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Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Favourite comics: Jimmy Olsen # 135: Jack Kirby, Neal Adams

Jack Kirby came to DC in 1970 with a deal that allowed him to create and edit three brand-new interconnected titles based on concepts that had been working on during his last few years at Marvel. Seemingly his deal at DC also called for him to work on one of their existing titles which turned out to be “Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen” , on the face of it a strange choice for someone like Kirby to work on with his galaxy spanning concepts. However, in November 1970 with Jimmy Olsen #133, Kirby began work on what would become known as the “Fourth World” series. The first issue of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen that I picked up was actually issue 139 and over the next couple of years I managed to pick up most of Kirbys 15 issue run on Jimmy Olsen (#133-#139 and #141 -#148) except for the above #135 (with an excellent cover by Neal Adams) which I tracked down a few years ago. Of all Kirby’s DC output at this time Jimmy Olsen and Kamandi were by far my favourites and despite the 11 -12 year old me from 1971/72, not always understanding what was going on (and who the heck Don Rickles was!!!??) I loved this series which introduced me to golden age characters like the Newsboy Legion and (my favourite) the Golden Guardian. Below are a few pages for this excellent comic with some of Kirby's best art as DC.
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6 comments:

  1. Rip JaggerJanuary 8, 2026 at 5:54 AM

    Like you I got to Kirby's revised Jimmy Olsen late, coming to the Fourth World through the debut issues of New Gods and Mister Miracle. It would be years before I was able to savor those earliest issues. Sweet stuff!

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  2. McSCOTTYJanuary 8, 2026 at 8:25 AM

    I never saw a single issue of Kirby's New Gods or the Forever People on the spinner racks in my area at the time. Only Kamandi and Jimmy appeared a few months (maybe just over a year) after their release. .I never really got into the New Gods or the Forever People, perhaps as I only found them in my early to mid 20s but I like Mr Miracle and the Demon.. I always felt that his creations at DC were the last time anyone created quality lasting new characters that weren't just weak copies of older characters.

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  3. baggseyJanuary 9, 2026 at 8:02 PM

    I never got into Kirby's 4th World stuff back in the seventies, despite all of the issues across the various titles finding their way onto the Southsea and Portsmouth spinner racks. My pal Nigel was really into it, but it all left me cold. It's only in recent years that I've taken to reading the complete saga in sequence, jumping from title to title, and now appreciate Kirby's vision to a far better degree.
    That said, it's the Jimmy Olsen books which are the most fun, wacky and inventive in my view. I suddenly dawned on me that the recent Superman film directed by James Gunn is far closer to Kirby's Jimmy Olsen in tone than the more staid Superman comics of the 70s era. I'd pay good money (well, perhaps go on a $5 Tuesday) to see a Jimmy Olsen movie with small soldiers and the Guardian.

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  4. McSCOTTYJanuary 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM

    To be honest I never really got into Kirby's 4th World series Ian. I liked the concept but on reading some of the collected Trades I found the execution of most of the stories (particularly New Gods and Forever People) not to my tastes . Jimmy Olsen was the exception, as you note it was a bit of fun and didn't take itself so serious. I haven't seen the latest Superman but have heard so many positive reviews I will need to pick up the DVD. I would love to see a movie with the Guardian as well

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  5. KidJanuary 16, 2026 at 12:30 AM

    Typical Kirby - The Guardian's helmet on that last page doesn't appear again with that design in any subsequent issues.

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  6. McSCOTTYJanuary 16, 2026 at 9:13 PM

    I never noticed that Kid, well spotted

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