Jimmy Olsen's SuperCyclopedia

by Gabe Soria, Sandy Jarrell (Artist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer)

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, sometimes feels like he’s overshadowed by his extremely strong, flying, day-saving, super-heroic friend. Jimmy’s only a kid, after all, and taking pictures and documenting the heroics of the Justice League is great, but is it really as cool as being one of the heroes?

Well, now that he's been entrusted with the incredible Supercyclopedia (it’s a whole thing, you’ll see it in a little bit), Jimmy hopes to be more of an action hero himself…as soon as he figures out all the cool things that he can do with its powerful alien technology. But when the villainous Toy Boy and his Mischief League of the Multiverse get their hands on knock-off versions of the device, they won’t stop until they use them to devastate the fabric of space-time itself.

Can Jimmy save the day? With his buddies Rip Hunter and Linda Park by his side, he’s definitely up for the challenge. They embark on a planet- and dimension-hopping adventure, encountering a who’s who of the DC Universe and discovering that not all heroes wear capes. Look out, world!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starring teen versions of Jimmy Olsen, Linda Park, and Rip Hunter, this is basically a love letter to pre-Crisis DC. Kind of surprising for a middle grade graphic novel, when you think about it. The target audience won't have a clue who a lot of these characters are. Some of them have been out of commission since before they were born. Fortunately, the story is structured so that I don't actually think that matters very much. The plethora of deep dive characters are largely supports for Jimmy's own heroic journey. Readers are going to care about Jimmy, and maybe be fascinated by characters like Angel and the Ape, Metron, or Saturn Girl. And the story is fun. There's plenty of action, but the real heroics always come in with Jimmy using his own knowledge base to solve the puzzle of how to deal with the villain he's currently facing. It's also nice that Superman is totally absent for most of the book, which lets Jimmy stand on his own two feet.

[Steven desJardins · Rating 2 out of 5]

The specifics of how the Supercyclopedia (and its evil counterpart, the Sinistercyclopedia) work are silly and unexciting; it's said to require skill and supervision by its owner to be effective, but to the reader that's just hype trying to make the gimmick seem less dull than it is. The characterization of Jimmy is okay, but the people around him are mostly cheerleaders for how great he is apart from his association with Superman. The whole thing doesn't really work.

[bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a DC preview and I was enamoured. This is so much fun, not sure how well it reads as a young adult novel but for me I enjoyed it immensely. Also weirdly made me want to commit to new 52 animal man, which scares me

[Ty Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An fun and delightful love letter to the DC Universe.

[Anna Frohling · Rating 4 out of 5]

is this Zatch Bell

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't mind seeing another one of these. Sandy's art is always on point and the story is fun.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick fun read. The chapters feel a little repetitive at times, and art can sometimes look static. But overall a fun story that spans a lot of the DC universe.