Jimmy Olsen

Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' and ''Superman Family'', in addition to the main Superman titles.

The character has appeared in most other media adaptations of Superman. He was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, ''Superman'' (1948) and '' Atom Man vs. Superman'' (1950); Jack Larson in '' Adventures of Superman''; Marc McClure in the ''Superman'' films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film ''Supergirl''; Michael Landes in the first season of '' Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film ''Superman Returns''; Aaron Ashmore in The CW's ''Smallville''; and Michael Cassidy in the 2016 DC Extended Universe film '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''. In the Arrowverse series ''Supergirl'', he was portrayed by Mehcad Brooks. Douglas Smith portrayed the character in ''Superman & Lois''. He will be portrayed by Skyler Gisondo in ''Superman'' (2025).

Publication history

Creation and early appearances

An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie appeared in the story "Superman's Phony Manager," published in ''Action Comics'' No. 6 (November 1938); it was retroactively considered to be Jimmy Olsen's first appearance, though some argue that the "office boy" is a different character with no link to Olsen. The character was introduced as Jimmy Olsen by producer Bob Maxwell on '' The Adventures of Superman'' radio show on April 15, 1940. After eight early unnamed appearances in comics, Olsen first appeared as a named character in a story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster titled "Superman versus The Archer" in ''Superman'' No. 13 (November–December 1941). He occasionally appeared as an office boy in ''Action Comics'', ''Superman'', and ''World's Finest Comics'' throughout the next decade, and he made a notable appearance as the manager of a community baseball team in the 1946 radio serial Clan of the Fiery Cross. The first long story featuring the character, "King Jimmy Olsen," ran in the daily Superman newspaper strips from July 20-October 28, 1944. However, for the most part Jimmy Olsen was used only as a background character throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.

''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen''

Jack Larson's portrayal on the 1952 '' Adventures of Superman'' TV series made Jimmy Olsen into a character beloved by the public, and Olsen was promoted from office boy to "cub reporter" beginning in the 1953 comic ''Superman'' #86. Olsen's popularity in the TV format prompted DC Comics to give him his own series, ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'', in 1954. The first issue introduced the Signal Watch, a high-frequency supersonic device that allowed Jimmy to contact Superman in case of emergency. Lucy Lane debuted as Jimmy's off-again, on-again love interest in issue #36. Jimmy and Lucy were occasionally married in "imaginary stories" such as ''"''The Wedding of Jimmy Olsen" (issue #38) and '' The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue!''

The Mort Weisinger era

Though early adventures were relatively mundane, from issue #22 onward ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' saw Olsen in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations, such as Jimmy transforming into the giant "Turtle Boy" in issue #53. The stories in the title often featured 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. During this period, Jimmy Olsen lived a glamorous life as "Superman's Pal" and even had his own (in-story) fan club. Beginning in 1958, Olsen gained the ability to temporarily transform into the superhero Elastic Lad by drinking a serum, becoming an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. When traveling to the Bottle City of Kandor, Superman and Jimmy donned the secret identities of Nightwing and Flamebird, respectively. He was promoted by editor Perry White to the status of "full-fledged reporter" in issue #124 (October 1969).

''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' was a best seller throughout the 1960s; at its peak it was the #4 best-selling comic book with an estimated 520,000 copies sold each month. Reprints from the magazine were also featured in ''80-Page Giant'' #2 and 13 (1964–65).

Jack Kirby's Fourth World

Jack Kirby's Fourth World storyline began in Jimmy Olsen comics in 1970, with issue #134. Kirby began by introducing a secret " D.N.A. Project" to create Mutated Humans for Good, adding "the Hairies" (a group of technology-equipped hippies), superbeings from other planets (proto-New Gods), Intergang, Darkseid, and the WGBS media executive Morgan Edge. Kirby also used the series as a vehicle to reintroduce Golden Age characters that he previously created at DC Comics, such as the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. Before the end of his run, Kirby wrote stories involving vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, Victor Volcanum, a fire-eating archcriminal, as well as a two-part story that featured the comedian Don Rickles. Kirby left the series following issue #148.

''The Superman Family''

With issue #164 (April–May 1974) the series was renamed '' The Superman Family''. An anthology title that incorporated the recently cancelled series ''Supergirl'' and '' Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'', ''Superman Family'' initially featured one new story about Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, or Supergirl, with the featured character in each issue narrating reprints of the other characters' stories. By the second series, Jimmy Olsen became an investigative reporter for WGBS-TV nicknamed "Mr. Action," featuring in urban crime stories that less frequently involved Superman. Olsen appeared in new stories in ''The Superman Family'' #164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, and 182–222. A number of Superman writers including Leo Dorfman and Cary Bates contributed scripts for the stories, and they were most often pencilled by Kurt Schaffenberger. The series ended with issue #222 (September 1982). Afterwards, Jimmy Olsen continued to appear in issues of ''Superman'', ''Action Comics'', ''World's Finest Comics'', and ''DC Comics Presents'', where a 29th-century descendant of Olsen became Superwoman.

Post-Crisis

Following ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', Jimmy's prior history as a character was erased. Despite recent modernization efforts on Superman and his supporting characters, 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 the 1970s comics). An alteration to the relationship was that Jimmy designed the signal watch himself, leading to his first meeting with Superman. Superman briefly considers confiscating the watch, but decides to trust Jimmy to use it responsibly.

While Jimmy's transformations no longer occur as regularly as they did in the Silver Age, in one story Jimmy becomes a type of "Elastic Lad" on contact with the Eradicator; this transformation, however, is extremely painful for Jimmy and has not appeared since. He also took the identity of "Turtle Boy" in a series of pizza commercials, made when he was temporarily laid off from the ''Planet''.

In the 1990s stories, Jimmy quits the ''Planet'' in a dispute over a story and goes to Metropolis broadcaster Galaxy Broadcasting, where he works as an on-air investigative reporter. This change matures Jimmy somewhat, but he becomes more ambitious, as well as more brash and arrogant. He stays on good terms with both Clark and Lois to the point where Jimmy is best man at their wedding. This period ends when he believes (wrongly) that he has discovered Superman's secret identity and says he would announce it live on air. He reconsiders his actions, but loses his job for wasting the time slot. He is again rehired by the ''Planet''.

Jimmy later comes under the angry hand of the Alpha Centurion, an alternate universe dictator with a deep-seated hatred for Superman and eyes for Lois Lane. Jimmy uncovers his secret plot to control the world's finances through his company Aelius Industries, Inc.

''Superman: Metropolis''

Olsen is a central character in the 12-part miniseries ''Superman: Metropolis'' (beginning June 2003). Written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Danijel Zezelj, the series focuses on the futuristic technology unleashed in Metropolis by Brainiac in a previous storyline and how it affects the everyday lives of Metropolis citizens.

Jimmy takes a position as a regular star reporter for ''The Daily Planet'', replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent. This causes a strain at the '' Planet''.

''Countdown to Final Crisis''

Jimmy's story in the 2007–08 weekly series ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' begins with an investigation into the death of Duela Dent. Tying into the ''Death of the New Gods'' storyline, Jimmy starts to develop many superpowers, which he first discovers when he is attacked by Killer Croc while gathering information on Duela's death. As the story progresses he tries to uncover the origin of these powers and starts to discover their potential limitlessness in stories which mimic the Silver Age ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' adventures. Briefly operating as the superhero Mr. Action, Jimmy is unable to command the respect of established superheroes in the Justice League and Teen Titans. He gives up on this particular avenue. One of these powers allows Jimmy to realize the identities of some superheroes, such as Robin and Superman, who requests that he take care of Krypto.

Jimmy is eventually tracked down by the New God Forager, with whom he begins a romantic relationship. Forager informs him that Jimmy has become a soulcatcher for the spirits of dying New Gods. The Monitor known as Solomon later tells him that his new powers are the consequence of Darkseid using Jimmy as a host for powers he wishes to use to recreate the universe in his image, knowing that "Superman's pal" is one of the world's most well-protected citizens. Later, as the events of ''Countdown'' begin to come to their close, Jimmy becomes a more confidently powerful character and is reunited with the series' other cast members on a mission to stop Karate Kid's disease from becoming a pandemic of apocalyptic proportions. Unfortunately, they fail, and the Morticoccus virus devastates an alternate Earth. Upon return to their Earth, Jimmy is captured by Mary Marvel, who had been manipulated towards evil by Darkseid. When Superman comes to save Jimmy, Darkseid takes control of the powers within him, causing Jimmy to radiate Kryptonite radiation, until Ray Palmer manages to rewire Darkseid's control from inside of Jimmy. Jimmy then transforms into a giant turtle-like creature, and prepares to take on Darkseid himself. Darkseid overcomes Jimmy, and prepares to kill him. Ray Palmer then comes out of Jimmy with the New God soul battery, and destroys it, returning Jimmy to normal.

''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Special''

During Superman's fight with Atlas, Jimmy witnesses a mysterious figure hovering over the fight. After some encouraging words from Clark Kent, he decides to take two weeks off to investigate.

He tracks down a figure connected with the past of Jonathan Drew and is told the story of how Jonathan became Codename: Assassin. His informant is quickly executed by Codename: Assassin, who then tries to kill Jimmy. Jimmy is able to avoid being killed and is apparently shielded from Codename: Assassin's telepathy due to his own many physical transformations over the years.

Jimmy goes to Project Cadmus and speaks to Dubbilex, who tells him the story about the death of the original Guardian at the hands of Codename: Assassin and how cloning is such an imperfect science that the only viable clone alive went into hiding in the desert. Dubbilex then dies from injuries sustained in an earlier conflict with Codename: Assassin. Jimmy heads south to the town of Warpath, AZ, managing to avoid conflict with Codename: Assassin on the way.

Upon arriving in Warpath, Jimmy interviews the sheriff, Greg Saunders, who evades his questions. Jimmy follows him after dark and sees Saunders working with the last Guardian clone. He then confronts the clone at his home and the two speak.

With his two weeks up, Jimmy returns to Metropolis horrified from learning that a faction within the U.S. military is actively plotting to kill Superman.

Willing to do anything to uncover the conspiracy behind Project 7734, Jimmy uses an anonymous chat server and gets in contact with Erik/Amazing Woman from Infinity Inc., who claims to have information useful to Jimmy. Despite being actively pursued by Codename: Assassin, who goes so far as to place bugs in his house, Jimmy goes to the appointment, only to find Erik's house burned to the ground.

Jimmy pulls Erik out who, with his dying breath, shifts to his more reliable and powerful Erika form. Erik gives him Natasha Irons' number. Natasha then contacts Jimmy, telling him about the plans of General Sam Lane, his outworldly fortress and his capture, and use of a ''Planet Breaker'' weapon of Captain Atom, now codenamed ''Project Breach'' (due to his similarity to Tim Zanetti's fate).

Finally ready to uncover the truth, Jimmy is openly confronted by Codename: Assassin, who until that point had merely followed him closely. Jimmy uses his signal watch to call Mon-El. Jimmy is shot twice in the chest by Codename: Assassin and sinks into the ocean. Despite surviving his assassination attempt, Jimmy decides to fake his death, having his documents planted on a heavily disfigured corpse. With no one knowing about his survival, Jimmy moves into the old Pemberton Camera Factory, sharing the results of his now-unhindered investigations with Perry and Mon-El.

''Action Comics'' backup and ''Jimmy Olsen''

DC Comics has reported in solicits that Nick Spencer and R. B. Silva will be producing a monthly 10-page backup feature in ''Action Comics'' chronicling the adventures of Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis. Reported story topics include an alien civilization choosing Metropolis as the base of a major cultural celebration, and the introduction of Chloe Sullivan (from the ''Smallville'' television series) to the DCU proper. In the latest arc, he goes on a charity date with a girl named Maggie, only to discover that she somehow has ties to Mr. Mxyzptlk, and that she wants to marry him.

The last three chapters of the story are told in the self-titled one-shot ''Jimmy Olsen''.

''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' (vol. 2)

Beginning with a cover date of September 2019, DC Comics published a 12-part comedic miniseries that restored some elements of the 1954 series to the main DC Comics timeline. Jimmy was once again shown as Turtle Boy and Elastic Lad, and his antics, glamorous lifestyle as Superman's pal, and strange transformations were depicted as a source of streaming-media ad revenue that was keeping the Daily Planet afloat. The series explored Jimmy's siblings Janie and Julian, his family's historic relations with Lex Luthor's family, a plot involving the attempted murder and faked death of Olsen, and a marriage in Gorilla City that Jimmy subsequently forgot to annul. The series poked fun at DC Comics' own history, including a sequence in which Jimmy angered Batman by suggesting a phone-in campaign to decide whether Robin lived or died. By the end of the series, Jimmy received a new Signal Watch and became the publisher of the Daily Planet.

The series was written by Matt Fraction, drawn by Steve Lieber, colored by Nathan Fairbairn, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. A collected edition titled ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen?'' was published in September 2020, and it received an "honorable mention" in Publishers Weekly's year-end critics poll.

Powers, abilities, and equipment

Jimmy possesses a watch which emits a high-pitched signal only Superman can hear. In a 2010 story, he claimed it stopped working some time in the past, never worked particularly well in the first place, and contacted Superman through Morse code now, anyway, but still wore it for show.

Mostly during the Silver Age of Comic Books, Jimmy would find himself temporarily transformed, for better or worse, or undergo a disguise for various purposes. The variety of transformations Jimmy received during the Silver Age is often homaged or parodied in later comics and adaptations featuring the character – for instance, in '' JLA: The Nail'', Jimmy cites three of these transformations as his motivations behind backing Luthor's bill to outlaw metahumans and in ''Countdown'', Jimmy is used as a spirit container for the deceased New Gods, causing him to exhibit strange powers, albeit uncontrollably, with other stories simply making passing references.

* 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 gained super-speed.
* Radioactive – After being exposed to a radioactive substance, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence.
* Super-Brain – Jimmy evolved into a "man of the future" with superhuman mental powers.
* Monstrous beard growth — The machinations of the sinister Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense beard.
* Gorilla – When Jimmy switched minds with a gorilla, he went about his reporting duties as a gorilla in Jimmy's clothes.
* Elastic Lad – As Elastic Lad, Jimmy by serum or by alien virus could sometimes stretch himself, akin to the Elongated Man or Plastic Man. As Elastic Lad, Jimmy was inducted as an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the Post-''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' continuity, Jimmy was afflicted with uncontrollable and painful elasticity by the Eradicator.
* Alien-form – Aliens transformed Jimmy into a telepathic Jovian for a week. This turned out to be a Jovian week, which is much shorter than an Earth week, about 70 hours.
* Fire-Breather – An accident involving an experiment gives Jimmy fire-breath.
* Human Octopus – After eating an extraterrestrial fruit, Jimmy grows four extra arms. According to Superman, this is actually a hallucination, but Jimmy suspects that Superman said this to teach him a lesson since Jimmy had foolishly ignored advice from Superman that would have saved him a lot of trouble.
* Genie – Jimmy finds a genie's lamp and is tricked into replacing its villainous occupant.
* Wolf-Man – In the vein of the 1957 film ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf'', Jimmy is transformed into a werewolf.
* Woman – Jimmy goes undercover dressed as a woman in No. 44, No. 67, No. 84, and No. 159. Grant Morrison paid a brief homage to this in the '' JLA: Earth 2'' graphic novel and in ''All-Star Superman''.
* Morbidly Obese – Jimmy gets fat in an attempt to stop a jewel smuggling and to impress a circus fat lady.
* Giant Turtle Man – One of Jimmy's most frequently cited transformations is his turning into a giant turtle man.
* Human Porcupine – Jimmy transforms after rejecting the romantic advances of an imp from the Fifth Dimension.
* Flamebird – This is the 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, but the relationship between Nightwing and Flamebird intentionally paralleled the crime-fighting team Batman (a night-winged creature) and Robin (a flame-colored bird).
* Bizarro Jimmy – Although Jimmy has a counterpart on Bizarro World, he is turned into a Bizarro himself.
* Hippie – Investigating a colony of hippies at "Guru Kama's Dream Pad", Jimmy grows a beard and participates in a mock "hate-in". On the cover of this story's issue, Jimmy is wielding a sign that says "Superman is a freak-out!"
* Viking – Jimmy puts on Viking armor and mistakenly thinks he has been transported 1,000 years backward in time.
*Steelman – After a volcanic eruption hurls Jimmy and an experimental inter-dimensional travel device into an alternate universe, Jimmy develops his own superpowers as a result of the transit to the (unnamed) "Earth-X" but is vulnerable to fragments of Mount Tipton from his own universe ("Tiptonite"). He adopts a fusion Superman/Batman outfit and launches his own superhero career as Steelman, facing a Joker-masked Clark Kent, secretly the leader of the LUTHAR League before his return to his own universe of origin.
* Ultra Olsen – Jimmy gains from Professor Lang and his father two halves of the Magic Medallion of the Mayans that, when fused back together, grant him "the Powers of the Mayan Gods". While he wears it, he possesses super strength, invulnerability, anti-gravity power, and lightning vision. The amulet has a limited charge and requires recharge from absorbed kinetic energy. Jimmy destroys the amulet with his lightning vision after the second time he used it.

Other versions

''JLA: The Nail''

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-898 appears in '' JLA: The Nail''. This version is an assistant to Lex Luthor who was genetically modified to gain Kryptonian superpowers. However, this eventually causes his body to destabilize and die.

Frank Miller's Batman titles

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen appears in ''The Dark Knight Returns'' and ''The Dark Knight Strikes Again''.

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen who became a reporter for the ''Gotham Gazette'' appears in '' All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder'' #6.

''Superman: Red Son''

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-30 appears in '' Superman: Red Son''. This version is a CIA agent who later becomes Vice President of the United States under Lex Luthor.

''Superman: Kal''

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-395 appears in ''Superman: Kal''. This version is Jamie Ollson, an alchemist and teacher to Merlin.

''Superman: Emperor Joker''

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen who serves the Joker appears in the ''Emperor Joker'' storyline.

''All-Star Superman''

An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen appears in ''All-Star Superman''.

''Flashpoint''

An alternate timeline variant of Jimmy Olsen appears in '' Flashpoint''. This version is a secret agent working for Cyborg

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases