Police Comics #1 (1941)
by Jack Cole
cover by Gill Fox
This is easily the comic that introduced the most superheroes with a lasting legacy.
Firebrand gets the cover, but he’s definitely not the one people remember.
I will touch on Firebrand later, and there’s so much in here that it will take multiple reviews.
But first let’s focus on the hero that is by far the most popular today: the original stretchy superhero, Plastic Man.
Already from the first page you can tell the artwork is VERY distinct from anything else in the Golden Age!
We begin with a crime going wrong, which includes small criminal Eel O’Brian being hit by acid in a chemical plant.
Obviously, after being hit by acid O’Brian is able to run away just fine…
…through a swamp…
…and up a mountain. What the heck was in that acid???
O’Brian ends up waking up in a monastery, of all places!!!
Another thing that makes Plastic Man stand out is that before becoming a hero he used to be a criminal. With the complicated exception of Namor, I think we have to wait until the Silver Age before we see someone else like him.
His reason for leaving crime and becoming a hero is just that someone was finally kind to him.
And that’s before he realizes he has super-powers! Because apparently that’s what acid does.
Notice Plastic Man literally stretching his arms beyond the panels! This series will be VERY creative with how characters interact with the layout.
Also Plastic Man often stretches the limit between superpower and body horror.
O’Brian makes use of his criminal connections to get involved in another crime…
…only to then show up as Plastic Man.
One thing’s for sure: you can never expect what Plastic Man is going to transform into next!
This is a rare occasion where the slang from the 40s is simultaneously antiquated and modern.
Of course I fully expected Plastic Man to survive the fall. What I definitely did NOT expect was him still keeping a secret identity.
In fact the criminals don’t even learn O’Brian is Plastic Man.
And that’s how it ends.
Historical significance: 4/10
Plastic Man will eventually become an important character, but basically very little of the first story survives.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Acid gives you stretchy powers!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Without Jack Cole’s artwork it would be a rather standard story, but he REALLY elevates. That being said it’s very brief (just 6 pages) and O’Brian change of heart is ridiculously fast.
How close is this to the modern character? 6/10
While Plastic Man is definitely the first stretchy superhero (although Thin Man got soooo close, his power is a bit different), that’s just limiting the absurdity of what he can do.
He would receive his own comic relief sidekick Woozy Winks in Police Comics #13.
While it’s weird from a modern perspective to give PLASTIC MAN a comic relief, in the Golden Age he mostly acted as the straight man.
Plastic Man’s stories are unique in the Golden Age. There’s a heavy emphasis on comedy, sure, but they’re not comedic stories. In fact, despite the fact that he’s the one with the silly power, Plastic Man is often the only sane person around.
Combined with Jack Cole’s artistic genius, he quickly becomes one of Quality’s most popular characters.
His run on Police Comics lasts until #102, all the way up to 1950 (that’s 25 issues before the series ends).
But he also has his own regular series, lasting a respectable 64 issues from 1944 to 1956.
Speaking of 1956, that’s the year when Quality ceased publications and DC Comics bought the rights to the characters.
You may remember that Blackhawks continued publications without missing a single month after the acquisition, but Plastic Man didn’t make the cut: DC didn’t seem interested in him.
In fact they didn’t do ANYTHING with him for ten years. The closest thing was Robby Reed transforming into a copy of Plastic Man in House of Mystery #160.
The same year, DC makes a serious effort to relaunch him with a regular series. But now that Jack Cole is no longer on it, it can only last 20 issues and is cancelled in 1977.
Despite the comic not being a smashing success, it must have had SOME impact because two years later he’s the protagonist of a whole cartoon series.
“The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show” by Ruby-Spears Productions runs from 1979 to 1981, for 5 seasons and a total of 112 episodes.
I’ve never seen a single episode of this, but I hear the animation is good for the times.
It also had segments in live action to present the cartoon, which are now part of my living nightmares.
Plastic Man is somewhat unique among Golden Age DC Characters in that he doesn’t seem to find his place anywhere, whether it’s Earth-One (the main universe) or Earth-Two (where most other Golden Age characters end up) or even Earth-X where most other Quality heroes transition.
In fact his first interaction with a Earth-One series (if we dismiss the Dial-H anomaly) is Brave And The Bold #76 from 1968.
Not really sure how Batman knows him.
In fact the two team up several times! Which surprisingly works, considering how different they are.
He continues to be around, having his own serial on Adventure Comics from 1980 to 1983.
His post-Crisis career has a tough start: his new series is just 4 issues, from 1988 to 1989.
The 80s and 90s are pretty rough for Plastic Man, who seems to be fading into obscurity… until 1998, where he joins the Justice League on Grant Morrison’s JLA #15.
That was the breakthrough Plastic Man had been waiting for since the end of the Golden Age, because now he was playing in the big leagues, and I think it’s fair to say he’s not leaving anytime soon.
What else was in Police Comics #1?
I will review Phantom Lady and Human Bomb separately.
But there’s also the cover character, Firebrand. Despite the name he doesn’t have fire powers: he’s just a playboy with a weird shirt.
He only lasts 13 issues of Police Comics and is not really all that notable, but the codename sticks.
It’s used by a member of the All-Star Squadron that you might recognize mostly from her surprisingly lengthy cameo in Crisis Of Infinite Earths.
Interestingly, the female Firebrand was created to replace a completely different Quality Comics character named Wildfire. Who I’m guessing wasn’t used because she shared the name with the Legionnaire.
That was a Roy Thomas move, so I’m surprised he didn’t go ahead and say the Golden Age Quality heroine was an ancestor of the guy living in the 30th century.
But back to Police Comics #1, it also sees the debut of one of superheroes with the weirdest names: 711. Yes, his name is a number.
He lasts until Police Comics #16.
We also have Super Snooper and Dewey Drip, definitely more cartoony than even Plastic Man.
Plus a couple of adventure and “tough guy” stories, including Chic Carter that keeps popping up in the weirdest places.
Mouthpiece lasts 13 issues, just like Firebrand.
And if you think Mouthpiece has a name that wouldn’t work today, there’s also a prose story…
…starring a guy named Dick Mace.
Plastic Man appeared in the All Star Squadron in the 80s. He was a member of the team and also their FBI liaison. Rod Reilly , the male Firebrand, made appearances there also and as Firebrand he was a member of the Freedom Fighters in their series in the 70s.
Wow, the Plastic Man cartoon lasted 5 seasons in just one year? (1979 to 1979 as you say)
I wouldn’t put it past Plastic Man to be that insane 🙂 but you’re right, it lasted until 1981.
Fixed, thanks!
711’s name comes from his prisoner number (he’s in jail for life, regularly breaking out to fight crime – it’s golden Age luncay at its finest) but it also comes from craps (the dice game, not some kind of bowel problem) and was the title of a popular Benny Goodman song the year before this comic came out. It wouldn’t have sounded as odd back then as it feels these days, certainly no stranger than GI Joe’s Snake Eyes (another craps term). There’s a US convenience store chain called 7-Eleven, which is probably the first thing most folks would think of unless they gamble a lot. The name there refers to their original hours – 7AM to 11PM seven days a week, which was pretty long hours back in the 40s.