Customer Reviews

The Plastic Man Archives, Vol. 3 (DC Archive Editions)

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After a nice little introduction, this great DC archive book launches into the meat - thirteen Golden Age Plastic Man comics! With a good deal of action and humor (not to mention humorous action), Plas and his sidekick, Woozy Winks, take on the bad guys. My son and I loved this book, and thought it was a great blast from the past! We both highly recommend it!

In case you are interested, this book includes stories (in this order) from Police Comics #31 (6/1944), #32 (7/44), #33 (8/44), Plastic Man #2 (8/44), Police Comics #34 (9/44), #35 (10/44), #36 (11/44), #37 (12/44), #38 (1/45), and #39 (2/45). The funny thing is just how little World War 2 seems to have intruded into these stories! But, in a way, that helps make the stories somewhat timeless. Anyway, buy this book!

Every review of a Plastic Man Archive emphasizes creator Jack Cole's imaginative and innovative cartooning. That's because he WAS an imaginative and innovative cartoonist. Plastic Man combined humor, action and page design in ways never really seen before or since. Carl Barks and Don Rosa have done something similar with Donald and Scrooge McDuck as has Jeff Smith with Bone but none of them are as off-the-wall, as straight out goofy as Plastic Man. The humor in this book, like Plas himself, can come at you from all angles.

I could go on and on but the nitty gritty is that if you love fun comics, or are trying to get yourself or even your kids into fun comics, put Plastic Man at the top of your list.

Here are a few of the adventures that await you within:

POLICE COMICS #31-Is Plastic Man Washed Up? - An evil mastermind, the Mangler, rakes in the dough by surgically altering 1A military draftees to 4F status so they don't have to serve. Plastic Man brings him down, but he escapes and holds Plas' sidekick Woozy Winks hostage unless Plas gives up crime fighting. A distraught Plastic Man then considers quitting the super hero life. Meanwhile, Woozy is threatened by the two ton Jaws of Death!

POLICE COMICS #32-The La Cucaracha Caper-Plas and Woozy take a well-deserved vacation to sunny, old Mexico. In order to throw off any local criminals they decide to go in drag. At the same time, four big-city crime kingpins decide to hold a summit meeting on how to whack Plastic Man in the same sleepy village Plas and woozy are vacationing in. The crime bosses decide that they should also travel in drag. Amidst the bustle and confusion that ensues all the bad guys and both the good guys and an enraged bull wind up in a coliseum surrounded by angry Mexicans expecting a good show. How will Plas get out of this one?

POLICE COMICS #33-Death Trap for Plastic Man-A brainy villain called the Hood discovers that super cold temperatures rend rubber stiff and brittle and he intends to use this information against Plastic Man. Will he ice our hero or just frost his butt?

POLICE COMICS #35-The Confession of Froggy Fink-With a villain named Froggy Fink you know you're gonna get an especially cartoony adventure. It also features Mona Mayhem, a fiendishly sultry femme fatale who looks like Marlene Dietrich.

POLICE COMICS #36-Dr. Brann's Health Farm-A gang of thieves and murderers hide out at a remote health farm, but it's not so healthy for them after Plastic Man tracks them down. But after living the healthy farm life, they may just be ready for prison!

POLICE COMICS #37-Love Comes to Woozy-This issue is pretty Wooz-centric as our man, the Woozster ponders if the lovely legged Felina truly yearns for him, or if he's just a prawn (yup, prawn) in her game against the Underworld.

Did I mention the cool, 40's lingo and villains with names like Mopes, Boxcar and Slick Dandy? Yes if fun's your game, you can't go wrong with Plastic Man.

Jack Cole was one of the true geniuses of the comic book art form. Here we have some great examples of his masterwork, Plastic Man. Plastic Man and his sidekick Woozy Winks are two of the greatest characters of the Golden Age of comics. Jack Cole's odd outlook on life, and his sometimes dark sense of humor, make these among the best of the superhero comics of the era. Highly recommended to superhero fans, especially those who don't them too seriously.