Plastic Man must prove he's turned over a new leaf in this excellent tale from the Golden Age of Comics.
(Originally posted on The Comics Bolt) Plastic Man must prove he's turned over a new leaf in this excellent tale from the Golden Age of Comics. Our story opens with Plastic Man being summoned by his boss, Chief Branner, who has learned of Plas's alter-ego of Eel O'Brian, a notorious gangster. Despite Plas's earnest pleas that he tuned to crime-fighting to make up for his sordid past, Branner feels that Plastic Man betrayed him and boots him out of the FBI. However, at the last moment, Branner has a change of heart and vows to keep the truth a secret - but Plas will have to earn it. He assigns Plastic Man three tough missions, and he has to complete them within a week. He must capture a known criminal who's vowed to die before being arrested (and Branner specifically wants him taken alive), uncover the hidden leader of a criminal gang, and solve a series of mysterious murders in the south. For a character renowned for his wacky sense of humor, some might be surprised by how serious this story is. This actually wasn't atypical of the Plastic Man stories of the time, with Plas himself being a straight man compared to the wacky antics of everyone around him - particularly his sidekick Woozy Winks. Also, the Plastic Man comics pretty frequently blended drama and comedy, and this story is no exception. Still, the opener is quite a whammy for a series this surreal and bizarre. That's not to say there isn't any humor or fun to be had in this story. In addition to the creative uses of Plastic Man's shapeshifting abilities, Plas's attempts to capture a crook determined to die rather than being arrested allows for some darkly comedic moments (a specialty of Plastic Man's creator Jack Cole). There's also a running gag with Woozy getting annoyed at our hero's insistence on handing these cases alone. While most Golden Age stories have yet to be reprinted, this one fortunately was in the second volume of the Plastic Man Archives, a series of deluxe hardbound reprints of various DC characters from the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age. (Plastic Man was originally published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age, but DC purchased the rights to the character in the 1950s.) It's not cheap, but it's got lots of excellent Plastic Man stories, this one being among the best. In conclusion, "Body, Mind, and Soul" is one of those hidden treasures of the Golden Age of Comics. For all the crudity of the era, there were a lot of good stories back then, and this is definitely one of them.
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