An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie appeared in the story "Superman's Phony Manager," published in Action Comics No.

The first long story featuring the character, "King Jimmy Olsen," ran in the daily Superman newspaper strips from July 20-October 28, 1944.

[10] The first issue introduced the Signal Watch, a high-frequency supersonic device that allowed Jimmy to contact Superman in case of emergency.

The stories in the title often featured particularly outlandish situations,[11][12] ranging from Jimmy being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to dealing frequently with gorillas of all sorts.

[13][14] Beginning in 1958, Olsen gained the ability to temporarily transform into the superhero Elastic Lad by drinking a serum, becoming an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen was a best seller throughout the 1960s; at its peak it was the #4 best-selling comic book with an estimated 520,000 copies sold each month.

Project" to create Mutated Humans for Good, adding "the Hairies" (a group of technology-equipped hippies), superbeings from other planets (proto-New Gods), Intergang, Darkseid, and the WGBS media executive Morgan Edge.

Kirby also used the series as a vehicle to reintroduce Golden Age characters that he previously created at DC Comics, such as the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion.

By the second series, Jimmy Olsen became an investigative reporter for WGBS-TV nicknamed "Mr. Action," featuring in urban crime stories that less frequently involved Superman.

A number of Superman writers including Leo Dorfman and Cary Bates contributed scripts for the stories, and they were most often pencilled by Kurt Schaffenberger.

Jimmy later came under the angry hand of the Alpha Centurion, an alternate universe dictator with a deep-seated hatred for Superman and eyes for Lois Lane.

It was Jimmy who first uncovered his secret plot to control the world's finances through his company Aelius Industries, Inc. Olsen is a central character in the 12-part miniseries Superman: Metropolis (beginning June 2003).

Jimmy takes a position as a regular star reporter for The Daily Planet, replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent.

[35] Later, as the events of Countdown begin to come to their close, Jimmy becomes a more confidently powerful character and is reunited with the series' other cast members on a mission to stop Karate Kid's disease from becoming a pandemic of apocalyptic proportions.

Jimmy is able to avoid being killed and is apparently shielded from Codename: Assassin's telepathy due to his own many physical transformations over the years.

Natasha then contacts Jimmy, telling him about the plans of General Sam Lane, his outworldly fortress and his capture, and use of a Planet Breaker weapon of Captain Atom, now codenamed Project Breach (due to his similarity to Tim Zanetti's fate).

With no one knowing about his survival, Jimmy moves into the old Pemberton Camera Factory, sharing the results of his now-unhindered investigations with Perry and Mon-El.

that Nick Spencer and R. B. Silva will be producing a monthly 10-page backup feature in Action Comics chronicling the adventures of Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis.

Reported story topics include an alien civilization choosing Metropolis as the base of a major cultural celebration, and the introduction of Chloe Sullivan (from the Smallville television series) to the DCU proper.

[45] Jimmy was once again shown as Turtle Boy and Elastic Lad, and his antics, glamorous lifestyle as Superman's pal, and strange transformations were depicted as a source of streaming-media ad revenue that was keeping the Daily Planet afloat.

The series poked fun at DC Comics' own history, including a sequence in which Jimmy angered Batman by suggesting a phone-in campaign to decide whether Robin lived or died.

[80][81][82] An alternate universe variant of Jimmy Olsen who became a reporter for the Gotham Gazette appears in All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #6.

This version of the character was largely popular, leading DC Comics to create the series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, a regular title with him as the protagonist.

[89] Jimmy Olsen appears in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, portrayed by Michael Landes in the first season and Justin Whalin for the rest of the series' run.

When Whalin took over the role, more emphasis was placed on Jimmy's love-life and he would frequently seek out Lois, Clark and Perry's advice on these matters.

This version prefers to be called James, is in a relationship with series-original character Chloe Sullivan, and is ultimately killed by the titular villain in the eighth season finale "Doomsday".

[92] In the ending scene of the series finale set seven years in the future, the adult version of the younger Olsen (also portrayed by Ashmore) appears working with Lois and Clark at the Daily Planet.

[94] Introduced in Supergirl, this version is African-American and a former Daily Planet photographer who joins CatCo as an art director in the pilot episode.

[95] Additionally, he is aware of Superman and Supergirl's secret identities and lost his father to criminals when he was a child, leading him to become the vigilante Guardian.

[96] Later in the series, Olsen becomes head of CatCo in National City after Cat Grant moves to Metropolis, and quits after Andrea Rojas buys the company and forces him to report on stories based on profitability as opposed to truth.