"Oh, Plastic Man!" (as close to a title we got on this'sun) was originally published in Police Comics #14 (cover-dated December 1942).
Showing posts with label plastic man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plastic man. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Groovy Age Gold: "Oh, Plastic Man!" by Jack Cole
This one's for you, Groove-ophile Keith Donald! I'm sure the rest of y'all hanging out in Groove City will dig this classic Jack Cole Plastic Man masterpiece from Batman #238 (the stunning Super-Spectacular issue from November 1971, don'tcha know!)
"Oh, Plastic Man!" (as close to a title we got on this'sun) was originally published in Police Comics #14 (cover-dated December 1942).
"Oh, Plastic Man!" (as close to a title we got on this'sun) was originally published in Police Comics #14 (cover-dated December 1942).
Friday, January 24, 2014
Masters of Adventure Week! The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Groovy Age Adventure
Greetings, Groove-ophiles! We're gonna finish off the week (man, I should'a made this a month--barely scratched the proverbial surface!) with a whole mess of Ol' Groove's fave Adventure Comics covers from the Groovy Age. I may have used one or four of these masterpieces in other posts, but what the hey--I love 'em! Hope you do, too!
(Thanx to the GCD for the always far-out cover scans!)
Monday, January 20, 2014
Masters of Adventure Week! Groove's Faves: "Codename: Pinkeye!" by Pasko, Staton, and Smith
Greetings, Groove-ophiles! It's been a while since we've had a theme week here on the Diversions, so Ol' Groove thought we'd spend this week digging the Groovy Age best of what might be my fave DC comic of the era--Adventure Comics!
Yesterday (January 19) was Joe Staton's 66th birthday, and ya know how much we love Joe here in Groove City! From E-Man to Avengers to Green Lantern to Scooby Doo to Dick Tracy and back again, Joe is one of the all-time bestest artists to come out of the Groovy Age! Everyone should know by now that Joe has helped reinvigorate the classic Dick Tracy strip with his awesome artistry, so Ol' Groove thought it might be kinda cool to show that Joe was demonstrating his mastery of the Dick Tracy style as far back as 1979 when he worked on the Adventure Comics revival of Plastic Man! Joe, writer Martin Pasko, and editor Len Wein came up with a whole passel of Dick Tracy-style villains like Pink Eye (whom you'll meet in today's post), Brickface, the Trowel, Yellowbelly, Lowbrow, and more. One of my personal faves is "Codename: Pinkeye!" from Adventure Comics #469 (December 1979). Let's check it out and wish Joe another Happy Birthday!!
Yesterday (January 19) was Joe Staton's 66th birthday, and ya know how much we love Joe here in Groove City! From E-Man to Avengers to Green Lantern to Scooby Doo to Dick Tracy and back again, Joe is one of the all-time bestest artists to come out of the Groovy Age! Everyone should know by now that Joe has helped reinvigorate the classic Dick Tracy strip with his awesome artistry, so Ol' Groove thought it might be kinda cool to show that Joe was demonstrating his mastery of the Dick Tracy style as far back as 1979 when he worked on the Adventure Comics revival of Plastic Man! Joe, writer Martin Pasko, and editor Len Wein came up with a whole passel of Dick Tracy-style villains like Pink Eye (whom you'll meet in today's post), Brickface, the Trowel, Yellowbelly, Lowbrow, and more. One of my personal faves is "Codename: Pinkeye!" from Adventure Comics #469 (December 1979). Let's check it out and wish Joe another Happy Birthday!!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Adventuring Through the Groovy Age (and Beyond!): Why Ol' Groove Loved Adventure Comics
What it is, Groove-ophiles! Y'know, Ol' Groove has mentioned many, many times how much he loved Adventure Comics during the Groovy Age. It's one of my all-time fave titles, and that's a fact. Today, I'd like to rap about why Adventure was such a far-out mag. You cool with that? All right!
A lot of folks might look at Adventure's history and think, "Man, that mag was a loser! They never found their groove...they were always changing it, messing with it, throwing stuff to the wall to see if it would stick..." That may be true. But to Ol' Groove's (admittedly twisted) mind, that's what made Adventure so great! I dig variety the most--and variety is what Adventure had the most. Follow me as we ADVENTURE THROUGH THE GROOVY AGE!
When the Groovy Age began, Adventure was trucking along with the Legion of Super-Heroes, as it had been since the early 60s. Jim Shooter stories. Curt Swan art. Neal Adams covers. Awesome stuff--but for some reason, the Legion was losing its following...
So with ish 381 (March 1969), Supergirl traded out with the Legion, with her moving to the front of Adventure while the Legion moved to the back of Action (on and off, that is)...
Supergirl did well enough that after 44 issues, she moved into her own title. When she left, Adventure took an admittedly aimless but pretty cool all-new anthology turn with strips like The Adventurers Club, Captain Fear, and Vigilante, and short horror, fantasy, and sci-fi strips by guys like Sheldon Mayer, Alex Toth, and Gil Kane. That lasted from ish 425-427 (September 1972-January 1973).
In Adventure #428 (April 1973), DC tried another super-heroine as a headliner, this time a brand new, hauntingly mysterious lady by the name of The Black Orchid. She eventually moved to the back of Phantom Stranger, which made room for...
...The Spectre. DC's best ghostly hero made his legendary return in Adventure 431 (in October 1974, appropriately enough). This is the legendary Michael Fleischer/Jim Aparo run you've always heard of, where The Spirit of Vengeance meted out justice by doing things like cutting bad guys in half with giant scissors, or turning 'em into wood and cutting them up with a chainsaw. During this time, Aquaman also made a comeback as a back-up...
...Until he took over the front of the mag with issue 441 (June 1975). The back-ups during this era included a Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory story being drawn by "modern" DC artists like Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell, and Ernie Chua.
Aquaman did well enough that he got his own mag back. When he left Adventure, Superboy replaced him, returning to Adventure (after he'd been replaced with the Legion back in the Silver Age--complicated, ain't it?) with issue 453 (June 1977).
With Adventure Comics #459 we saw the mag transform into a 68 page, ad-less Dollar Comic. What a cornucopia of super-doings this era gave us! The Flash! Wonder Woman! Deadman! New Gods! Elongated Man! Green Lantern! The Justice Society! And oh, yeah, Aquaman again!
Adventure Comics went back to a standard-length comic with issue 467 (October 1979) with two new features: a brand new Starman (with art by Steve Ditko) and the return of Plastic Man.
That lasted until the end of the Groovy Age, when DC added another eight pages to their mags (a la The DC Explosion). Guess who joined Starman and Plastic Man? Yep, Aquaman!
After the Groovy Age, Adventure kept on evolving. Ish 479 (December 1980) saw the debut of a brand new version of Dial "H" for "Hero"...
With issue 491 (June 1982) Adventure transformed into a digest-sized comics with new (Shazam! and Challengers of the Unknown) and old (reprints of the Legion, Spectre, and of course, Aquaman) comics.
Adventure finally bit the dust with ish 503 (June 1983), but was revived again in early 2009 and starred Superboy, the Legion, and the Legion Academy. Still experimenting! I guess it'll bite the dust again this fall when DC does its "New 52". That's a shame. I was curious to see how long it would take for Aquaman to take over again!
A lot of folks might look at Adventure's history and think, "Man, that mag was a loser! They never found their groove...they were always changing it, messing with it, throwing stuff to the wall to see if it would stick..." That may be true. But to Ol' Groove's (admittedly twisted) mind, that's what made Adventure so great! I dig variety the most--and variety is what Adventure had the most. Follow me as we ADVENTURE THROUGH THE GROOVY AGE!
When the Groovy Age began, Adventure was trucking along with the Legion of Super-Heroes, as it had been since the early 60s. Jim Shooter stories. Curt Swan art. Neal Adams covers. Awesome stuff--but for some reason, the Legion was losing its following...
So with ish 381 (March 1969), Supergirl traded out with the Legion, with her moving to the front of Adventure while the Legion moved to the back of Action (on and off, that is)...
Supergirl did well enough that after 44 issues, she moved into her own title. When she left, Adventure took an admittedly aimless but pretty cool all-new anthology turn with strips like The Adventurers Club, Captain Fear, and Vigilante, and short horror, fantasy, and sci-fi strips by guys like Sheldon Mayer, Alex Toth, and Gil Kane. That lasted from ish 425-427 (September 1972-January 1973).
In Adventure #428 (April 1973), DC tried another super-heroine as a headliner, this time a brand new, hauntingly mysterious lady by the name of The Black Orchid. She eventually moved to the back of Phantom Stranger, which made room for...
...The Spectre. DC's best ghostly hero made his legendary return in Adventure 431 (in October 1974, appropriately enough). This is the legendary Michael Fleischer/Jim Aparo run you've always heard of, where The Spirit of Vengeance meted out justice by doing things like cutting bad guys in half with giant scissors, or turning 'em into wood and cutting them up with a chainsaw. During this time, Aquaman also made a comeback as a back-up...
...Until he took over the front of the mag with issue 441 (June 1975). The back-ups during this era included a Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory story being drawn by "modern" DC artists like Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell, and Ernie Chua.
Aquaman did well enough that he got his own mag back. When he left Adventure, Superboy replaced him, returning to Adventure (after he'd been replaced with the Legion back in the Silver Age--complicated, ain't it?) with issue 453 (June 1977).
With Adventure Comics #459 we saw the mag transform into a 68 page, ad-less Dollar Comic. What a cornucopia of super-doings this era gave us! The Flash! Wonder Woman! Deadman! New Gods! Elongated Man! Green Lantern! The Justice Society! And oh, yeah, Aquaman again!
Adventure Comics went back to a standard-length comic with issue 467 (October 1979) with two new features: a brand new Starman (with art by Steve Ditko) and the return of Plastic Man.
That lasted until the end of the Groovy Age, when DC added another eight pages to their mags (a la The DC Explosion). Guess who joined Starman and Plastic Man? Yep, Aquaman!
After the Groovy Age, Adventure kept on evolving. Ish 479 (December 1980) saw the debut of a brand new version of Dial "H" for "Hero"...
With issue 491 (June 1982) Adventure transformed into a digest-sized comics with new (Shazam! and Challengers of the Unknown) and old (reprints of the Legion, Spectre, and of course, Aquaman) comics.
Adventure finally bit the dust with ish 503 (June 1983), but was revived again in early 2009 and starred Superboy, the Legion, and the Legion Academy. Still experimenting! I guess it'll bite the dust again this fall when DC does its "New 52". That's a shame. I was curious to see how long it would take for Aquaman to take over again!
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