I'm a huge Superman fan and love the Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter/adventurer character. I've been collecting issues of the old 1960s and 1970s Jimmy Olsen comic book series. At one point in the run for about 10 issues, comic book artist and writer Jack Kirby took over the series. His run was made into 2 trade paperbacks (so it was easier for me to get the stories instead of paying for individual copies -which I'm SO glad I didn't). In short, don't read them. Today's blog explains why.
Jack Kirby has been around a long time (he's since passed). He and Stan Lee helped create Marvel Comics and he illustrated the Fantastic Four and Captain America. He came to DC Comics and they assigned him Jimmy Olsen. That's when Jimmy Olsen became, well, weird. Full disclosure- I've never been a big fan of his blocky-style art. I'm more of a Neal Adams type-realist art fan. I've also not been much of a fan of Kirby's stories.
He also created the one DC Comics villain that has been way over used, and I cannot stand reading about: Darkseid. WAY over-used, and this other dimensional villain made his first appearance in Jimmy Olsen of all places. Nonsensical. So were the introduction of Darkseid's "Apokolips" world in this series, weird alien villains; and a hidden technologically advanced peoples call the "Hairies." Kirby also brought back the 1940s "Newsboy Legion" - actually the children of the originals, and it was campy and well, goofy. I skimmed through most of these stories and couldn't wait for them to end.
The only upside was that he found a way to reintroduce the 1940s hero, "The Guardian" but that wasn't enough to hold my interest. Between the weird characters. Darkseid (which is an Immediate YUCK for me) and wacky stories, I was over it.
The only thing I liked that Kirby did for DC Comics was the character of Kamandi, the only surviving human in a post-apocalyptic world, where animals became the masters of the Earth. But this was no Kamandi. I would recommend skipping these unless your a Kirby fan.
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