DC’s Jimmy Olsen #10 continues to portray Superman’s Pal in ways that thrill, confound, and entertain us.
Writer Matt Fraction and Artist Steve Lieber have established ‘this version” of the Jimmy Olsen title to be a pastiche of the original Silver Age DC publication and mixed it together with multiple overlapping storylines. The characters weave in and out, there is a talking cat with their head in a bubble, and Jimmy has a brother who is perhaps his evil (almost) twin. Oh, there’s more.
To read this title without perhaps beginning with issue 1 is a bit like following a story thread on a Rubik’s Cube: frequent twists and turns, many interruptions, and short bursts of exhilaration. Issue 10 features FIVE short story chapters, or segments, each with their own ‘Silver Age’ intro page. The artwork is clean, crisp, and even, with pseudo-Silver Age linework and controlled colouring. This isn’t the ‘lighting effect in every second panel’ type of art. It’s as if we are continuing the 1960s Jimmy Olsen title before Jack Kirby took over, but the writer is now on Acid or experiencing sleep deprivation. Be assured I DO mean this in a good way.
Since it may sound like I am short-changing the potential and genius behind the book, that’s not my intent. The Jimmy Olsen title is perhaps the brightest, wittiest, and most reverential throwback on the market today. It melds our nostalgic love for the silly 60s plot lines and devices, blends them with a savvy understanding of comic cliche and forward-thinking, and injects a bright and happy vibe of wheatgrass and probiotics.
It’s good for you, it’s nourishing, it’s utterly unlike your regular diet of bashing and punching superhero comics!
DC, Jimmy Olsen #10, $3.99 for 23 pages of content. Teen
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