Groovy Chick Month 4: Julie Jively

Today, let's talk about one of Lois Lane's former roommates. Do I mean marvelous Marsha Mallow, one of our Absorbafaves?


Do I mean Kristen Cutler, piranha-loving, knife-wielding lunatic?


NO! The chick I mean is EVEN GROOVIER.

Once upon a time (Lois Lane 120), Lois Lane's sister got involved with the sinister crime cartel called the 100, then was (apparently) killed in South America. This led to exactly what you'd expect: Lois tied to a giant bull's-eye while a pack of Frito Banditos aim their darts at her nether regions. I just hate it when that happens!

Sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, a dart is just a dart.
This is not one of those times.

Anyway, the whole adventure wrecks Lois's composure and she goes missing for a month and winds up wandering the streets of what in Metropolis passes as the bad part of town (meaning that the sidewalk ice cream vendors there don't carry sprinkles).

Lois is (of course) mugged and who comes her aid? No, not Superman!

JULIE JIVELY!

Okay, I don't really know what her last name was; it's never mentioned (please, readers, correct me if it was every clarified in some later story, because I'd love to know what her last name really is).

Marsha and Kristen got last names when they exercised their power of introposition. But when Julie met Lois, she was too busy kicking tail to introposition herself.

But if the fat roommate is Marsha Mallow and the knife-wielding roommate is Kristen Cutler, it's pretty clear that this story, despite Bronze Age political sensibilities, still has Silver Age naming conventions. Thus, the sassy black roommate must be named Julie Jively.

In fact, I bet at the apartment they even stand around in alphabetical order: Julie Jively, Kristen Cutler, Lois Lane, and Marsha Mallow. Thank Schwartz the apartment wasn't any bigger or we'd be dealing with a French stewardess named No-No Nanette.

Not only does Julie Jively wear matching purple belt, hot pants, and hip boots (all leather, I assume) while kicking tail, but she also sasses you while doing it.



Oh, but remember, folks (and Batwoman), there's a price to pay for fighting crime in heels:

Fabulous high-kick, though. She could be one of the Metropolis Rockettes!


Don't worry, kids! Seeing Julie Jively in danger, Lois Lane comes to her senses and beats the muggers senseless with some garbage can lids. Welcome back, Lo-Lo! A standard Lois versus Evil Landlord Scheme follows, but the important part is this:


Yep. All those famously hip outfits Lois wore in the 1970s? The boots, the bangles, the beads? The minis, the micros, the midriffs? The headbands, the hot pants, the hip-huggers?

They belonged to JULIE JIVELY.


Julie Jiveley was a no-nonsense chick who talked turkey.

Butterball turkey, in fact.
P.S. Ladies, please get back in alphabetical order!

Julie Jively calls a woman she met that day and is planning on living with "Butterball", and starts controlling her life almost immediately. In comic books, this sort of behavior is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. In our world, it's the beginning of Stockholm Syndrome.

She's hip, she's sassy, she's a major busybody; how could she get any better? Why, she's well-educated and sultry, too!

It's the middle of the night, and you've awakened just in time to disarm your knife-wielding psycho of a roommate before she ventilates the orange Naugahyde sofa. Do you have the presence of mind to make a sassy Shakespearean reference? Julie Jively does.

Damn it, ladies, you're standing out of order again!

Not only is witty Julie Jively a Friend of the Bard, she's sultry. How do we know this? Just look, for pity's sake:

• Lois Lane is wearing a frilly "What color is my underwear?/Oh, save me, Superman!" nightie with matching slippers.
• Marsha Mallow is sporting classic "Ethel Mertz: Prisoner of Cellblock H" sleepwear.
• Julie Jively? Going barefoot in her "Leave the money on the table" red negligee. Besides, an editorial caption actually calls her "sultry Julie", just so there's no doubt.

Convinced yet? I've got one more try to help you understand the grooviness that is Julie Jively.

The scene is a crowded Metropolis lecture hall. Metropolitans, remember, get attacked by Brainiac or giant gorillas every other week, so they can get a little edgy. Earlier that day, an escalator had malfunctioned, so the crowd's pretty tense already. Suddenly, the lights in the auditorium go out. What does any sensible resident of Metropolis do?

ASSUME IT'S A BOMB AND PANIC!

Keeping her cool (something a girl has to know how to do these days), Julie Jively immediately leaps onto the stage and leads her roommates in

AN AUDIENCE-ENTRANCING HIGH-STEPPING KICKLINE!

Ah, I knew those high kicks of hers would come in handy some day! But the ladies are STILL out of order; what the heck is this, JLA #7?