DO YOU ACCEPT PLASTIC, MAN?* (MINI COVER GALLERY)...

(*Okay, I know I've used the post's title before, but it's a good 'un.)

Copyright DC COMICS

Well, whaddya know, this comic comes as a surprise.  It's one I gave to a pal back in the mid or late '70s (can't be more precise 'cos I don't know how long after buying it [in 1976] I gifted it to him), and which he freely gave back to me around 30-odd years later.  So why's it a surprise?  I haven't paid it much attention in the 10 years (or so) since it was returned to me, but I was browsing through it earlier and happened to read the Plastic Postcards text page, which mentions that the DC Plastic Man comic launched in 1966 lasted only 10 issues.  So the one from '76, numbered 11, was not only a first issue in its own right, it was also a continuation from the '60s mag 8 years after it was cancelled.  I don't remember knowing that back then, so it's entirely likely I didn't pay it much attention when I first bought it either.  (Or I simply forgot.)

Interestingly, the '70s 10 issue run is listed in the DC Database as volume 2, but the indicia in #11 says it's volume 4.  Barring a simple error, this is likely due to DC retroactively regarding their '60s title as volume 1 and ignoring previous volumes (of which I presume there were two) by original publishers Quality Comics, from whom DC acquired the character in 1956.  I took a look at Plas's Wikipedia page while preparing this post, but abandoned it pdq when I saw how convoluted his history was, what with the '80s Crisis On Infinite Earths, various reboots, and it being different Plastic Men from diverse Earths.  Who needs all that baggage, and just why do publishers inflict such convoluted 'continuity' onto their readers?  (You want the full story, you'll have to visit Wikipedia yourselves.)

Anyway, I'm shortly going to make myself a cuppa, relax on top of my scratcher, and read this 45 year-old comic mag, which contains some great Ramona Fradon art.  First though, I'll scan my meagre collection of Plastic Man mags (I might also have the DC Archives volume, not sure - if so, it'll have to wait 'til a later date) and publish them on the blog for your perusal, just to give you something to look at while you wait for a more worthy post on someone else's blog.  Don't deny it - I know you only come here when you've exhausted every other possibility.  (Okay, you can deny it if you want.)

Posted in: Cartoons