Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135 is a cornerstone of Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga and one of the most consequential single issues of the Bronze Age. It delivers the first full, named introduction of the DNA Project — the secret government cloning base that would eventually be re-christened Project Cadmus and become a recurring engine of Superman mythology for decades, most notably giving rise to Superboy during the Death and Return of Superman era. The issue simultaneously marks the debut of Apokolips agents Mokkari and Simyan and the first appearance of the Golden Guardian, a clone of the Golden Age hero Jim Harper, reintroducing a Kirby–Simon creation from the 1940s in a radically modern context. Darkseid appears here for only the second time in comics history, and Kirby's portrayal already establishes the tyrant's chilling rhetorical personality, making this issue a critical step in the construction of the most formidable villain DC had yet produced.
In "Evil Factory!", Superman takes Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion to The Project, a secret facility where the original Newsboy Legion now works as scientists decoding DNA. But when Darkseid’s agents Mokkari and Simyan send a clone of Jimmy to infiltrate the complex, the line between ally and imposter begins to blur. Written and illustrated by Jack Kirby, with art by Al Plastino and Murphy Anderson, and a cover by Neal Adams, this 1971 DC classic blends sci-fi intrigue with the signature energy of Kirby’s cosmic storytelling.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 19 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 5 ▾ $54.95–$99 3 listings
Raw — VF ▾ $29.99–$120 11 listings
Raw — F/VF ▾ $75–$79.95 2 listings
Raw — FINE ▾ $49.95–$59.95 2 listings
Raw — VG ▾ $11.5–$65 11 listings
Raw — GOOD ▾ $14.95 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $5.29–$105 21 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
When Jack Kirby moved from Marvel to DC in 1970, he chose to launch his work on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen because its previous artist, Pete Costanza, was planning to retire, meaning Kirby would not be displacing anyone. Kirby served as writer, penciler, and editor, with Vince Colletta as the primary inker on the 22-page interior story; however, DC's editorial management — concerned about Kirby's renderings of Superman and Jimmy Olsen deviating from their approved character models — had Al Plastino and Murphy Anderson alter or redraw the faces of those two characters throughout portions of the issue, a practice documented by Kirby's associate Mark Evanier. The cover was produced by Neal Adams, who recalled in a 1997 interview that DC's editorial director Carmine Infantino had rejected Kirby's own cover layout, and that Adams was brought in at the last minute to produce a replacement. The issue was published on November 24, 1970, with a January 1971 cover date, and was later reprinted in the 2003 trade paperback Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 and in Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus #1.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Story title: 'Evil Factory!' — written and penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Vince Colletta, with cover by Neal Adams; published November 24, 1970 (cover date January 1971).
- First appearance of Mokkari and Simyan, Darkseid's twin Apokoliptian scientists who run the Evil Factory, a dark mirror of the DNA Project — both created by Jack Kirby.
- First appearance of the Golden Guardian (clone of Jim Harper), the reborn version of the Golden Age Guardian co-created by Kirby and Joe Simon in the 1940s, released by Tommy of the original Newsboy Legion to battle the rampaging kryptonite-infused Jimmy Olsen clone.
- Darkseid appears here for the second time in comics history (his first was the final page of issue #134), shown presiding over Mokkari and Simyan via viewscreen — his character voice and imposing personality already fully formed by Kirby.
- The issue presents the DNA Project (later renamed Project Cadmus) in its most fully developed form: a secret U.S. government genetic research facility run by the now-adult original Newsboy Legion, which had been cloning Jimmy Olsen as security guards and engineering the Hairies as an advanced human subspecies.
- The central threat is a giant Jimmy Olsen clone with kryptonite-impregnated skin, dispatched by the Evil Factory via a teleportation device; it defeats Superman before being countered by the newly released Golden Guardian.
- DC editorial had the faces of Superman and Jimmy Olsen redrawn by Al Plastino (and in at least one panel by Murphy Anderson) over Kirby's pencils throughout the issue, without any on-page credit — a documented editorial intervention that Kirby privately opposed.
- The story was later collected in Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 (DC, 2003) and Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus #1, with Mark Evanier's introduction providing key production history about the face-redrawing process.
Cast · 17 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Supercomic #62 (1972), Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby #1 (2003), Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus #1 (2007), Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus #1 (2011), The Fourth World Omnibus by Jack Kirby #[nn] (2018), Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby #[nn] (2019), Mighty Comic #92
Key issues in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.