(JACK COLE; 6 pages; QUALITY COMICS; 1941)
Before we get started, a couple of points: First, I wasn’t around when Plastic Man debuted in 1941 and, by the time DC Comics bought the rights to all of Quality Comics’ characters, series and titles, DC already had a strechy guy who I found more interesting: Ralph Dibney, the Elongated Man (his debut was in THE FLASH #112, cover-dated May 1960); second, I have not purchased (or even read) a single DC comic book (outside of Golden Age or Silver Age hardcover collections, a select few facsimile editions and Joe Hill’s horror line, Hill House) in nearly forty years. That doesn’t mean that I don’t know what’s happening in their universe (uh… universes?), it’s just that I am tired of them killing everybody off and starting over every eight months or so or changing the heroes in some weird, unnecessary way (the same reason I’ve stayed away from Marvel, too). I think that may be my polite way of saying, “I just don’t care anymore.” Anyway, now we’re looking at a six-issue (I think) “event” series called PLASTIC MAN NO MORE, in which Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, while on a mission with the Justice League, suffers “catastrophic cellular damage” which (I’m guessing) leads to Eel’s deplasticization. So, since this may be the last time that we see Plastic Man, at least for a good while, I thought it might be fun to go back to where it all started… POLICE COMICS #1 and the origin of the villain-turned-hero.
As you can tell from the cover image above, POLICE COMICS was – like almost all comic books published during the infancy of the media – a 64-page anthology book, with nine features, two one-page gag strips and a two-page text story. Plastic Man wasn’t even the lead feature and was relegated to the second half of the book (heck, he didn’t even have a cover until issue 5!). Quality publishers and editors stuck their hopes with a character called Firebrand, a character who resembled a modern day pirate in a pink blouse (it’s too pretty to be called a shirt). Firebrand’s main claim to fame is the artwork by legendary creator Reed Crandall. Most of the characters wandered off into comics obscurity when Quality folded in 1956. While a couple of other POLICE COMICS refugees turned up in various DC Comics, Plastic Man has been the most successful character of the original nine strips from the debut issue.
As is the case with most six page strips from the day, creator Jack Cole crams as much back-story as he can into the untitled origin of Plastic Man. Low-level gangster called “the Eel” and his cronies are perpetrating a heist at the Crawford Chemical Works; when the security guard comes across the gang mid-malfeasance, the gang scatters as the guard opens fire, hitting “Eel” and causing the criminal to overturn a large vat of acid, covering himself in the liquid. All of this takes place within the first two panels of the story (not counting the splash image that takes up the top two-thirds of the page). By panel three, the other goons are fleeing the scene, leaving an injured “Eel” to fend for himself. The next page finds a wounded “Eel” O’Brian stumbling through a swamp, up a mountain and into oblivion; when he awakens, he finds himself bandaged and in a nice, soft bed at a place called Rest-Haven, being tended to by a monk that could have doubled for Friar Tuck in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. His faith restored in humanity, “Eel” decides to change his villainous ways: “What a kind old man… and what a rat I’ve been!” Stretching his muscles after his long sleep, the former crook discovers his new ability… he can manipulate his body into any shape imaginable! Deciding that his newfound powers would be a “powerful weapon” AGAINST crime, he heads off to begin putting things right by double-crossing the double-crossers that left him for dead. The rest, as they say, is comic book history… all wrapped up in six pages! Cole stands as one of the pillars that the comics industry was built on, and though this story may lean a bit toward the juvenile side… Hey, simpler times and a medium that was typically geared toward 10 year old boys will lead to that type of thing; his artwork, on the other hand, is definitely a tick or three above the usual art found in those early books.
As mentioned above, a couple of the characters featured in the premiere issue of POLICE COMICS eventually made their way into the DC continuity (well… one of ‘em, anyway), including – very briefly – the original Firebrand, Rod Reilly, who joined several other Quality heroes in a group called the Freedom Fighters, from an alternate universe (Earth X) where the Nazis won World War II. Rod was killed off, but he got better (don’t they all?) only to later be replaced by his sister Danette in the All-Star Squadron. The Freedom Fighters debuted in issue 107 of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (October 1973), minus Firebrand. However, two other heroes from POLICE COMICS #1 did show up: Paul Gustavson’s (using the pseudonym Paul Carroll) Human Bomb, one Roy Lincoln, who ingests his father’s explosive chemical compound to keep it from falling into the hands of Nazi spies. Of course, like radioactive spiders and Gamma radiation, the compound gives Roy a special – particularly weird – power: He can cause anything he touches to explode. He dons a special containment suit and only removes his gloves for fireworks at kiddie parties. No… wait… that doesn’t sound right. Let’s try this: He only removes his gloves when he is dispensing of Nazis or Japanese spies (hey, the world was at war with those guys!). Oddly enough, the Human Bomb strip outlasted our cover boy by 45 issues (58 to 13!), but met the same fate, with two other Quality characters including…
Phantom Lady, whose comics career isn’t as straight forward as most of the other Quality stars. Sandra Knight, the daughter of a United States Senator, appeared in 23 issue of POLICE COMICS and guested in 3 issues of FEATURE COMICS in a crossover in Frank Borth’s Spider Widow feature. Arthur Peddy drew the first 13 stories (with nary an origin story in sight) before turning the strip over to a VERY young Joe Kubert for three issues. After Quality went under, the studio that created the character, the Iger Studio (formerly the Eisner-Iger Studio… yes, THAT Eisner… comics legend and creator of the Spirit, Will; the Studio’s Jerry Iger wrote the Firebrand story, by the way) shopped the character to Fox Feature Syndicate, believing that they owned the copyright and not Quality. At Fox, she received a substantial upgrade with a new costume courtesy of hot new artist Matt Baker. And… I could go on about Ms Knight forever. Instead, I would like to direct you to my review of ROY THOMAS PRESENTS CLASSIC PHANTOM LADY, VOLUME 1 for a more comprehensive discussion of the character’s pre-DC adventures. As a member of the Freedom Fighters, she fought alongside the Human Bomb and other refugees from the Quality roster (Uncle Sam, the Ray, the Black Condor), was given an origin story and generally turned upside down and inside out with various incarnations from numerous universes and times. In at least one of those incarnations, universes or times, she, the Black Condor and the Human Bomb were all killed and hung from the Washington Monument by the Secret Society of Super Villains.
DC Comics recently (October 2024) released a facsimile edition of POLICE COMICS #1, so now you can bask in the coolness (and ridiculousness) of American comic books, circa 1941. All it’ll cost you is a trip to your local comic shop and $6.99!
