Superman’s pal may have been mystified about how he became a Wolf Man (Jimmy Olsen 44, April 1960), but I knew why.
Beginning in 1957, a package of Universal monster movies from the 1930s and 1940s was sold to television. By the end of the year, the films could be seen on 78 TV stations across the country, and by the next year, they had their own magazine — Famous Monsters of Filmland.
So the tragic old menaces became familiar to a new young audience, who found themselves also loving what their parents had loved.
What puzzles me, though, is how DC Comics got this past the Comics Code, which explicitly stated that “Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with, walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism are prohibited.”
“This is one of the most gripping of (writer Otto) Binder’s transformation stories,” observed comics historian Michael E. Grost. “This story recalls Binder’s earlier The Witch of Metropolis (Lois Lane 1, March-April 1958). In both stories, the protagonist undergoes a frightening transformation into a sinister mythological creature. In both stories, the transformation happens only at night, with the hero or heroine reverting to their normal selves during the day.
“There is something about becoming a wolf-man that echoes the real changes boys go through when they grow up and become men,” Grost noted. “When a boy grows up, he becomes large, hairy and awkward — and his fate now depends on being romantically involved — all elements of Jimmy's Wolf-Man experience. So most male readers can immediately identify with Jimmy’s transformation. It evokes all sorts of powerful and even frightening real-life emotions.”
The emphasis here though, as in so many Superman stories under editor Mort Weisinger, is really on loneliness and abandonment rather than fright. Jimmy is explicitly required to find ways to “fit in” in this story.
Sales must have been satisfactory, because Wolf Man Jimmy returned a year later in Jimmy Olsen 52 (April 1961).
ReplyDeleteMichael Fraley wrote:
I often wonder if Weisinger actually *knew* he had his finger on the pulse of the American youth of the time with all of those stories involving loneliness and abandonment, or if it just reflected his own psychology?
ReplyDeleteBruce Kanin wrote:
The house ads were a beautiful thing and only made readers want to buy them. It occurred to me that the Superman Family, at its peak, had 7 1/2 comic books running at once, ie, SUPERMAN, ACTION COMICS, SUPERBOY, ADVENTURE COMICS, JIMMY OLSEN, LOIS LANE, and WORLD's FINEST (<< that's the "half", since Superman shared it with Batman & Robin). Amazing!
ReplyDeleteBruce Kanin wrote:
Having the "secret" Supergirl cure Jimmy was a wonderful way to end that particular tale.
David Blanchard wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe Code overseers probably considered JIMMY OLSEN a humor comic, so let it pass. Sort of like how Harvey got by with a lineup of walking dead, spawns of Satan and witches.
I replied:
That's a workable theory. Maybe that's it.
ReplyDeleteBruce Kanin wrote:
Look at the Weisinger World creations on full display: Jimmy Olsen, Superboy, Supergirl, Superman, and Bizarro. Plus that's only some of that wonderful world.
Michael Uslan wrote:
ReplyDeleteDan, as to how DC got this through the Code, let me take you way back to my weekly exchange of notes as a kid with Julius Schwartz. Starting with the Showcase “Dr. Fare and Hourman” through Brave & Bold’s “Starman and Black Canary,” I inundated Julie with annoying requests for a revival of The Spectre. Finally fed up with my persistence, he sent me a memo stating, “Enough! The Spectre can never be brought back because The Comics Code Authority” specifically bans the walking dead.” I wrote Julie back yet again: “Then what about Casper the friendly ghost?” I received no response for about three weeks, then got a “Memo from Julius Schwartz” that read, “You’ll be happy to learn that The Spectre will return along with Dr. Mid-Nite in an upcoming issue of SHOWCASE.” When that issue finally appeared, Doctor Mid-Nite was nowhere to be seen, and I could not have been happier! “I love the smell of SHOWCASE in the morning. It smells like Victory!”
I replied:
Great anecote, Michael! Someone else suggested that maybe the Code authorities considered to be a humor comic, and gave it a pass for that reason.
Bob Bailey wrote:
ReplyDeleteI loved these “Coming Super-Attractions”. They were designed and executed by Ira Schnapp.
I replied:
Me too. These sent the imagination soaring.
ReplyDeleteLisa Childress wrote:
Of course, looking to your original point, having all those movies released to TV, where anyone could watch them, sort of took the sinister out of them; if kids could see those stories on the tube anytime, there was no reason to censor tales like that. They became routine, thus de-scarified. I do like your idea of the Wolfman as puberty; I remember how awful it was when 13 year old boys started That process. It took a while for them to calm down.
I replied:
That, too, is an excellent point, and probably affected the Code's thinking on this. The movies were often on the Late Show, and I could cajole my grandpa into staying up to watch them with me.
Bob Bailey wrote:
ReplyDeleteReally not sure how they got it past the code except maybe the way DC presented it got it past. DC even included humorous monsters in Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis in the sixties too. Many of those 78 TV stations you mentioned were running Shock Theater or one of it's generic imitators such as Creature Feature. That and Famous Monsters of Filmland and Aurora Monster Models made it a real monstrous time. Heck, even Archie began featuring monsters on many of their covers although in a humorous way. The first Archie monster cover was Archie's Mad House began to segue from Archie and beatnick humor to monsters and with #16 it became all monsters and scifi humor. Monsters became a frequent cover tease on other Archie titles too.
Charles Lee Jackson II wrote:
ReplyDeleteI think the trick is, though Jimmy *became* a werewolf, he didn't engage in any "werewolfism" -- like tearing out throats. As for Lois being a witch, well, there were Magica DeSpell, Witch Hazel and Little Itch, so she had some leeway, I guess.
ReplyDeletePaul Zuckerman wrote:
Every boy has a wolf hiding inside of him! 🙂
James Beers wrote:
ReplyDeleteDidn't Frankenstein and some other monsters show up in a Herbie story? Possibly the Code were lenient when there was an element of obvious comedy. Jimmy Olsen was also the comic where the hero sometimes appeared in drag.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteI don't think the code was concerned about monsters per se, only some of them. So, it IS surprising that a wolf-man would be acceptable. I can't think of any stories in the period featuring any of those other prohibitions. Except Bob Hope's comic.
Steven J. Allen wrote:
ReplyDeleteAs I recall that period (correct me if I’m wrong): Science fiction monsters were allowed, while, until the Code was relaxed in the 1970s, supernatural horror monsters were not. Thus, it mattered whether the plot involved a science experiment making someone a wolf-man, as opposed to the bite of a werewolf cursing someone to become a werewolf. Spider-Man’s enemy Morbius was allowed because he only *appeared* to be a vampire.
Also, monsters that were references to pop culture were allowed, provided the context suggested monsters weren’t real — such as when, in one story I recall, an actor in a Frankenstein’s monster getup got super-strength and went berserk. And stories *making fun* of monsters were allowed.