SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 037 (1959)
by Otto Binder & Curt Swan
For some reason Elastic Lad proved to be relatively successful, so he returns.
We begin at the Daily Planet, where… oh crap.
Please don’t do anything racist please don’t do anything racist please don’t do anything racist…
Dammit, 1959…
These idiots are supposed to be the top journalists of one of the most influential newspapers on the planet, by the way.
Can we please switch to something less uncomfortable? Anything?
I can’t believe I’m happy to see Elastic Lad again.
We have a slight change in the, uhm, “Elastic Lad mythos”. The first time he got his powers it was thanks to Kryptonite, but the writer decided that was a little too random.
Since we need to change the origin of his powers to something equally nonsensical, enter professor Potter.
So basically this is Bouncing Boy’s origin story with some added racism.
Now that he’s Elastic Lad again, his priorities are trying to score as much as possible…
…and GETTING SHOT TO THE MOON.
Well, technically speaking the guy wants to shoot a rabbit to the Moon.
I think we just found the Earth equivalent to Jor-El.
Jimmy manages to get shot to the Moon ACCIDENTALLY.
So… did Jimmy Olsen beat Neil Armstrong by an entire decade!?
Nope!
By the way, Jimmy’s face on that panel is green because when he landed he managed to get some paint splashed on his face.
Because of this, Jimmy is mistaken for an alien by some cowboys…
…and he escapes by turning into a giant pretzel.
You might’ve noticed earlier that Clark Kent drank the elastic serum. But the serum has no effect on him because he’s invulnerable, so to save his secret identity he has to fake it.
With mirrors.
Note the mention of “super-ventriloquism”, Superman’s silliest superpower. I don’t think we’ve seen it in Jimmy Olsen stories yet; it’ll be used A LOT during the Silver Age.
Anyway, the serum wears off and the Daily Planet staff can go back to take any opportunity to do anything except their jobs.
Historical significance: 1/10
Elastic Lad reaches his final form, with the purple costume and the powers coming from a serum that Jimmy can take whenever he wants.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Pretty standard silliness for the times.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
The Elastic Lad scenes are pretty inoffensive, but that Pocahontas play… yeeesh.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
How do you get stuck inside a cannon by accident!?
Superpower count: 21
Obviously no “new” powers to add, so we’re still at 21.