Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen Special #2

Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen Special #2: Writer- James Robinson Art- Bernard Chang

What Happened: This issue gets underway a few weeks before the events of the Codename: Patriot storyline. Jimmy Olsen explains to Mon-El that he fears that Codename: Assassin is hunting him down, but Mon tells Jimmy not to worry, since Jimmy was that watch that will alert Mon anytime Jimmy is in jeopardy. Buyeed by that knowledge, Jimmy continues to dig for information on Project 7734. Jimmy gets in touch with a guy online who claims to have knowledge on the Project and Jimmy rushes off to meet with the guy. By this point, Gen. Lane(the leader of Project 7734)has had enough of Jimmy's snooping and he sends Assassin to finish Jimmy off. Jimmy arrives at the home of the man from the computer and finds it ablaze. Jimmy rushes in and pulls a man out of the inferno. The man has been shot and burnt, but still clings to life and is able to give Jimmy his story. Apparently the guy, whose name was Fury, was a part of Lex Luthor's Everyman Project and wound up learning a whole mess of stuff about Project 7734 that he shouldn't have, which is why Assassin was sent to kill him. With his dying breath, Fury gives Jimmy a phone # to call to hear more of the story. Jimmy makes the call and sets up a meeting with a woman. The woman turns out to be Natasha Irons, the niece(?)of Steel. Natasha tells Jimmy that the Project is run by Gen. Lane, and that the Project had managed to find a mindwiped Capt. Atom, who it seems is their secret weapon to use against the Kryptonians. After providing Jimmy with the information and some files, Natasha disappears. Jimmy walks outside and spots Codename: Assassin floating in the sky a few blocks from him. Jimmy immediately hits his watch to contact Mon-El, but unbeknownst to Jimmy, Mon is presumed dead in the aftermath of Codename: Patriot. With no help coming, Jimmy makes a break for it, but he rapidly discovers that you can't hide from an assassin with telepathy and telekinesis. Assassin catches up to Jimmy near a body of water and fires two bullets into the photographer's chest, knocking him and his files into the murky sea, apparently killing him, thus ending this issue.

What I thought: I enjoyed this comic a lot. I'm not normally a big fan of Jimmy Olsen(I've always found him incredibly annoying), but James did an excellent job giving Jimmy a personality and actually making me care about him. Now I guess the question is, where does this lead? If Jimmy is really dead(let's face it, that's not likely)Supes is going to be enraged, Mon-El is going to feel responsible and Lois will undoubtedly find out it was her father who put the hit out on Jimmy, leading to some big time drama. In other words, Jimmy's death should have some major ramifications in the Superman family of comic books.

Score: 8 out of 10.Personally, if I were to shoot Jimmy Olsen I'd say, "Good-Bye", but I guess that's why I'm not an assassin for a secret government program.

2 comments:

  1. This was a really good issue. This and the last jimmy olsen special was my fav work of james robinson on his supes run so far.

    Olsen cant be dead surely, he'll pop up soon, that story's not finished yet.

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  2. Yeah, I can't see Jimmy being dead for long, but until he does make his inevitable return, things should definitely pick up in the Superman books. I'm especially hoping Lois discovers it was her old man who put the hit out on Olsen, that should be good.

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