"Old Man" Jameson

Real Name: Walter Jameson

Identity/Class: Human; World War II, Post-World War II, and Pre-Modern eras

Occupation: Former editor and journalist

Group Membership: Daily Bugle staff

Affiliations: "Scoop" Daly, Doris and Phil Sheldon, C. Thomas Sites, William Goodman

Enemies: Human Torch (Jim Hammond)

Known Relatives: None confirmed, though many have presumed him to have been Jonah Jameson's father

Aliases: J.J.

Base of Operations: Daily Bugle, Manhattan, New York City

First Appearance: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110 (May, 1973);
    (identified as different than Jonah) Marvel Super-Heroes (U.K.) #394 (February, 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Jameson had no superhuman powers, but was an experienced journalist and newspaper editor. He was fiercely loyal to the USA.

History:
(Marvels#1) <1939> - Jameson spoke with Phil Sheldon, discussing their career plans for during the upcoming war. Jameson stated that he had no intention of leaving New York and going over to Europe where people were dying by the carload. Jameson told him that when he ran the Bugle, Sheldon could head the Foreign Bureau.

(Marvels#1) - Jameson spoke with Sheldon, denouncing the Human Torch and other heroes as freaks who make average Joes look like pikers. He was unaware that Jim Hammond, the Human Torch, was sitting two seats down from him until the annoyed Torch flamed on and flew through the coffee shop's window.

(Marvels#1) - Jameson and Sheldon continued to meet and discuss their lives, with Jameson telling Sheldon he was an idiot when he lost his fiancé, Doris, without a fight.

(Marvels#1) - Jameson and Sheldon covered a battle between Namor the Sub-Mariner and the android Human Torch. Jameson stayed inside a building and took photos, while Sheldon went on top of the building to get a better view. Sheldon lost his left eye from a piece of masonry sent flying at him during the fight. Jameson later joined Doris--who had since gotten back together with Phil--in visiting Sheldon in the hospital, where Phil re-proposed to Doris.

(Marvels#1) - Jameson attended the wedding of Phil and Doris Sheldon.

(Marvel Super-Heroes (U.K.) #394) - Back in the 1940's, "Old Man" Jameson ran the Daily Bugle, where he earned a reputation as a tightwad, as he didn't pay well, and he never paid on time.

(Captain America I#255 (fb)) - Jameson nearly caught a picture of Captain America's face when his early skull-cap type helmet is knocked aside in battle with some Fifth Columnists.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110 (fb) - BTS) - Jameson employed C. Thomas Sites, an anti-war columnist. Jameson was disgusted by Sites views, but kept him on staff because he was one of his best reporters.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110) - Jameson was baffled when Sites decided to go the war front, but he was happy to be rid of Sites and his bleeding heart views for awhile.

(Captain America I#155 (fb) - BTS) -  An issue of the Daily Bugle featured a story on the apparent deaths of Captain America and Bucky, which would have been done while Old Man Jameson was in charge.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2005 / Marvel Super-Heroes (U.K.) #394 - BTS) - Old Man Jameson was the former editor of the Daily Bugle. When Jonah Jameson became the publisher years later, some presumed the elder Jameson to have been his father.

Comments: "Created" by Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers and Vince Colletta.
    Defined by Alan Moore.

LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE MORE WARTIME JAMESON APPEARANCES TO ADD TO THIS PROFILE.

    As written in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110, the character running the Bugle was certainly intended to be J. Jonah Jameson, the antagonist of Spider-Man. It is certainly feasible that Jonah--who is stuck around 60 years old in the Marvel Universe--could have been the Bugle's editor 30 years ago. In 1973, 30 years ago was during World War II, and so he could have been the editor back then. However, now well over 30 years later, I can't see Jameson having been editor of the Bugle over 60 years ago! Is Jameson in his 90's and getting older each year? No way.
    Just like when they had to finally admit that Reed Richards and Ben Grimm were not in World War II prior to because of the sliding time scale (and now it's been slid back to having been Reed's grandfather, Jonathan Richards), they have to give up on Jameson having been there, too, even though he's certainly older than Reed and/or Ben.
    The first indication of this came in Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #394. In a story presumably set in real time in 1983, Sadie referenced the Daily Bugle of the early 1940's:

    "The Bugle never used to pay a hell of a lot back in those days. Not when old Jameson was running the show.
    What? No, not the Jameson who's editing the Bugle now. I'm talking about his father. He used to be a real tightwad. We never once got a check out of him on time."

    Ok, while it's possible that Jonah Jameson's father ran the Bugle before him, most stories of Jonah's father do not show him being a journalist. The easiest assumption to include all stories and throw nothing out is to state that "Old Man" Jameson was not Jonah's father, but that many people assumed them him to be because of the same last name, somewhat similar appearance, and the chronological placement of their careers in the same company. Sadie doesn't seem to have ever met Jonah.
    This is confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2005 entry on Jonah Jameson. "Old Man" Jameson is referenced as the former editor of the paper and not included under known relatives. Is their any relationship? I don't know, and neither does anyone else, so it's not a KNOWN relationship.
    Not once in Sgt. Fury is the editor named Jonah, as far as I saw. He is "Jameson" or "J.J." It's not even clear that his first name starts with a J.", as the nickname "J.J." could mean a variety of things. Also, I just went through Marvels#1, and I don't think they named him as Jameson once in the issue, nor did they call him Jonah, or J.J.

    More recently, in Young Avengers#1, JJJ reveals that he, as a young boy, idolized Bucky during WWII, as did every other kid, until Bucky died. This further indicates he couldn't have been an adult reporter or the editor of the Bugle at that time.
--Madison Carter

    Jonah Jameson is also shown as a young kid with posters of Golden Age heroes all over his walls in Marvel Holiday Special 2004.
--Per Degaton
    While this doesn't lock him into being a kid in the 1940's-1950's (as he might have just been retro, plus there weren't so many heroes after the 1940's, and even less after the 1950's), it does mean that he couldn't have been an adult in the 1930's or 1940's, which confirm those other appearances as Old Man Jameson..

    So, any time a story references Jonah or Jameson as having been active in World War II, just remember that this is actually "Old Man" Jameson. Certainly Jonah could have admired the old man and modeled himself after him, including the flat-top, gruff attitude, and the dislike of super-heroes.

    Eventually, the sliding time scale may even cause a problem with this, but it will buy us a few more decades, at least.

    Also, there is a Freddy in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110, who might have been intended to be the young Frederick Foswell (Big Man), but that would have to be his father or someone else entirely, for the same reasons listed above.

    I'm not sure how all of the chronology will pan out, but it would seem that William Goodman was the owner of the Bugle when Old Man Jameson was a journalist and later the editor.

Further info that might once have been "true," but has slid away along with the timescale:

Incidentally, the night editor of the Bugle in 1931 was a guy named Phil Day, apparently.
Also, Scoop Daly says "Great Caesar's ghost!". Maybe it's a newspaperman thing.
--LV
 

His first name, Walter, was revealed in the Spider-Man: Back in Black handbook. It adds that he's often mistaken to have been J. Jonah Jameson's father.
--G Morrow

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
"Old Man" Jameson should be distinguished from

images:
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#110, p3, panel 1 (profile)
Marvels#1, p1, panel 4 (front view)

Captain America I#255 (March, 1981)
Marvels#1 (January, 1994)

Last updated: 05/16/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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