Jimmy & Kara - 1959-61

[Aldous]

I may be shot down by Jimmy Olsen fans (bring it on!), but the thought of Jimmy with Supergirl in ANY sort of "romance" situation just doesn't wash for me. Jimmy Olsen is so UNWORTHY of Supergirl. Any interest she shows in him should be kept within the realms of sympathy!

“I’d kiss Jimmy good-bye, except it might stir his memory of the Wolf-man episode once more, and give away my secret!”

Isn't this great! There is obviously something special about a kiss from Supergirl... that a man would remember it so specifically, and thus figure out her secret identity! (How many times did Superman give Lois or some other lucky woman a "super-kiss"?) Supergirl has the power of the super-kiss, without a doubt!

Now, before I finish this post, I'll qualify my comments about Jimmy not being worthy of Supergirl. If the Jimmy Olsen in question was the Jack Kirby version, then I can understand the possibility of romantic interest on Supergirl's part. But the Jimmy from this wonderfully silly era... C'MON!

[Osgood Peabody]

One thing to keep in mind here - Jimmy's IQ varied wildly in the Silver Age, from shrewd investigator to insufferable buffoon.  The Jimmy who accompanied Superman as Flamebird in his adventures in Kandor was a far cry from the idiot who humiliated himself constantly for the benefit of Lucy Lane (who, by the way, was the character I most loathed in the Weisinger era - but that's another topic for another day!).

[Osgood Peabody]

Nowadays, go to any dance club, and you’re bound to run into one -  the girl with green hair.  But back in 1961, if you had that shade of  hair, it could only mean one thing – you were obviously from another planet!

Part 4 "The Girl with Green Hair"



from Jimmy Olsen #51 (Mar. 1961) by Mort Weisinger, Otto Binder, Curt Swan & John Forte [never reprinted]

Our story begins with Jimmy meeting his gal Lucy Lane for a date, but is distraught when he sees her arm-in-arm with the famous singer Ricky Avalon.  As Jimmy tries to follow them in his car, he blows a tire, and worse yet, Ricky & Lucy notice his plight and turn around to meet him.  Suddenly, a flying saucer appears, and out pops a beautiful green-haired woman who flies down to the scene.  The alien superwoman says she’s found just the handsome person she needs to guide her on a tour of earth for the week.  Immediately, Rick steps forward to offer his services, but no!  The emerald enchantress is speaking of our pal Jimmy!  

The alien calls herself Ka-Ra (hmmm… that sounds familiar…) and, after a few choice remarks for Lucy, Jimmy goes to accompany her to dinner.  Lucy sees Jimmy & Ka-Ra again later in the evening, and is now seething with jealousy.  But later, Ka-Ra parks her spaceship near the Midvale orphanage, and (surprise!) she removes her disguise to reveal to the reader that she is, in fact, Supergirl.  Apparently, she has observed by telescopic vision the poor treatment Lucy had been giving Jimmy, and she hatched a plan to make Lucy jealous by romancing Mr. Olsen as the alien superwoman.  

The next day, as Lucy is getting off an airplane in her stewardess job, Jimmy arrives – not to see her, but to interview Professor Potter.  Potter’s invention, a mechanical dragon, promptly runs amok, but before it can do any damage, Ka-Ra arrives to save the object of her affection, and sweeps him off his feet again.  That night, Potter gives Jimmy a present for helping him out – a robot duplicate of Ka-Ra (rather an odd gift – but perhaps it’s better not to dwell on this point  ).  Jimmy thanks him and stores it away in his closet.

The next evening, Lucy goes to Jimmy with a homemade dinner to try and win him back, but finds Jimmy already being feted by the green gal.  Even more exasperating to Lucy, Ka-Ra then proposes marriage to the young reporter!  Jimmy mulls it over, but after being informed by his alien paramour that his offspring will all have green hair and super-powers, turns her down much to Lucy’s relief.  After her departure, Supergirl looks back to see Lucy showering Jimmy with kisses, and is delighted to see her stratagem pay off.  But, unfortunately for Jimmy, Lucy spots Prof. Potter’s Ka-Ra robot, and is enraged to think that Jimmy and the professor tricked her.  She promptly knocks Jimmy in the head with one of the robot’s arms, and storms away, vowing to return to Rick.  

Later on, Jimmy is nursing a headache, and much to her chagrin, Supergirl observes that her plan failed after all.  What will Supergirl do next to help him out?   All will be revealed in a future story, says the narrator, as we fade to black.

Probably the weakest of these tales – but it illustrates again this continuing fascination Supergirl apparently had with our freckled reporter.  Where would all this lead?

Next up: Strange Interlude #2 - The Wolfman Redux

[Osgood Peabody]

In the very next issue, we get the second of our strange interludes…

Part 5 "Jimmy Olsen, Wolf-man"



from Jimmy Olsen #52 (Apr. 1961) by Mort Weisinger, Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan & Stan Kaye [reprinted in giant Jimmy Olsen #122, Aug-Sept. 1969]

In this story, Mr. Mxyzptlk, the imp from the 5th Dimension, drops in to visit Metropolis and to seek refuge from his girl-friend Miss Gzptlsnz.  Spotting Jimmy & Lucy on a date, he immediately falls in love with Lucy, and perhaps sharing Aldous’ sentiments above, thinks to himself “what a crime to waste such beauty on a young idiot like Olsen”!   Mixie attempts to romance Miss Lane by offering her a gigantic emerald, but Lucy gives him the brush-off.

The jilted Mxyzptlk goes to Jimmy’s apartment, and in a pique of jealousy, compels him to take another swig of the Wolf-man potion left over from his previous adventure.  Jimmy immediately signals his pal Superman, and after hearing what happened, the Man of Steel reassures him that he’ll arrange for Miss X to kiss him again in a darkened room, just like before.  

That brings us to this interesting panel – the caption: “a kiss in the dark…!”  The shadowy forms of Wolf-Man Jimmy and Supergirl in mid-smooch.  Jimmy thinking “Hmm, whoever Miss X is, I like her kisses!  I’ve always hoped we’d meet again some day”.  Supergirl, for her part, is more chaste in her thoughts: “Jimmy’s nice!  I’m glad I can help him!”  


Unfortunately for Jimmy, this time her kiss fails to break the spell, as unbeknownst to him, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s magic changed the potion to water before Jimmy drank it, and it is his magic responsible for his transformation this time.  After Jimmy gets Lois, Lucy, Lori Lemaris, and Lana Lang to all give him kisses, and they also fail to do the trick, he is at his wit’s end.  As he’s walking down the street, a veiled, miniature woman approaches him, and assures him that her kiss will break the spell.  Sure enough, Jimmy changes back to normal, and the woman is revealed to be none other than Miss Gzptlsnz!  She secretly followed Mxy from the 5th Dimension and worked her own magic to cure Jimmy.  She then tricks Mxyzptlk himself into saying his name backwards, and happily follows him back home.   Our story ends with Jimmy trying to steal another kiss from Lucy, but she fends him off, saying, “You got enough kisses in the last few days to last you months, you wolf!”


Another tantalizing interlude in a darkened room, and by now the readers must have been  clamoring for more of Jimmy & Kara.   Uncle Mort responded with one of the most memorable tales of the Silver Age… but that’ll have to wait for next time!

Next up:  At long last, Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl!

[Klar Ken T5477]

I have a JO where Linda gets a job at the Daily Planet and replaces Jimmy as cub-- is that next in your timeline?

And I belive youve finally explained my attraction to Curt's Supergirl..ah, mammaries, mammaries... :shock:  :lol:

[Osgood Peabody]

I have a JO where Linda gets a job at the Daily Planet and replaces Jimmy as cub-- is that next in your timeline?

KK - That story takes place a few years later - "When Supergirl Replaced Jimmy Olsen" (JO #75 - Mar. 1964) - and I hadn't intended on including it, but now that you mention it, it might make an interesting postscript to the cycle of stories I'm reviewing.  That is, if I can find it - I'm not sure I have a copy.

No, the story I've been building up to from the get-go is the classic "Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl" from JO #57, which I hope to get to this weekend.  I think this "imaginary" tale is unique in the Weisinger canon in that it is in many ways the culmination of the preceding stories we've reviewed - as opposed to the typical "one-off" imaginary flight of fancy.  In other words, without the previous stories above, it wouldn't have come together, I think.

So I decided to look back at the whole series to put in better perspective.  Hopefully it'll all make sense in the end.

[Aldous]

Osgood, I'm enjoying your posts on these old Jimmy/Supergirl pairings.

It seems Lucy is inextricably linked with Jimmy even when the mighty (and beautiful) Supergirl is around, so I hope you don't mind if I introduce a post devoted to Lucy and her long and often silly relationship with Jimmy.

Remember when you responded to a question of mine on the old DCMB about the developments following "Who Killed Lucy Lane?" ?

That particular story is a favourite of mine, and I was interested to know of any subsequent developments. Your reply (in what is undoubtedly an example of "from the sublime to the ridiculous") was as follows (yes, I saved it):

Posted by Osgood Peabody, 9 May 2002:

The next several Lois Lane issues (121-127) centered on Lois and Superman battling the 100. Since Lucy was thought to be involved with the 100 at the time of her death, this gave some impetus to this crusade. Lois even quits the Daily Planet and does free-lance work during this period, presumably to allow her more time to track down the 100.

These issues were written by Bates, and edited by Bridwell (121), and then Dorothy Woolfolk (122-127), who DC brought in to edit both Lois Lane and Wonder Woman in 1972.

However, Woolfolk's tenure was brief, and she was replaced as of issue 128 (Dec. 1972) by none other than the late Mr. Kanigher. Apparently he did not care much for Woolfolk's work, and abruptly changed the direction of the stories away from the 100 crusade.

This left Lucy Lane in limbo. However, a few months later, Leo Dorfman and Kurt Schaffenberger reintroduced her in Jimmy Olsen 158 (Jun. 1973) as on old woman named Lena Lawrence. In issue 160, she finally reveals her true identity to Jimmy, and tells him that she had some type of rare jungle fever that prematurely aged her!

Then, finally, in issue 161, she regains her youth (but retains her white hair for some reason) by accidently breathing in fumes from a genetic experiment. (I swear I'm not making this up!)

That's the whole convuluted story, summed up. I would just add that IMO this era of LL and JO (post-Bridwell & post-Kirby) - the air really seemed to go out of the tires.

The less said the better.

I recently obtained some old and well-loved comics which contain what I assume are the first two Lena Lawrence stories. The stories I have may be from the original JIMMY OLSEN issues 158 and 159. Each tale ends with an emphasis on the mystery of "Who IS Lena Lawrence" of which this panel is an example.

Anyway, as soon as I read these two old stories, I remembered your old post and I knew this old woman must be Lucy Lane.

[Osgood Peabody]

Yeah - sorry if I spoiled that one for you Aldous.  

I guess anything drawn by Schaffenberger can't be all bad, though.

As I mentioned before, I didn't care much for the Lucy Lane character, especially in her original '60s incarnation.  It seems that in the '70s they tried to "rehabilitate" her somewhat, but I don't think any of the JO writers at that time really knew what to do with her.

I'll get back to that last Jimmy/Supergirl story on Sunday hopefully.