SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 033 (1958)
“The Lady-Killer from Metropolis!” by Alvin Schwartz & Curt Swan
“The Human Flame Thrower” by Otto Binder & Curt Swan
Don’t you love it when Superman has his priorities straight?
We begin with Superman helping the production of a film about himself, where he runs into Jimmy.
Turns out Jimmy is a little self-conscious about his height.
His solution is to steal from the studio a pair of boots that increase his height.
The boots work so well that an obvious Marylin Monroe stand-in instantly falls for him!
And she’s not the only one!
In fact, with his new height Jimmy is SO irresistible that the “Princess of Borovia” wants to marry him!
But remember: taller or not, Silver Age Jimmy Olsen is an idiot.
Comic… did you HAVE to include a scene of Jimmy Olsen thinking about his extra inches!? Eww.
Better switch to a scene about someone wanting to punch him in the face.
The bad news is that they end up punching each other before they can lay a finger on Jimmy…
…but on the other hand, Jimmy is about to get a worse beating to his ego.
I could comment on this… but I’ll let Superman speak for himself.
And as if THAT wasn’t enough… Jimmy’s original date dumps him as well.
That was actually kind of funny.
But let’s never speak of Jimmy’s extra inches ever again.
Next story: Professor Potter is up to some perfectly normal science.
Can Jimmy EVER touch something made of glass without immediately dropping it!?!?
Unfortunately for the professor, Jimmy isn’t burned alive.
I’m not kidding: he’s really pissed about the lack of burn victims.
Naturally, having inhaled the experimental gas inside the glass causes Jimmy to develop fire breath.
Jimmy tests his new powers a couple of times, including… oh no.
I do NOT trust a 1958 story showing the Chinatown of Metropolis.
Please don’t do anything racist please don’t do anything racist please don’t do anything racist…
Well it… could’ve been worse, I suppose?
At least Jimmy’s making himself useful.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Superman being unable to melt lead.
But Supes should know better than to trust Jimmy just because he’s been useful once.
Jimmy’s solution to recover the lost money is, of course, to join the circus to gain enough cash.
It doesn’t work.
Then Jimmy is ambushed by some criminals who, having heard about his new superpower, have come prepared.
As you might’ve guessed by their decision to cover themselves head to toe in asbestos, they didn’t take into account that Jimmy can call for Superman at any moment.
Or they took for granted that Jimmy would take care of that by himself.
He does find a relatively clever way to contact Superman anyway.
Superman catches the kidnappers, and since there’s a reward for their arrest he gets back the money that Jimmy burned.
All things considered, the “Human Flame-Thrower” did a good job! It could be the start of a real superhero career for Jimmy Olsen!
Or not.
Forget the escape, Jimmy… you’ve clearly had this power for several days, didn’t you drink a glass of water even once!?!?
Historical significance: 0/10
If there IS a story that brings up Jimmy’s extra inches… I don’t want to know about it.
Silver Age-ness
First story: 2/10
Second story: 5/10
The first story has Superman spending a lot of time helping the movie production, but other than that there’s nothing inherently Silver Age.
The second is perfectly average for DC.
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 8/10
Second story: 5/10
I can EASILY see the first story to be adapted today. It’s clearly a comedic story straight out of a sitcom and it doesn’t even have a bad message.
The second one… it’s incredibly simplistic so you would clearly need to add a lot of scenes. Just lose the Chinatown one!
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
Considering how ridiculous Jimmy looks when he shows ups how the boots work, I refuse to believe even he would think they’re working.
Superpower count: 21
Adding firebreathing. As of now, we’ve had more Jimmy Olsen superpowers than members of the Legion of Super-Heroes!!!