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The Plastic Man Archives
The Plastic Man Archives, Vol. 3
Bursting onto the comic-book scene in 1941, Plastic Man was a bright spot in a Golden Age of heroes, standing out as one of the most unusual and innovative creations of the time. A reformed criminal turned do-gooder, Plastic Man stretched the definition of the strong-jawed, straight-faced super-hero to its absolute limits. Pitted against an equally odd and colorful group of foes and paired with the indescribably strange sidekick Woozy Winks in the pages of Quality Publishing's Police Comics, "Plas" quickly gained in popularity and soon graduated to his own title. Collected here for the first time are the Plastic Man features from the second issue of Plastic Man Comics, and issues 31-39 of Police Comics, all written and drawn by Jack Cole, Plas's creator and one of the most highly regarded talents in the history of comics.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
2 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Jack Cole
158 books12 followersJack Ralph Cole was an American cartoonist best known for creating the comedic superhero Plastic Man, and his cartoons for Playboy Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 10, 2019
Plastic Man Archives Volume 3 contains stories from Police Comics #31-39 plus Plastic Man #2.
I must admit I didn't have a hell of a lot of Plastic Man experience before this volume. I have foggy memories of watching the Saturday morning cartoon as a kid and I have some Adventure Comics with Plastic Man in them. Jack Cole's run is one of those revered runs that frequently shows up on peoples' all time favorite list so I grabbed this one when I saw it for sale on the cheap.
First off, the stories are a little on the goofy side but only slightly more goofy than Marvel and DC stuff from the Silver Age. Plastic Man works for the FBI and fights crime with his sidekick, Woozy Winks, in tow. Apart from a lava man and some hypnotic shenanigans, he's mostly fighting crooks. Plas himself is more serious than he's normally depicted in later works.
The art, on the other hand, is pretty goddamn sweet! Jack Cole's cartoon-based style is something to behold, a style a couple decades ahead of the curve. Cole gives his characters a lot of personality in their faces and gestures, somewhat resembling Will Eisner. Since comics were still fresh out of diapers, it was perfectly okay to have cartoony characters like Woozy with super heroes like Plastic Man.
Plastic Man himself is a damn masterpiece. On panel after panel, Jack Cole finds more and more novel ways for Plastic Man to use his stretching powers, from turning into a parachute to transforming into a chair and assuming the form of a woman.
Cole's linework is extremely clean and he doesn't use a ton of black, giving everything an airy feel. His is definitely a minimalist style. Michael Allred draws a lot from Jack Cole, especially in his Madman comics. Even his backgrounds are well-drafted. Cole didn't skimp, even on characters' clothing. Half the characters wear garments with patterns on them and Cole takes no shortcuts.
Jack Cole's Plastic Man aged better than most comics from his era and even comics a decade or two older. The Plastic Man Archives Volume 3 is a must for any comic reader's collection. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I must admit I didn't have a hell of a lot of Plastic Man experience before this volume. I have foggy memories of watching the Saturday morning cartoon as a kid and I have some Adventure Comics with Plastic Man in them. Jack Cole's run is one of those revered runs that frequently shows up on peoples' all time favorite list so I grabbed this one when I saw it for sale on the cheap.
First off, the stories are a little on the goofy side but only slightly more goofy than Marvel and DC stuff from the Silver Age. Plastic Man works for the FBI and fights crime with his sidekick, Woozy Winks, in tow. Apart from a lava man and some hypnotic shenanigans, he's mostly fighting crooks. Plas himself is more serious than he's normally depicted in later works.
The art, on the other hand, is pretty goddamn sweet! Jack Cole's cartoon-based style is something to behold, a style a couple decades ahead of the curve. Cole gives his characters a lot of personality in their faces and gestures, somewhat resembling Will Eisner. Since comics were still fresh out of diapers, it was perfectly okay to have cartoony characters like Woozy with super heroes like Plastic Man.
Plastic Man himself is a damn masterpiece. On panel after panel, Jack Cole finds more and more novel ways for Plastic Man to use his stretching powers, from turning into a parachute to transforming into a chair and assuming the form of a woman.
Cole's linework is extremely clean and he doesn't use a ton of black, giving everything an airy feel. His is definitely a minimalist style. Michael Allred draws a lot from Jack Cole, especially in his Madman comics. Even his backgrounds are well-drafted. Cole didn't skimp, even on characters' clothing. Half the characters wear garments with patterns on them and Cole takes no shortcuts.
Jack Cole's Plastic Man aged better than most comics from his era and even comics a decade or two older. The Plastic Man Archives Volume 3 is a must for any comic reader's collection. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
August 30, 2012
Yeah, these are as good as everyone says they are. Something about them that's really beautiful is that each story starts with the premise not that the City (unnamed) in which Plastic Man lives is festering with crime, but that it's actually completely crime-free, as the entire underworld lives in mortal fear of Plastic Man. Plastic Man has to actively look for trouble, or finds it when the FBI sends him on vacation because they have nothing for him to do. And most of the fight sequences throughout the book are aborted when the bad guys give themselves up or run away, because it's widely known that Plastic Man IS THE MOST DANGEROUS SUPERHERO EVER.
For non-nerds who don't know why this is funny, keep in mind that all Plas (as he's called) has over evildoers is that can, y'know, stretch. And THAT'S ALL HE NEEDS. Jack Cole's genius didn't lay solely in the inventiveness of his cartooning, but in all the ways he was able to use that invention in his storytelling in order to make a rubber superhero the most terrifying threat his rogues gallery (full of moogs like Knife McBlade, Fargo Freddie, Froggy Fink, Slick Dandy and the deadly hitman, Rocky Goober) could imagine. Plastic Man's original run showcases not only an endless reel of sight gages, but also a hero whose invulnerability, penchant for disguise, and snakelike fighting moves sent his enemies into a terrified frenzy.
Somewhere in the urban marshlands of the 40's where the gritty realism of Dick Tracy and the lofty aesthetics of The Spirit left off, the crazed, goofy fluidity of Jack Cole's pen took over. Cole showed us that what crime fiction really needed was a half-naked dude made of silly putty who never, ever took off his sunglasses.
And thank God for that.
For non-nerds who don't know why this is funny, keep in mind that all Plas (as he's called) has over evildoers is that can, y'know, stretch. And THAT'S ALL HE NEEDS. Jack Cole's genius didn't lay solely in the inventiveness of his cartooning, but in all the ways he was able to use that invention in his storytelling in order to make a rubber superhero the most terrifying threat his rogues gallery (full of moogs like Knife McBlade, Fargo Freddie, Froggy Fink, Slick Dandy and the deadly hitman, Rocky Goober) could imagine. Plastic Man's original run showcases not only an endless reel of sight gages, but also a hero whose invulnerability, penchant for disguise, and snakelike fighting moves sent his enemies into a terrified frenzy.
Somewhere in the urban marshlands of the 40's where the gritty realism of Dick Tracy and the lofty aesthetics of The Spirit left off, the crazed, goofy fluidity of Jack Cole's pen took over. Cole showed us that what crime fiction really needed was a half-naked dude made of silly putty who never, ever took off his sunglasses.
And thank God for that.
December 4, 2008
Although Plastic Man looks like a corny cross between Graham Parker and that guy from The Buggles, Jack Cole's artwork and stories are so insanely over the top it doesn't matter how new wave Plastic Man looks. Great stories include Plas and Woozy Winks in the town that still lives in the gay Nineties, The Lava Man who looks like a running turd, Coroner's Corners (another crazy village), and the crazy old woman who wants to donate $50,000 to rehabilitate criminals. Pretty sick comics!
March 16, 2019
Plastic Man continues his Golden Age adventures with another load of loopy stories, enlivened by Cole's quirky, delightful art. The highlight is a story concerning a town that seceded from the US (more or less) decades earlier and remains stuck in the1 1890s, but there's lots of other goofy ideas here.
November 20, 2024
Loves me some Plas! The stories are kind of silly, and Woozy Winks, his sidekick, is basically just annoying -- but Jack Cole's artwork is lots of fun. He later became a "girlie" cartoonist for PLAYBOY, and then committed suicide for unknown reasons. There are several volumes in the "archives," but this is the only one I have. I'd like to get more!
March 3, 2025
Delightful romps with Jack Cole's flexible character: flexible in two ways. That is his super-power, and the concept lent itself to many different kinds of stories, though all were lighthearted. After all, this is a pretty ridiculous super-power, and Cole was wise enough to not take it seriously.
March 7, 2011
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.
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.
December 27, 2009
Wonderfully goofy and clever with some of the oddly beautiful art. Jack Cole drew gorgeous women, goofy looking men and twisted and turned Plastic man into all kinds of amazing and amusing shapes.
No one that has handled Plastic man in comics has ever been able to top Cole.
No one that has handled Plastic man in comics has ever been able to top Cole.
December 5, 2013
Delicioso.
October 3, 2012
Worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews