- So cards on the table, I uploaded this video a couple of days ago with a sponsorship from a
company that I rapidly learned, thanks to all of you, has been accused of creating an environment of
sexual harassment and abuse. I didn't know that at the time when I accepted the sponsorship
but that's no excuse. I should have looked into
the company more than I did. It was wildly irresponsible of me not to and I'm sorry for any harm that it caused. I took that original video down and ended the partnership with that brand. But I did put a lot of time
and energy into this video and I do want to show it to you all, 'cause I think it is a good video. So I'm uploading it again
right now, sponsor free. And the reason I bring
all this up is because I do genuinely want to
thank you for your feedback and for holding me accountable. And to also note, that this video and this video's
thumbnail are now dripping with about seven layers
of unintended irony. Yikes. Like I said, I think it's a good video and I hope that you enjoy it,
but there's just no denying that there are going to be parts of this that might be a little
awkward in hindsight but I probably can't
delay this video forever. So once again, thank you and let's get to it. So I spend a lot of time
working on the thumbnails for my YouTube videos. Sometimes, I spend entire
days of work trying to get the colors just right and
make sure the images I use are attention grabbing and overall just trying out different ideas until I
think it's good enough, I guess. And if looking at my YouTube
analytics has taught me anything, it's that I'm an ugly crier (sobs loudly) and that a lot of you who watch my videos are already subscribed which is great. Thank you for doing that. But it also means that I'm
not reaching many new people. At least not as many as I could be. And the way to reach new viewers is by making eye-catching thumbnails. They're the very first
thing that people see before they decide to click on a video and clearly, I need help designing some. You know, something that
can really pull people in. And I think I know where to look. (lively music) Ah, I love comic books,
but there's no denying that they are weird sometimes. Especially superhero comics where physics is constantly breaking and the Multiverse is unraveling. And there's also this big, evil starfish. Which honestly feels
incredibly derivative, SpongeBob did it first, 40 years later. - I got your nose SpongeBob. - Honestly though, I love the
wacky world of superheroes. The setting is malleable enough that writers can craft
even the goofiest worlds into a serious setting, to tell nuanced stories of ethics, politics, and culture. But then, there are Silver Age comics, Ah, yes, The Silver Age. Fitting somewhere between
the late 50s and early 70s, this was the era of superhero comics that really just tried
to one up themselves with how increasingly
bonkers each issue could be. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of really
good stuff in this era, I'm not trying to discount any of it, but it is worth noting that they can be pretty wild sometimes. Publishers wanted to sell
as many copies as they could and the best way to do that was, well, by making a really good story, obviously. But that is hard. I don't know how to do that. It's too much work. The easier way to sell comics
was by drawing up covers that were so outlandish
and so completely baffling that people needed to buy them just to figure out what was going on. By far the quintessential
Silver Age comic, and my personal favorite, is
Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen. I mean, there's just no comparison. Every issue, Jimmy Olsen, a photographer for the Daily Planet and
personal friend of Superman, finds himself in another
impossibly bizarre scenario that just feels like a
parody of what people who don't like comics think comics are. For example, I have absolutely no idea what's happening on this cover. Superman is holding up the wet
clothes of Clark Kent saying, "Confess that you killed him." And Jimmy apparently is guilty
of killing Clark Kent and is like, "Now I have to kill
Superman with a gamma bomb." Why does he have that? In this one, Jimmy gets real stretchy and then his head gets stuck
in the Phantom Zone somehow. Jimmy Olsen, the human porcupine, it says. Apparently it's because he's
the victim of a magic spell that even Superman can't undo. What did you get up to, Jimmy? And then in this one, Jimmy switches minds with an ape somehow. And I don't even think that's
the first time that happened. In this one, it seems pretty ordinary because Jimmy Olsen is just
giving Superman a haircut. But if you look at the comic
that Superman is reading, it's this comic, he's reading this comic and on that cover, he's
also reading this comic. So it just keeps, it's infinite Jimmies. It's infinite Jimmies. You get the point. These are the only comic books
that I collect physically because they just haven't
made better comics since these came out. Every story is beautiful nonsense. And I love them all. And maybe I need to take a page from these Silver Age comics, ;cause the pages they're
falling off already, so. That is a good question though. If I study these comic
books from the 1960s, could I learn how to make and market an eye-catching
YouTube thumbnail in 2021? Well, I mean, if you're watching this, then I guess it worked. So, let's see how I got here. (upbeat music) Well, gang, weather's getting hotter and it is Pride month, so
this bi-boy is going back to unbuttoning his shirt's a little too far for your comfort level. You're welcome. How are you doing your wonderful nerds? Scott here and there's a very silly and kind of hilarious reason why some comic books from the 60s
have this particular aesthetic of being just off the wall bonkers. The Silver Age was an era
where comics publishers, especially DC comics,
would work outside-in. Editors would pitch an
idea for a wacky cover and then leave it for the
artists and writer to figure out what the story inside of the
comic was supposed to be. You know, just kind of
like, here's a weird idea, make it make sense. That is why the stories in
the pages of these comics are so incomprehensible and honestly, a bit of a let down sometimes. The covers were creatively banas. They made the reader
ask a lot of questions and those questions are exciting. Finding out the answers to those questions when you realize that the answers weren't
planned from the start, makes the whole experience
end on a disappointing note. These truly are the JJ
Abrams of comic books. The covers are the true
glory of these comics. They were made to get attention and didn't care what the
story was inside of the comic, beyond that point. They were effectively clickbait. But they were delightfully
whimsical clickbait. And I want to replicate that for views. As I said, almost dropped it. I collect Jimmies. I know that the box that I
keep them in says Ant-Man but if you look right there, you can see that I've expertly taped over the box to read J. Olsen
so that no one is confused. Oh yeah, that's the other thing is that I don't really refer to these
as like Jimmy Olsen comics, or issues of Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen. I just kind of refer to them as Jimmies, as in this is a box of Jimmies. And you're just going to
have to get behind that or you're going to have a really
rough time with this video. (punch smacking) Okay, let's go ahead
and open up Photoshop. And first things first, I think I need a good
color palette to work with. Now as you've seen, these comics use very
loud contrasty colors. Because of Superman's presence, there's obviously a lot of red and blue, but Jimmy himself tends to
wear these sort of green and purply-magenta hues,
which is interesting because as we've established
in many previous videos, those are colors that
are typically reserved for villains, not heroes. And you know what? That actually does make
a lot of sense for Jimmy. Even though he is Superman's pal, he's often the unintentional
cause of disaster and harm that Superman has to
swoop in and set right. Almost as if Jimmy Olsen's mere existence is an antagonizing force
upon everything he touches. Now, I don't have clothes that vibrant and every party and Halloween store that I went to is out of Joker costumes, I'm sure that's not concerning, but I do have this sort of
periwinkle flowery shirt and this olive jacket. Although in this lighting, you can't really tell
what colors they are. I just really wanted to go for the bisexual lighting aesthetic. Either way, I'll just tweak these colors in post to make them even
more lively and gaudy. Now the primary background color for these comics ranges pretty
much the entire rainbow. But I found that my collection usually deals in these warm
yellowy tones or pure white, which just kind of looks yellow these days because the comics are very old and the paper they
printed them on was bad. Think I'm going to go the yellow route, seems to work pretty good for
my buddy Captain Midnight. So, with the background color sorted, let's tackle the foreground. I've spent the last week or
so studying these comics. And while I only have around
30 to 40 feral Jimmies, and they're mostly
before Jack Kirby came in and got his stink all over 'em, I think I can confidently sort
the themes of these covers into three categories. Category one, weakness and vulnerability. Now this mostly comes into play
with Jimmy uncovering a lot of different types of kryptonite and exposing Superman to it either
accidentally or purposefully. So like in this cover, for example, Jimmy pulls back a curtain that has silver kryptonite behind it. And I guess not even Superman
knows cause he's like, "You've exposed me to silver kryptonite. "How is that different from green, red, gold, blue or white?" There's a lot of kryptonite, man. And Jimmy, very menacing, is like, "Haha, silver kryptonite
will affect you in a way "you'll never forget! "Prepare for the surprise
of your life, Superman." And again, since whoever
came up with this idea did not care about what was inside, it's a surprise to them as well,
whatever silver kryptonite, it's a surprise to all of us. Here's a comic where Superman
is just like dead on the moon. The Riddle of Kryptonite Plus, which I only assume is
a streaming service. And I love that the astronauts
are just not at all bothered with the corpse of Superman. They're just like busy scooping up rocks. Like, oh man, Superman's dead, that sucks. Cool-looking rocks though. But Superman is not the
only one with a weakness. Sure, his kryptonite is kryptonite, but Jimmy's is just about any woman. So here's one, I guess, where
Jimmy Olsen is being seduced by some sort of alien woman. Who's like trying to get
him to come to her planet and he's like, yeah, cool. Yeah, let's do it, I have no questions. This theme of vulnerability
also extends to guest stars. For example, one of my
favorite covers of all time. We've got Jimmy Olsen and
Aquaman dying of thirst in a desert as Superman holds
a pitcher of water above them. Survival of the fittest between Aquaman, king of the ocean, and actual superhero. And then Jimmy Olsen. He's just some guy. Yeah, I don't know if he's
going to win this one, it's a toss up. But I think this category
is an important takeaway. Superheroes are powerful figures. Superman might be the most recognizable and most super of all of them. So consistently showing
the man of steel weakened on the front covers of these Jimmies, does get your attention. But the fact that they
do the same maneuver for Jimmy as well, shows that you don't even
have to be the biggest, most popular person on the
block for people to care. In fact, showing a little vulnerability might get people to care. I have noticed that the videos where I show a lot of openness
about my struggles are ones that really resonate with people. In fact, I've found
myself thinking recently, that the goal of my
channel is to examine media through curiosity and vulnerability. And I'm glad I can be sincere and honest like that with you all. I don't intend to ever stop
making videos like that. But this is not one of those videos. I'm just trying to make clickbait here. So I'm thinking I might
just throw a pic of myself in here looking all sad,
or anxious, or something. We're going to make those
clothes pop a bit more with some green and some magenta. And you know what? Maybe we're going to
add a little tear emoji just to make sure that people know that I'm very seriously sad here. And hey, we're off to a good start. Kind of looks like a
YouTube apology thumbnail. I feel like honing into
that style of content is a sure way to get tons of views. And then, I'll go viral
and make lots of money. Yeah, so this joke doesn't
look great in hindsight, huh? Let's move on. Category two, money. There's a lot of these issues that feature money on the cover. Sometimes, Jimmy really loves money. For example, in this one, he sells out Superman's
secret identity for money. In this issue, he's fishing
money out of the ocean for some reason. But it's not like Jimmy
consistently loves money either because there's this issue where he's joined some sort of protest where one of the signs is we hate money. I thought you were my pal, Jimmy, why have you joined this
hippie gang against me? It's an actual line somebody wrote. Sometimes Jimmy is pretty
indifferent to money. Just kind of has a lot of it. Not sure what to do with it. For example, this comic where
they refer to Jimmy Olsen as the Midas of Metropolis,
which is very funny because a couple issues earlier, he literally did have a golden touch and they didn't call him the
Midas of Metropolis here. You know, money makes sense though. YouTube keeps recommending me this channel that I've never watched
a single video from called Mr. Beast. Yeah, so I don't really
intend to ever watch one of these videos but based
on the thumbnails alone, everything seems to be about buying things or like challenges that
reward a lot of money. This one here actually is
about giving people $1 million but only a minute to spend
it, which is very similar to an issue of Jimmy Olsen. Tens of millions of views on
these videos too, good Lord. So I think the takeaway here is I'm going to go ahead and
Photoshop some money in here. Maybe throw in a couple
dollar signs here and there. And in case that wasn't clear enough, how about a little word balloon
that says, I love money. Just so we're all on the same page Oh, (beep) me. Category three, Jimmy's obsession with Superman's secret identity. Here's one where Jimmy is just ripping off Clark Kent's clothes in public to prove that he's Superman. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be if he was wrong? I love this one. So, Jimmy has a cardboard
cutout of Superman and then he has a second cardboard cutout of just a regular business suit. And he's like putting it over
the first cardboard cutout to be like, look, if you dress
Superman up like Clark Kent, they look like Clark Kent. But here's the real twist, he's not just doing it in public, he's doing it in front of the mob. Why is Jimmy helping out the mob? I don't know, I'm going to read it. I'm not going to read it. Here's one where Superman is like changing in a telephone booth like
back into Clark Kent, but Clark Kent doesn't come
out, it's Jimmy Olsen comes out and another Jimmy Olsen
is like watching this and he's like, whoa, is
Superman's secret identity is me? Trust no one, not even yourself. This one is one of my
favorites just because of how bizarre it is. So Jimmy Olsen has uncovered
the secret identity of Superman obviously. And he's trying to tell people about it but Superman's defense to
keep his identity a secret is by claiming that Jimmy
Olsen is clinically insane and he puts him in a straight jacket and takes him to an asylum. That is horrible. That is one of the worst
things that Superman could do. Wow. I probably can't translate this category in a perfect one for one, it's a little too specific to Superman. Plus everyone already knows that Superman and Clark Kent are two different people. And it's weird that Jimmy
keeps insisting otherwise. But I think what I can take
away from this category is that these covers tap
into this juicy drama of exposing something secret
about a public figure. Superman wants to keep
his identity private. So, when we see Jimmy try to unravel it time and time again, or see the lengths that
Superman would go to try and keep it covered up. There's inherent drama and tension, but it's drama that raises questions. Jimmy is supposed to be Superman's pal. Why do they keep constantly
attacking each other over this secret? Alternatively, why doesn't
Jimmy just leave it alone, and accept that Clark Kent and Superman are two different people? Because it's immediately
captivating to see the secrets of well-known figures publicly called out. Drama channels exist on YouTube
for a reason unfortunately, but it does mean that
all I really have to do is add the word exposed
at the bottom of this, and look, we already got
this category covered. I think I've accidentally made
a Philip DeFranco thumbnail. Like even just like the
arm thing, you know, does he still do that arm thing? I haven't seen Philip DeFranco in years. Does he still do that? Where he just kind of goes
like (exhales softly). He like looks at the
camera with his arm here and he just goes (exhales softly). It's all in the eyebrows
like that (exhales loudly). (laughs loudly) What am I doing? Okay, moving on. So those are the three
categories, but we're not done yet because there is a secret fourth category that runs under all of
the other categories, like a sewer full of the most baffling bonkers ideas that other comics would be
too cowardly to embrace. Secret fourth category, the
most baffling, bonkers ideas that any other comic would
be too cowardly to embrace. Now I described these comics
as beautiful nonsense earlier, and that's just about the best descriptor. Here's a taste of what I'm talking about. So once again, we've got porcupine Jimmy, we got Jimmy swapping minds with an ape, we got Jimmy giving Superman a haircut and reading about it at the same time. Here's a written and printed comic book that promises to show
off a new song and dance, two things that it would
seem like it would be very hard to do in this medium. It's called the Krypton Crawl
and it claims to be bouncier than the Beatles and more
electrifying than Elvis. Which is why we all still talk about this. And we don't talk about whoever those other musicians are today. And this is just a comic that
I really don't understand. So to preface this, there is a celebrity named Don Rickles, I only know who they are because they voiced Mr. Potato
Head in the Toy Story movies. - You uncultured swine! - But this cover is like, hey, what if there were two Don Rickles? (laughs softly) Are you ready for this, two Rickles? This looks to be just like
a caricature of Don Rickles. And it's signed, to my
dear friend Attila the Hun. One of the weirder ones, for sure. Thanks Jack. Anyway, this category
is the secret sauce that gives Jimmies their own brand
of confounding amusement. Take a look at the kind of stuff that Marvel was publishing
at the tail end of 1969. X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man. Classic superhero fodder,
heck, it was the same year they introduced Falcon into
Captain America comics. But more importantly, it
was the year they introduced the second character named
Whizzer in Avengers, number 69. And I'll remind you that
it was also the year '69 when it happened. Everything about that fact
that you just learned is nice. I'd argue that's the most
notable thing to happen in 1969. And it was also the same year
that we landed on the moon which I only remember because of that musical episode of Even Stevens. ♪ We went to the moon in 1969. ♪ ♪ That's when they made a
landing that was lunar. ♪ - And if it sounds like
I'm getting off track and just talking nonsensically, I'm just trying to channel
my inner Jimmy Olsen. Because this is the kind of stuff that Jimmy was up to that same year. And I warn you, what you're about to see might be the weirdest comic
cover you have ever seen. "Jimmy, what kind of pal are you? "How can you laugh at
this heartbreaking movie? "Don't ask questions, just
keep bawling Superman. "Every teardrop is precious to me." Man, of course, Superman still
looks hot when he's crying. That's not fair. Just to be clear, this
comic to me is so wild that I broke the one rule that I have for acquiring Jimmies just to get this. Normally, I only buy these comic books when I see them out in the wild at a comic shop or at a convention. Obviously, I've not been
able to go to one of those in a while, but I had to
get this one in person because I didn't think you'd
believe me that it exists. So this is the one Jimmy I have ever, and will ever, acquire through ebay.com. So, my thumbnail right now, it's good. - But it can be better. - It needs something
completely off the wall, next level bonkers. Just to round it out. And when in doubt, go to
the old comic book classic, an evil starfish. And we're just going to
crank up the saturation a bit to match these vibrant
1960s comic book vibes. And you know what, I'd say we
have a completed thumbnail. I think that's looking pretty good. A perfect translation of these 60 year old Jimmy Olsen comics into modern YouTube clickbait. And I think that's
really what's interesting about this to me the most. The content that people
consume over the decades has definitely changed. But the way that people
try to grab attention using emotional gut reactions
to drama and curiosity, through a vibrant,
contrasting color palette, it's more or less the same
all these decades later. I may have amped up the
weirdness a little bit too far in this particular thumbnail, but I mean, hey, you clicked on it. (cash register ringing) So now, all I have to do is make the video part of the video that you clicked on. Ah, I did not think this far ahead. Aw man, I did a JJ Abrams, didn't I? Thank you so much for watching
whatever this video was. I'm going to be constantly
checking the analytics on this video to see how
this thumbnail is performing. If it really is getting
me more clicks than usual Maybe this is my most viewed
video now, I don't know. If you're invested in the
journey to see what happens and you want updates on these analytics, I'm going to be doing
a live stream next week right here on this channel discussing this video and
everything that I know of behind the scenes once it's published. So, make sure that you are
subscribed to the channel and hit that bell so you get notifications so you don't miss anything. And you can tune in for the followup data. And you know, a thumbnail
is just half of the equation to get people to click. The other half of course is the title. Now, I work shopped this video's title in the NerdSync Discord server
which you can get access to if you support me on Patreon. I also upload my new videos
a week early on Patreon, so you can see them before anybody else. And of course, there's this
big wall of scrolling names that you can get your
name added to just like, Amanda Trisdale, Christoffer
Lange, Donna Barck, Edwin Latorre, Eric Totora Pato, Everett Parrott, Havelock Smiggles, Jonathan and Megan
Pierson, Jonathan Lonowski, and the rest of the wonderful
nerds who support me over at patreon.com/NerdSync. Link in the description. If you want to watch me
talk more about Superman, here's a video I did all
about how his black costume in the Justice League film
doesn't make much sense. Or click or tap right here, to see something YouTube's
algorithm recommends. Until next time, my name is Scott, reminding you to read between the panels and grow smarter through comics. See ya. Hopefully I was in focus, I couldn't tell.
