Yes, Superman IS a Dick

Like all of us, comics fans or no, I have a huge guilty pleasure.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen.

Yup, that’s right…I’ve got a thing for reading the misadventures of the most misaligned and under-rated sidekick ever…the one ballsy enough to run around fighting crime without a mask, but with a bowtie instead. Everyone’s favorite cub reporter/photographer for the Daily Planet, that dim-witted kid with a flashbulb and a scrapper’s streak.

My love of the old Jimmy Olsen comics first hit a few years ago, when I was going through some tough times. DC Comics had put out an $18 reprint of the Man of Steel’s best buddy, a thick black and white volume that was part of their Showcase Presents series, titled Superman Family (it also includes some Lois Lane stories from the same period, some of which were reprinted for the first time). The sheer innocence of the stories, coupled with Superman’s tendency to fuck with Jimmy’s head every other story, makes for damned good reading.

I’m not kidding about Superman’s manipulative streak. In one story, he had Jimmy start thinking he was delusional (literally), so that he could keep his secret identity as Clark Kent a secret; while, in another, he got Lois Lane and Perry White in on the gag that they would pretend Jimmy Olsen never existed!

Man, what good times. It’s like the time my older brother and I had convinced our little sister that we thought she was our Mom, but shrunken in the wash.

“Mommy, you shrunk!”

Or the time we all (idea of my brother’s) had evil alter egos so that we could get away with picking on our sis.

I mean, hey, after a few years of therapy, she turned out okay.

[For more examples of 1950s Superman being a total dick (such as the above cover), go to the wonderful www.supermandickery.com website. You won’t regret it.]

While I’m making the transition from contract employee to full-time employee here at my legit job, pursuing the writing career has been exhausting, but well worth it. The past two months have had me running up to New York City twice, with a happy result of having a pitch at either of the two major comic companies; next weekend sees Eric and I hot-footin’ it up to Philly for the WizardWorld con, frequenting the bars to network, while the next month has me making it to Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina (which not only is my favorite show, but also has one of the best convention bars, at the Weston across from the convention center).

Then, it’s off to San Diego in July, where I may be starting work on a top secret project.

I was talking about regrets to someone yesterday, and possibly my greatest was not pursuing my writing this aggressively until eleven years into the industry. I do realize, however, that the decade + of time has netted me an awesome string of contacts and friends that, in the end, are going to make all of this possible.