I love timelines, particularly when they’re about something I already know. Reading them is an exercise in recognition, in remembering, in reliving. But every once in a while, there’s that odd factoid that seems to have slipped through from an alternate universe, that causes me to go—”Huh? I don’t remember that!”

So it was with the page below, plucked from Jimmy Olsen #100, and originally published in March 1967. As I read it, I thought—

Return of Krypto? Check! Remember that.

Jimmy teams with Superman to become Nightwing and Flamebird? Check! Remember that, too.

Jimmy turned into a werewolf, and only brought back to normal thanks to the intervention of—Mr. Mxyzptlk’s girlfriend, Miss Gzptlsnz?

Who? What?

I could remember the werewolf story, or so I thought, but … Miss Gzptlsnz?

I have no memories of Miss Gzptlsnz. None.

Which shows, I guess, that I haven’t been watching Superman: The Animated Series, because Wikipedia tells me that she makes regular appearances there, though her name has transformed to Ms. Gsptlsnz. I’m glad to see she’s turned from a Miss to a Ms., but as to why she’s turned from Gzptlsnz to Gsptlsnz, who knows?

Anyway, I’m horrified to discover that there’s a bit of trivia from the earliest days of my comic-book reading that’s vanished from my brain.

How sad to realize that I, too, am human.

Damn you, Miss Gzptlsnz!

By the way, I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about Jimmy lately. If you’d like to know what my wife, Impish Irene Vartanoff, had to say about him after our excavation of back issues, check out her blog here and here.