JIMMY OLSEN 106 (1967)
by Jim Shooter & Pete Costanza
As part of the Legion retrospective, the only Jimmy Olsen story written by Jim Shooter.
The artist is Pete Costanza, one of the longest-tenured artists of Captain Marvel during the Golden Age. We’ll eventually see him in the Jimmy retrospective since he will replace Curt Swan as regular artist. He has a fascinating history… he retired from comics because a stroke affected his right hand, so he learned to paint using his left hand and ended up selling hundreds of paintings!
You can DEFINITELY see the Golden Age in his artwork.
We begin in the 20th century, where Jimmy Olsen performs some charity act as Elastic Lad.
Jimmy is both the cannon AND the net. It seems well beyond Elastic Lad’s capabilities and more of a Plastic Man thing, pushing the Golden Age vibes even farther.
The Legion contacts him for an emergency. Interestingly, he’s brought to the future thanks to the Time Cube from Adventure Comics #349. That’s a Shooter creation of course, so I guess maybe he didn’t care for the Legion’s traditional Time Bubble?
They reached him as Elastic Lad by accident, however. They’re actually looking for Jimmy Olsen… because they need help with the Legion Bulletin.
So I guess in the Legion Awards for this era the “Worst use of time travel” category won’t have much competition.
I know it’s silly to look for logic in a Jimy Olsen story, but I’ll bite.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT!?
If the Legion is too busy with real cases to write a newspaper, I’m sure the authorities will understand! I could understand the Legion wasting time with something like this in its very earliest days, but at this time?
And if it’s actually important for some reason… Jimmy Olsen is your first choice? Really?
Okay, to his credit, Jimmy does try to look for a story.
And when his ONLY attempt proves boring, he gives up NEXT PANEL.
Why is the deadline a problem when you’ve got a time machine!?!?
Anyway, Jimmy decides to get an interview with the head of the Science Police, when he turns into Elastic Lad to save a child from a monorail.
And I guess the Elastic Lad serum works on his shirt now.
Jimmy ends up missing the chance to get the interview (the Science Police guy has already left the planet) and it turns out that he didn’t even save anyone.
On the second day, Jimmy tries to write an article about how the security measures of the banks have changed in the past 1,000 years, but he’s sidetracked.
Apparently nobody wears pants in the 30th century banks.
Jimmy is smart enough to call Mon-El to help, but turns out he can’t open the vault because it’s set to wipe out the entire city. A little too dystopic for the Legion future…
Jimmy has to save the day with his nose. (!!!)
There are a number of Legionnaires whose powers would’ve made this a non-issue (Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet and Element Lad come to mind), but at least they’re not shown in the story.
Brainiac 5, however, has no excuse for not showing up.
And apparently “Time-traveling idiot savant saves lives at Metropolis bank” is not a story? What?
On the third and last day Jimmy decides to write a story about the history of policemen, so he heads to a local museum. There’s a panel about an exhibit of badges; there may be other easter eggs, but Allen Pinkerton is a legit reference (even with a minor spelling error).
As you already know you can’t expect Jimmy Olsen to touch something made of glass and NOT break it.
This triggers the alarm. Jimmy Olsen could simply admit his mistake and pay the damages, or even get out of trouble by using his honorary Legion membership.
But nope! He just runs!
Jimmy returns to the Legion HQ without any story for Bulletin, and he takes a nap. Once he wakes up, though…
And why were those interesting stories? The toy he saved was a “valuable experimental child-robot” (WTF?) and the vault was “the most burglarproof safe in the universe” (double WTF?)
But the story about the museum surely was a waste, right? Right?
“The Uniform Gang”? You’re a universe with shapeshifters and “The Uniform Gang” makes the news!?!?
As for who actually wrote the news:
Ah, that will be the second contender for the “Worst use of time travel” award.
I do like that Mon-El is basically calling Jimmy Olsen both a bad reporter and a bad hero.
Of course the insult flies way above Jimmy’s head.
Historical significance: 0/10
Both as a Legion and Jimmy Olsen story.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Averagely stupid for the times.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This one sucked. If Jim Shooter was trying to figure out a way to integrate Jimmy into the Legion canon… this wasn’t it. The artwork doesn’t really help; Pete Costanza’s more cartoonish style makes the story look even more childish than it already is.
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
2 reserve member: Kid Psycho, Insect Queen
2 honorary members: Elastic Lad, Rond Vidar
1 resigned member: Command Kid
1 expelled member: Nemesis Kid
2 deceased members: Dynamo Boy, Ferro Lad
How much Legion is too much?
The total number of characters who have been members is 31.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
Only Butterfingers Olsen would break a museum glass like that!