Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #6 – Matt Fraction, Writer; Steve Lieber, Artist; Nathan Fairbairn, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Superman’s Pal: JImmy Olsen is a bizarre stream-of-consciousness comic that is always entertaining but rarely coherent. We’re at the halfway mark of Jimmy Olsen’s solo story and we’re just barely getting back to plots from the prequel issue. The segments almost never work in chronological order and often leave it up to you to figure out where they fit.
We start in Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen #6 with a strange segment involving Jimmy being arrested under mysterious circumstances and thrown in jail, where he befriends his fellow inmates until he’s released under equally mysterious circumstances. From there, we catch up with Jix, the interdimensional jewel thief Jimmy married in Gorilla City – and never got an annulment for, which causes problems when she attempts to marry an evil warlord as part of her latest scheme. Next thing you know, she’s heading back to Earth for revenge. Then it’s time to catch up with the assassin who “killed” Jimmy, only for him to run afoul of Lex Luthor’s monopoly of the assassination business.
Next it’s time for a new character, Jim Corrigan – who is not the Spectre (probably) but a black Metropolis detective who is investigating the death of one of his fellow officers – who seems to have been corrupt and involved in Jimmy’s arrest. The doctor from the first issue shows up again as Superman gives him a checkup at the Fortress to make sure he doesn’t have any ill effects from his space adventure. He seems to think Jimmy’s involved in something dark and cosmic, which wouldn’t surprise me.
Finally, it’s Jimmy, his sister, and Dex-Starr out for a walk when they come under attack by goons and are rescued by Batman – who pulls a fantastic prank on Jimmy to close out their odd rivalry. Every segment is highly entertaining, but I’m left wondering if any of them are actually going to come together into a complete narrative. This feels like a much better experiment than it does a story at the moment.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
