In all the many times I've read and enjoyed Jack "King" Kirby's wacky spin on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, I've never once realized the obvious. Jimmy Olsen is like Alice in Wonderland in these stories, a fair-haired innocent who goes under ground and then undergoes various physical transformations (or seems to) and who confronts an increasingly strange world always attempting to make sense of the bizarre events and sometimes threatening creatures which abound.
Kirby's
Jimmy Olsen seemed to be told in two-issue storylines. The first introduces us to not only the new Newsboy Legion and the Whiz Wagon but to Morgan Edge, the new boss of Clark Kent and an agent of Darkseid, a gang of super-science bikers called "The Outsiders", and the "Hairies" who operate the rolling citadel called the "Mountain of Judgment". We encounter new places like "Habitat", a communal experiment in living and the "Zoomway", an immense roadway on which both the Outsiders and the Hairies dwell. It's a lot to drink in at one time and if there's one criticism of Kirby's early "Fourth World" material is that it comes at you so quickly that the reader barely has time to process a new concept before a fresh bauble shines.
It's not Jimmy Olsen himself who changes exactly in the next story, but a clone made giant and infused with Kryptonite in order to knock off the Man of Steel. These are the stories that introduce properly "The DNA Project" and its vile counterpart the "Evil Factory" run by "Simyan" and "Mokkari". Kirby bombards the reader with a wave of info on the potential for genetic manipulation, for both the good of mankind and otherwise. DNA is a commonplace in the modern world, but it was the very stuff of science fiction in the early 70's. Little of the moral dilemma that such work suggests readily today was touched on by Kirby.
The next storyline might well be my favorite of the series when the Four-armed Terrors invades the Project and threatens it and Metropolis above it with atomic annihilation. Kirby is at the top of his game and Vinnie Colletta's inking is a delight. I know that Vinnie is controversial and I'm sensitive to those complaints, but the final result of his inks on Kirby is just something I like to looking at.
The Golden Guardian takes a big role in the next two-parter but plays second fiddle to Don Rickles of all people. I forget the story of how Kirby came to use Rickles in these stories, but it's a strange and odd addition to an already bizarre scheme. We meet a doppleganger for Rickles as well, a goofy gent named "Goody Rickels" (note the spelling change). I'm sure Goody was added so that Kirby could unleash torment on Rickles without it being him actually or officially. There are some good gags in this one and plotting is especially tight.
My second favorite story in Jimmy Olsen is the saga of Transilvane, a whole planet made in a lab by a mad scientist. The creatures of that world, microscopic in size are bombarded with Universal monster movies and adapt their forms. So we are treated to a zany story with vampires, werewolves, mummies, and even a Frankenstein monster. This is one of those it's not good to ponder too closely, but it's a fun fun ride.
The series is beginning its glide path to ending when we are treated to a trilogy of tales which close out the Evil Factory storyline. Jimmy and Newsboys go to Scotland at the behest of Morgan Edge and encounter monsters in lochs and in castles as well. The forces of Inter-Gang are never far from the pages of Jimmy Olsen and they pop up here as well. Jimmy undergoes a real transformation this time becoming a savage caveman type. In addition to giants of various types we've been treated to the likes of the Scrapper Trooper in these stories, a tiny soldier made in the likeness of the tough Newsboy. He often shows up to save the day, a Tinkerbell with with a gat.
By the time of issue #147 Kirby knows that Jimmy Olsen will be given over to other talents which are paind less than he is. His Fourth World is sadly coming apart by the command of Carmine Infantino and the other bean counters at DC. So Kirby follows up a Superman plot thread which takes him to New Genesis or as it's called here "Supertown". He'd has his first glimpse in The Forever People's debut issue and what he finds is a place where his abilities to help are really not needed all that much since superpowers abound. He realizes that Earth is the place for him.
The Jimmy Olsen series by Kirby wraps up with a villain not apparently tied to Darkseid, an incredibly old chap named Victor Volcanum who seems to jump right out of a Jules Verne novel. This lava-drinking madman captures the Newsboys along with their new buddy "Angry Charlie" a refugee from the defunct Evil Factory. Volcanum is a madman who is willing to destroy Metropolis but Superman saves the day along with Jimmy and Newsboys and as the story closes they fly off into the sun which is setting behind a Metropolis skyline. The fair-haired boy has returned home at last. And in more ways than one in that with Kirby moving on to other projects Jimmy Olsen returns to the somewhat more humdrum misadventures which marked his comic for decades.
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