Plastic Man No More #2 – Christopher Cantwell, Writer; Alex Lins, Jacob Edgar, Artists; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Plastic Man is a character who is usually played for laughs, even though he’s one of the most powerful heroes in the DCU. But to be fair, he’s really funny – until he’s not. This miniseries seems to be delving into what happens when Eel O’Brien’s luck runs out. After an accident in the field, his unique molecular bonds are breaking down and causing him to slowly dissolve. He almost seemed at peace with his own death, having screwed up most things in his life – but when he realizes that his son Luke could have the same fate waiting for him, he becomes determined to cure himself by any means necessary. With the help of loyal pal Woozy Winks and a doctor with a unique background in metahuman molecular biology, he comes up with a scheme that involves a kidnapping – disguised as a rescue mission. Now he just to convince the Justice League to give him its backing.
This issue uses a lot of rare characters, starting with the kidnapping victim – Uranium, the lost Metal Man and one of the team’s villains. He’s been captured by the mysterious Dr. No-Face, a disfigured mad scientist with his own motivations for wanting to break down the nuclear-powered robot. The rescue mission goes horribly wrong in some ways I didn’t expect, as Eel discovers that when you hit rock bottom, there’s still a whole lot longer to go. The action and weird comic book stuff in this issue is great, but I wasn’t expecting it to get so emotional. There’s a fantastic scene between Eel’s son and his ex as they start to reckon with what this means that will be all too familiar to anyone who grew up with a deadbeat dad. While Black Label has been dominated by Batman so far, it’s great to see it start to plumb which characters can have a very different type of story told about them.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
