My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Gives A Popular DC Comics Meme A New Meaning

Jimmy Olsen is on a roll. The character, who has long been ignored in live-action screen adaptations of Superman comic books, has really turned things around lately. First, there was his brief appearance in "Superman & Lois," which led to one of that show's best episodes and a groundbreaking moment for the Man of Steel. Then, after Zack Snyder decided to have Superman's pal get shot in the head (!) in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," the character was reinvented for the DC Universe in James Gunn's "Superman" and ultimately became that film's MVP. Now, the DCU's Jimmy Olsen is even getting his own TV spin-off from the creators of the beloved "American Vandal."

However, there's another excellent portrayal of Mr. Olsen that's entirely different from the other recent ones. Enter "My Adventures With Superman," the animated Adult Swim series that portrays Jimmy (voiced by Ishmel Sahid) as a reporter and journalist who's on equal footing with Clark Kent (Jack Quaid) and Lois Lane (Alice Lee), in addition to being Clark's best friend. He even (briefly) becomes a millionaire in Season 2.

Taking advantage of his newfound fame, along with the money he still has left, Jimmy elects to co-author his own line of comic books in Season 3. The title? "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen." As we see at one point, this comic features various covers that show Jimmy acting like a jerk toward Superman, humiliating him in different scenarios.

On top of being a reference to the real-life comic book series of the same name published from 1954-1974, it's a clever nod to the popular "Superdickery" meme. For those unaware, Superdickery used to be a website (now archived) that collected examples of comic book covers (mostly from "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen") where Superman acts, well, less than heroic.

The "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" comics are an infamous example of Silver Age comics doing zany things in order to attract readers. No, Superman doesn't turn evil and torture his friends, but he is usually mind-controlled, cloned, or otherwise tricked into doing rather awful things to those he loves in these stories. Consider issue #115, in which Superman seemingly forces Aquaman and Jimmy Olsen to run through a desert without water until one of them dies. In truth, it's really Proteus disguised as Superman who does this in an attempt to kill Aquaman.

In "My Adventures With Superman," by comparison, Jimmy claims his comics are inspired by true events. One of their covers shows Superman tied-up and staring in despair with Jimmy bursting through a cement wall to rescue him, while another has Superman crawling through a desert half-dead and begging Jimmy for help or water. The latter, as it were, is also a funny and clever reversal of the cover of the real-world "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" issue #115.

Clark doesn't love the big liberties Jimmy is taking with the stories, but Jimmy reassures him that he just knows what people want. Heck, considering how successful Jimmy Olsen has become in recent years, he might be right. Forget about the Jimmy Olsen who needs to be rescued by Superman all the time. Give me the story where Jimmy Olsen rescues Superman and offers some muscular help of his own!

Beyond that, "My Adventures With Superman" is simply further proof of just how versatile the Man of Steel and his friends are as characters. After all, this is the same cartoon series that previously turned Supergirl (Kiana Madeira) into Vegeta. The sky truly is the limit.