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| Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen 1 & World's Finest Comics 72! |
Download Episode 161!
This episode begins my journey through the Silver Age of Superman comics, month by month with each weekly episode, ending with Mort Weisinger's retirement in 1970. This ought to keep me busy for a while. In this episode we begin with the Superman Family of comic book titles cover dated September/October 1954: SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 1 and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 72.
While Jimmy Olsen had his start in the earliest Superman stories, and as a character, is almost as old as Superman and Lois Lane, his Silver Age is considered to begin with the first issue of his own title.
WORLD'S FINEST COMICS had its beginnings in NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS in 1939 and 1940. Its Silver Age is considered to have begun with the team up of Superman and Batman in the same story. Their first comic book team up occurred in SUPERMAN #76, May/June 1952. Their first team up in WORLD'S FINEST happened in issue 71.
For more about the history of the Superman Batman team, go to THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMIC BOOK PODCAST, Episode 58, August 24, 2008.
I covered Superman's and Batman's first team up in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS in Episode 119.l .
SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 1 was published around July 22, 1954. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Ray Burnley. They were also to art team on all three stories in the issue, which were written by Otto Binder. The stories were:
- THE BOY OF 100 FACES!
- THE CASE OF THE LUMBERJACK JINX
- THE MAN OF STEEL'S SUBSTITUTE
WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 72 was published on July 29, 1954. It wasedited by Jack Schiff, and the cover was drawn by Win Mortimer. The Superman and Batman story was titled FORT CRIME, written by Alvin Schwartz, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. The other two stories in the issue were:
- THE FLYING ARCHERS, starring Green Arrow and written by France E. Herron and drawn by George Papp.
- THE TALONS OF TERROR, starring Tomahawk, also written by France Herron , with art by Nick Cardy.
Nest Episode: THE SUPERMAN COMICS COVER DATED JULY 1958: SUPERMAN 122 and ACTION COMICS 242!
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I've finally decided to dive in and actually read some Silver Age Superman and listen to your episodes again as I go. I thought I'd comment here on the blog as I go back through them.
ReplyDeleteJumbo! I'm really sad that the pilot of the Flying Newsroom didn't catch on as a sidekick for Jimmy beyond these first few issues. They make a nice action team against the jewel thieves in the first story here. Oh for the days when being 200 lbs got you the nickname Jumbo... Speaking of the Flying Newsroom, Binder is really showing how up-to-date he is on tech here. Helicopters were first cleared for commercial use in 1946 and the first TV news 'copter didn't get invented until 1958 -- 4 years after this story. I have no idea if newspapers ever used them for any reason in the '50s.
I really like the street-level crime-solving aspect of the first two stories in particular. Jimmy feels like he's both Hardy Boys rolled into one here.
The third story is not as good for me. Jimmy puts together a zany, elaborate plan, which is the norm for this era of comics. Most of Superman's crazy plans work fine, but since this is Jimmy, it doesn't. I'm not sure that pulling people off of Skid Row and putting them to work on a bridge project is the best idea, but maybe there's not as much training involved as I would assume. Since a girder falls out of the bridge and it starts to collapse though...
I don't have much to say about the World's Finest story. At least it's not a monster of the week yet. I like the idea of Batman and Superman working together to fight a crime spree that hits both Metropolis and Gotham, but the execution here leaves something to be desired. Using x-rays to manipulate a teletype machine and the ability to throw a wicked curveball without moving your arm are two powers I don't really ever need to see again.
Thanks for listening. I didn't know that about helicopters. I did a quick google about newspapers and helicopters and found that in 1947 The Oregon Journal was the first paper to use a helicopter as a vehicle to gather news. Unfortunately the son of the editor/publisher was killed when it crashed. Like you I still miss Jumbo.
DeleteThe silver age is full of stories with zany elaborate plans, but the era has an innocent charm that I still enjoy. I have to admit the era of World's Finest I'm covering is not my favorite. I look forward to getting to the issues after Mort Weisinger took the reins of the book from Jack Schiff.
Thanks for your continued interest in the podcast, and I hope you enjoy reading the silver age adventures of Superman.