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As popular as Ringo!

jimmy olsen - redheaded beatle

Okay, okay…one more, then I stop. One of my favorites. 1964. You get the feeling even the antiquated old coot who came up with this cover knew that “as popular as Ringo” ranked right up there in the compliment universe with “as comfy as a supperating boil on your bottom.”

This was one of life’s most important early lessons, though, wasn’t it? No, no…not the supperating boil thing. That the scene on the cover of a comic generally had NOTHING WHATEVER to do with whatever went on inside, which was always more boring but made lots more sense.

Okay, maybe not in this comic: a criminal from the future steals a time machine but can’t operate the controls, so he autopilots it to 1964 to pick up Jimmy, who can…and they both go back to ancient Greece, where Jimmy supports himself making Beatle wigs out of wool. And then…I dunno. It got weird.

Speaking of special needs, Wikipedia says that after George Reeves shot himself (“died of a gunshot wound” as they delicately put it), the producers of the Adventures of Superman approached Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen) with a series of his own. It would concentrate on Jimmy’s rise in the newspaper biz and feature a stunt double and old footage of Reeves. Larson, horrified, said no.

And thus an instant classic died a-borning.

Comments


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 16, 2008, 6:58 pm

jimmy olsen's personal beatle wig

Ya think?


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: January 16, 2008, 7:10 pm

Yeah… bang to rights, Weasel.

Orlight, Olsen. You’re nicked!


Comment from Dawn
Time: January 16, 2008, 8:13 pm

Why do all the women look the same? Did girls start wearing their hair like a beatle when they got the craze?


Comment from Dawn
Time: January 16, 2008, 8:14 pm

Oh, one last stupid question – why did he buy a red headed Beatle wig? That just doesn’t make sense.


Comment from Muslihoon
Time: January 16, 2008, 9:24 pm

1. Did men in that day and age dress up in coats and bow-ties even when alone? How…quaint. And a total waste of time.

2. Interesting how the dialogue bubble makes it quite explicit that, perhaps contrary to what others might assume or think, Mr. Cross-dresser has a girlfriend.


Comment from lizardbrain
Time: January 16, 2008, 10:09 pm

Yeah, Muslihoon, some men did.

Old rule: A gentleman never removes his jacket. Must’ve made some activities a bit more challenging and/or uncomfortable.

Thankfully, I wasn’t a gentleman, then. I’m still not.


Comment from porknbean
Time: January 16, 2008, 11:23 pm

1. Are these your comic books wease?

2. What have you done with McGoo? *peeks into the akismet hole for signs of life*


Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: January 17, 2008, 11:27 am

Aiming to be ‘as popular as Ringo’ is what’s called being realistic. Saying you wanted to be as popular as John, Paul or George is a bit over the top and likely to get you laughed out of the room. On the other hand, it’s (wanting to be as popular as Ringo) also a cause for concern.
Just how many mosques were there in Greece in 1,000 BC (1,570 years before Muhammad’s birth)?
Speaking of the Beatles, Liverpool has just been crowned ‘European Capital of Culture for 2008’ by the commissars, our Glorious Revolutionary Leaders, in Europe. I’ve been to Liverpool twice, maybe three times and I was wondering just when drug- and gang-related crime, post-industrial decay and an abundance of MDMA-fuelled gurning morons counted as culture.


Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: January 17, 2008, 11:35 am

Oh, and Ringo? Ringo who? These are drummers…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8


Comment from Lokki
Time: January 17, 2008, 12:50 pm

Well, Gibby – The standards for Culture and Science aren’t what they used to be, you know..

Take this little quote for example:

“…[U]ltrasonic laughter has been recorded during groundbreaking rat-tickling experiments”

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=938#more-938


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 17, 2008, 1:23 pm

PnB: no, those aren’t my comics. I managed to whittle my collection down to two boxes, but they’re packed in the garage. Those are some of my favorites found on the web. I ran across them while I was looking for a picture of Casa del Weasel for McGoo.

As for His McGooiness, I think he said something on his blog about being away for a bit. Probably better not to know, mmmm?


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: January 17, 2008, 2:40 pm

Tell you one thing, Gibby – that would have sounded absolutely bloody ridiculous in Love Me Do


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: January 17, 2008, 2:58 pm

Actually, that reminds me of a quote.

When asked, by a particularly sycophantic reporter, whether he thought Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world, John Lennon replied.

‘What? He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles.’


Comment from Shuko
Time: January 17, 2008, 5:15 pm

I feel really silly for wondering about this, but does anyone else notice how all the women have clean-shaven underarms? D’you think women shaved them back then? I kind of doubt it. Gillette probably wasn’t yet even the best a MAN could get, much less a woman. :p What would they shave with? A knife?


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 17, 2008, 5:34 pm

It’s a comic book, Shuko. The *men* have clean-shaven underarms. I’m convinced they made Jimmy wear a t-shirt under his toga to avoid the stigma of Olsen nipplage.


Comment from jwpaine
Time: January 17, 2008, 6:03 pm

Owned that comic, too! And a Beatle wig.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 17, 2008, 6:35 pm

Whaddya know. I have more.

krypton crawl

And how’s come the lead musician is always playing some African gourd-based sitar thingy? Left handed!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 17, 2008, 6:36 pm

And no trip would be complete without a visit to Bizarro World.

bizarro jimmy


Comment from See-Dubya
Time: January 18, 2008, 4:02 pm

I like the onion-dome-and-minaret architecture of “ancient Greece” in the top one.

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