Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Jimmy Olsen Chronology | Legion Chronology Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Unknown Penciller: Curt Swan Inker: George Klein Feature Character: Jimmy Olsen Supporting Characters: Lori Lemaris, Supergirl, Perry White, Clark Kent/Superman, Professor Potter, Lois Lane, Lana Lang Guest Legionnaires: Element Lad (called Element Boy by Jimmy in this story) Other Characters: The curator of the Superman Museum, a lunch server, the Look-Alike Squad of Kandor - Zol-Lar (Jimmy Olsen’s double, named in Jimmy Olsen No. 73), Vol-Don (Clark Kent’s double, named in Superboy No. 118), Ti-Arra (Lana Lang’s double, named in Lois Lane No. 78), Ar-Rone (Perry White’s double, named in Jimmy Olsen No. 83), Sylvia Van-Zee (Lois Lane’s double, confirmed in Lois Lane No. 78), and a Lori Lemaris double. "The Secret of Silver Kryptonite" (8 pages) Seeing on the calendar that June 13th is fast approaching, Jimmy Olsen begins his secret plan called operation "Silver Kryptonite". After discussing the plan with Professor Potter in his lead-lined lab, Jimmy then goes about collecting silver from each of Superman's closest friends - Perry, Lois, Lana, Lori Lemaris, and Clark. Calling in a squad of six Kandorians, the final step of the operation is to pour molten silver (from the objects collected) onto the tiny, invulnerable people. When Superman arrives at the lab he is let in and exposed to the chunk of silver kryptonite - which turns out to be a "box" containing six silver statuettes of Superman's closest friends, achieved by pouring molten silver over the look-alike squad from Kandor. An instant later, a second surprise comes, one that surprises even Jimmy. Element Lad arrives in a time-bubble and, representing Superman's Legion pals, contributes to the occasion by turning the steel table into a silver pedestal for those miniatures. Superman appreciates the honor but doesn't understand what the occasion is until Jimmy Olsen points out that it is to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of Superman making Metropolis his official home. 25 years ago - on June 13, 1938 - Superman arrived from Smallville and pledged to protect Metropolis and the world with his mighty powers.
Although it isn't stated, Lori Lemaris is probably hanging onto a waterfront buoy when she is talking to Jimmy at the beginning of the story. Jimmy asks all his friends about the existence of silver kryptonite before he follows through with his plans because he wants to make doubly sure that there is no such thing as real silver kryptonite, as well as to further the surprise that he has "made" some. Since Clark checked the files at super-speed for any mention of silver kryptonite, you would think that Perry would suspect him of being Superman since he took such a short time to do so. However, Clark checked the files at super-speed because it was a tedious task and he used the extra time to do more constructive things. He went to see Perry "shortly" after a realistic period of time had elapsed. Jimmy donates a silver leg that "once belonged to the pirate, Long John Silver." Long John Silver is a character from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. In the Silver Age DC universe, fictional characters are often part of their past history (i.e. Hercules, Samson, Ben Hur). It seems like a cruel hoax to pretend to make silver kryptonite for someone your are celebrating. Jimmy tells Superman: "We wanted to surprise you! That's why we lead-lined this lab and decoyed you away until the statuettes were ready. We pretended to be making silver kryptonite to throw you off the track!" As Jimmy's suspicious actions prompted Superman to investigate the situation, only his emotions were thrown off track, making him think all his closest friends were betraying him. It wasn't a very nice plan but, you have to admit, Superman was indeed surprised! This is the first appearance of the Look-Alike Squad of Kandor. Professor Potter is seen pouring molten silver over the lookalikes' entire bodies, yet only casts of their heads are seen in the final product. Also, the busts look much larger than the heads of the Kandorians. Why is this so? Well, according to the dialogue, they are supposed to be silver "statuettes" of Superman's friends. Since statuettes should be sculpts of the entire figure, it seems that artist Curt Swan took some artistic liberties in making them only the heads so that they would appear larger so the readers could appreciate the likenesses. Sadly, Pete Ross is not considered one of Superman's closest friends. Although the adult Lana Lang came back into Superman's life and adventures semi-regularly, Pete Ross' contact with his childhood friend has been far more infrequent. Although we are sure that Superman still holds Pete in high regard and remembers him fondly, Jimmy Olsen is the one who "commissioned" the statuettes and it makes sense that he overlooked Pete because he has not met him yet (he meets him as an adult in Action Comics No. 309 and as a teen in Adventure Comics No. 323). Supergirl doesn't rate a statue because, other than the fact that she is a relative of Superman's and not strictly a "friend", Kara's lookalike in Kandor was a villainess who died in Action Comics No. 297. Even if she had lived, it is doubtful that she would have cooperated given her jealous hatred of the Girl of Steel. The Legion time-bubble is called a time-travel capsule in this story. Before this, it was more common to call it a time-globe or time-sphere. The guest appearance of Element Lad marks the hero's second ever appearance in comics. Jimmy immediately recognizes Element Lad (though he calls him Element Boy), although he just joined the Legion a short while ago and Jimmy is not even an honorary member yet. Obviously Superman told Jimmy about Element Lad, remembering his teammate in the Legion from his exploits as Superboy. But either Superman recalled Element Lad's name wrong (due to his frequent exposure to kryptonite, which creates errors in his super-recall) or Jimmy remembered it wrong. Most likely the latter, since Superman probably only mentioned the name in passing to Jimmy. Element Lad sports a new insignia in this story. In his last appearance in Adventure Comics No. 307, he wore a black, angular question mark because he joned the Legion as "Mystery Lad". Now that he is Element Lad, he wears a white "E" on his chest in this story. The next time his costume is seen, in Adventure Comics No. 311, he has changed it to a black "E". This story states that June 13, 1963 is the 25th anniversary of Superman making Metropolis his home. This proves that Superman was born in 1920 and has been operating in Metropolis for the past 25 years (by 1963). It coincides with Superboy's career being in the mid-to-late 1930s. After the last story panel (with "The End" written in it, so not as not to break the "fourth wall" within the story proper) is an additional panel with Superman talking directly to the "audience" and inviting the readers to celebrate his 25th anniversary by buying a copy of Superman Annual No. 7. For some reason, there is an additional "The End" written at the bottom corner of this ad panel. Although this panel claims that Superman Annual No. 7 will be on sale June 15th, ads in other comics confirm that it actually went on sale Thursday June 13th, exactly on the day that the events of this story take place. This issue went on sale Thursday May 23rd, 1963. No reprints as of this writing. |
