Number 1798: Plastic Man dreams

Scroggs, with the furry Popeye arms, is the villain of “The Dictator of Dreams” who has the power to insert himself into the dreams of others. He's not the only character in the history of comics to have that ability, but he is a Plastic Man villain, and that gives his powers over dreams a comic élan.

The Grand Comics Database gives Jack Cole credit for both writing and drawing this story for Police Comics #78 (1948), although he did not sign it. If Cole did it (and it looks like he had a lot to do with it, even if he had help), then why not sign it, as he had done in earlier days? I don’t know, but around the time he left comics they were under heavy criticism, so maybe he wanted to take his name out, and not be identified with comic books when he went into another career. After he left comic books Cole was able to change his style of drawing to make him more mainstream, for magazines (Playboy) and newspapers (his comic strip, “Betsy and Me”). To us comic book fans, the work we know him for is what he did with such brilliance, style and flair in the forties and early fifties, before departing comic books, and unfortunately, life.

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