Odds are that you’re not that familiar with Firebrand, 711, or the Mouthpiece. You might not know Phantom Lady or The Human Bomb. But even the most casual comic book dilettantes know about… Plastic Man! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Police Comics #1 awaits!

POLICE COMICS #1

Writer: Jack Cole
Penciler: Jack Cole
Inker: Jack Cole
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: jack Cole
Editor: Edward Cronin
Publisher: Quality Comics
Cover Price: 10 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $10,000.00
Release Date: May 14, 1941

Previously in Police Comics: In the 21st Century, when DC, Marvel, and Archie Comics can trace their corporate lineage back to the Golden Age of Comics, readers might sometimes forget the other companies that made big splashes in the four-color forties. The influence of companies like Fawcett, home of Captain Marvel, or Charlton, whose output contains a tidal wave of Western, war, suspense, and horror books, is still felt today. Likewise, Everett “Busy” Arnold’s Quality Comics was a game-changer, working with three different newspaper syndicates for material, as well as hiring the legendary Eisner and Iger Studios early on in the game. Publishing from 1937 to 1956, Quality’s superhero line was sold to DC Comics, which picked up seamlessly on Blackhawk, G.I. Comics, and a couple of other books. In 1966, they revived the character Plastic Man, who is easily Quality’s most lasting contribution to the pop culture landscape, in his own series. Nearly sixty years later, Eel O’Brien is a multimedia superstar, a member of the Justice League, and as of this writing), the star of a puzzling body horror story that might as well be a Vertigo book. Back in 1941, though, he was just a minor mafioso punk, helping to rob a chemical plant.

Sadly, Eel found out the hard way what they say about honor among thieves, as his pals left him behind to die after he was winged by the plant security guard. Knowing that he’s likely a wanted man and that the hospitals will be on the lookout for a thug with a bullet wound, O’Brien flees into the countryside.

Having been nursed to health by kind monks (whose presence in the mountains outside a major city with a crime problem puzzles me only a bit), Eel stretches, preparing to rise from his bed… only to realize that he hasn’t stopped stretching! Realizing that the acid that doused him must have altered his body chemistry, our man O’Brien realizes that he has a chance to avenge himself on his traitorous former pals.

Pretending to wait behind the wheel of the getaway car, Eel dons his new costume and goggles, giving his criminal associates their first taste of PLASTIC JUSTICE!
This first chapter doesn’t have the all-out humorous tone that would eventually come to define the hero, but his layouts are already a wonderful combination of realistic and cartoony, and while Plas isn’t quite the man we will eventually come to know, his yellow-and-black belt is, as well as the bare-legged look that he has kept to this day. (The only other major, male, modern costumed hero I can think of with bare legs is Colossus, and even he isn’t consistent about it.) As his betrayers make a break for it, Plastic Man literally BOUNCES off the side of the building to the car, then proceeds to further torment the jerks.

The final panel sets the stage for Eel’s new career, hiding in plain sight among the pugs, thugs, and mugs of The City, then using his ductility to bring them all to justice. It would be a year before he met and partnered with the man known as Woozy Winks, by which time Plastic Man had shifted gears to become something akin to a “dramedy,” giving us the wild and wacky Plas that we know and love. The other features of Police Comics #1 include The Phantom Lady in her original yellow-and-green suit, The Human Bomb, The Sword, and Steele Kerrigan, a guy even I have never heard of, but the overall quality is lovely, with Cole’s work standing out as fast=paced, clever and well-drawn, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. Generally speaking, I’m usually a fan of the more obscure, bizarre, and unconventional heroes, but this time, Plastic Man is not only the best story in the book, he’s actually my favorite as well, thanks to Jack Cole’s creative excellence.

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POLICE COMICS #1

80%

80%

The Black-And-White Leotard Is Quite Cool

While it's not quite the wacky hijinks that we associate most with Eel, it's well-paced, clever, and features an unusual motive for superhero activities, with strong art pulling it all together.

• Writing

  8
• Art

  9
• Coloring

  7
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0