Jimmy Plays Hockey---OR DOES HE?

 

cover art by Curt Swan

Today, we'll begin a story-by-story look at Superman Family #182 (March-April 1977), This will be an every-other-week feature, mixed in with other comic book reviews. I have no delusion that my blog will ever have more than a small readership, but I appreciate the readers I do have (and, hey, feel free to leave comments a little more often) and I want to make sure my comic book reviews cover a variety of genres and characters. If one of you doesn't care for the Man from Krypton, don't worry. We'll visit someone else next week.

Anyway, Superman Family was a continuation of the Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane books, both of which folded into Superman Family in 1974, with that book continuing with the numbering from Jimmy's book. Issue #182 features two tales starring Jimmy, along with individual stories about Lois, Krypto, Supergirl and Superbaby. There's also a tale from ancient Krypton. It's typical of the Family book--giving us a nice variaty of yarns set within the vibrant Superman mythology.

The first story we come to, though, is a little weak. "Death on Ice," written by Murray Boltinoff (using the name Bill Dennehy and drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, begins with a teaser splash page that shows us Jimmy playing goalie in a hockey game. But this teaser proves to be a DARN, DIRTY LIE! 

I can never trust anything ever again!

Schaffenberger's art on a Superman story is always fun to look at, but the story has a few flaws in the script. After the teaser page, it begins with Jimmy covering a hockey game for GBS, with Clark as his guest in the press room. After the game, Jimmy mentions an article he had just read that claimed that we are dreaming while we are awake and that our dreams are the real world. He then goes to the home team locker room to interview the goalie. 

But the player now refuses to talk to the young reporter. What's more, Jimmy sees a couple of known thugs walking away. These thugs, in turn, recognize Jimmy as a reporter and decide to kill him.

They try to bag Jimmy in the parking lot and during the ensuing chase, Jimmy sees Clark changing into Superman. This is why the earlier dialogue about the dreaming-while-we-are-awake article was there earlier. Jimmy, influenced by that article, will eventually decide that this was a daydream and Clark is not actually Superman. It's a weak subplot that could have been left out entirely without affecting the rest of the story.

Superman saves Jimmy by flying off with the thugs, weaving their car through Metropolis traffic until they get arrested for reckless driving. The next night, Jimmy confronts the goalie again after finding 25 grand in cash inside the guy's locker.

The goalie claims he turned down a bribe to throw the game, but the thugs had planted the cash in his locker anyway to get him to change his mind. He's afraid Jimmy will go to press with a story that makes him look guilty. Jimmy is afraid the player is attacking him and accidentally knocks him out.

The thugs, who apparently made bail, show up again, so Jimmy puts on a hockey uniform as a disguise. This was the point of the teaser--to make us think that Jimmy would end up playing in the upcoming game. But when the game begins, the guy wearing the goalie's mask makes one spectacular save after another and it's not hard to immediately guess that this is Superman. When the other team, who are in on the bribe and expecting the goalie to throw the game, attempt to gang up on him, the ice beneath their skates mysteriously melts. The thugs and the dishonest players all end up in jail.

This conclusion, while fun if taken on its own, is another weakpoint in the story. The best Jimmy and Lois tales involved them having adventures when Superman wasn't necessarily around to help them out. They are meant to showcase the fact that the other members of the Daily Planet (or, by this time, Galaxy Broadcasting) staff were great reporters in their own right. In "Death on Ice," though, Jimmy has to step aside and let Superman save the day.

Oh, well, Schaffenberger's art is still great and when we return to this issue, we'll look at a Superbaby story that is as fun as it is absurd. 

That's in two weeks. Next week, we'll jump to the Marvel Universe to find out whether a tough-as-nails Old West lawman can hold his own against the King of Vampires.