SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 024 (1957)
By Otto Binder & Curt Swan
This had to happen sooner or later.
The last time we had a gorilla on the cover is was a lie, so this better deliver!
We begin with something new: Jimmy running a story with a weird scientist that has invented a crazy device. But THIS time we’re at a zoo! Totally different from the previous 50 times!
Strangely enough, that’s not Professor Potter even if he’s just been introduced.
Jimmy calls Superman to help, because of course the best use of a direct line with an alien god is asking him if he can fix a device that can read an animal’s mind, and shenanigans ensue.
So the cover DOES deliver, this time: the gorilla gets Jimmy’s body and the ability to swing wildly on trees, and Jimmy gets the gorilla’s body and the ability to speak.
Sounds legit.
Superman stops the rampaging Jimmy and the professor tries a scientific solution: pressing buttons at random and hoping something works.
But don’t worry: Jimmy called Superman specifically because he’s super-smart. Plus he has advanced knowledge of alien science, so he’ll have a better solution.
Or he could, you know, keep pushing buttons randomly and hoping something works.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t work. Who would’ve thought?
Jimmy is stuck inside the body of a gorilla, possibly for life. I’ll take years to adjust to his new situation, assuming he ever does.
Or he could GO TO WORK LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED.
How stretchy are Jimmy’s clothes if they fit a gorilla!?
You might think that this the stupidest idea ever. But this is the Silver Age, there’s always room for more stupid!
You might be wondering, “how long can the comic stretch the gag of Jimmy being a gorilla?”.
The answer is five excruciating pages.
Then Superman finally gets an idea on how to switch Jimmy and the gorilla back.
What if, instead of pushing random buttons by himself, we let the gorilla push random buttons?
Okay fine, he also has to use Jimmy’s signal-watch, but come on, don’t tell me you didn’t figure out the solution the second you saw the first panel.
Super-intelligence my #ss.
Well… we DID get a gorilla, but the story sucked. Maybe the second story will be better.
It starts with Jimmy buying a “good luck turban” at an amusement park.
It doesn’t work.
So… story over, right? The turban’s useless.
Until Jimmy puts a random space jewel in it.
And the turban suddenly works!
Now that Jimmy is the luckiest man in the world, he uses his luck to… find a pin that Perry White lost. Believe it or not, this is a plot point.
Jimmy is also able to accurately guess where the missile from a failed test would fall…
…and survive a bomb that someone left in the Daily Planet.
The story never addresses WHO put the time bomb in the Daily Planet office, by the way.
Someone just tried to blow them up and they treat it like an everyday occurrence.
No, the REAL mystery they need to investigate is Superman’s secret identity!
Superman quickly deduces that the real source of Jimmy’s power is the jewel, not the turban, which really is a no brainer.
SOMEHOW he also deduces that the power isn’t super-luck: it’s super-intelligence.
The idea of Pre-Crisis Jimmy Olsen being intelligent is quite far-fetched, comic! I think we’re owed some convincing explanations for the way his power worked in the story.
Sounds legit.
Superman takes the space jewel away, returning Jimmy to normal.
Well…let’s not go TOO far. Returning Jimmy to regular Jimmy.
Just in case you missed it: Superman just turned the world’s smartest person back into a complete moron just to cover for his secret identity.
And THIS is the guy who is supposed to be super-intelligent, folks.
Historical significance: 0/10
Once again, mercifully forgotten by time.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Talking gorillas! Wacky science! Space jewels!
Meaning it’s only slightly more stupid than the average DC Silver Age.
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
You could do a modern version of the gorilla story only as a parody of the Silver Age, especially if the gorilla talks. There are a couple of scenes in the turban story that MIGHT work today… if you get rid of the finale, where Superman takes away Jimmy’s power simply because he’s a dick.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
Jimmy buys a lucky turban. It doesn’t work. Then he puts a space jewel on it. It works. Naturally, Jimmy is convinced that it’s the turban that grants him luck, not the jewel.
Superpower count: 12
Adding super-intelligence to the list. It was supposed to be in issue 22, but that story was so monumentally idiotic that I just couldn’t include it.