I read a lot of insane, wacky stuff. I love The Tick, Madman, Deadpool, Harley Quinn, Tales From Bizarro World. Oddball stuff just seems my nature. But I don't think I've ever rad anything so off-the-wall, strange and sometimes down right silly as the 12-issue Jimmy Olsen miniseries from Matt Fraction!
After accidentally destroying a giant lion statue erected by one of Lex Luthor's ancestors, the whole city of Metropolis has it out for Jimmy Olsen. Perry White would fire him if it wasn't for all the revenue generated by Olsen's online reporting. Still, the high ups at the Daily Planet advise Olsen to lay low for a while. So when someone makes a hit on Jimmy's apartment, Superman's pal must fake his own death and go into hiding to find out who did it!
It was Luthor! WE all know it was Luthor, right?
Actually, Lex Luthor might be trying to keep Jimmy Olsen alive. Now why would he want to do that?
And why did Olsen steal one of the wheels off the Batmobile and it's not even the holiday season?
And why is the feline Red Lantern Dexx-Starr and his acidic blood vomits involved in all this?
There is so much going on in this story and none of it is in order. It's like Matt Fraction (Hawkeye) decided to make a Quentin Tarantino Superman story. Oh, my God! This book should be Tarantino's final film! It's got nostalgia. It's got mystery. It's kinda noirish but silly. And there's a lot of blood, death and mayhem.
You don't have to be a fan of the old Jimmy Olsen books from the 50s, 60s and 70s. But it helps! What you do need is to be someone who looks at the world a little askew. Like me! Or Fred Hembeck. This is not a serious Superman story. But it is very much a Superman Family tale told with love.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of were the variant covers by Ben Oliver. I mostly didn't like Jimmy Olsen's face. Oliver makes Superman's pal look like a SAWK (scary-ass white kid. See: Village of the Damned). But the inks, color palette and tributes to the Saturday Evening Post covers of Norman Rockwell were really cool. Though I must warn you- stay away from the cover gallery until you finish the story. The alternate cover for issue #12 is in my opinion a real spoiler to the very end of Fraction's yarn.
Be ready for anything with this one!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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