Friday Night Fights: You Hockey Puck!
It’s been a long, crazy week, and the one thing we all need to get the weekend started right is a nice little dose of the old ultraviolence in the form of… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!
This one’s crazier than most. It comes from Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta. Kirby had just recently started work at DC, and he’d asked to take over the low-sales Jimmy Olsen book ’cause he figured DC would let him go wild with crazy ideas to try to pump up the sales. (EDIT: See RAB’s comment for another explanation. I’d always heard it this way, but his explanation has merit, too.) He hatched up an idea to have a celebrity guest star — insult comic Don Rickles. But Don didn’t even appear right away — the first issue was dominated by Don’s bizarre lookalike, Goody Rickles, who’s enthusiastically nice, works for Morgan Edge, and likes to wear a superhero costume, even though he’s got no powers or fighting skills.
So this is what happens when Jimmy Olsen and Goody Rickles get attacked by Intergang’s goons:
Don showed up an issue later and was entirely horrified by his good twin. Then Goody and Jimmy caught fire for a while. Seriously. Jack Kirby was the King… but man, I don’t know where he came up with some of this stuff…
FNF: MINIMUM CLONAGE Round 4 » SpaceBooger.com Said,
May 7, 2010 @ 8:43 pm
[…] Don Rickles (Hero Sandwich) […]
RAB Said,
May 7, 2010 @ 11:51 pm
Um…that history isn’t quite right. Jimmy Olsen wasn’t a particularly low seller before Kirby, and Kirby didn’t ask to be assigned a low selling book. DC considered getting Kirby a huge coup and they expected him to produce Marvel-level sales whatever he did, so he probably could have had anything he asked for. But JO didn’t have a regular creative team at that moment, so Kirby asked for that assignment purely so that he wouldn’t be putting some other guy out of work.
Also, it was the idea of Kirby assistants Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman to have Rickles appear in JO…just for fun and not as a sales gimmick. But you still have to admit, skeptic though you be, Kirby absolutely nails the Rickles style of humor. When I read the issues I can totally hear Don delivering those lines.
Scott Slemmons Said,
May 8, 2010 @ 6:54 am
I’d always heard it the other way around… I’ll make a note, thanks…
VoodooBen Said,
May 12, 2010 @ 8:52 pm
Just to point out, BOTH of these explanations show up in the Fourth World Omnibus that contains this story – if I remember correctly, the story of Kirby going to the DC office and saying “Give me your worst-selling book and I’ll make it your best-selling book” and getting handed JIMMY OLSEN is largely considered apacraphyl (sp?). Though it DOES explain why he knocked out three issues of Jimmy Olsen before the Fourth World titles ever hit.