Someone wants to kill Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen - but who and why? To find out, Jimmy Olsen must fake his own death and puzzle it out on the sly!
As a fan of his work, I was really happy when I heard Matt Fraction was finally joining DC - what characters would he write? I didn’t think Jimmy Olsen was even a title on the table so that was a shocker when that turned out to be the one! But it makes sense - Fraction’s buddy Bendis was overseeing the Superman line so this would sorta tie into that, plus Fraction and artist Steve Lieber are both hilarious wags who’ve produced some of the funniest comics of the last ten years between them: Hawkeye, Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Sex Crimz, and The Fix.
To that they can add Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? which is a genuinely funny book that has no business being anywhere near as brilliant as it turned out to be. In the script’s own words, this is a “maxiseries of background gags and throwaway characters” - how could it be any good?
Basically by being a DC version of Arrested Development, one of the best TV shows ever made (the first three seasons anyway). I suppose that means I’m calling this book derivative in style and tone, which might be a criticism, but it takes a helluva lot of skill and talent to make anything as good as that show and Fraction and Lieber have both in spades.
I should also mention that I’ve never read any other Jimmy Olsen books before so I don’t know if it’s been established elsewhere that the Olsen family is rich and Jimmy has several siblings, or whether Fraction created all that to better sell his Arrested Development-style story (I’m leaning towards the latter because it’s too perfect). I loved all the (probably) new additions though from his obnoxious brother Julian (kinda like Gob Bluth) to the bizarre Porcadillo (Tobias Funke-y).
The story is light on plot but heavy on fantastic jokes. It makes sense to cast Jimmy’s job anew as that of The Daily Planet’s digital content contributor, given what newspapers today are. More importantly, from that we get to see him use his connections to make videos of Superman trying on wigs and doing card magic, to Jimmy’s alter-ego Timmy Olsen, irresponsible blogger, causing havoc “ol-slapping” people.
Superman isn’t the only famous character here who’s funnier than they’ve ever been - Fraction’s piss-take of Batman, or “Bwoocey”, is superb, and the Jimmy Olsen pastiche of the Death of Superman storyline is inspired. Dex-Starr, the feline Red Lantern, slots in beautifully as an unexpected Olsen-sidekick, and Lois Lane is great as the no-nonsense hardass who shows up to jump-start the plot.
There are so many jokes, blink and you might miss a few. In Gorilla City, the “B” in “bookstore” is missing, Clark Kent breaks the fourth wall by winking at the reader and characters standing near him look at him like he’s crazy, and definitely don’t skip over the Daily Planet news stories - there’s some gems in there, like Fraction questioning what he’s doing writing this series!
I loved that Jimmy’s Gotham City landlord is a lunatic who calls curtains “coitins” and murder “moider”, and that Fraction’s names for Jimmy get more unhinged as the book progresses: Jimply, Jimphony, Jimmicle, Jimbledon and Jimchinninny Jimchinninny Jimjim Cheree James “Jimmy” Olsen are just a few, but there’s a lot more! And his many barmy outfits to match his many names are a hoot too. The jokes don’t work as well without an amazing visual artist and Steve Lieber delivers Fraction’s script in a way only someone as funny as he is can - you’ll know how good Lieber is if you’ve read Superior Foes/The Fix, and he’s a comedy genius all the way through this one too.
Not all the pieces work as well though. The great-grand-whatevers, Dr Mantel, and Detective James Corrigan III (not the Spectre) storylines weren’t that good, Janie Olsen is a bit of a flat character, and Lex is written to be dumber than he normally is to accommodate that ending, which is contrived.
Mostly though I really enjoyed Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? It’s very inventive, original, clever, unpredictable, and well-written and drawn by one helluva talented creative team. I’m not sure if Fraction’s sticking around for more books given that his pal Bendis seems to be on the outs with DC, or at least he is on the Superman books, and how much of his involvement was Bendis’ doing, but I hope there’s more in the works (I’d love to see him give Flash a shot, just to see if he could be the one writer to make me care about that character).
If you’ve enjoyed Fraction/Lieber’s previous comedic titles and/or like shows that have anarchic humour like Arrested Development and Rick and Morty, this one’s definitely worth checking out.
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