Plastic Man #2 Review and **SPOILERS**

Where’s the Waif That Said “Wang?”

Writer: Gail Simone 

Artist: Adriana Melo 

Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick 

Letterer: Simon Bowland 

Cover Artist: Bilquis Evely with Mat Lopes 

Editor: Kristy Quinn 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: July 11, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Back into the mystery that is Gail Simone and Adriana Melo’s Plastic Man! And I don’t mean the mystery within the story, but the sheer mystery of the character and series. What a screwball! Have a peek at my thoughts on the second issue, commencing heretofore!

Explain It!

The table having been set, with dribble glasses and gag bendy straws, we pick up this issue to find Plastic Man searching for Pado Saskatoon, the Suave Prince of downtown, that young person in a hoodie that taught Plas the slang term “wang” last issue. Turns out that after being framed for a murder where the victim had “JLA” scrawled next to his corpse, Pado helped Plastic Man escape the cops by hiding a bone-dry water tower—which works fine, until a super scary Batman breaks right through the structure! Did you know that no adhesive or nails are used in the construction of wooden water towers? They are put together like barrels, banded with steel and then the liquid within causes the wood to swell and make it water-tight. So Batman smashing through one in this fashion could have happened! If there was such a thing as Batman. Or Plastic Man. Or a person named Pado Saskatoon. Anyway, Batman comes smashing through the water tower looking like a monster, so Plas skedaddles off, leaving Saskatoon to deal with Bats, man…or is it man, Bats?

All of this is related to two friends of Plastic Man, Doris and Lila, while in his regular guise as Eel O’Brien. He also tells them how he turned into the Stretch Harmstrong, which we learned last issue. While chatting with these ladies, Plastic Man’s phone rings—which is odd, since he doesn’t own a phone. It’s Obscura, a counter-terrorism expert folks might remember from Gail Simone’s run on Batgirl. She has a lead on Saskatoon, and give P-Man the deets—warning him that the folks that have Pado will not hesitate to murder the little whelp. So if they won’t hesitate, then the kid is dead already, right? Looks like this situation just solved itself. Now Plastic Man can go eat a dozen donuts skewered onto his hyper-extended index finger, which is what I would do if I had his abilities.

But no, Plastic Man is a hero so he heads out to find that bugger Saskatoon. The kid is being held in a storage container just off shore, which is no big deal for Plas to high-step right into and grab the rugrat—at which time he learns that Pado Saskatoon is a girl! All of this crap Plas has to deal with, and now cooties?? Also, this should technically make her the Suave Princess, but I expect she identifies as a Prince, which is good enough for me. Immediately upon grabbing Pado, Batman comes colliding into Plastic Man again, except it’s not Batman but Man-Bat! Which actually makes more sense, considering how monstrous Batman was rendered earlier at the water tower. Plas and Man-Bat tussle for a while, Plas taking on some awesome forms that need to be seen to be fully enjoyed, until our bendy pal decides he doesn’t wanna fight no more—he wants to join up with Man-Bat’s outfit!

This was a really enjoyable issue from start to finish. I especially enjoyed how the story was told by filling in some missing time from the last page of the previous issue to the first page of this one, it was a good narrative device and a far sight interesting than picking up immediately from where we left off. The art is terrific, and something I didn’t get into in this review is the pantheon of forms and shapes Plastic Man takes on throughout the story—whether for reasons of action, comedy, or to pass someone a cup of coffee from across the room. I also didn’t get into the comedy jokes being spat out at a good rate of fire, these make the book a scream to read and should not be spoiled. Indeed, unless you have some kind of problem with guys who wear goggles, I can’t imagine you will dislike this book. The creative team is working very well together to present a supremely entertaining and hilarious comic book series.

Bits and Pieces:

Now that we know who Plastic Man is, we spend some time learning how Plastic Man does...which is to sproing himself to and fro like a rubber chicken with its head cut off. The ever-wang Suave Prince in a hoodie takes a larger role in the story, but nothing could ever crowd out the wacky antics of Plas. A highly enjoyable book, full of yuks and gags.

8.5/10