Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

[kalel21]

I've been writing about the Silver Age Superman stories on my blog. When writing about Jimmy Olsen, it occurred to me that Silver Age Jimmy was pretty much the Paul Bunyon or Johnny Appleseed of the DC Universe--all sorts of tall tales were being attributed to him (confronting aliens, traveling through time and frequently getting transformed into strange creatures such a werewolf, a porcupine boy, and a boy with six arms) that didn't particularly make logical sense even within the context of a comic book universe. But the stories were written in such an unpretentious and convivial manner, that it's impossible to complain. The absurdities became a natural and expected part of the Jimmy Olsen stories.

http://comicsradio.blogspot.com/2013/09/supermans-pal.html

[CharlieRock]

Wasn't Jimmy first introduced in the radio show?

[kalel21]

Wasn't Jimmy first introduced in the radio show?

He was first given a name in the radio show, yes. I should have made note of that in the blog entry.

[CharlieRock]

So that would make him the Harley Quinn of the Superman world. First introduced in another medium, takes off in popularity, shows up in comics and later gets eponymous series.

[SuperScrounge]

When I got the Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 1 and noticed that Otto Binder did most (all?) of the Jimmy stories it dawned on me why Jimmy got his own book... it was so Binder could tell Billy Batson stories.

Really, Jimmy stands in for Billy, Supes stands in for the Big Red Cheese and the signal watch stands in for the magic word Shazam. The main difference between the stories is that Jimmy & Supes can talk to each other unlike Billy & Captain Marvel.

[CharlieRock]

That's actually pretty cool. And with that perspective it makes a lot of sense. Billy Batson was a reporter, too. Some of my favorite comic book moments were all the stories of Billy meeting Superman (in either body).

[kalel21]

Here's the follow-up blog entry about Lois Lane:

http://comicsradio.blogspot.com/2013/09/supermans-girl-friend.html

[comicsnorth]

I always thought that Jimmy Olsen was a human version of Tawky Tawny from the old Captain Marvel--they wear the same green plaid suit, and both have orange hair, plus a knack for wandering into silly situations.