Review : Plastic Man No More #1

Image: DC Comics

Plastic Man wasn’t always a hero. A member of the Justice League. Someone who had helped save the Earth time after time from threats of all sorts. Once he was petty thief. Not a particularly great one but enough of one to have a reputation. The Man who would become Plastic Man started out as Patrick ‘Eel’ O’Brian in Mammoth City. And that’s where this issue starts.

Eel and his best friend Woozy are staking out a high-end jewelry store, making fun of the people inside shopping and planning on what they’re going to do and what the want to take, in his case a special watch he saw there at an earlier time during the planning stage A watch he wanted to give to his girlfriend, Angel. We see that even then he had an odd sense of humor, one in which he was the joke because he knew on some level, he WAS a loser.

As they launch their, blunt, assault on the store, we can tell that despite not being the greatest thieves they know their jobs, the know the timing. They know what to do. Despite not being the smartest way of doing it. Grabbing what they can as fast as they can due to the owner hitting the silent alarm Eel can’t let it go that the special watch he wanted is no longer there, growing more and more frustrated and, frankly, slightly unhinged. Because of that they run out right into the waiting arms of the police. After a quick montage page we see him going to prison, out of prison, another attempted theft and falling into the vat of chemicals that would make him the hero he would be with the family he always wanted and a member of the team he never thought he’d join: The Justice League.

The JLA are trying to stop the villain Solaris who is going to use his death ray on a orphanage with Plastic Man forming into a shield to block the ray and protect the kids. They take the villain down, save the day with Plastic Man making his funny quips and everyone enjoying a nice laugh. Except we see that he isn’t joking and that he IS hurting far more than anyone notices because he is after all, just Plastic Man the funny member of the team.

The day goes on, he goes home and despite being a member of the greatest super team in the DC universe, he has nothing. A crappy apartment, unpaid bills he CAN’T pay, nothing and no ne and he isn’t healing like he’s supposed to, in fact his wound from the death ray is getting worse and he’s feeling worse and worse. We get his thoughts on the members of the team and how they are everything he’s not. He collapses on his couch to recover and as he sleeps part of his body slowly dissolves into a puddle of goo.

Waking up he sees what happened while asleep and realizes that not only didn’t he heal he’s not lost his hand entirely. and the would isn’t healing. Using a bag to keep all the goo of his body together and keep more from melting off he heads back to Justice Leage headquarters to tell them what’s going on but no one is listening to him…Except Detective Chimp, who in his own way understands what it’s like not being taken seriously by the others, After telling him he got Batman to listen to him Batman gave him the name of a person who could possibly help with his problem.

The Dr., or rather in this case the scientist, explains to him what’s happening. His body is breaking down, the chemicals that created his powers have been after all the things he’s been thru are causing his body to break down completely on a cellular level and that he is in fact, dying. Going bac home he starts thinking about his life, the person he is, in his opinion a loser, and how anything good he ever had he lost due to just him being him. And at that moment he realizes, his son. Just like him with the same powers and abilities and if it’s happening to him it could happen to his son as well. As he heads out to find and speak to his son, the hand that melted down the drain climbs out of the sewer and hides out in an alley.

At a diner his son Luke, a member of the Titans, comes to meet him, Hates him for leaving him and his mom but comes to see what he wants. He explains to him that he’s dying, what his body is going through and that he’s afraid it might happen to him as well. But too many years and too much water under the bridge for Luke to believe him, who storms out.

That night Plastic Man goes to the home of the Dr. and asks her if there is ANY WAY to reverse what’s happening and the only way she can think of is,,.survive a nuclear explosion. And he’s only too happy to try and make that happen.

This was a very well written story that shows depression on a full level. How someone deals with it. In this case being a self deprecating goofball, always with the jokes and wisecracks to hide the fact that he is literally dying inside and out. A far more solemn story than you’d expect from a Plastic Man book since they’ve never really been a deep emotional style of book over the years. I liked it. A couple of read thru’s and you can just feel the emptiness he has inside. Still keeping some of the humor but tinged deeply with the depression and realization of what he’s lost and could have had, if only…

A deeper read than you might think. The art works amazingly well with the story, a semi cartoony style but full of emotion and body language and facial expressions. Just a wonderful job by the artist. The colors also play a part in the story. The use of bright colors for the hero elements and a darker palette and even blacks for the personal moments really shifting the tone and feel of the book. Great job all around.

As someone who was never a huge Plastic Man fan, altho I have thought him a fun read, I was surprised at the depth that was brought out in this first issue of the mini-series. Looking forward to how this is going to play out. How dark are they going to go on this character who has always been about the funny and more lighthearted side of superhero comics.

And questions? Comments? Anything I might have missed? Feel free to add a comment.

Till next time…

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