JIMMY OLSEN #136 April 1971

 WOW! Jack Kirby's world simply throbs with unconstrained male energy, doesn't it?

After the above splash-page we're subjected to a full testosterone-charged double-page spread of two guys beating hell out of each other--

So this is SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #136, the fourth part of this title handled by Jack Kirby as he unleashed his elaborate Fourth World storyline on readers back in 1970-71. 

The fight which kicks off this issue lasts seven pages and comes hot on the heels of three previous issues packed full of other male-orientated pleasures-- motor-bikes, gigantic super-vehicles, tree-houses and lots more fighting.

Following the prolonged fight, we're treated to what is another boys' dream come true-- the spectacle of a platoon of toy-soldiers come to life, in actual fact miniature clones dressed in military uniforms who fulfil the function of Deus ex Machina and neutralise the threat represented by the not-so-jolly-green-Hulk-alike--

And there are so many more examples of other things males love to obsess over-- for instance, model aircraft--

--or maps/models--

--big guns--

--technobabble--

-computers--

--alien freaks--

--girls in short skirts--

--groovy vehicles--

-weird science--

-and corny jokes--

Wow! --indeed. 

So, SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN is my first foray into the mind and imagination of Jack Kirby, a creator whose name has been familiar to me for many years, but whose work has remained something of a mystery until now. With the first four issues of this title now under my belt, I feel ready to advance onto the other books which comprise the famed Fourth World series. I am, as previously stated, indebted to Alan Stewart, whose blog will tell you more about Bronze Age comics than you would have thought possible, so I wholeheartedly recommend you check it out. You can read his thoughts on this issue of JIMMY OLSEN here--

In the meantime, despite my flippant tone above, there is a more serious point lurking somewhere below-- By this stage of the unfolding story in JIMMY OLSEN we learn about the top-secret government project to use the cloning of human beings, purportedly "for mankind's benefit"--

And that word "mankind" seems particularly apt here, despite the fact that in 1971 few people would have seen the word as excluding of women as they might today. I remember seeing an interview with Mel Brooks on TV many years ago in which he was discussing YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. He made the observation that men are capable of producing so many things, but the one thing they can't produce -without the participation of women- is another human being--

Cloning, of course, as much as Frankenstein's efforts to create life out of a dead body, is humanity's attempt to achieve this. Since 1971 we have seen so many advances in our understanding of genetics, but the successful cloning of humans is still the territory of Science Fiction (and/or Horror)--

But, that goal, of being able to reproduce life artificially, i.e. without the need for women, seems to be very much at the heart of JIMMY OLSEN #236, and just as much a male-orientated obsession, even down to the symbolically phallic tanks in which the new lives are grown--

And check out the Newsboy Legion themselves-- despite being told these kids are the natural offspring of the original Newsboys, they might as well be clones themselves. In terms of their looks and personalities they are all replicas of their fathers--

Even the newcomer to the team, Flippa-Dippa is a mini-version of his male parent--

It really is like a perverse fantasy world in which males spawn more males in their own image, perpetuating the line ad infinitum without reference or need for women. As such I can't help but find the whole experience of reading this story quite cold and distancing--

But I'm hoping that as I read more of this multi-title series I shall soon feel differently. Time will tell.

In case you missed it, my thoughts on the first part of the SUPERMAN story arc KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE can be found here--

In case you missed them, please check out some of my recent blog entries by 

clicking on the covers below--

 

 

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