Source: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #127 (1970)
Type: Time travel/hoax
It's the 4th of July, so why not a little American history? After all, there are a LOT of stories where Jimmy Olsen is thrown back in time and adopts an era-relevant identity. So what is Jimmy's role in the birth of the United States? Well, let's go back to the Revolution War and find out!
The story starts in medias res, with Jimmy already in the Revolutionary War period and being tried for the greatest crime of all:
Yes, he was implicated in the deaths of three historical figures, but worse than that, he's wearing an officer's boots! That's the kind of mistake that happens when an Egyptian statue taps you on the head and sends you back in time (presumably; I mean, it's never happened to me personally). The statue belonged to a movie producer called Von Rick, who must have been a descendent of the General Von Rick who is now conducting his court-martial. But none of that is admissible as evidence, Jimmy, and you're lucky to be let off the hook with a warning. But bad luck keeps following our cub reporter...
Oh snap, not George Washington! Who's going to be the first president NOW?! Jimmy takes a powder, figuring he's been framed, and he escapes to... a nearby highway? As he later explains to Superman, he figured out he wasn't in the 18th century thanks to certain clues.
That's a neat bit of trivia, and useful! Learn your history, kids! You never know when (and this is what actually happened) you'll write a devastating review of a time travel movie because it dares suggest history can be changed when it really can't #nerdrage, and then the film's producer decides to teach you a lesson by gassing you and dropping you into an elaborate historical movie set where he dresses up as a character and puts you in situations where you're accidentally changing history! It's 1970, and the Superman books are just ABOUT to come out of their Silver Age trappings, so it's not too late for some super-dickery. The next morning, Von Rick wakes up in the actual Revolutionary era.
Jimmy plays dumb and lets him freak out as the Natives attack. And no one gets hurt because this attack on an empty camp, SOMEHOW CHRONICLED BY HISTORIANS EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WHO COULD WRITE WAS PRESENT, was historically bloodless. See? You can't change history and THAT'S A GOOD THING.
At least Jimmy got to visit the period for realz. Now give Superman his prize for being a dick. It might be his last chance before the Bronze Age begins.
Type: Time travel/hoax
The story starts in medias res, with Jimmy already in the Revolutionary War period and being tried for the greatest crime of all:
Comments
:-)