James Olsen (Earth-One)

Jimmy Olsen was born and raised in the East coast city known as Metropolis. As a teenager, he began working as a stock boy at Metropolis' most prestigious media center, the Daily Planet. During his tenure, he met the Planet's star reporters, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Within a short time, Jimmy's eagerness and likeable nature earned him a position as the newspaper's ace photographer. Although Jimmy was a talented photographer, his lifelong dream was to become an investigative reporter like Clark and Lois. He was known to storm the offices of the Daily Planet's managing editor, Perry White, begging for field work, but Perry was often reluctant to send the youth on assignments he felt were outside of Jimmy's capabilities. Jimmy's penchant for referring to Perry by the nickname "Chief" did little to endear the older man to his cause.

Jimmy's life changed forever however the day he met Metropolis' chosen hero, Superman. What Jimmy never realized, was that Superman was also his mild-mannered co-worker, Clark Kent. As Superman, Clark recognized the boy's dedication to his dream and kept a close eye over him. Superman became Jimmy Olsen's idol and he proudly referred to himself as "Superman’s Pal".

As Jimmy began volunteering for more and more dangerous assignments, Superman came to realize that Jimmy's life would always be in a state of great peril. In order to keep a closer eye on him, Superman provided Jimmy with a special signal watch capable of broadcasting a high-pitched S.O.S. signal – a signal that operated on a frequency that only Superman's ultra-acute hearing could perceive. Whenever Jimmy found himself in over his head (which was often), he merely pressed a switch on his wristwatch and Superman could hear the signal from anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, Jimmy would often abuse this wondrous piece of technology, and was known to summon Superman for extremely frivolous matters.

As the years passed, Jimmy made a notable career for himself as a cub reporter. He developed his own investigative crime kit, complete with costumes, props, wigs, and an array of useful if albeit strange devices such as his fountain pen air-gun. He maintained a private disguise kit on board the Daily Planet's “Flying Newsroom” helicopter. Whenever Jimmy needed to get somewhere in a hurry, he would merely call upon the Newsroom’s resident pilot, Jumbo Jones, and have him fly off on another mysterious adventure.

The many lives of Jimmy Olsen

Jimmy Olsen is also no stranger to the life of a super-powered human being. Throughout the span of his career, Jimmy has been exposed to many situations wherein he developed super-powers or other bizarre abnormalities. Typically these traits endured for very brief periods of time, and ultimately Jimmy would find himself returning to normal.

Elastic Lad

One day, Jimmy discovered a bottle of green, phosphorescent liquid which was contained inside of a large chest that Superman had brought back with him from outer space. Fearing that the contents may be composed of Kryptonite, Jimmy opened the bottle outside of Superman's immediate presence. While attempting to dispose of the fluid, Jimmy tripped and accidentally spilled it all over himself. The strange liquid altered the boy's body chemistry granting him amazing powers of elasticity. He immediately set upon finding a cure, and joined a carnival side-show in the hopes of that he might one day return to normal. After several misadventures, Jimmy discovered that exposure to Kryptonite could permanently cure him of his stretching abilities. However, this would not be the only time that Jimmy would find himself using the name, Elastic Lad. Lana Lang's uncle, Professor Phineas Potter created a special stretching serum, which when imbibed, would grant the consumer fantastic stretching abilities. Jimmy and Clark Kent both accidentally drank the formula, and Jimmy became Elastic Lad once again. The effects of Potter’s formula were only temporary however, and before long, Jimmy resumed his normal physical shape. On one occasion, Jimmy traveled to the 31st century where he used Professor Potter's formula to become Elastic Lad once again. As Elastic Lad, Jimmy applied for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Although he never became an active member of the team, the Legion considered him an honorary Legionnaire.

Wolf-Man

Jimmy Olsen once drank a mysterious potion that Superman had acquired during one of his many missions. The potion transformed Jimmy into a werewolf, similar to the creature once portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr. in the 1941 Universal Pictures film, The Wolf Man. On the three nights of the full moon, Jimmy transformed into a canine brute, and only the kiss of a beautiful woman could restore him back to normal. He tried desperately to find someone who could aid him, but all of the local girls were too shocked by Jimmy's gruesome appearance to come near him. Finally, Superman enlisted the aid of his cousin, Supergirl. Supergirl gave Jimmy a kiss, which successfully cured him of his lycanthropy.

Turtle Man

Jimmy Olsen was walking down the beach when he discovered a strange Atlantean sea chest that had washed up on the sand. Inspecting its contents, he found an elaborate device capable of enlarging other objects. While inspecting the enlarging ray, the device activates generating a beam of energy that strikes a nearby turtle. The ray ricocheted off of the turtle's back, striking Jimmy. Strangely enough, the turtle's body acted as a filter, and when the beam struck Jimmy, it transformed him into a giant Turtle Man. With the mental acuity of a turtle, Jimmy went on a rampage throughout Metropolis, destroying a massive suspension bridge in the process. Superman attempted to subdue him, and used the same shrinking ray that Brainiac once used to shrink the bottle city of Kandor, to return Jimmy to normal size.

Flamebird

Several years later, the Kandorian criminal known as Than Ol developed a way to enlarge himself and escape from the bottle city. Accompanied by a squad of henchmen, he succeeded in turning public opinion against Superman, and the citizens of Kandor believed that their trusted friend was in fact, a criminal. In order to quash Than Ol's insurrection, Superman and Jimmy Olsen had to go under cover as the vigilantes known as Nightwing and Flamebird. While Superman's identity was an obvious homage to his friend, Batman, Jimmy patterned himself after Batman's teen partner, Robin. The two crime-fighters succeeded in stopping the threat of Than Ol and preserving Superman’s sterling reputation amongst the citizens of Kandor.

Publishing History

During the Silver Age, Jimmy starred in his own comic book, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which featured his various adventures with and without Superman; it debuted in 1954. 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. Because of these factors, the comic was regarded by some as a poorly written subsidiary title, although some readers still enjoy it for its camp value.

The major exception to this was in the early 1970s, when the singular writer/artist Jack Kirby took over the title and created his own distinctive stories as part of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, which introduced many additions to the DC Universe, including the supervillain Darkseid and Project Cadmus. The series revolved around Project Cadmus, and the genetic experiments held there, most notably cloning. The series ended in 1974 with issue #163, when 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 in urban crime stories that rarely involved Superman.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

On the average, Jimmy does not possess any superhuman capabilities. However, his many misadventures have frequently found him in circumstances where he would spontaneously develop super-abilties. These powers have always been temporary, and usually disappeared within a twenty-four hour period.

Abilities

Although Jimmy often appears as incompetent of aloof, he is actually quite skilled in a wide range of fields. In high school, he was an expert pole vaulter. In later years, he was a skilled bowler, and later still he became an experienced race car driver. Jimmy Olsen is also fluent in Kryptonese, a language he learned during his visit to the bottle city of Kandor.

Strength level

Jimmy Olsen possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in minimal regular exercise. On occasion, circumstances have allowed Jimmy's strength levels to increase for limited amounts of time.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment:

Jimmy Olsen's Signal Watch: A wristwatch equipped with an electronic device that would emit a high-pitch whine that only someone with enhanced hearing could perceive. Whenever Superman heard the distinctive pitch of Jimmy's watch, he knew that his pal was in trouble. Jimmy became overly dependent on the watch, and began to abuse it, calling for Superman's aid for mundane manners. Superman admonished Jimmy for this practice, and as such, Jimmy has since restricted the amount of times that he uses to watch to call for help.

Transportation: Jimmy Olsen made use of any means of transportation available to him. These vehicle ranged from racing cars, to helicopters, to bicycles. He also made use of the Daily Planet's Flying Newsroom, piloted by his good friend Jumbo Jones.
Weapons: Jimmy occasionally made use of a disguised fountain pen, which was actually a compressed air-gun.

Notes

This version of James Olsen (Earth-One), including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the Multiverse in the 1985-86 Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series and is now considered apocryphal.

Trivia

Although Jimmy Olsen was a life-long bachelor, he was at one-point married to an ape in an ceremony officiated by Superman. However, the marriage was not legally recognized in the United States and is considered annulled.

Jimmy's Disguises

Ice-cream vendor ^[1]
Barton Brush man ^[2]
Rajah Rupee ^[3]
Gilbert Knox ^[4]

Links and References

Footnotes

Legion of Super-Heroes member
This character is or was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 30th/31st Century, in any one of their various continuities. Including but not limited to, the Original Continuity, the Post-Zero Hour Legion, and the "Threeboot" Continuity.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Legion of Super-Heroes members" category.

[0] Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1

[1] Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1

[2] Superman (Volume 1) #121

[3] Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #31

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[2]

[3]

[4]

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