book after issue 148 (April, 1972) and I never got that excited about Superman's pal again. Sigh.
(And if I had even more time, I'd mention that, while Kirby wasn't crazy about the Superman character himself, the artist/writer did manage to make Superman appear both heroic and human, often showing "The Man of Steel" wondering if a being like him with his powers and abilities would ever be accepted for himself , or if he'd ever find others like himself. Pretty heady stuff for a nine-year-old. Wonder if famous Superman fan Jerry Seinfeld ever saw these issues?)
Other stuff: I neglected to mention in my last post (03/17/08) that the comic "shop" Kirby and Joe Simon ran in the 40s and 50s employed (and mentored) a LOT of writers and artists, including future political cartoonist Jerry Robinson, Mort Meskin , Wally Wood and future co-creator of The Amazing Spider-Man himself, Steve Ditko . I'll be doing an entry on Ditko's Blue Beetle sometime in the near future.
And I just got the latest issues of Doc Savage (#15) and The Shadow (#16) from Anthony Tollin's Nostalgia Ventures! I'll be talking about those (especially Doc) soon. You can find out about them here .
Finally, here's another take on Jimmy Olsen #133. Pretty funny. -Ed
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