SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 02 (1954)
Written by Otto Binder
Pencils: Curt Swan
Why do I have the feeling that even with two flying guys around she’s still going to fall to her death?
We start with Jimmy receiving a souvenir from Superman: evidence that should’ve gone to the police.
Among his souvenirs, he finds a bottle buried under sand coming from another world.
Which sounds cool for us, but for Superman sounds extremely cheap, since for him “another world” might as well be “from across the street”.
I bet it’s a last minute gift.
The bottle he finds has a in inscription helpfully translated by Superman that says it grands super-powers, which means Jimmy immediately drinks it.
“Sounds phony to me! Well f*ck it, I’m gonna drink it anyway”.
Sounds legit.
Well it IS legit, at least if “flying in the most awkward position possibly” is a “great power”.
Which obviously means Jimmy Olsen joins the circus.
Like Daredevil is ever going to work as a comic book title.
Jimmy’s act goes so well that Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane show up in the audience.
Okay, so he has flying powers and uses them to fake being able to do acrobatics.
Not my first choice for flying powers, but it makes some sense.
What doesn’t make sense? Lion-taming!
I mean, besides the fact that these are CLEARLY not lions, how is flying going to help you when you’re inside the cage?
Okay there IS a lion in the next panel, but are the other two supposed to be female lions?
They look like tigers to me! Did the colorist mess up and added the stripes?
After doing… SOMETHING to keep himself alive in the cage (I’m not going to pretend I understand what the heck he’s doing), he stops a robbery.
With a sword swallower’s prop.
How strong is that prop!?
Strong enough to ricochet the bullet straight into Clark Kent!
Okay, something’s clearly not right here. Not only we keep seeing Clark and Superman together, but we also get to read Clark’s thoughts.
Even the captions have gone meta and are daring the reader to find a solution to this mystery.
But we have no time to think about it, because Jimmy’s powers have just run out and he’s about to drown.
Maaaybe shouldn’t have tried to cheat death five times in a row on your first day with powers, Jimmy.
So we have a mystery and a potential cliffhanger.
But we’re on the last page, so let’s throw everything away on the next panel.
OH COME ON!
It was all just a dream? I’m sure this was already a cliché in 1954!!!
You even showed Clark’s thought bubbles! Was Jimmy dreaming his friend’s thoughts!?
Wait a second. Jimmy says that the warning “it just makes you dream” was on the other side.
Does that mean that Superman actually wrote “it gives you powers” on the first side?
Why write both!?
Just admit that you gave Jimmy the serum to get him high, Superman.
Historical significance: 1/10
As typical of this era, nothing from these stories will be used or referenced again. I’m giving it a slightly higher score for the first Jimmy Olsen with super-powers.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
The alien serum that gives powers for one alien day would be perfectly plausible for the era.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
The ending alone is enough to get the score.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
In the dream, using flying powers to tame lions.
Outside of the dream, drinking an alien potion because why not.
Isn’t he supposed to be a journalist?
Apparently Jimmy dreams to join the circus at the first opportunity.
Superpower count: 1
It’s a dream sequence, but I’m counting it as the first time Jimmy gets super-powers in his series.