Jimmy Olsen is a Sweet Transvestite in the Final Installment of Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises!

Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises #1

"JIMMY OLSEN: TRANSVESTITE" 

When counting down Jimmy's greatest costumes and disguises, one costume is clearly Jimmy's favorite, as he dresses in it more often than any of his other disguises.  That would be Jimmy Olsen dressing himself in women's clothes.  There are some interesting things going down in Jimmy's transvestite stories.  For one, men seem to be irresistibly attracted to Jimmy when he is dressed as a woman.  He is constantly meet with wolf-whistles and lewd comments on the street, and men fall in love with him right and left.  And while Jimmy's thought balloons make him out to be a reluctant woman, the looks on his face tell a different story.  Just look at the sly smile on Jimmy's face, in the comic panel above, and tell me Jimmy isn't in to it.

I'm going to be counting down the five cross-dressing stories I've found from the pages of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen comics.  I'm ranking them based on how interesting they are psychologically.

TRANSVESTITE #5

THEY DAY THEY UNMASKED MR. ACTION

from SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #159

In "They Day They Unmasked Mr. Action," Jimmy has been falsely accused of a crime, and is on the run from the police.  He makes a quick trip to the second-hand store, where he buys women's clothing, a wig, and make-up.  Then he changes into these clothes in an alley.

This story is probably the least interesting psychologically, because it's clear Jimmy is doing this to escape from the police, and he doesn't seem to be taking that much pleasure in it.  But it does have a scene where Jimmy walks down the street and is met with lust from the men hanging around on the corner.  In the story Jimmy's "man-hands" quickly give him away to the police, but it's okay, because it turns out to all be a ruse by the police to catch another criminal.

"...Are you ashamed to face him... ashamed to tell him you're a criminal... ashamed to tell him you're a transvestite?"

TRANSVESTITE #4

LESLIE LOWE, GIRL REPORTER

from SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #67

In "Leslie Lowe, Girl Reporter," Jimmy is feeling emasculated after finding out that his girlfriend, Lucy Lane, makes more than twice as much money as he does.  So he demands a raise from his boss, Perry White, and, failing to get it, quits his job.  However, he finds himself unable to get a job anywhere else.  Rather than humiliate himself further by going to Perry White and asking for his old job back, he decides to dress up in women's clothing and apply for his old job under the guise of "Leslie Lowe."

Jimmy's plan is to do the job as bad as possibly as Leslie, so that in the end Perry White will get fed up with her(him) and gladly give Jimmy his old job back.

Doris Ziffel almost discovers Jimmy's Secret

But Jimmy's fan backfires, because every time he tries to do something wrong, he ends up doing it perfectly instead, making the male Jimmy Olsen look like a chump by comparison.  In the end, though, it turns out that Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Perry White knew that Leslie was really Jimmy all along, because he forgot to take off his Superman signal watch.  Then they all have a good laugh about it, and Jimmy is hired back at the Daily Planet.

Jimmy Olsen: Shameless Hussy

TRANSVESTITE #3

JIMMY OLSEN'S SECRET LOVE

from SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #74

"Jimmy Olsen's Secret Love" is the first of the "Magi the Magnificent" stories I wrote about in a previous installment of Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises.  In this story, Jimmy, while disguised as a magician named "Magi the Magnificent," falls in love with a British movie star named "Sandra Rogers," not realizing that Sandra is actually his real-life girlfriend, Lucy Lane, who is also in disguise.  Jimmy only cross-dresses for a few panels in this story, but they are interesting ones to think about.  In the story, Magi and Sandra are forced to part ways briefly, to keep their dates they have in real-life with Lucy and Jimmy (in other words, each other).  The date in question is at a masquerade party, so Jimmy, who has fallen deeply in love with Sandra, decides to dress up as Sandra.

Psychologically, it asks some interesting questions.  Has Jimmy fallen so hard for Sandra that he literally wants to become her?  Or, was the fact that Sandra is a pretty red-headed girl, that resembles what Jimmy looks like when he wears women's clothes, what attracted him to her in the first place?  Does he see her as a reflection of himself?  Interesting stuff.

TRANSVESTITE #2

JIMMY OLSEN'S FEMALE FAN

from SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #84 

"Holy cow! A... a girl!"

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a man who fell in love with his reflection   In "Jimmy Olsen's Female Fan" Jimmy seems to be falling under the same spell, as he disguises himself as a girl, then joins his own fan club. Joining your own fan club is already an interesting bit of narcissism, but Jimmy then takes it to the next level, by appointing his female alter-ego as the leader of the club, and then forcing all the other boys in the club to dye their hair red and paint freckles on their faces, so that they will look like him.  Jimmy Olsen, dressed as a girl, surrounding himself with young boys, dressed as Jimmy Olsen.  This is some fascinating stuff, especially considering these comics were written for children.

Jimmy's Wildest Fantasy Becomes a Reality

TRANSVESTITE #1

MISS JIMMY OLSEN

from SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #44 

"Miss Jimmy Olsen" was Jimmy's first cross-dressing story, and possibly his best.  In this comic, Jimmy goes undercover as a chorus girl, in order to keep tabs on a gangster, "Big Monte" McGraw, and his chorus girl girlfriend, and figure out here they stashed a set of stolen jewels.  Not only is Big Monte fooled by Jimmy's female impersonation, but he quickly falls in love with her(him), and showers her with presents and affection.

Monte is also violently jealous of any other men who have eyes for Jimmy.  He has one man beaten for flirting with Jimmy, and has a fellow gangster who sent Jimmy a love note shot to death.  In one of the weirder parts of this comic, Jimmy doesn't even bat an eye during this murder, thinking that the man was wanted dead-or-alive by the FBI, and that "the law was spared the expense of executing him."

In addition to the transvestism, there are also hints of bestiality in this comic.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the two things are comparable.  Bestiality is f---ed up.  Cross-dressing is just a lifestyle choice, there's nothing wrong with it.  But this comic was written in 1960, when both of those thing were considered to be sexual perversions.  There is a subplot in this comic where Jimmy has to take care of both a chimpanzee, and a large Great Dane.  There is an odd panel in the comic where the Great Dane is standing upright, propped up on Jimmy's back, and licking his face (while Jimmy is dressed in women's clothing), that just seems, a little weird.  Then there is a later scene where Jimmy tricks Big Monte into passionately kissing the chimpanzee for several panels.  It's played for laughs, sure.  But it all adds up, and makes you start to wonder just what the writer had in mind when he was creating this children's comic.

Ah, come on, Monte.  At some level you always knew, just admit it,

Eventually, Big Monte discovers that his new love Jimmy is really a man.  He is just about to shoot Jimmy dead, but the chimpanzee steps in at the last minute and saves Jimmy's life by hitting Monte in the head with a baseball bat.  Afterwards, Superman shows up, and finds the stolen jewels.  The story ends with Jimmy Olsen back at work at he Daily Planet typing up his story.  He is surrounded by his male coworkers who are good-naturedly razzing him, saying things like, "Hey cutie, how about a date?"  Which is all in good fun.  But then you notice something...

Jimmy's undercover assignment is over.  Jimmy clearly has had time to go home and clean up, because he is not wearing make-up or a wig, and he is not wearing the same clothes he had on in the earlier panels.  But he is still wearing a dress.  There is no reason in the story at this point for Jimmy to be dressed this way, other than that he just likes doing it.  The story ends with Jimmy typing away while wearing a dress, and winking at the reader.  God bless you, Jimmy Olsen.  Live your life the way you want to live it.

Uh... no comment.

BONUS!  MUSIC VIDEO:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Sweet Transvestite

So, Jimmy Olsen, You Wanna Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star?

Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises #2
"JIMMY OLSEN: ROCK STAR"

Jimmy Olsen disguised himself as a rock star on several occasions in Jimmy Olsen comics.  These aren't the only stories where Jimmy becomes a rock star, either.  For this list, I'm looking at four stories where he did it while wearing a costume or disguise.

ROCK STAR #1
ROCK'N R'OLSEN

In "The Rock 'N' Roll Superman," from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #32, Jimmy disguises himself as "Rock'N R'Olsen," aka his cousin, Jerry Olsen.  His cousin Jerry is a rock star that seems to be modeled on Chuck Berry, with a dash of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis thrown in for good measure.  Jimmy steps in for him when Jerry get the measles and can't perform.  Luckily, Jerry is one of those Patty Duke style "identical cousins" whose only difference is his hair.  So Jimmy dons a wig, a fake mustache, and a flashy suit, and he's good to go.

In this comic, Jimmy just pretends to play the guitar, and lip-synch the vocals, to a tape hidden in his guitar.  In the wacky twist, the tape recorder somehow interacts with Jimmy's Superman Signal Watch, and beams signals into Superman's brain forcing him to rock 'n roll dance wherever he is.  This gets Superman into a bunch of trouble with some stuffy old ladies who think he is uncouth.

I wrote a more in depth article about this story a few years ago.  Click here to check it out.

Separated at Birth?

ROCK STAR #2
CHIP O'DOOLE

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #49 features the story "Alias, Chip O'Doole."  In it, Jimmy is jealous of Chip O'Doole, who is billed as "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Singer."

Note how Jimmy goes from, "O'Doole's sappy face" to "he looks a little like me," without a hint of irony.

Lucy is blowing Jimmy off to stay at home and listen to Chip O'Doole records, so Jimmy decides to disguise himself as the singer, then act like a jerk to Lucy.  This way, Lucy will hate O'Doole, and start spending more time with Jimmy again.  Luckily for Jimmy, Chip O'Doole looks identical to Jimmy, except for a pair of sideburns.   It's kind of amazing how many people in the Jimmy Olsen universe, look exactly like him, except for a small difference like a mustache, scar, or sideburns.  Was Jimmy part of some cloning project that went wrong, or something?  Or maybe, Jimmy is the ultimate human being, and all of humanity is evolving in that direction.  In a 1000 years, maybe everybody will look like Jimmy!

After Jimmy's previous lip-synching disaster, that forced Superman to dance whenever Jimmy performed,  Jimmy plays it safe by singing an playing the guitar himself in this one.  He doesn't however, take the time to learn any of Chip O'Doole's songs, and instead he just makes some random crap up whenever he needs to sing. 

And the local kids go nuts for it.

It's kind of like Jerry Siegel, the writer of the comic, was like, "It's just a bunch of noise anyway, the kids won't be able to tell the difference!"

Jimmy doesn't know any of Chip O'Doole's songs, so he just makes random stuff up.

ROCK STAR #3
THE RED-HEADED BEATLE OF 1000 B.C.  

Of all the Beatles, Superman picks "Ringo."

In issue 79's "The Red-Headed Beatle of 1000 B.C.," Jimmy gets stranded in the year 1000 B.C. by an evil time-traveler.  Luckily for Jimmy, he has his "Beatle Wig" in his pocket.  So, naturally, he decides to start a Beatles craze in the year 1000 B.C.  He does this by wearing the wig while banging on a drum, blowing into a ram's horn, and shouting "yeah yeah yeah!" 

And the local kids go nuts for it.

Soon Jimmy is surrounded by throngs of Beatle wig wearing, Iron Age teenagers, dancing to his "music"  This upsets the evil time-traveler, who has been lurking in the background, so he arranges to have Jimmy thrown in a dungeon for stealing scraps of wool.

Eventually, Superman shows up and smashes some stuff and sets everything right.  He takes Jimmy back to the present, but allows him to perform a 1000 B.C. farewell concert before he goes home.  While watching Jimmy perform, Superman tells him that he is "more popular than Ringo."

So wait... for all of these years that I've been listening to the Beatles WITHOUT wearing a wig, have I been doing it WRONG?

ROCK STAR#4
BIZARRO JIMMY, ROCK-'N'-ROLL STAR

In "Bizarro Jimmy, Rock-'N'-Roll Star," from issue 87, Bizarro Jimmy #1 shows up at Jimmy Olsen's apartment, and kicks in the screen of his TV.  Since he is a Bizarro, this is meant as a friendly gesture.

It seems that Bizarro Jimmy has come to Earth in search of a scoop for his newspaper, The Daily Htrae.  Jimmy agrees to disguise himself as a rock singer version of Bizarro Jimmy, and perform on a local TV music show.  The plan is for Jimmy-disguised-as-Bizarro Jimmy's act to be a disaster, which for a Bizarro, would be a good thing.  The real Bizarro Jimmy could then go back to the Bizarro World and report on "his" failure to be a rock star.  So Jimmy goes on TV, and performs an insane show that has him singing while standing on his head, threatening the crowd, releasing a swarm of live flies, and singing songs about ugly girls.

And the local kids go nuts for it.

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Four Seasons, and The Detergents.  To this day, the four most important groups in the history of rock 'n' roll.

Jimmy ends up starting a "Bizarro Beat" nationwide rock craze.  Poor Bizarro Jimmy has to return to the Bizarro World in shame, and is "punished" for his failure to fail, by being promoted to editor of his newspaper, and given a raise.

When JIMMY OLSEN thinks you're acting weird, you know you're in trouble.

BONUS!  Music Video:
The Byrds - So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star


 DOUBLE BONUS!  I just stumbled on this video from "The Detergents," who were mentioned in the Bizarro Jimmy comic above, and it's perfect for Halloween!  Thanks to "thedeadfraggle" for uploading this as part of the 2011 Countdown to Halloween.
The Detergents - Igor's Cellar

Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Lane Cheat on Each Other WITH Each Other

Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises #3
"MAGI THE MAGNIFICENT"

Jimmy disguised himself as a magician named "Magi the Magnificent" in not one, but three stories, beginning with "Jimmy Olsen's Secret Love" in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #74.

The story begins with the sort of farfetched coincidence that tends to happen every other day in the Jimmy Olsen universe.  Jimmy's stewardess girlfriend, Lucy Lane, is given an assignment by her airline's boss.   She is to go on a flight in disguise, and secretly take photographs of the airline employees, to see who is doing their jobs, and who is goofing off.  Naturally, in order to ride the plane without drawing attention to herself, she disguises herself as Sandra Rogers, a glamorous British movie starlet that no one has ever heard of.  Because that makes perfect sense.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen has received a tip that a wanted jewel thief may be flying on the same plane, and so he books a flight on the plane for himself, in order to try and catch him.  Naturally, in order to ride the plane without drawing attention to himself, he dresses as Magi the Magnificent, a top hat and tuxedo-clad stage magician (that no one has ever heard of), and performs magic tricks during the flight.  Because that makes perfect sense.

Lucy thinks Magi is "fascinating" because he has an inflatable rubber chicken.

The fun begins when Lucy and Jimmy are seated next to each other during the flight.  Neither one recognizes the other, but they both quickly start to fall in love, not realizing that they are cheating on each other with each other.

Jimmy and Lucy are both grinning ear-to-ear at the thought of breaking each other's hearts.

Then their plane crashes.  And they are shipwrecked on an iceberg.  Superman rescues them, and catches the jewel thief while he's at it.  But in the confusion, neither "Magi" nor "Sandra" thinks to give the other their phone number before they part.  Lucy and Jimmy then go back to dating each other, but both secretly wish they were with their alter-egos, not realizing that they actually are.

Magi the Magnificent and Sandra Rogers returned in issue 78, for a story titled "The Return of Jimmy's Lost Love."  In this issue, Lucy Lane is once again sent undercover by her airline, this time to catch a mail thief.  Once again she dresses up as "Sandra Rogers."  Jimmy, meanwhile, is just hanging out in the airport parking lot, and he spots her walking by.  Jimmy apparently keeps costumes and disguises in the trunk of his car, so he dresses up as Magi once again, and reunites with Sandra.  The two quickly rekindle their romance.  But this time, both of them become overwhelmed with the guilt of cheating on their real partners (not knowing they are their real partners), as well as lying about their identities.  But both think the other would be horrified to learn who they really are, so they don't dare stop lying.  Jimmy even imagines Sandra screaming ,"Oh, no!  No!  No!!" upon learning the truth.  So Jimmy decides to end it by claiming he is going "to Tibet to study ancient forbidden magic," and doesn't know if he will ever see her again.  Smooth, Jimmy.  Smooth.

Finally Magi and Sandra reunite once more in issue 82's "The Wedding of Magi and Sandra."  The story begins with Lucy Lane so distraught about losing Magi that she starts dressing up in her Sandra costume, and just wandering aimlessly around town, heartbroken.  She wanders in to a seedy section of Metropolis and almost gets mugged, but suddenly Magi appears and rescues her.

It seems Jimmy spotted "Sandra" wandering around, and switched in to his Magi costume and returned to her side in the nick of time.  The two then spend the night on the town together, and fall deeper in love then ever.  "Magi" then hints that he will propose marriage to Sandra the next night.

However, the next day, Jimmy starts to imagine how upset Sandra would be if she found out he was really Jimmy Olsen, and gets cold feet.  So he does the only sensible thing he could do in that situation.

He fakes "Magi's" death.

Not "Marvelous," Lucy.  He's Magi the "Magnificent." Jeez, kid, get with the program.

Smooth, Jimmy.  Smooth.

Now both Jimmy and Lucy are heartbroken, longing after their nonexistent lovers.  So they decide to "settle" for each other.  You know, like that old classic rock song, "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with?"  So Jimmy and Lucy elope.  But even as they say their "I Do's" they are choking back tears, because all they can think about is Magi and Sandra.  Also, I should point out that "this is not a hoax, or a dream, or an imaginary story."  Lucy and Jimmy really get married in this comic.

"I now pronounce you Mickey and Mallory Knox!"

After the ceremony, Jimmy and Lucy finally discover each other's secrets.  They are briefly angry with each other, but they quickly become overjoyed, as they realize they married the right people after all.  Then, just as the happy couple are about to leave on their honeymoon, the justice of the peace who performed their ceremony comes running up, screaming, "Thank goodness I caught you in time!  You aren't married!"

Question: "Are they crazy?"  Answer: "If you have to ask..."

It seems the justice of the peace hadn't checked his mail in a couple of weeks, and didn't realize that his "justice of the peace license" had expired.  So legally, Jimmy and Lucy's marriage was not valid.  And... despite the fact they were overjoyed to be married seconds earlier, both Jimmy and Lucy are totally cool with that.  The justice of the peace says his license will be renewed in a couple of days, and he can perform the ceremony for reals then, but Jimmy and Lucy blow him off and decide not to get married after all.  Then they drive back to Metropolis laughing.

Not shown in the final panel:  The Justice of the Peace's naked and bound body in Jimmy and Lucy's trunk.

In the past, I have said that Lucy is a terrible boyfriend for Jimmy, because she is fickle, goes out with other guys, and never treats Jimmy with any respect.  But now I see that they are actually perfect for each other.  Because they are both fucking insane.

BONUS! It may not be MAGI the Magnificent, but it's still pretty cool...

The Three Ghouls - Morgus the Magnificent

Jimmy Olsen Befriends Adolf Hitler

Jimmy Olsen's Greatest Costumes and Disguises #4
"NAZI WAR HERO DISGUISE"

"Jimmy's D-Day Adventure," a story from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #86, begins with Jimmy watching some old World War 2 newsreel footage when he is shocked to see film of someone who looks just like himself receiving an award from none other than Adolf Hitler!

Naturally, this piques Jimmy's curiosity.  So he grabs his time travel crystal ball (he keeps it on a shelf in his apartment, next to his globe), and travels back in time to D-Day, to find out who his Nazi look-a-like is.

"What a thrill!  Bullets are whizzing by me in every direction, and I'm surrounded by tens of thousands of dead and wounded soldiers!  Whee!"

Jimmy arrives in the past and puts together a fake Nazi uniform out of junk he finds discarded on the battlefield.  Then, using his cobbled together costume and the limited amount of German he learned in high school, Jimmy infiltrates the Nazis!  Now he'll be able to figure out who his look-a-like is and solve the mystery.

In the weeks that follow, Jimmy uses his knowledge of WW2 history to pretend to be able to predict the future, and quickly rises through the ranks of the Nazis.  Eventually he becomes Hitler's chief military adviser.  While getting photographed receiving a medal from Hitler, Jimmy realizes that he does not have a look-a-like... HE'S the Nazi War Hero!  It's an "ironic" twist!  Congratulations, Jimmy!