JIMMY OLSEN 99 (1967)
by Jim Shooter & Pete Costanza
Sometimes I think “there’s no way Jimmy Olsen can get more superpowers”. Then I get covers like this one. And yes, this one is by Jim Shooter.
It’s Jimmy’s birthday, and he receives a present from the future.
(pun not intended)
So… Brainiac 5 can create costumes that give anyone the powers of some of the most powerful Legionnaires, and he gives them to Jimmy Olsen!?
The only way this can make any sense is if Jimmy’s role as honorary Legionnaire is to be Brainy’s guinea pig.
Giving him a Flight Ring, on the other hand, is just unforgivable.
Lucy’s birthday gift for Jimmy is a ride on a luxury supersonic jet!
This is a story published in 1967 and the Concorde didn’t start operating until 1976… so either there was another luxury supersonic plane or Jim Shooter accidentally invented the Concorde!
However the plane is stolen by the Weapons Wizard.
Can you tell Pete Costanza is a Golden Age artist?
Jimmy manages to escape thanks to his Flight Ring, but the bad guys stole his Signal Watch. He assumes that Superman will immediately fall for the easiest trap in history, which… okay, that’s actually rather plausible.
So of course he decides to use the Lightning Lad costume, which gives him electric powers and makes him look like he’s wearing a blue diaper.
I hate it that he uses his powers more creatively than Lightning Lad ever has (at least at the time).
Jimmy gets the drop on Weapons Wizard, but a woman randomly shows up to protect the criminal.
Weapons Wizard’s goons, with all their high-tech gadgets, defeat Jimmy with… liquid rubber.
Mind you, they didn’t know that Jimmy would show up with electric powers, so they must’ve had liquid rubber just laying around their evil lair.
Despite the fact that they have FREAKING CANNONS to shoot him!!!
But it turns out that liquid rubber makes you immune to cannon fire. WTF!?!?
Next he changes into his Element Lad costume, and at least this time Jimmy is able to use his powers in a far worse way than the real Legionnaire.
Which, if you consider Element Lad’s underwhelming performance in early Legion stories, is kind of a little sad.
Jimmy retreats to the sea, where the goons attack him on water skis and with freezing rays.
So they had cannons AND lasers AND freezing rays, but their first weapon was liquid rubber.
These guys are dead, right? Right?
Element Jimmy is captured by mechanical tentacles (don’t ask), but once again the woman saves his life.
The Flight Ring then loses power. I can be a little more forgiving if the Legion gave him a temporary one.
Despite the fact that the Element Lad costume was rather effective and that it should still work just fine, Jimmy then decides to switch to Sun Boy.
Even if he doesn’t have the Flight Ring, he can still kind of fly. Hey, it makes more sense than how the Human Torch flies.
He then proceeds to utterly trash Weapons Wizard’s tanks.
Not really sure why Weapons Wizard needs all these tanks since he has a ring that shoots a disintegrator ray. (!!!!)
Out of all the Legion powers showcased here, Sun Boy is clearly the best one.
You know what? Weapons Wizard looks absolutely ridiculous, but he does have SOME potential as a villain.
SOME.
Also: Sun Boy might be awesome, but this is still a Jimmy Olsen comic so SOMETHING has to suck.
Jimmy is set to be executed by firing squad (!!!!) but once again the random woman saves him.
Okay it was already ridiculous, but this is too much. Why doesn’t Weapons Wizard just order his men to shoot her?
Wait… HE DOES.
She did loosen up Jimmy’s restrains to allow him to take the Elastic Lad serum.
Yes, out of all the superpowers, it turns out that those of Elastic Lad are the most useful.
This ties up everything together, except for the random woman.
No problem, Superman can just mind-wipe her!
Well that’s not disturbing or anything.
Historical significance: 0/10
Despite having all the elements of being a recurring villain, Weapons Wizard never shows up again.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Just the idea that the Legion has costumes that give super-powers and just wastes them on a birthday present for Jimmy Olsen…
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
The idea is stupid and the artwork really doesn’t do it any favors, but Shooter’s creative use of superpowers gives us some interesting set pieces.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
Element Lad’s powers should’ve been FAR more effective against these weapons. Granted, Element Lad himself didn’t use his powers very effectively at the time, but still!!!
Superpowers count: 42
Adding transmutation and electricity generation for Element Lad and Lightning Lad. Jimmy’s had heat vision many times and even fire breath, but Sun Boy is different enough to add heat generation.
Interesting letters: the sad part is that the Jimmy Olsen letters page is pretty representative of what was published in the DC books.
