# Lines nspired by a Jimmy Olsen Caption. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650 "2012-05-02T15:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/1 "2012-05-02T15:51:56Z")
I stumbled across a copy of the September 1964 issue of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen comic on-line recently, which contains a time travel story called _The Red Headed Beatle of 1,000BC_. One of its captions reads “Shortly, in the distant past”, and that phase stuck in my head, so I wrote this: Lines Inspired by a Jimmy Olsen Caption by Paul Slade Shortly, in the distant past, The first comes in behind the last, The evening’s early, morning’s late, Your history fills a future date, Time’s arrow turns the other way, And June surrenders unto May, Slow progress circles backward, fast, Shortly, in the distant past. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/2 "2012-05-02T18:58:43Z")
Contact this guy–you may have a, uh, future in this!: [http://www.scottshawsoddballcomics.com/](http://www.scottshawsoddballcomics.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/3 "2012-05-02T19:43:42Z")
I like it Slade. Pretty clever. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/4 "2012-05-07T21:02:12Z")
Thank you, Skammer - much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/5 "2012-05-07T22:31:31Z")
Nicely done! ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/6 "2012-05-08T07:57:08Z")
You can find the cover of the comic itself [here](http://www.comicvine.com/supermans-pal-jimmy-olsen-the-red-headed-beatle-of-1000-bc/37-127004/). And Sub-Pop’s own The Makers named a tune after the story, which you can hear on YouTube [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZjW8Y-N1Mg). The music kicks in as soon as you open that second link, so you might not want to do so at work. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/7 "2012-05-08T12:34:18Z")
Hey, I once owned that issue! Can that poem be set to Beatles music? Can’t check video now. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/8 "2012-05-08T13:29:25Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Can that poem be set to Beatles music? I didn’t write it with that in mind, but if you can find a Beatles tunes that fits, then go nuts! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/9 "2012-05-08T14:53:12Z")
My God, those old comic stories were so dumb. And look at that cover- the kids are so into Jimmy’s drum playing that they don’t notice a brightly colored man FLOATING IN THE AIR RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/10 "2012-05-08T15:46:30Z")
I think “dumb” is a little unkind. I’d prefer to call them charmingly silly comics, written for an audience of children and young teens at a time when people of that age were perhaps a little more innocent than they are today. Even now, I’d rather read _Jimmy Olsen_ circa 1964 than one of the cynical over-produced torture porn outings that passes for a superhero comic these days. Are we really all so dour that even a kids’ comic isn’t allowed to be entertainingly daft just for the sheer fun of it? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/11 "2012-05-08T16:09:25Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > I think “dumb” is a little unkind. > > I’d prefer to call them charmingly silly comics, written for an audience of children and young teens at a time when people of that age were perhaps a little more innocent than they are today. > > Even now, I’d rather read _Jimmy Olsen_ circa 1964 than one of the cynical over-produced torture porn outings that passes for a superhero comic these days. Are we really all so dour that even a kids’ comic isn’t allowed to be entertainingly daft just for the sheer fun of it? Maybe “dumb”\* is\* a bit harsh. I grew up reading every comic book I could get my mitts on, so I know the zaniness of the plotlines. I read somewhere that the editor at the time actually consulted a group of kids for story ideas, like making Jimmy a robot for example. I loved the old stories. And I, too, would rather read an old comic than that new airbrushed looking stuff. Yecch. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/12 "2012-05-08T16:15:44Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > I didn’t write it with that in mind, but if you can find a Beatles tunes that fits, then go nuts! Hmm… It kinda works to George’s “Something.” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/13 "2012-05-08T16:16:44Z")
That is some genuinely clever word-smithing there, Slade. Kudos! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-nspired-by-a-jimmy-olsen-caption/620650/14 "2012-05-09T06:31:37Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Hmm… It kinda works to George’s “Something.” “Across the Universe” almost fits. It’ll need a refrain, though, for the “Hai guru deva om / Nothing’s going to change my world” part. Maybe “Zeee–Zeee–Zeee–Jeepers! Kirby says, ‘Don’t ask! Just buy it!’”