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The comic’s 8-page cover-story opens with this introductory caption:

INTRODUCTORY CAPTION:
What orphan boy wouldn’t leap at the chance to be adopted by a super-father…like SUPERMAN? What thrills and proud moments would the FOSTER FATHER OF STEEL bring to such a lucky youngster? Well, Jimmy Olsen may have a startling answer for you, about life-with-SUPERMAN! But you will never guess the outcome, of what should be a super-happy family relationship, when the cub reporter becomes…THE SON OF SUPERMAN!

“The Son Of Superman”, written by Otto Binder, penciled by Curt Swan and inked by Ray Burnley continues as Jimmy – an orphan -- sulks at a DAILY PLANET father-and-son picnic. Suddenly, Superman flies in and offers to adopt Jimmy to become his “official foster father”! In fact, he’s already drawn up the papers making the Man Of Steel his legal guardian for a 30-day trial period! (Superman is careful not to reveal his secret identity of Clark Kent to Jimmy, though.) Jimmy’s elated! First, they participate in the picnic’s games, then Superman flies Jimmy to the house he’s rented; finally, he takes him to his Fortress Of Solitude near the North Pole. The Man Of Steel gives his new son a tour of his secret headquarters, which features a mural of an entire solar system (named in Superman’s honor) that he created with his bare hands. But suddenly, Superman’s attitude toward Jimmy abruptly changes! He suddenly acts strict, stern and impossible-to-please, punishing Jimmy without reason and assigning him wearying tasks that seem completely pointless. He takes away his special wristwatch with the secret signal only Superman can hear, and even accuses Jimmy of “snooping” around to learn his secret identity! When Father’s Day comes around, Jimmy is desperate to come up with a “real nice gift” to please his foster father, but once again, Superman refuses to be placated:

JIMMY OLSEN:
I had the tailor make that special robe just for you, Dad! Do you…uh…like it?

SUPERMAN:
Hmm…The emblem is crooked and the colors don’t match my costume closely enough! I won’t wear anything that poorly made!

JIMMY OLSEN:
Dad…stop! Don’t use the heat of your X-ray vision…oh, too late! My FATHER’S DAY gift…burning up!

This “completely shatters” Jimmy, and the next day, he appears in court to tell the judge that he would never be happy if Superman adopted him!

JUDGE:
Great Scott! How could any boy refuse to be SUPERMAN’S son? What do you have to say, SUPERMAN?

SUPERMAN:
If Jimmy wants to call it quits, that goes double for me!

JUDGE:
Then I have no choice but to declare the trial adoption void, as of June 16! And there can be no second chance for you two! Case dismissed!

But as the “super-miserable” boy leaves the courtroom, Superman suddenly makes another about-face, offering an explanation as to why he intentionally caused their break-up! Flying his ex-son to the Fortress Of Solitude, he explains as they stand before a machine that’s labeled an “electronic oracle”:

SUPERMAN (in the present):
While you used the lightning-gun during our previous visit, I consulted my super-calculator machine! It can evaluate complex data and PREDICT CALAMITIES in the future! It is never wrong! And my heart froze at the prophecy it gave forth from its speaking mechanism!

ELECTRONIC ORACLE (in flashback):
On June 17, SUPERMAN will destroy his own son!

SUPERMAN (in flashback, thinking)
Great stars! That means JIMMY…I adopted him! Hmm…but I won’t be able to cause Jimmy’s death if I have NO SON by June 17! I’ve got to work fast…

SUPERMAN (in the present):
I kept the prediction to myself to avoid worrying you! Then I PRETENDED to turn against you, making you back out of the adoption yourself! You’re safe from harm now, Jimmy…not being SUPERMAN’s son anymore!

Suddenly, something occurs to Jimmy! Pointing to the mural of Superman’s hand-made solar system:

JIMMY OLSEN:
The words “SON” and “SUN” sound exactly alike when spoken aloud! I think the ELECTRONIC ORACLE meant you would destroy this…SUPERMAN’S SUN!

SUPERMAN:
Great guns…of course! Then something must be wrong with that sun I made! I’ll go and see!

Sure enough, “Superman’s Sun” has burnt out, so the Man Of Steel replaces it with a “young hot star”. Returning to Earth, Superman apologizes to Jimmy for his harsh actions:

SUPERMAN:
I feel terrible, Jimmy! My misunderstanding of the prophecy broke up our rather-and-son relationship! The court won’t renew it…

JIMMY OLSEN:
Don’t apologize, SUPERMAN! If you’ll recall, you were always out nights doing super-jobs. Even if we lived together, we would see little of each other! But even if I’m not your “SON”, I’m still your boy PAL!

SUPERMAN:
Nothing will ever change that, Jimmy!

Awww…! This story was reprinted in DC’s 80 PAGE GIANT No. 2.

Also included in this issue of SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN are the stories and features:

• “The Cub Who Cried Wolf” (written by Alvin Schwartz, penciled by Curt Swan and inked by Jack Burnley) – Jimmy drives home from the DAILY PLANET office to work on his expose of the crimes of the Bedone gang. But he’s interrupted by an huge ant-like alien, who begs that Jimmy aid him by gathering “the juices of 1,000 four-leaf clovers” to cure for his “fallen” companion. To accomplish the seemingly impossible task, Jimmy summons Superman with his signal-watch, but when he arrives, the insectoid space-creatures have mysteriously vanished. Later, Jimmy sees a giant eagle drop a huge ruby on a nearby rooftop, and again calls Superman to retrieve it, but the bird and the ruby again disappear. The next morning, on the way to work, Jimmy encounters a brontosaurus and a pack of cave –men, but when he calls for Superman – you guessed it – Jimmy’s unconscious (he hit his head) and the prehistoric critters have vamoosed. Fed up (he’s convinced that Jimmy is sleep-deprived and is dreaming all of these “emergencies”), Superman warns his pal that he has no time to respond to any further false alarms. It turns out that Jimmy is being manipulated by the crooked Bedone and his gang, who’ve used sci-fi movie props to pull off the deceptions that have destroyed Jimmy’s credibility with the Man Of Steel. They “persuade” Jimmy to hand over the manuscript for his expose, but he hides his activated signal-watch with the papers. When Superman’s driven to distraction by the watch’s incessant “zee…zee…zee…” signal, he arrives just in time to stop the crooks and save Jimmy!

• “Superman’s Greatest Enemy” (written by Otto Binder, penciled by Dick Sprang and inked by Ray Burnley) – Cigarette-smoking Superman lookalike, gangster “Houdini” Watson, convinces Jimmy that Superman’s newest enemy – Clark Kent, of all people -- is conspiring to destroy him! Watson even plants false clues – such as a chunk of fake Kryptonite in a cake for Superman! -- to Clark’s betrayal (of his own alter-ego!) which further rouse Jimmy’s suspicions of his fellow reporter. His motive is to use Jimmy to get his hands on Clark’s coded list of crooked plastic surgeon “Scalpel” Logan’s underworld patients. While Superman is on an emergency mission, Jimmy retrieves the list from Clark’s desk. After he delivers it to “Superman”, the crooks reveal themselves, and holding the redhead at gunpoint, head for the DAILY PLANET to pick up Clark Kent so they can “eliminate” both of them. En route, Clark (Superman) Kent uses his heat vision to secretly melt a hole in their car’s gas tank. When they run out of fuel, leaving them stalled in a busy Metropolis intersection, “Superman” tries to convince a police officer that he’s “in a hurry to answer a distress call!” But not even “Houdini” can escape from the fact that he might look like Superman, but he’s not able fly to respond to the call! He’s immediately revealed as a phony, and Clark and Jimmy are “saved” from the bad guys!

• “Wanted: A Pal!”, a public service page written by Jack Schiff and drawn by Lou Cameron

• A half-page “Casey The Cop” gag-strip by cartoonist Henry Boltinoff

• A half-page “Shorty” gag-strip by cartoonist Henry Boltinoff

• A half-page “Honey In Hollywood” gag-strip by cartoonist Henry Boltinoff

• A one-page “Ollie” gag-strip by cartoonist Henry Boltinoff

ODDBALL Factoid – Writer Alvin Schwartz is also the creator of Bizarro, The Man Of Steel’s “hilarious yet pathetic imperfect duplicate” who first appeared in the SUPERMAN daily comic strip during the 1940s!

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