SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 052 (1961)
by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan
The cover is kind of hilarious: it’s like they realized they were just repeating the same story and wanted to reassure the reads that they wouldn’t get the same ending.
We begin with Mr. Mxyzptlk stalking Jimmy while he’s on a date with Lucy Lane.
And it’s love at first sight!
As we’ve established plenty of times, Lucy will date basically anyone who isn’t Jimmy… but she has SOME standards.
What’s interesting is that Mxyzptlk already met both Jimmy and Lucy in the second story of Jimmy Olsen #44. Apparently he doesn’t remember that encounter, but this is a continuation of the cover story of that issue!
Mxyzptlk mind-controls Jimmy to drink the potion (why not just mind-control him to leave Lucy!?); Jimmy does the sensible thing and calls Superman for help… but they are both more worried by the transformation, and less by the fact that Jimmy was doing things against his own will.
Since in the previous story Supergirl’s kiss broke the curse, Superman once again gets his underage cousin in a dark room to kiss his friend.
Well at least we can all assume it’s just a friendly kiss on the cheek, right?
Once again, 1961: SUPERGIRL IS LIKE FIFTEEN.
*groan*
Also: it doesn’t even work.
The reason why it didn’t work is actually kind of clever: the transformation wasn’t even caused by the potion but by Mr. Mxyzptlk.
I guess this confirms there are no furries in the fifth dimension.
Remember when the last time this happened I complained that all Jimmy had to do to break the curse was ask Lois to kiss him, since he really didn’t want to tell Lucy?
Here’s the proof that the story could’ve ended A LOT sooner.
Not this time, though!
And just to nail the fact that last time Jimmy didn’t even need to worry about Lucy: she volunteers to kiss him too!
Also: who goes to the zoo to give peanuts to wolves? There’s a perfectly edible Jimmy right there!
Hilariously, Lucy has to think about someone handsome to kiss Jimmy! Presumably, one of her other dozen boyfriends.
And her reaction to the kiss is even MORE hilarious!!!
“You’re as repulsive as ever!”
Not, mind you, “you’re still a repulsive man-wolf”.
Yep. She’s basically saying “You’re as repulsive as you’re ever been”… ouch.
Then LITERALLY NEXT PANEL:
There’s no warning! From one second to the next, he just slips and falls to his doom.
No wonder Superman has to constantly save this guy!!!
Or in this case, Superman’s telepathic mermaid side-chick Lori Lemaris.
When that fails as well, Jimmy goes to the entirely not creepy home of Lana Lang.
I’m starting to think that Lana might be just a little obsessed about Superman.
This poor woman’s entire life revolves around the hope that he will find her marginally better than the woman he’s constantly rejecting.
But even that doesn’t work. Luckily this time Jimmy doesn’t wander into a park at night to ask random women to kiss him for cash, because he’s chased by a woman with a strange speech pattern.
And her kiss works instantly!
And that’s because this is Ms. Gzptlsnz, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s girlfriend!
(I hope you appreciate the amount of work that went into spell-checking the previous sentence)
This is her first-ever appearance, and she’s the one to exile Mxyzptlk.
And that’s the end of the story!
Historical significance: 4/10
Ms. Gzptlsnz is nowhere near the level of significance of her boyfriend, but she does reappear from time to time.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Any story with 2 five-dimensional imps should rank higher, but there is at least SOME effort to make the characters have realistic reactions.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
With the exception of Supergirl (who raises a few uncomfortable questions), the other kisses make sense within the story. Also Ms. Gzptlsnz seems to come out of nowhere, but Mxyzptlk does mention her in the very first panel. Even his plan makes relatively more sense than usual. Since this clearly isn’t meant to be taken seriously, it would be rather easy to do the story today… but if we’re going for a purely comedic story, Jimmy should be cured by Mxyzptlk with a Bugs Bunny-style kiss.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
“I have this unexplained compulsion to drink something dangerous. Better not think about it!”