JIMMY OLSEN 116 (1968)
by E. Nelson Bridwell & Pete Costanza
We’ve met Lex Luthor multiple times, from the Legion to Supergirl, but Brainiac has been conspicuously missing from this site.
Let’s remedy that, shall we?
We begin with Brainiac targeting Jimmy while he’s on a camping trip.
At this point Brainiac had been retconned into being a robot (Brainiac 5 is actually the descendant of Brainiac’s adopted son), but thankfully this comic includes a brief recap of his new origin.
Meanwhile Jimmy and his buddies are busy eating Cheerios®. And if you think this is blatant product placement, you haven’t seen anything yet!
Brainiac lands while Jimmy is taking a swim, so he has to get back to shore to get his signal-watch and warn Superman. I would’ve thought Jimmy was the kind of person to wear the signal-watch 24/7, but considering that thing breaks the rules of physics every time he drops it that was probably a good idea.
Brainiac uses his Enlarging Ray ™ to make the watch so big that Jimmy can’t use it. That’s actually clever and helps give some new visuals.
Also: looks like Jimmy has been hitting the gym!
I’m not going to question why would anyone program a ray to work only on ice cubes. I don’t have a 12th level intelligence.
Then OUT OF ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE it turns out that there’s an “educational station” nearby that is working on a “hush-hush project” involving Superman robots.
Are we picking plot points out of a hat now!?
Why would being Superman’s friend automatically give him security clearance!?
Also THIS GOES NOWERE: the idea to use the robots is shut down NEXT PANEL!
WTF was the point of that!?
No don’t worry, Jimmy isn’t going to defeat Brainiac with a bucket, this comic isn’t THAT stupid.
Yet.
You’re not used to this series, Brainiac. “But why…?” is basically the entire premise.
So… Jimmy wasn’t strong enough to activate the signal-watch, but two kids moving A GIANT PIECE OF METAL are!?
Sounds legit.
Then Brainiac pulls out the obligatory Kryptonite.
HOW ARE YOU THIS STUPID!?
Brainiac is a science fiction villain from the 50s, so he has an affinity with giant ants.
Then Jimmy SOMEHOW manages to steal Brainiac’s Enlarging Ray.
By the way he’s drawn I initially wondered if he took the Elastic Lad serum because that is one awkward pose!
And that must’ve been too much embarrassment for Brainiac because literally next panel:
Superman is still incapacitated by the Kryptonite, so Jimmy and his friends have to roll downhill to save him.
Jimmy suggests using the enlarging ray to restore Kandor, but it’s out of power.
And so we end with the most blatant case of product placement I have ever seen in a comic book:
Seriously, there’s not even a disclaimer that this is a sponsored story!
Historical significance: 0/10
Brainiac definitely deleted this encounter from his memory.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10 
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
That was as corny as it gets. And not in a fun way.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
Brainiac does nothing but making things big in this comic, yet Jimmy doesn’t care about a piece of Kryptonite because it’s small.
Interesting letters: future DC writer Martin Pasko has an excellent question that I’ve asked myself many many times… why is Jimmy Olsen THAT famous!?
This time the Marvel-DC competition is a little more light-hearted than it typically was in this period, at least on the DC books.
