Number 1541: Plastic Men

This is the final entry for our Week of Quality, showcasing characters from Quality Comics.

I showed you this cover a few weeks ago as part of my ongoing search for “injury-to-the-eye”* motifs in Jack Cole’s work:

It’s the cover for this entertaining story of Plastic Man robots being made out of recycled tires. (It was published during World War II; tires were rationed and at a premium.) The sequence of Woozy as a Plastic Man is inspired. The Grand Comics Database credits Jack Cole for writing, pencils and inks. From Police Comics #24 (1943):

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Number 1515: Little brain, big body

A week ago I showed the Jack Cole story, “Murder, Morphine and Me” from True Crime #2. It featured the “injury to the eye motif” panel in Fredric Wertham’s anti-comics screed, Seduction of the Innocent. A week later I’m showing you more Jack Cole, and one other injury to the eye panel.

Above is the cover of Police Comics #24, which is yet another example. Kids saw this sort of thing every time they saw a Three Stooges film short. Did Jack Cole have a thing about attacking eyeballs? I don’t know, but if you know of any similar panels in other stories of his let me know.

Eyeball attacks notwithstanding, this is a totally screwball story, which has to be read to be appreciated. You know you’re in the middle of something bizarre when you see a panel where the top of a man’s head is blown off and on the ground nearby lies a waiting brain.

From Police Comics #11 (1942):

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Number 1511: Drawn into a life of crime!

“Murder, Morphine and Me” is a story that other blogs have already posted, but I can’t resist showing this incredible melodrama by Jack Cole. It’s from True Crime Comics #2 (1947). There’s a lot of plot and much shoot-em-up action for the mere 14 pages it takes to tell the story.

It’s also, as knowledgeable fans know, infamous for being included in Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham, M.D. with the above “injury-to-the-eye motif” panel. I repeat my assertion that in 1954 when SOTI was published many comic panels that Wertham showed were in comics long unavailable to the average reader, but it didn’t make any difference. The shock value was what he was going for, and the panel certainly had that.

In 1954 Jack Cole was making his transition from comic book artist to gag cartoonist (and a new found fame working for Hugh Hefner at Playboy). “Murder, Morphine and Me” probably wasn’t in his portfolio to be shown to art directors for the more sophisticated cartooning Cole became known for. But it is an indelible example of Jack Cole pulling out all the stops on a masterpiece of late forties comic book storytelling and excesses.

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Number 1469: Plastic Man...not who he appears to be

We’re beginning a theme week. I’m calling it Week of Quality, because the comics featuring during my four postings will all be from the Quality Comics line of the 1940s.

Our first story from Police Comics #19 (1943). We are reminded that Plastic Man is more than a secret identity for public enemy Eel O’Brian. While appearing as Plastic Man Eel has a whole other face. It’s only when he relaxes his facial muscles that it returns to Eel’s face. Most Plastic Man stories don’t involve anything about Plas’ secret identity, so unlike some superdoers who are constantly having to protect their secret identity, Plas apparently doesn't worry about it all that much.

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