If you've only ever seen obviously wonderful artists like Gil Kane, Jim Aparo or Joe Staton do Plastic Man, well, it's lucky that DC's Special Series did a whole book of the original strip back in the Bronze Age.
Creator Jack Cole's amazing artwork on Plas is astoundingly ahead of it's time, even now, and though you can see nods to Will Eisner ( who Cole worked with ) it's utterly unique.
Which is not to say people didn't try to copy it. Pretty much all of the early Mad's owe a debt to Cole's visual humour and let's-shove-as-many-gags-into-the-background-as-possible 'chicken-fat' stylings, and if you squint, you can see Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder taking notes.
Just as one example, spot the panel where Plas stretches through the middle of a canoodling couple, moving so fast that the girl's lipstick is imprinted on his body.
Over the years, there've been various attempts to do Plas in animation. There's really no need, is there?
Way before Reed Richards or the Elongated Man there was Plastic Man.
ReplyDeleteJack Cole went on to do some watercolour cartoons for Playboy magazine. Hef never knew it was the same man who drew Plastic man until Cole's tragic death by suicide. It still remains one of the great mysteries: why did he do it? Everything looked great on the outside with his marriage, home life, finances, & career...but the inner man experiences things that even his close friends often miss, except he inform them.
It's very healthy to have some close confidantes to discuss the vicissitudes of life with.
Regards,
Chris A.
Jack Cole sent a suicide note to his wife, but the coroner said it was too personal to release to the public. His wife would only say, "We had an argument before," and promptly remarried after his death. His other suicide note to Hugh Hefner said he was sorry for all the pain he had caused people, but it had nothing to do with Hugh.
DeleteAlmost seems his wife was ready to divorce Cole and perhaps ruin him financially, if not in reputation. Who knows...
Gene Poole
Amen.
ReplyDeleteI first saw this mag in my local shops around 1973 (it came out in '71, but such a delay wasn't unusual in the UK), and bought it immediately. Don't know what happened to it, but I managed to get a replacement nearly 5 years ago and am glad to have it back. I remember reading somewhere that Jack Cole drew Plas's origin (and maybe even the following tales) actual printed size, though you wouldn't know from looking at the published result. Had he ever worked with Stan Lee, he'd probably have been crowned 'King'. Well, with a name like Cole, he'd have been the obvious choice.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see how Cole's drawing was more straightforward in the origin story, but had become far more humorous as he developed the supporting cast in subsequent stories.
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable! Cole's cartooning in the second story reminds me a little bit of Basil Wolverton's on "Powerhouse Pepper."
Gene Poole
Very much so, yeah.
DeleteOne of my favourite Golden age reprint books which I've had in my possession since 1972.its managed to survive many of my a comic book clear outs so it must be (and is) good.
ReplyDeleteI've got ones like that too. Some of em have survived anything.
ReplyDeleteYes in that first story he is really following the Quality comics template.
ReplyDelete- Neil
Hadn't thought about it, but yeah, that is the case.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite single comics, and my introduction to both Plastic Man and to Jack Cole. Oh, the money that comic book has cost me, in that eight volumes of Plastic Man Archives didn't come cheap, though worth every penny.
ReplyDeleteCole's Spirit copy Midnight in Smash Comics was great fun as well.
Actually Flexo the Rubber Man, published by Timely (later Marvel), predates Plastic Man.
ReplyDelete- Neil
I admit that I really liked the short-lived 70s Plastic Man series with Ramona Fradon as artist. But the original Golden Age stories truly showcase Jack Cole's genius and inventiveness. If you don't want to spend the money on DC's Plastic Man archives (they're very nice in hardback and high quality paper and printing), you can see the originals at sites like Comic Book Plus (https://comicbookplus.com/). Plas was a feature in Police Comics as well as having his own title.
ReplyDeleteI only recently obtained this comic and love it to death. I really enjoy Plas' golden age adventures.
ReplyDelete