Monster of the Day #1304 (UPDATED)

Being Superman’s pal founds like a sweet gig. But hey, the Silver Age.

Some of the lads mentioned this in the comments below:

  • Gamera977

    But, but turtles are GOOD!!!

  • Ericb

    On Bizzaro Earth Aquaman is actually respectable.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Sometimes I wonder if the whole reason behind Superman”s Silver Age jerkish antics was simply that he got tired of having to deal with nonsense like this on a regular basis. I remember looking at one reprint where Jimmy gets his brain put into a gorilla (don’t ask). He gets belted by Superman — “Lois! Look out! You’re about to be attacked by a gorilla that has Jimmy’s camera!” And when he’s told that no, this IS Olsen, the Man of Steel just says, “Again?”

  • CaptNemo

    You sure that’s not Aquaman ‘s coked out red headed cousin?

  • Flangepart

    Supe’s sounds like a ticked off dad. “No rescue for you!”

  • Growth ray? Growth ray? Growth must mean something different on Krypton, because it sure as heck looks like Jimmy was hit with something that made him into a monster.

    Or (gulp) maybe Jimmy looked like a Teenaged Mutant Staring Turtle all the time. Gads, what will Lana Lang say when she finds out?

  • “Super-menace”? So at regular size, Jimmy was a regular menace??

  • Rock Baker

    For a bit of trivia, this cover (as well as few others in the series) was re-configured from an old pulp magazine’s cover. (Thrilling Wonder Stories?)

  • bgbear_rnh

    yes, I just googled it after your comment. July 1941. I would add a link but, I think that would put me in a moderator’s queue.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    “My God, what kind of monster is that–how can we report this?”
    “Well, it has none of the characteristics of a turtle, so–”
    “That’s it! It’s a Giant Turtle Man!”

  • Gamera977

    Hmmm, I’ve seen the Thrilling Wonders Stories cover before. But the Jimmy Olsen comic is a nickel cheaper!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Ah, THRILLING WONDER STORIES, the very cheapest rock-bottom pulp SF market, or so Leigh Brackett said.

    And I Googled some more covers for the Jimmy Olsen comic, and my lord, what were they smoking? Now that is a comic that needs to be reprinted!

  • Eric Hinkle

    OT but something I just learned, they’re talking about remaking the 1956 horror classic THE BAD SEED. Remember that restrained, low-key, subtle yet ever-growing sense of horror in the original film? Don’t worry! In the words of intended director Eli Roth, ‘Roth promised a new take with a modern horror sensibility. “The original was a great psychological thriller,
    and we are going to bastardize and exploit it, ramping up the body
    counts and killings,” said Roth. “This is going to be scary, bloody fun,
    and we’re going to create the next horror icon, a la Freddy, Jason and Chucky. She’s this cute, cunning, adorable kid who loves to kill, but also loves ‘N Sync.”[8]’

    Gosh, won’t that be a total improvement over that dull, staid original film?

  • Well, if there’s N’Sync on the soundtrack, I can see how that would be really scary….

  • Luke Blanchard

    Both items were edited by Mort Weisinger. He was an editor for Standard Magazines before he got into comics. So was Jack Schiff, the long-time Batman editor.

  • Chris Metzinger

    The original is sexier…

  • Luke Blanchard

    I’ve always assumed the THRILLING WONDER STORIES giant appeared in “The Experiment of Dr. Sarconi”. But very often the covers didn’t blurb the cover-story. The ISFDB says the issue had a short story called “Out of the Depths” by H.L. Gold. That sounds like the matching tale.
    If you’ll forgive me, bgbear, it’s the Jul. 1940 issue, not 1941. Howard V. Brown painted the cover.
    Curt Swan pencilled the JIMMY OLSEN cover and story. It was reprinted in 2007 in colour in the collection SUPERMAN: THE AMAZING TRANSFORMATIONS OF JIMMY OLSEN and more recently in B&W in the collection SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY #4. The Giant Turtle Man design was reused in JIMMY OLSEN #72 (including on the cover) AND #105.