Sometimes it’s easy to believe in the worst things about yourself.
Creative Staff:
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Adriana Melo
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Eel didn’t like it when a spy blackmailed him over his secret identity, and then a kid found out, and now the dancers at his club know and the concept of a secret identity has gotten stretched way the heck out of whack. But the dancers are helping him find the kid, who was nabbed by some bad guys who don’t know his secret identity, just his costumed persona, which is still a terrible day, even in his pretty rotten life.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Sometimes an issue goes by in a blink because you’re just going down the rollercoaster of material and it’s over before you realize it. Sometimes there’s just not that much there to latch onto and its a breezy read for that alone. Sometimes it can be two things. That’s what the second installment of Plastic Man feels like in that it’s a fun and silly rollercoaster that Gail Simone gives us but it’s also very light on material that nudges the storyline forward. It does at least keep things moving with Plas himself and that’s a big plus. It’s also a big plus to have Adriana Melo and Kelly Fitzpatrick turning in some great stuff here with a lot of fun stretchy moments and expressions because of it. Plas is an easy one to work with in this regard as he can be really expressive, but Melo nails some great stuff with the rest of the cast as well.
The main focus here is that we get Plas looking for the kid that helped him escape from the cops in the previous issue. He’s still really wigged out by the whole experience because it was until his hero turn that he actually did anything to a cop, which is surprisingly for even a small time thug that he was as Eel O’Brian. The escape bit is pretty fun and seeing him change into a glider to sneak in the water tower the kid is using as his hideout is nicely done, even if it reaffirms that the kid is completely on his own. But this is where Plas really beats himself up after the fact as the place gets stormed by Batman (er, it’s really Man-Bat, but Plas is panicked) and that has him booking it out of there without the kid, giving him up. It’s somewhat understandable when you have a deep for of Batman himself and aren’t looking too closely to see that it really is Man-Bat.
What gets things moving is when Lila and Doris find him (after Doris tells Lila to ditch the bum) passed out in a parking lot. That has him filling them in on things but it also helps him to sort events for himself, reminding him that he is a hero and has to go save the day and help the kid. Damn the consequences and all that jazz. I’m amused by how both Doris and Lila view him and I definitely like seeing him trying to do the right thing to establish himself under this new persona, which isn’t easy as he leans into his weird ways a lot as we see in the early pages of the book. His skewed view of the world has its moments, particularly his conflation of the man and the bat, and I like how he’s becoming earnest about the kid, which could be his sidekick depending on things unfold here and who survives what’s going down.
In Summary:
As much as I enjoyed the first issue of the series and the way it had worked backward and forward on the timeline, this one doesn’t have quite the same impact. It’s a little more streamlined and straightforward which works well enough and even the humor feels toned down a touch after some of the absurdity of the first. O’Brian is certainly a draw and I like him in both his normal form and his hero mode as they’re fascinating to watch in how they move and interact with people. With a few more issues to go this can pretty much go anywhere so I’m curious to see where it wants to further establish itself before wrapping thinhs up.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: DC Comics via DC Universe
Release Date: July 11th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
