Jimmy Olsen
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Jimmy Olsen is a supporting character in the Superman comic book series published by DC Comics. This fictional character's full name has been revealed as James Bartholomew Olsen.
Jimmy is usually depicted as a young red-haired man who works as a cub reporter and photographer for The Daily Planet, usually in conjunction with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, whom he idolizes as his ideals for his career ambitions. Jimmy's personality has often been portrayed as somewhat naive, but also clever and resourceful. In his recent comic incarnation, Jimmy has managed to win the Pulitzer Prize for his photographic efforts.
Jimmy is also known as "Superman's pal" and has privileged access to him with the aid of a special signal watch, which with the press of a button emits a special ultrasonic frequency signal that Superman can hear anywhere on Earth. He also goes by the nickname "Mr. Action" and in the Silver Age occasionally took a potion which gave him stretching powers as "Elastic Lad."
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Individual book
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 for Jimmy to find himself in (either through his own naive nature or by bad luck), and would range from being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to frquently dealing with gorillas of all sorts, such as in issue #98. Because of these factors, the title was regarded by some as a poorly written subsidiary title. The exception to this was in the early 1970s, when the singular 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. The series ended in 1974 with issue #163, when Jimmy's book was folded into the anthology title Superman Family.
In other media
- The character has appeared in every major filmed adaptation of Superman. The first actor to portray Jimmy Olsen in live-action was Tommy Bond in the serials starring Kirk Alyn. On the Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves, Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Jack Larson.
- In the four motion pictures starring Christopher Reeve, Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Marc McClure. McClure also played Jimmy Olsen in the 1984 spin-off movie Supergirl. On the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Jimmy Olsen was portrayed by Michael Landes in the first season and Justin Whalin for the rest of the series' run.
- In the television series Smallville, the character of Chloe Sullivan mentioned losing her virginity to a Daily Planet staffer named Jimmy who was "cute, in a bowtie sort of way." While this, of course, is not an explicit reference, the reference is obvious.
- In Bryan Singer's 2006 movie Superman Returns, Jimmy Olsen will be portrayed by Sam Huntington.
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. In the time after the song became popular, at least one comic had Jimmy wearing a Spin Doctors T-shirt.
External links
- Supermanica: Jimmy Olsen (http://supermanica.info/wiki/index.php/Jimmy_Olsen) Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Jimmy Olsen