COVER STORY: Plastic Man #33
The cover of Plastic Man #33 (January 1952) is a slight case of surrealism meeting horror in a stew of comic greatness. As the bubbles of the boiling stew rise from the melting pot holding Plas, his friend Woozy Winks recoils in wide-eyed fright at what he sees.
The man stirring the pot is as wild, obsessed and determined as anyone who ever graced a cover at EC, Harvey or any other company that was stretching the then-current levels of acceptability in morality, art and gruesomeness.
In some ways the image could be seen as an acknowledgment of the way that the public’s interest in superheroes had declined over the last few years. Companies such as Quality, DC and Timely were facing real problems as westerns, horror, romance and the ever-present funny animal books comprised most of the sales on newsstands.
While the pencils (attributed to Plastic Man’s creator and long time cover artist Jack Cole) are certainly perfect for the medium, it is the color that really sells this cover as something else.
The top of the cover is a dark purple, a shade which gradually lightens as we move to the center of the action. Sitting there is a splash of orange which moves horizontally across the center of the cover. That splash pulls our eyes downward as we see his chin and famous glasses pouring over the side.
A puddle of former Plastic Man slips across the purple table. It is only then that we look to the right to see the flames rising under the pot. The flames, burning bright yellow with lines of lighter orange, are moving upwards along the side of the kettle.
Those curved and seemingly random flames rising from a vent (a bar-b-que?) expertly play off the darkness of the kettle and the purple background creating a sense of real and threatening heat.
By the time this great cover appears Plastic Man was close to the end of a good long run on the covers created for the publishing company Quality Comics. In less than four years many of the company’s best characters would be sold to DC.
Plastic Man first appeared in Police Comics #1 (August 1941) as a short feature. By issue #5 (December 1941), he was the cover feature, a position he held until #102 (October 1950) when the changing tastes of the reading public caused editors to move the focus of the book to more real life detectives.
The hero was always a big hit with of fans. They loved the combination of absurdity and heroic escapades. Take a look at the cover to Police Comics #24 (November 1942).
It makes perfect sense for Plastic Man to rise out of the barrel of the crook’s gun. But in the world of comic books and superheroes it makes no sense at all for him to mimic the action of Moe Howard from the Three Stooges as he gouges the eyes of the crook with two fingers… Don’t the rules of comic book heroics dictate that he should have formed a massive fist coming down on the gap-toothed crook?
The mixture of humor and heroics of Jack Cole’s initial run on the character stayed with Plastic Man for the remaining years of his title. A year after #33 hit newsstands; issue #43 (November 1953) features a pretty funny cover, one that hints at future events.
The pencils are by Dick Dillin, who at the time was about fifteen years from his famous twelve-year run as artist on Justice League of America. Woozy is at the center and Plastic Man’s arms are stretching out in front of him, growing in size as they reach for the villain dressed as a bat who is carrying his friend off.
With a full yellow moon in the background, the hills in the background and a castle to the left, the setting looks suspiciously like a close up scene that could be taking place in the same exact place another famous cover in comic history takes place.
And let’s not say too much about the bat with a face. You could even call him a bat-man.
In 1956, just about two and a half, maybe three years after this cover appeared, DC purchased Plas, Woozy, Blackhawk and many other characters from Quality, a fact that many often forget. This includes famed editor and comic visionary Julius Schwartz.
Often credited for helping to create DC’s own stretchable sleuth The Elongated Man at the end of the fifties, it has been said many times that he had no idea that DC owned Plastic Man at the same time.
Thank goodness there was no e-mail at the time for this slip in corporate communication has benefited fans for decades ever since. Both Plastic Man and The Elongated Man have gone onto memorable roles inside the world of DC.
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COVER STORY: Plastic Man #33
The cover of Plastic Man #33 (January 1952) is a slight case of surrealism meeting horror in a stew of comic greatness. As the bubbles of the boiling stew rise from the melting pot holding Plas, his friend Woozy Winks recoils in wide-eyed fright at what he sees.
The man stirring the pot is as wild, obsessed and determined as anyone who ever graced a cover at EC, Harvey or any other company that was stretching the then-current levels of acceptability in morality, art and gruesomeness.
In some ways the image could be seen as an acknowledgment of the way that the public’s interest in superheroes had declined over the last few years. Companies such as Quality, DC and Timely were facing real problems as westerns, horror, romance and the ever-present funny animal books comprised most of the sales on newsstands.
While the pencils (attributed to Plastic Man’s creator and long time cover artist Jack Cole) are certainly perfect for the medium, it is the color that really sells this cover as something else.
The top of the cover is a dark purple, a shade which gradually lightens as we move to the center of the action. Sitting there is a splash of orange which moves horizontally across the center of the cover. That splash pulls our eyes downward as we see his chin and famous glasses pouring over the side.
A puddle of former Plastic Man slips across the purple table. It is only then that we look to the right to see the flames rising under the pot. The flames, burning bright yellow with lines of lighter orange, are moving upwards along the side of the kettle.
Those curved and seemingly random flames rising from a vent (a bar-b-que?) expertly play off the darkness of the kettle and the purple background creating a sense of real and threatening heat.
By the time this great cover appears Plastic Man was close to the end of a good long run on the covers created for the publishing company Quality Comics. In less than four years many of the company’s best characters would be sold to DC.
Plastic Man first appeared in Police Comics #1 (August 1941) as a short feature. By issue #5 (December 1941), he was the cover feature, a position he held until #102 (October 1950) when the changing tastes of the reading public caused editors to move the focus of the book to more real life detectives.
The hero was always a big hit with of fans. They loved the combination of absurdity and heroic escapades. Take a look at the cover to Police Comics #24 (November 1942).
It makes perfect sense for Plastic Man to rise out of the barrel of the crook’s gun. But in the world of comic books and superheroes it makes no sense at all for him to mimic the action of Moe Howard from the Three Stooges as he gouges the eyes of the crook with two fingers… Don’t the rules of comic book heroics dictate that he should have formed a massive fist coming down on the gap-toothed crook?
The mixture of humor and heroics of Jack Cole’s initial run on the character stayed with Plastic Man for the remaining years of his title. A year after #33 hit newsstands; issue #43 (November 1953) features a pretty funny cover, one that hints at future events.
The pencils are by Dick Dillin, who at the time was about fifteen years from his famous twelve-year run as artist on Justice League of America. Woozy is at the center and Plastic Man’s arms are stretching out in front of him, growing in size as they reach for the villain dressed as a bat who is carrying his friend off.
With a full yellow moon in the background, the hills in the background and a castle to the left, the setting looks suspiciously like a close up scene that could be taking place in the same exact place another famous cover in comic history takes place.
And let’s not say too much about the bat with a face. You could even call him a bat-man.
In 1956, just about two and a half, maybe three years after this cover appeared, DC purchased Plas, Woozy, Blackhawk and many other characters from Quality, a fact that many often forget. This includes famed editor and comic visionary Julius Schwartz.
Often credited for helping to create DC’s own stretchable sleuth The Elongated Man at the end of the fifties, it has been said many times that he had no idea that DC owned Plastic Man at the same time.
Thank goodness there was no e-mail at the time for this slip in corporate communication has benefited fans for decades ever since. Both Plastic Man and The Elongated Man have gone onto memorable roles inside the world of DC.
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