Jimmy Olsen

For the professional wrestler, see Jimmy Olsen (wrestler).

Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen. Art by Phil Noto, from 9-11: The World's Finest Comic Book Writers and Artists Tell Stories to Remember.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Anonymous cameo: Action Comics #6 (November 1938) As Jimmy Olsen: Superman #13 (November/December 1941)
Created by	Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
In-story information
Team affiliations	Daily Planet Galaxy Broadcasting Legion of Super-Heroes Elastic Four
Supporting character of	Superman
Notable aliases	Mr. Action, Elastic Lad, Flamebird
Abilities	Possesses a wristwatch which emits an ultrasonic frequency signal that can be heard by Superman from anywhere on Earth

Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character who appears mainly in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Olsen is a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Superman and Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures.

Fictional character profile

Jimmy is traditionally depicted as a bow tie-wearing, red-haired young man who works as a cub reporter and photographer for The Daily Planet, alongside Lois Lane and Clark Kent, whom he idolizes as career role models. In most depictions of the character, he also has a strong friendship with Superman. As Superman's friend, Jimmy has special access to the Man of Steel, thanks to Superman's gift to Jimmy of a "signal watch," a wristwatch which, with the press of a button, emits a special ultrasonic frequency signal that Superman can hear anywhere on Earth. (In Post-Crisis continuity Jimmy invented the watch himself, and Superman briefly considered confiscating it. In New Earth continuity, the watch was designed by Superman based on a larger signaling device Jimmy created.)

In many Silver Age comic books, Jimmy was often seen sharing adventures with Superman, who saved him from various predicaments ranging from dangerous to merely embarrassing. This was particularly pronounced in the series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (published from 1954 to 1974), which saw Olsen in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations. Like most DC characters, modern portrayals of Olsen have been more serious in tone.

An important part of the Superman mythos, Jimmy Olsen has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character.

Fictional character history

An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie makes a brief appearance in the story "Superman's Phony Manager" published in Action Comics #6 (November 1938), which is claimed to be Jimmy Olsen's first appearance by several reference sources. The character was first introduced as Jimmy Olsen in the radio show The Adventures of Superman (on April 15, 1940) mainly "so the Man of Steel would have someone to talk to." With Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creating and drawing the physical appearance and giving him a bigger personality, the character moved from the radio show back into the comics in 1941, first appearing as a named character in the story "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman #13 (Nov.-Dec. 1941). But after a handful of appearances, he disappeared again. In late 1953, while Jack Larson was playing the character on the Adventures of Superman television show (where he was referred to as "Jim Olsen"), the character was revived in the Superman comics after a 10-year absence and then given his own title.

In addition to Larson, he was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); Marc McClure in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film Supergirl; Michael Landes in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film Superman Returns; and Aaron Ashmore in the CW's Smallville'.

Golden and Silver Age

Main article: History of Superman

Jimmy Olsen, from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #36 (1959). Art by Curt Swan.

During the Silver Age, beginning in 1954, Jimmy starred in his own comic book, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which featured his various adventures with and without Superman. The stories in the title would often feature particularly outlandish situations, ranging from Jimmy being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to dealing frequently with gorillas of all sorts.

This version of Jimmy Olsen even had his own fan club. In one adventure published in the 1960s, he implied that there were branches of it around the country and that he intended to lecture them about anti-crime techniques he had learned from Superman and Batman.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World

Kirby began by introducing a secret "D.N.A. Project" to create Mutated Humans for Good, also adding "The Hairies" (a group of technology-equipped hippies), superbeings from other planets (proto-New Gods), Intergang, and Morgan Edge... and reintroduced his 1940s Newsboy Legion characters. About halfway through his run, Kirby introduced vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, and Victor Volcanum, the fire-eating archcriminal. Readership quickly dropped back to its pre-Kirby levels.

Kirby's tenure on the series ended with issue #148; and with issue #164 (April–May 1974) Jimmy's book was folded into the anthology title Superman Family. In that book, Olsen became a more serious character who battled criminals as an investigative reporter known as "Mr. Action" in urban crime stories that rarely involved Superman.

Modern adventures

The Man of Steel

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, the entire Superman mythos was rebooted from scratch in the limited series The Man of Steel. Despite recent modernization efforts on Superman and his supporting characters, Jimmy Olsen has not been significantly changed in the Modern Age. He is still a cub reporter working for The Daily Planet, and is still friends with Superman. His look was made over as he stopped wearing bowties, and started wearing casual clothing (though this trend started in 1970s comics). An interesting alteration to the relationship was that Jimmy designed the signal watch himself, leading to his first meeting with Superman. Superman briefly considered confiscating the watch, but decided he trusted Jimmy to use it responsibly.

While Jimmy's transformations no longer occur as regularly as they did in the Silver Age, Jimmy did become Elastic Lad on contact with the Eradicator. He has also taken the identity of "Turtle Boy" in a series of pizza commercials, made when he was temporarily laid off from the Planet.

In the 1990s, Jimmy moved to Metropolis broadcaster Galaxy Broadcasting, where he became more brash and arrogant. This came to an end when he thought (wrongly) he had discovered Superman's secret identity and said he would announce it live on air. He reconsidered his actions, but lost his job for wasting the timeslot. He was again rehired by the Planet.

Jimmy later came under the angry hand of the Alpha Centurion, an alternate universe dictator with a deep-seated hatred for Superman and an eye toward Lois Lane. It was Jimmy who first uncovered his secret plot to control the world's finances through his company Aelius Industries, Inc.

Superman: Metropolis

June 2003 saw Jimmy Olsen as the focus of a twelve-part miniseries entitled Superman: Metropolis. Written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Danijel Zezelj, the series focused on the futuristic technology unleashed in Metropolis by Brainiac in a previous storyline, and how it affected the everyday lives of Metropolis citizens.

Recently, Jimmy had taken a position as a regular star reporter for The Daily Planet, replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent. This caused a strain in the relationship between Clark and Jimmy. It appears, however, that following the One Year Later storyline jump, Clark has regained his original role as The Daily Planet's star reporter, and Jimmy has returned to being a photographer, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his photographic efforts.

Countdown

Jimmy Olsen as Mr. Action. Cover art for Countdown #38, by Shane Davis.

Main article: Countdown to Final Crisis

Jimmy's story in the 2007-08 weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis begins with an investigation into the death of Duela Dent. Tying into the Death of the New Gods storyline, Jimmy starts to develop a plethora of new superpowers, which he first discovers when he is attacked by Killer Croc while gathering information on Duela's death. As the story progresses he tries to uncover the origin of these powers and starts to discover their potential limitlessness in stories which mimic the Silver Age Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen adventures. Briefly operating as the superhero "Mr. Action", Jimmy is unable to command the respect of established superheroes in the JLA and Teen Titans, and gives up on this particular avenue. One of these powers allows Jimmy to realize the identities of some superheroes, such as the Robins and Superman, who requests that he take care of Krypto.

Jimmy is eventually tracked down by the New God Forager, with whom he begins a romantic relationship. Forager informs him that he has become a soulcatcher for the spirits of dying New Gods. The Monitor known as Solomon later tells him that his new powers are the consequence of Darkseid using Jimmy as a host for powers he wishes to use to recreate the universe in his image, knowing that "Superman's pal" is one of the world's most well-protected citizens. Later, as the events of Countdown begin to come to their close, Jimmy becomes a more confidently powerful character and is reunited with the series' other cast members on a mission to stop Karate Kid's disease from becoming a pandemic of apocalyptic proportions. Unfortunately, they fail, and the Morticoccus virus devastates an alternate Earth.

Upon return to their Earth, Jimmy is captured by Mary Marvel, who had been manipulated towards evil by Darkseid. When Superman comes to save Jimmy, Darkseid takes control of the powers within him, causing Jimmy to radiate Kryptonite radiation, until Ray Palmer manages to rewire Darkseid's control from inside of Jimmy. Jimmy then transforms into a giant turtle-like creature, and prepares to take on Darkseid himself. Darkseid overcomes Jimmy, and prepares to kill him. Ray Palmer then comes out of Jimmy with the New God soul battery, and destroys it, returning Jimmy to normal.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Special

Main article: Superman: New Krypton

During Superman's fight with Atlas, Jimmy witnesses a mysterious figure hovering over the fight. After some encouraging words from Clark Kent, he decides to take two weeks off to investigate.

He tracks down a figure connected with the past of Jonathan Drew and is told the story of how Jonathan became Codename: Assassin. His informant is quickly executed by Codename: Assassin who then tries to kill Jimmy. Jimmy is able to avoid being killed and is apparently shielded from Codename: Assassin's telepathy due to his own many physical transformations over the years.

Jimmy goes to Project Cadmus and speaks to Dubbilex, who tells him the story about the death of the original Guardian at the hands of Codename: Assassin and how cloning is such an imperfect science that the only viable clone alive went into hiding in the desert. Dubbilex then dies from injuries sustained in an earlier conflict with Codename: Assassin. Jimmy heads south to the town of Warpath, AZ, managing to avoid conflict with Codename: Assassin on the way.

Upon arriving in Warpath, Jimmy interviews the sheriff, Greg Saunders, who evades his questions. Jimmy follows him after dark and sees Saunders working with the last Guardian clone. He then confronts the clone at his home and the two speak.

With his two weeks up, Jimmy returns to Metropolis horrified from learning that a faction within the US military is actively plotting to kill Superman.

Willing to do anything to uncover the conspiracy behind Project 7734, Jimmy uses an anonymous chat server and gets in contact with Erik/Amazing Woman from Infinity Inc., who claims to have informations useful to help Jimmy. Despite being actively pursued by Codename: Assassin, who goes so far to place bugs in his house, Jimmy goes to the appointment, only to find Erik's house burned to the ground.

Jimmy pulls Erik out, who with his dying breath, shifts to his more reliable and powerful Erika form. Erik gives him Natasha Irons' number. Natasha contacts then Jimmy, telling him about the plans of General Sam Lane, his outworldly fortress and his capture, and use of a Planet Breaker weapon of Captain Atom, now codenamed Project Breach (due to his similarity to Tim Zanetti's fate).

Finally ready to uncover the truth, Jimmy is openly confronted by Codename: Assassin, who until that point had merely followed him closely. Jimmy uses his signal watch to call Mon-El. Jimmy is shot twice in the chest by Codename: Assassin, and sinks into the ocean.

Despite surviving his assassination attempt, Jimmy decides to fake his death, having his documents planted on a heavily disfigured corpse. With no one knowing about his survival, Jimmy moves into the old Pemberton Camera Factory, sharing the results of his now unhindered investigations with Perry and Mon-El.

Action Comics backup and Jimmy Olsen

DC Comics has reported in solicits that Nick Spencer and R.B. Silva will be producing a monthly 10-page backup feature in Action Comics chronicling the adventures of Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis. Reported story topics include an alien civilization choosing Metropolis as the base of a major cultural celebration, and the introduction of Chloe Sullivan (from the Smallville television series) to the DCU proper. In the latest arc, he goes on a charity date with a girl named Maggie, only to discover that she somehow has ties to Mr. Mxyzptlk, and that she wants to marry him.

The last three chapters of the story are told in the self-titled one-shot, Jimmy Olsen.

Powers, abilities, and equipment

Cover art for the trade paperback Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen, by Brian Bolland.

Jimmy possesses a watch which emits a high-pitched signal only Superman can hear. Recently he claimed it stopped working some time in the past, never worked particularly well in the first place, and contacted Superman through Morse code now, anyway, but still wore it for show.

Mostly during the Silver Age, Jimmy would find himself temporarily transformed, for better or worse, or undergo a disguise for various purposes. The variety of transformations Jimmy received during the Silver Age is often homaged or parodied in later comics and adaptations featuring the character — for instance, in JLA: The Nail, Jimmy cites three of these transformations as his motivations behind backing Luthor's bill to outlaw metahumans and in Countdown, Jimmy is used as a spirit container for the deceased New Gods, causing him to exhibit strange powers, albeit uncontrollably, with other stories simply make passing references.

• Giant Turtle Boy: One of Jimmy's most frequently cited transformations was that of his turning into a giant turtle boy.
• Elastic Lad - As Elastic Lad, Jimmy (by serum or by alien virus) could sometimes stretch himself, akin to Elongated Man or Plastic Man. As Elastic Lad, Jimmy was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
• Flamebird- This is the name he took as a costumed superhero, with Superman disguised as Nightwing, in the shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor. These names were inspired by two native Kryptonian birds, the nightwing and the flamebird, but the relationship between Nightwing and Flamebird intentionally paralleled the crime-fighting team Batman (a night-winged creature) and Robin (a flame-colored bird).
• Speed Demon - In 1956, a month before the debut of Barry Allen as the new Flash, Jimmy drank a potion produced by a Professor Claude and briefly gained super-speed.
• Radioactive - After being exposed to a radioactive substance, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence.
• Gorilla - When Jimmy switched minds with a gorilla, he went about his reporting duties as a gorilla in Jimmy's clothes.
• Morbidly Obese-Jimmy tried to get fat in order to stop a jewel smuggling and to impress a Circus Fat Lady.
• Monstrous beard growth - The machinations of the sinister Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense beard.
• Alien-form - Aliens transformed Jimmy into a telepathic Jovian for a week. Fortunately, this turned out to be a Jovian week ... which is much shorter than an Earth week (about 70 hours = slightly less than three days.)
• Wolf-Man - In the vein of the popular Michael Landon 1950s film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Jimmy found himself transformed into a werewolf.
• Hippie - Investigating a colony of hippies at "Guru Kama's Dream Pad", Jimmy grew a beard and participated in a mock "hate-in". On the cover of this story's issue, Jimmy's seen wielding a sign that says "Superman is a freak-out!"
• Viking - Jimmy put on Viking armor and mistakenly thought he'd been transported 1000 years backward in time.
• Woman - Jimmy would occasionally go undercover dressed as a woman. Grant Morrison paid a brief homage to this in the JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel and in All-Star Superman.
• A human porcupine

Other versions

JLA: The Nail

Jimmy Olsen in The Nail. Art by Alan Davis.

In JLA: The Nail, an alternate reality in which a nail punctured a tire on the Kent's car, preventing them from finding the spaceship containing a baby Superman, Jimmy Olsen is revealed as the one behind all the other superheroes' troubles. Jimmy had served as an aide to Lex Luthor- who has become the mayor of Metropolis thanks to his efforts to provide Metropolis with a technologically-advanced police force to battle the threats that Superman wasn't there to defend the city against- following various short-lived attempts at heroism caused by temporary alteration of his DNA. Having discovered Superman's spaceship and using DNA samples to create numerous Bizarro clones, Luthor grafted Kryptonian DNA onto Jimmy—the only such 'graft' that appeared successful, as other subjects either died instantly or mutated before death. This caused Jimmy to go insane, and possess superpowers similar to Superman's, as well as mentally transforming him into a Kryptonian determined to replace human life with Kryptonian life. Jimmy played up the public's fear of superheroes via propaganda, hoping to have them imprisoned so he could use their DNA as well in an attempt to create a stable template to create other new Kryptonians. When Jimmy attacked an Amish couple and their son during a battle with the Justice League- which culminated in a desperate attempt by Batman and Green Lantern to stop him by supercharging Batman with his ring after Jimmy defeated the rest of the team-, the couple was killed, but the son was revealed to be Superman. In this alternate reality, the Amish couple had raised Superman, and brought him up as a pacifist who was encouraged to ignore worldly affairs so that he could walk in righteousness, so he had never used his powers in conflict. Jimmy asked Superman to join him, claiming that they were virtually brothers as they shared the same DNA, but when Superman refused, the two battled. During the battle, Jimmy's body finally started to reject the Kryptonian DNA, causing him to disintegrate. His last, almost prophetic words were directed at Superman, "We should have been friends".The Justice League then asked Superman to join them.

The Dark Knight Returns

In Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, an older Jimmy Olsen (James, as he is now called) is featured as the writer of a Daily Planet article titled "Truth to Power", recalling the age of heroes. In the 2001 sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again he appears on various TV shows, where he attempts to reveal that the current President is a holographic projection. However, his attempts to publicize the truth are halted by Lex Luthor as Metropolis is destroyed (killing hundreds, including Jimmy, Lois, and Perry) by BrainIAC.

Superman: Red Son

In Superman: Red Son, written by Mark Millar, Jimmy is depicted as an agent of the CIA, eventually becoming the director, and soon joins Dr. Lex Luthor in his Presidential bid and becomes Vice-President. His look and model in the series is based on James Jesus Angleton, who served in the CIA^{[citation needed]}.

Superman: Kal

In Superman: Kal, the Jamie Olsen of the Middle Ages is an early alchemist, working with blacksmith's apprentice Kal to forge a suit of armour for Baron Luthor using metal acquired from a 'silver egg' that fell from the sky years ago. After Kal is killed in his final effort to slay Luthor, the story concludes with an epilogue where Jamie Olsen tells his apprentice, Merlin, of his friendship with Kal, noting that Kal's last action was to hide away his indestructible sword until it would be needed.

All-Star Superman

In Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman series, Jimmy shows up briefly in the Daily Planet offices in argyle socks; this Jimmy seems to be a refined version of the Silver Age vintage, with a signal watch halfway between a McDonald's happy meal toy and haute couture. He's also shown with something that may be a jetpack. Issue #4 of the series focuses on Jimmy and his adventures as the one-day director of the DNA P.R.O.J.E.C.T., a leftover from the Jack Kirby-era Jimmy Olsen series. This is apparently the latest in a series of highly successful articles by Jimmy, in which he spends a day in various roles. This version of Jimmy also became that reality's version of Doomsday.

All-Star Batman and Robin

Jimmy Olsen makes an appearance in Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin #6, helping Vicki Vale, who he appears to be attracted to, escape from hospital and giving her files on Batman and the Flying Graysons. This incarnation is described as a cub reporter for the Gotham Gazette as opposed to his regular position at the Daily Planet and as 'Superman's Pal'. However he is still young, so he may yet work for the Planet.

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Jimmy Olsen is an agent of Cyborg to spy the Amazons. He was with Lois Lane reporting on a fashion show in Mountmatre when the Atlanteans flooded Europe. Jimmy was one of the thousands to perish in Western Europe when he tried to save an old man, though Lois survived by getting into a church steeple. Jimmy's place at the Resistance was then taken by Lois, after she got his camera, revealed to be a communications device that can transform into different forms for concealment.

DC Universe Online: Legends

In the limited comic series, DC Universe Online: Legends, Jimmy Olsen was captured, along side Lois Lane and Perry White, in the Daily Planet by Brainiac, but was saved by Superman, with Lex Luthor in possession of the canister containing them. Later, Jimmy became one of the people who have gained metahuman abilites from Braniac's Exobytes, transforming his body into a large being with reptile-like skin.

Parody/Homage

• In Alan Moore and Gene Ha's Top 10, a photograph of a version of two of Jimmy's superpowered selves, merged, is shown to Andy Soames; having contracted a disease which warps powers, this version appears to be Turtle Boy, driven insane by the acquisition of Elastic Lad's powers.
• In Lord Havok and the Extremists #3, a variation of Jimmy called Robin Olsen, is shown as a member of Monarch's army.
• In Alan Moore's Supreme, Billy Friday is a young, red-haired associate of Ethan Crane/Supreme; Friday eventually becomes/merges with Master Meteor, a time-travelling villain powered by the reality-bending substance Supremium, and becomes the insane Supremium Man.

In other media

Main article: Jimmy Olsen in other media

Cultural references

• The Spin Doctors had a minor hit with their song "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" on their album Pocket Full of Kryptonite, in which they portrayed Jimmy Olsen as infatuated with Lois Lane and jealous of Superman, a problem which he hoped to solve with the aforementioned "pocket full of Kryptonite." In the period after the song became popular, artist Jon Bogdanove, who at the time was the regular penciler on the Superman: The Man of Steel comic, would occasionally depict Jimmy wearing a Spin Doctors T-shirt.
• Often, Superman pastiches have featured notable Jimmy analogues. For example, in Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Mighty Mouse's greatest fan was a young mouse named Scrappy with a shock of red hair.
• Alan Moore's comic series Supreme featured Billy Friday, a cynical British comic book writer, very unlike Jimmy in personality, but who underwent weird transformations similar to those of the Silver Age Jimmy.
• On the show Boy Meets World, Topanga refers to a photographer as a "Jimmy Olsen freak."
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Zeppo", characters twice refer to non-superpowered sidekick Xander Harris as Jimmy Olsen.
• Professional wrestler Corey Branson took the moniker Jimmy Olsen in a few New York promotions such as NWA Upstate.
• The Teamo Supremo episode "You'd Better Start Calling Me Chief!" revolved around an accident-prone newspaper reporter and photographer named Ollie Jimson who followed the titular trio around, screwing up their attempts to catch the bad guys.
• In The Sopranos episode "Cold Stones", Silvio Dante reacts to a piece of already heard news by responding that Carlo Gervasi is a "regular Jimmy Olsen."
• In the horror film House of 1000 Corpses, Grandpa Hugo asks one of the main characters if he is "Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter for 'The Daily Arsehole'".
• In the drug comedy film Tyrone, the character Tyrone played by Coolio calls one of the main characters a "Jimmy Olsen lookin' mother f'er".
• In "The Boyfriend", an episode of Seinfeld, Keith Hernandez tells Jerry that he loved his Jimmy Olsen bit.
• Comic Book Guy mentioned Jimmy Olsen in the Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives".
• On an appearance on HBO's Costas Now, author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Buzz Bissinger said to sports blog "Deadspin" founder Will Leitch, "You're like Jimmy Olsen on percocet".
• In season 3 episode 11 of Desperate Housewives, Carlos refers to Gabrielle's boyfriend as Jimmy Olsen because of the page boy cap he wears.
• Dar Williams in her song "Are You Out There" mentions to Jimmy Olsen.
• In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Jimmy Jones, a major fan of Ben Tennyson and his aliens, is a homage to both Jimmy Olsen and Rick Jones from The Incredible Hulk.

External links

• Jimmy Olsen: Honorary Legionnaires - Hero History
• Counting Down to Countdown - Part II: Eclipso and Jimmy Olsen
• Supermanica: Jimmy Olsen Supermanica entry on the pre-Crisis Jimmy Olsen
• Jimmy Olsen's Signal-Watch
• Comic Book Resources' Oddball Comics column Detailing Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen #80, which references many of Jimmy's different forms
• Transgender Graphics and Fiction Archive An overview of Jimmy Olsen's adventures disguised as a woman.
• Wizard Entertainment - Countdown Catch-all
• Jimmy Olsen on DC Database, an external wiki, a DC Comics wiki