Miss Gzptlsnz

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Miss Gzptlsnz

"How foolish I was not to appreciate your ..er... beauty!" Image by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye.

A playful, lovelorn imp from the Fifth Dimensional world of Zrfff.

Miss Gzptlsnz is the "girl-friend" of Mr. Mxyzptlk (SPJO No. 52/6, Apr 1961: "Jimmy Olsen, Wolf-Man!"), and like that annoying gnome she is also endowed with extradimensional magical powers. Repeatedly jilted by Mxy, Gzptlsnz often makes her way to the Earthly dimension to seek out a replacement mate, usually settling for the attentions of Jimmy Olsen. Olsen's only means of avoiding matrimony with this pest is to trick her into pronouncing or spelling her own name backwards (Znsltpzg), an action which has the temporary effect of returning her to her home dimension for a period of 90 days.

Jimmy first encounters Gzptlsnz in April 1961 after he is turned into a wolf-man by Mxyzptlk. Dodging Gzptlsnz on her birthday ("She's a drip!"), Mxy journeys to Earth and becomes infatuated with Jimmy's girlfriend Lucy Lane, determining to win her affections by humiliating Jimmy. To this end, the impish Lothario transforms Olsen magically into a wolfman using a bottle of potion which the red-headed reporter is compelled to drink. Learning from the bottle's label that "only a beautiful girl's kiss can break the spell" and return him to normal during a full moon, Jimmy kisses Supergirl, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris, and Lucy, all with diminishing effect because of the interference of Mxyzptlk. Desperate and practically suicidal, Jimmy finally encounters a veiled "mystery woman" while walking the streets. The tiny woman kisses him and cures his lycanthropy, revealing herself to be not "fantastically beautiful" as Jimmy expects, but "a homely hag," Miss Gzptlsnz. When confronted by her boyfriend, Gzptlsnz declares

    Two-timer! When you stood me up on my
    birthday, I followed you to this world
    and secretly saw the mischief you did to
    Jimmy Olsen!  You wanted to steal his girl!
    But this Magic Brand of lipstick saved
    him!  Read it and weep!

The label reads "Klptzyxm Lipstick" and when Mxy reads it out loud he is transported back to his home dimension where Gzptlsnz shortly follows him after voluntarily saying her own name backwards, vowing, "I'll nag him on each of the 90 days!" (SPJO No. 52/6: "Jimmy Olsen, Wolf-Man!").

Gzptlsnz returns several months later to torment Jimmy after Mxyzptlk turns down her proposal of marriage. "Materializing above Metropolis," she proposes to Mr. Action only to have him claim to be a "confirmed bachelor." Overhearing Jimmy confess to Superman that he'd "rather marry an animal," the "homely sprite" curses Jimmy ("Zippety-Rak!") to take on the characteristics of the first animal he encounters at the zoo--a porcupine. Rejected by Lucy Lane and forced to join a circus side-show, Jimmy eventually tricks his tormentor into pronouncing "Zmsltpzg" by tattooing the reverse name in a heart on his chest (SPJO No. 65/3, Dec 1962: "The Human Porcupine!").

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