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| "Non-Conductor" from Plastic Man vol.1 #7 (Quality, 1947) by Jack Cole and Jack Spranger |
A lot of the Quality Comics I've explored definitely have a penchant for humor, and perhaps that springs from Plastic Man's popularity. First appearing in Police Comics in 1941, he soon got his own quarterly dedicated series (in 1943) which eventually went monthly and lasted 64 issues, ending when Quality itself closed up shop and sold its assents to DC Comics. For a character initially stuck on another Earth, he got a better career than most. We'll see splashes from a couple more continuing series, and he even scored a Saturday morning cartoon! And yet, his tenuous position in continuity meant Elongated Man got his spot in the Justice League despite being the more original, more iconic, more "powerful" bendable hero. Morrison would finally set it right in his JLA, but it was a long wait!
It is interesting that, out of all the stretchable heroes, Plas was the only one to fully embrace the concept...perhaps the zaniness & "lack of realism" put some off, as he's closer to The Impossible Man than Reed Richards...
ReplyDeleteCommander Blanx declares, "I don't know if "set it right" is the term I'd use. Both Plas and Captain Marvel were former A-listers treated as jokes upon integration into the JLA. I always wanted them to form their own team-- The Defenders for the Quality/Fawcett set."
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I thought Plas was well used in JLA, and to be true to his roots, he had to be jokey, if not necessarily a joke.
ReplyDeleteAs for Captain Marvel, there hasn't been a good in-continuity version since the Ordway series set in Fawcett City.
Now that...is one helluva splash page!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Plas was a Superfriend! Ralph Dibny never made that team...
ReplyDeleteAND had a Super-Powers action figure.
ReplyDelete