DC Comics is doubling down on Plastic Man.
The Stretchable Sleuth already is appearing as a member of new super-team The Terrifics and in June will get his own solo miniseries.
And for the first time, Plastic Man's antics will be handled by a pair of female creators — writer Gail Simone and artist Adriana Melo. The upcoming six-issue series "is sexy and stretchy and I'm seriously hoping it offends ALL the best people!" Simone said in a March 13 news release from DC.
Simone went further in describing Plastic Man.
"He's the jester, the joke, the stretchy weirdo," she said. "He's not credible. He's not reliable. He's … well, he's Plastic Man."
"He's like a stretchy Swamp Thing or the bouncy Batman," she added. "Writing him is a goofy, snarky honor and I'm thrilled to be part of his rubber ribaldry."
(Comic book writers — especially those writing off-the-wall characters — are prone to use terms like "rubber ribaldry.")
To warm up for drawing Plastic Man, Melo worked on a bizarre comic that combined DC characters Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy with Betty and Veronica, the gals who have been battling over Archie for decades in the pages of many Archie Comics titles.
In the new Plastic Man title, "there's still the comedic side of the character with the wacky, witty comebacks, but he can also be tough, sarcastic and cold," Melo said. "It translates into fun for the readers PLUS tons of fun for me to draw."
Based on the cover of the first issue of the series, drawn by Aaron Lopresti, Plastic Man will be back to his red-and-yellow togs, as compared to the new black-and-silver costume he's wearing in The Terrifics. Comics nerds may already be debating the significance of the costume switch.
Simone added that Plastic Man, who's been bouncing around the pop culture world since 1941, is "the original humor hero jock, and I think that everyone from Lobo to the Mask to Deadpool to Harley Quinn follows a little bit in his footsteps."
"If you read his best stories, he's always a little bit bawdy, a little bit messed up, and that really is my favorite kind of hero," she added.
To date, Plastic Man's fame peaked in the late 1970s when he had his own Saturday morning cartoon for a couple of seasons. But you can't keep a good idea down, especially when superhero movies have been dominating movie screens for almost 20 years.
Allow me again to suggest the movie title "Plastic Man: Polywood Nights." I mean, we just had a movie called "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" get nominated for an Oscar. Anything can happen.
Until then, keep an eye out for Plastic Man # 1, coming to a comic shop near you in June.
