Maya Ellison
Plastic Man (Patrick Eel O'Brian) is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics universe. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to incorporate humour into mainstream action storytelling. His adventures were known for their quirky, offbeat structure and surreal slapstick humour. Plastic Man's body has the properties of rubber, allowing him to stretch and contort into any imaginable form. He is known for his wisecracks and puns, and his adventures often involve bizarre characters and sight gags.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Plastic Man |
| Real Name | Patrick "Eel" O'Brian |
| Origin | Exposed to unknown chemicals during a heist |
| Occupation | Superhero |
| Affiliation | Justice League, All-Star Squadron, Freedom Fighters, Heroz4U, The Terrifics |
| Powers | Elasticity, Shape-shifting, Immunity to telepathy |
| First Appearance | Police Comics #1 (1941) |
| Creator | Cartoonist Jack Cole |
| Publisher | Quality Comics (acquired by DC Comics in 1956) |
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What You'll Learn
Plastic Man's origin story
Plastic Man, also known as Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, is a superhero in the DC Universe. He first appeared in Police Comics #1, published in August 1941 by Quality Comics, before the company was acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to incorporate humour into mainstream action storytelling.
Plastic Man has the ability to stretch his body into any imaginable form and shape-shift, thanks to his exposure to the unknown chemicals. He is also immortal, not appearing to age or only doing so at an incredibly slow rate. He has survived for 3000 years and is still active as a superhero. Plastic Man's organs are made of rubber, and he can shift them around in his body to prevent harm. He also possesses ultrasonic detection, with his body starting to "ripple" when an ultrasonic frequency is triggered.
Plastic Man has been a prominent member of the Justice League, recruited by Batman to infiltrate Lex Luthor's Injustice League in the guise of the Joker. He has also been depicted as having a sidekick called Woozy Winks, a former FBI agent who becomes a loyal friend. Plastic Man has been adapted into various media outside of comics, including animated television series and films, and remains a favourite character of many modern comic book creators.
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His creator, Jack Cole
Jack Ralph Cole, born on December 14, 1914, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, was an American cartoonist best known for creating the comedic superhero Plastic Man. Cole was a natural talent in cartooning, and his only formal training was through a Landon Correspondence Course in Cartooning. He worked with Will Eisner, assisting on the writer-artist's signature hero The Spirit, a masked crime-fighter created for a weekly syndicated newspaper supplement. Cole also created his own satiric, Spirit-style hero, Midnight, for Smash Comics No. 18 (Jan. 1941).
In 1941, Cole created Plastic Man for a backup feature in Quality's Police Comics #1. The character became an immediate hit and helped define the medium's visual vocabulary with its groundbreaking use of text and graphics. Plastic Man became one of the few characters to endure from the Golden Age of Comic Books to modern times. Cole's offbeat humour, combined with Plastic Man's ability to take any shape, gave the cartoonist opportunities to experiment and innovate. Plastic Man soon developed into one of the wittiest, most inventive superheroes, with Cole creating eccentric and bizarre wrongdoers for his hero to dispatch.
Cole's career took another dimension when he began drawing slightly risqué, single-panel "good girl art" cartoons for magazines under the pen name "Jake". He then became a cartoon illustrator for Playboy, producing full-page, watercoloured cartoons. Cole's work was so popular that Playboy licensed a cocktail-napkin set featuring his cartoons, the second item of merchandise the company ever licensed. Cole's work for Playboy existed alongside his work on Plastic Man, with his kinetic style becoming more fluid and each page overflowing with sight gags and increasingly bizarre characters.
Cole quit working on Plastic Man in 1954, and the character was soon forgotten by DC Comics. Cole himself died in 1958. He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1999. Despite the character's lack of commercial success, Plastic Man has been a favourite of many modern comic book creators, including writer Grant Morrison and painter Alex Ross.
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His powers and limitations
Plastic Man, also known as Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, is a DC Comics superhero with a range of unique powers and very few limitations. His powers include elasticity, plasticity, and metamorphosis, allowing him to stretch, bend, twist, and contort his body into any shape or form imaginable. He can also alter his size, shrinking down to a few inches or growing to the size of skyscrapers.
One of Plastic Man's most notable abilities is his complete control over his molecular structure, giving him the power to manipulate his shape, size, and density at will. This control over his physiology makes him highly durable and resistant to conventional means of harm, such as bullets, blasts, and blunt force attacks. He can even withstand corrosives, punctures, and concussions without sustaining serious injuries.
Plastic Man's powers also grant him superhuman agility and strength. His stretching abilities enhance his flexibility and coordination, and strength, allowing him to easily throw a 1,400-pound shark several yards away. He can also alter his bodily mass and physical constitution, adding more muscle mass to increase his strength.
However, Plastic Man does have some limitations. One of his main limitations is his difficulty in changing colour. While he can change colour with intense concentration, it is a challenging and time-consuming process, so he typically sticks to his familiar red, black, and yellow colour scheme. Additionally, despite his rubber-like consistency, Plastic Man is vulnerable to electricity, as his body can conduct electricity, causing him great pain. He is also vulnerable to extreme temperatures, melting in intense heat and stiffening in extreme cold.
Plastic Man's mind is also unaffected by telepathy, as Batman once pointed out that "Plastic Man's mind is no longer organic. It's untouchable by telepathy." This makes him resistant to mental attacks and gives him an advantage over other superheroes who are susceptible to mind control.
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His sidekick, Woozy Winks
Wolfgang "Woozy" Winks is the bumbling, inept, and comical sidekick of Plastic Man. First appearing in Police Comics #13 in November 1942, Woozy Winks is a former criminal turned superhero partner. His personality and appearance are based on Lou Costello and Hugh Herbert, respectively. He is bumbling, overweight, and slobbish in appearance, and his flaws often lead him into hilarious danger.
Woozy Winks was created by Jack Cole, who felt that Plastic Man needed a sidekick. In his first appearance, Winks is a swami who is saved from drowning by Plastic Man. In return, Plastic Man asks for proof of experience from Winks, and so Winks commits a wave of crimes to get his attention. Winks is rewarded with the gift of invulnerability, becoming "the man who cannot be harmed." However, he decides to use his gift for evil and turns to a life of crime.
Plastic Man, whose alter ego is Eel O'Brian, then assumes his identity and sets himself up to be arrested by Winks. Winks receives a $1000 reward, which he later returns to the police. After this, Winks becomes a full-time partner of Plastic Man, occasionally assisting him with his skills in investigation and combat. In an alternate origin story, Winks is presented as a competent agent who becomes dimwitted after being exposed to Plastic Man's blood.
Woozy Winks has been called one of the "most unique" sidekicks in comics, with his portly shape and bumbling idiocy allowing for more comedy in Plastic Man's stories. He has appeared as an on-again, off-again sidekick to Plastic Man and has been featured in other media, such as the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, where he is voiced by Stephen Root.
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His appearances in other media
Plastic Man has been adapted into several animated television series and films, with various actors, including Tom Kenny, Dana Snyder, and Michael Bell, voicing the character.
In the 1990s, writer Grant Morrison included Plastic Man in their revival of the Justice League. He has also been featured in covers and stories of the Justice League by painter Alex Ross. Writer-artist Kyle Baker wrote and illustrated an award-winning Plastic Man series. Frank Miller included Plastic Man in the Justice League in the comics "All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder" and "The Dark Knight Strikes Again."
Plastic Man appears in the 2006 "One Year Later" DC Comics crossover storyline that followed the "Infinite Crisis" crossover. A young man with similar powers and appearance to Plastic Man appears briefly in the superteam series "Teen Titans Vol."
Plastic Man was featured in the DC Rebirth in 2016, which restored its continuity to a form much like it was before "The New 52."
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Frequently asked questions
Plastic Man, or ''Plas'' to his friends, is a superhero with shape-shifting abilities, allowing him to impersonate anyone. He was created by cartoonist Jack Cole and first appeared in Police Comics #1 (August 1941). Plastic Man was originally a criminal named Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, who was exposed to an unknown acid, giving him his elastic powers.
Plastic Man can stretch and shape-shift his body into any imaginable form. He is also able to impersonate anyone, from a beautiful woman to Adolf Hitler. However, he is vulnerable to intense heat, which causes him to melt, and cold, which stiffens him.
Plastic Man was originally published by Quality Comics and was one of their signature characters during the Golden Age of Comic Books (1938-1954). DC Comics later acquired the character when Quality Comics shut down in 1956. Plastic Man has since been published in several solo series and has interacted with other DC characters such as Batman as a member of the Justice League.
