COUNTDOWN # 34: THE SUPER-BRAIN OF JIMMY OLSEN BY FREE STEVE CHUNG Last week in Countdown #34, Jimmy Olsen sought to uncover the mystery of his new super powers, and put his own brain to the test. He's taking a great risk, but it isn't the first time the Daily Planet's ace cub reporter has put himself under the microscope. Stay with us, gentle reader, as we take a look at bygone days and the Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen.
One morning at the Daily Planet, Jimmy was in a cheery mood, and greeted his fellow reporters.
Even the gruffness of Perry White couldn't damper young Olsen's spirits, and he knew that the Chief was the best employer he ever had. While mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent changes to the Man of Steel, and patrols Metropolis, Professor Potter prepares to demonstrate his newest invention in the editor's own office. By using the evolution accelerator, its special Z-Rays will rapidly transform a twentieth century man into a being of the far future. Now seated on a couch, Jimmy decides to go along with the gag, and write it up later for the paper's "Crackpot Corner". Once the curtain has been drawn, the Z-Rays bombard the red-haired reporter, who will shortly emerge as a youth from the year 1,000,000 A.D. Chewing thoughtfully on his cigar, Perry White suggests to Lois Lane that Professor Potter could use some examination of his own.
The curtain parts, revealing not Jimmy Olsen, but the Cosmic Brain from the future. The girl reporter asks the Professor if Jimmy will remain as he is, and is relieved when Potter informs her that he'll be back to normal in twelve hours. The Cosmic Brain is unimpressed by the typewriters being used at the Daily Planet. Lois notices the cold stare coming from her coworker, and wonders what his super-brain could be thinking. In order to aid the primitives of this time period, the Cosmic Brain reads an article about a geologic mystery, and forms the plan for a perfect super-project of his own. When he informs his employer that he'll not be working for the newspaper, and devoting his time for his important project, Perry White is not about to stand for it.
With the power of his cosmic brain, Jimmy Olsen is now the boss, and radiates antigravity rays to lift the Chief from his editor's chair. He then sends a telepathic call to Superman, and commands him to come to the Daily Planet at once. When he arrives, the Man of Steel strikes an unseen barrier, and comes to a halt. Now made aware of his pal's transformation, Superman watches as the Cosmic Brain demonstrates his telescopic-vision, and super-hearing. Focusing his power on a jewelry store in Metropolis, Jimmy describes how an apprentice diamond cutter is having trouble splitting his first gem. When he successfully splits an artificial diamond, the apprentice is surprised to learn that he was given a real diamond, and was kept in the dark to prevent further anxiety.
Once the demonstrations of his mental powers are complete, the Cosmic Brain commands the Man of Steel to complete certain super-tasks for him. If Superman were to refuse, he learns via telepathy that Jimmy has seen Clark Kent's clothing in the hidden pouch of his cape. In order to safeguard his dual identity, he must obey. Reassuring his pal that the jobs do not involve anything criminal, the Cosmic Brain sends him on his way. The first task is to dig a crate one hundred miles wide in the Antarctic Ice cap. Once at the South Pole, the Man of Steel creates the largest crater in the world.
Back at the Daily Planet, the Cosmic Brain orders him to free the heaviest mountain from the Himalayas, and hurl it into the crater. Having dug a hole and now filling it, the Man of Steel wonders if he's being played for a fool. The following hours finds Superman towing an uninhabited island towards the crater, gathering a series of stones at an underground depth of one hundred miles, and lugging one hundred carloads of desert sand to the crater. Billions of tons of metallic junk is dumped into the crater, as well. The pattern becomes apparently clear. The Man of Steel asks the Cosmic Brain if he is refashioning the world into the way it will be in a million years. If so, not even the threat of his secret identity being revealed will be enough for him to continue. It turns out that Jimmy does have one more power over his pal.
His eyes radiate Kryptonite-Vision at Superman, rendering him helpless, and unable to resist his orders. The time has come for the final job. When he returns, Jimmy Olsen will be back to normal, and the fruits of his labors will be revealed. Once in outer space, the Man of Steel hurls meteors to fill the crater to the very top. Back at the Daily Planet, the Cosmic Brain is nowhere in sight, but there's a note on Perry White's desk. The newspaper article alerted the Cosmic Brain that the Earth was out of balance, with one half heavier than the other.
In one thousand years time, the internal stresses would have caused the planet to blow apart. By having Superman shift weight from the heavy to the light half of the planet, the Cosmic Brain prevented the disaster from ever happening. When he wonders why Jimmy didn't tell him what he was doing, the Man of Steel remembers the apprentice diamond cutter, and the reason why he was left in the dark. One mistake and the world would be gone. The cub reporter has saved the Earth, but he's back to his normal self now. Superman wonders if his pal still remembers his dual identity? When he is thanked for the note and referred to as the Cosmic Brain, Jimmy naturally has no idea what his pal is talking about. The Man of Steel's secret identity is safe. Back at his role as a mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent is relieved to learn that since it was powered by a rare meteoric metal, Professor Potter has thrown away his evolution accelerator. There will be no more Cosmic Brains to pay a visit, and one was more than enough for him.
"The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen" made its appearance in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #22 (August, 1957) by Otto Binder, Curt Swan, and Ray Burnley.
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