Superman’s Perry White to Get His Own DC Comic

DC is about to spotlight one of Superman’s longest-running supporting characters, and it is enlisting a surprising creative team to get the job done. On Monday, DC announced Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen‘s Boss Perry White #1, an upcoming one-shot that will highlight the disgruntled and lovable editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet. The one-shot, which will be released in June, will be headlined by a new story from writer Matt Fraction, artist Steve Lieber, colorist Nathan Fairbairn, and letterer Clayton Cowles, who all previously worked on the Eisner-winning series Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.

The 48-page one-shot sets out to showcase Perry’s storied career in the DC universe, beginning with a 7-page story from the Jimmy Olsen team. Additionally, the issue will include reprinted stories from across Perry’s tenure, by Elliot S. Maggin and Curt Swan, Neil Kleid and Dean Haspiel, and Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis.

Created by George Putnam Ludlam for the radio series The Adventures of Superman, Perry is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, whose life crosses paths with Jimmy’s, Lois Lane’s, and Clark Kent’s countless times.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen won several awards and charmed the hearts of many when it first began publishing in 2019, bringing a surreal and hilarious take on the world of Superman.

“Everything that works about the book is Steve,” Fraction said in a previous interview with SYFYWire. “Steve is so fantastic. I came into it as a fan and as a friend. I had worked with him a little bit before, but not a lot, not enough to really get a feeling for who Steve was and how he worked. So, I think over the course of the book I just got better… I hope I got better at writing for him, and was able to write more and more and more into his strengths. And I think kind of the big pie fight issue scaled up, both as a response to quarantine, but also knowing who Steve was and how he works, and just kind of, ‘Oh, I can write the end of Blazing Saddles and Steve will absolutely draw the end of Blazing Saddles.’ So, emotionally, I needed to go full Blazing Saddles in response to the horrors of COVID, and I just creatively knew that Steve could handle it. Like I said, all of the stuff was heading in that direction, but the scope of it, the scale of it, the idea that it’s not just Jimmy and the gang versus the, you know, rogue space bachelor, but we’re going to bring all of the background characters back. Literally they’re throwing pies and slipping on banana peels. That happened because Steve could make it work as perfectly, as beautifully as he did. So, [the book] would have been similar without him, but it would have been far more mediocre without him. It would not exist in its form. It would not work without him.”

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen’s Boss Perry White #1 will be released wherever comics are sold on June 21st, and will retail for $4.99.