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Underground > Comic Books >

Plastic Man - Kyle Baker

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10:05 / 06.02.04

So the third issue of Kyle Baker’s run on Plastic Man has just shipped, and I was wondering if anyone else was reading this series ?

It’s nicely rubbery to the eye, and the story chunters along cheerfully enough, with a goodly amount of gags (including a Batman one in #3 that made me snicker out loud on the tube last night), some of which are comic in-jokes, but most of which would appeal to the general reader.

It’s quite a quick read, perhaps because of the number of panels per page, but I think younger readers would enjoy it, and if it’s collected into a TPB, I’d imagine it’d have quite an appeal in bookshops etc.

I’ve only seen a very limited amount of the Jack Cole era of the character (if anyone can point me towards a cheapish collection, I’d appreciate it), so don’t know how it compares with what I know is widely praised, but for a mainstream superhero funnybook, I reckon it ain’t bad at all.

11:21 / 06.02.04

The easiest way to find some Jack Cole Plastic Man stories is through Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd's Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched To Their Limits. It cuts to the chase with three Plastic Man stories from Cole's prime, while other reprints tend to start from the beginning. It also has a number of back-up strips, the infamous Murder, Morphine and Me, and Cole's beautiful Playboy gag cartoons. These stories wrap around Spiegelman's examination of Cole's life, the original essay of which was printed in the new Yorker, and can be read here. Highly recommended and still in print.

I know that DC recently put out a DC Archives Sampler, which cost somewhere between 25 cents and a dollar, and contained a few Golden Age reprints, including a Jack Cole Plastic Man. There are, of course, the Archives themselves, which are plenty expensive. DC also released a Plastic Man "lost annual" in the last few years which has a few Jack Cole stories and which shouldn't be hard to find. I'm collecting the archives, so I haven't bought these and am not sure how much is Cole and how good the stories are. There were also a few reprints in the back of various comics during the 70s, and The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics has two Cole Plastic Man's. This is a real treasure, as it contains the best of the obscure Golden Age material (Scribbly and the Red Tornado, Powerhouse Pepper, Little Lulu) with the historically important work (Superman, Captain Marvel, E.C.). I bought mine for a dollar off of Ebay. Possibly the best comic book reprint collection ever published.

I haven't bought any of the Kyle Baker plastic Man's, but I have seen previews and leafed through them at the store. It was originally created as a trade paperback, and that's how I plan on purchasing it. Kyle Baker is easily one of my favourite modern cartoonists.

11:43 / 06.02.04

Ahhh, didn’t know it was originally a tpb. Interesting.

I saw the recent DC Sampler, and enjoyed the Cole story in that (the best of the book, really), but didn’t realise the recent Annual had some of his in too. Thanks, I’ll look for that. I gathered there's a lot of stuff in the Archive volumes, but as you say, plenty expensive, unfortunately for me!

13:52 / 06.02.04

It's OK, not great. There are a few shining moments in every issue. It's well-drawn (not sloppy and rushed like a lot of his TRUTH stuff was) -- the typeface for the lettering and the no-outline-panels kind of bug me a little, I'm not sure why...I think I feel it makes it look like a kid's storybook or something.

The Batman joke in #3 is really terrific. There's also a great bit in #3 where characters discuss the question "Hey, has anyone ever considered whether Plastic Man needs to BREATHE at all?"

I wonder how its sales numbers are doing. I have a feeling that it'll get cancelled around issue 10 or so.

17:33 / 06.02.04

I hear it's selling in the 30,000 range. There are quite a few people who, like myself, are waiting for the trade, especially since that was how it was supposed to be presented in the first place. I can imagine the trade doing very well because of this. Another thing it has going for it is that there is nothing else like it coming from the Big Two, and so people who don't normally buy comics from those companies are bringing fresh money into DC's coffers. Also, Baker has said that the subsequent issues will be easier for the average comic fan to get into. Baker has a very strong and vocal following, and I can imagine this title continuing until he leaves, though you never can tell.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:31 / 06.02.04

I'm pretty much waiting for the TPB as well, but I'm not sure how pushed I am toward buying it - I've leafed through all three issues and for some reason it didn't grab me as much. Which is a bit sad. I'd really like to find a good solid amount of Cole work- I have _Forms Stretched_ and want more! Only bits and pieces in various books.

20:47 / 06.02.04

Oh, I just remembered. Playboy is putting out a coffee table book containing 450 cartoons from the past 50 years of publication, including some of Cole's work for them. It's due out in June.

21:02 / 06.02.04

Do you have a link for the Playboy book?

21:12 / 06.02.04

I haven't gotten around to reading #3.. but I've certainly been enjoying the previious issues. It makes a nice decompression from some of the er.. "heavier" titles I'll read.

21:29 / 06.02.04

21:45 / 06.02.04

I'm glad you asked about the Playboy book, Bio. It reminded me that a collection of Cole's Humorama panels is set to come out this year, apparently this month even (scroll down).

Also, Shane Glines (who provides the foreword to the Humorama collection) has a sub-site with many samples of Cole's work. The Jake page is devoted to those pre-Playboy Humorama days, while Betsy and Me was Cole's comic strip, as seen in Forms Stretched To Their Limits.

15:21 / 07.02.04

>>> It reminded me that a collection of Cole's Humorama panels is set to come out this year, apparently this month even (scroll down).<<<

Whee! It's coming out finally! I contributed some of my Humorama collection to that book...

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

18:06 / 14.02.04

I am loving this comic. Plastic Man is a HARD character to get right, and the Archives of the Jack Cole stuff show just amazingly talented the man was. The stories int he archives read like they were just done yeaterday, unlike most Archives, that feel like reading something in history class.

Baker's art shows a joy I haven't seen from his work in a while. This is one of the few comics I have to read in the shop instead of waiting until I get home...and I hope it lasts a while...but I also hope that if Baker leaves, they either get someone who can do humor well or just let it end with his leaving.

14:42 / 29.07.04

I always read this in the store...but the latest issue (#8) got me to lay down the cash. Fun wacko time traveling DC contintuity fun!!! Recommended, if only for the final panel. (Kyle is back with this issue after either 1 or 2 issues of Scott Morse guesting.)

16:40 / 29.07.04

Plastic Man #8 got more laughs out of me than Seaguy #3, both of which I read back-to-back. They're kind of odd bookends to one another if you think about it hard enough.

Or I'm talking out of my hat again... Yeah, that's it.

16:27 / 30.07.04

I just read #8 again and had to give it another shout-out cause it's so damn funny. Zany in the best, non-cheesy sense of the word. Although my one critique is that Baker's word balloons are sometimes hard to follow because of their paper-thin stems/tails/whatever you call those that point to the speaker.

16:49 / 30.07.04

Hmmm.. I sort of stopped reading after Kyle Baker wrapped up his initial storyline... that issue just sort of deflated Pas for me...

19:55 / 30.07.04

seriously, Mr. Tricks, the opening arc kinda bored me, #8 is a huge fucking quantum leap. Pick it up.

17:24 / 04.08.04

The opening has a great parody of Paul Dini and Alex Ross' big-sized superhero books.

And...

"Some supervillain is screwing with the continuity of our universe! Martian Manhunter would never beat Flash in a sack race!"

22:13 / 04.08.04

Plas #8 is fantastic (plastic-fantastic, even,) I concur.

13:58 / 19.08.04

#9 is out and Baker continues to fire on all gears. This issue even has Laetitia Lerner, the famous (and shredded by Paul Levitz) Superman's Babysitter! Pick it up!! This issue is fantastic. Someone has to kill Lincoln, now that John Wilkes Booth is dead/unconscious. Who will it be??? What role does the insidious Time Trapper play in all this? Where does Superboy come into it? Find out in PLASTIC MAN #9!!!

09:40 / 20.08.04

Yup, it continues to be fun, and the in-jokes (Man of Steel, etc) add a nice extra level.
I hear sales aren’t very high, though this could be internet nonsense, I guess (read : hope)…

20:24 / 23.08.04

I work at a comic shop, and for our store at least, sales are fairly low. The store is VERY mainstream-centric however. It is a great book, one of my favorites. Plas is a great character and Kyle Baker is a Talented artist and writer. Of course, most of the comic fanboys think "god, how can they give that stupid character his own book, and with such a crappy artist!" but #### them. I am shocked that the book is still around and enjoy each issue like it's the last one, because soon enough, it will be.

15:19 / 24.08.04

The last two issues have been especially good. I wonder if his next story arc will be as good as the DCU Contintuity/Abe Lincoln story...

08:31 / 22.10.04

Issue 10 just out, and I think it was one of the best so far – loads of jokes about Bush (which is more amusing given the release date of the comic), about cliches in Superman comics, Smallville’s depiction of Pete Ross, and a couple of well-placed stabs at Identity Crisis and the ‘waiting for the trade’ approach of readers.
Anyone else still reading this, and if so, still enjoying it ?

13:54 / 22.10.04

I read the Halloween vampire issue, but I don't think I saw the new issue out at the store yesterday. It's not the vampire issue? Damn, then I missed it...

14:47 / 22.10.04

It's called 'Intelligence Failure' and has a coverline of Homeland Security, which gives you a taste of the theme... or is it issue 11 ? Oops, I may have erred.
Anyway, certainly worth a look if you're enjoying the series; in a way, once the origin tale's out of the way, it feels as if Kyle's settled into a rather good groove.

05:17 / 09.12.04

The trade collecting the first 6 issues is out. It has the same kind of plastic cover as Forms Stretched To Their Limits.

12:49 / 09.12.04

>> Forms Stretched To Their Limits.

What exactly is this?

I finally got the Homeland Security issue and loved it. I'm skipping the fill-ins by Scott Morse and waiting for Baker to return.

12:12 / 10.12.04

I gather the series is going bi-monthly imminently, which may not be a good sign, though maybe the trade’ll stir some interest; it certainly looks distinctive on the racks…

18:51 / 10.12.04

Amazon link for Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits

DC link for the same

20:50 / 20.12.04

Evan Dorkin was writing a comedy-angled METAL MEN miniseries for DC, and said recently on his site/blog/message board:

>> I heard from a source affiliated with DC that one reason my Metal Men series was canned was because the scripts were deemed "too goofy" by a power-that-be. That's right."Too goofy". The Metal Men. If that's true, I guess I should've had Platinum get raped and killed by Chemo while she was going to have Tin's clockwork baby. Or maybe someone should've read my pitch more closely before they approved it. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm still pretty sore about the whole thing.

One poster on that board later commented "Interesting considering that Plastic Man is so chock full of gritty, urban realism." Nice one.

02:10 / 17.01.05

Just read the latest PLASTIC MAN (#13) and it's terrific. Best panel is a little girl who got in trouble with the FBI for file sharing speeding off on her Big Wheel screaming "I CAN'T GO BACK TO JAIL!!!"

This book really is a gem that almost no one ever talks about.

17:31 / 24.01.05

there's also a great Raiders of the Lost Ark gag in the new issue.

18:51 / 24.01.05

Hmm. This thread kinda makes me want to buy the comic. But I'm broke enough as it is...

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