Why does DC have Plastic Man AND Elongated Man?

[Güicho]

Anyone remember Super Stretch and Micro Woman



I actually preferred them to Plaz, Mr. Fantastic, and Ralph & Sue Dibny

[scary harpy]

Anyone remember Super Stretch and Micro Woman



I actually preferred them to Plaz, Mr. Fantastic, and Ralph & Sue Dibny

I remembered them and, especially, Web Woman.

I so wish something had been done with them. Curse you, L’Oréal .

[JudicatorPrime]

Anyone remember Super Stretch and Micro Woman?

Yep, although my favorite cartoons from back then was Space Ghost followed by the Space Sentinels. Oddly enough, it always bothered me that Thor had blond hair in the comics, but it never bothered me that Hercules did in the cartoon.

[Jim Kelly]

Never be ashamed of asking.

Some of the older fans had an comics lore advantage in growing up in a time when The Big Two frequently ran reprints of their published inventory. DC's late '70s experiments with $1 100-page (more like 80 when you accounted for the covers and ads, but still pretty cool) usually included Golden Age material, and a lot of their acquired properties. They also ran specials that were largely reprints of older stuff. Those reprints were where I got introduced to characters like Plastic Man, the JSA, and The Ray.

In today's market that doesn't make sense for the publishers, but I confess that I miss it.

It's actually a good question why DC has a Plastic Man and an Elongated Man. I don't think anyone knows for sure the answer. I've offered what seem to be explanations, but I don't know if those explanations are true. Because it happened so long ago, nobody knows for sure. The question just gives us a chance to think about the characters and talk about them--since they are two of my favourite characters, I'm happy that the question was asked.

I believe the first time DC reprinted the Jack Cole Plastic Man was in DC SPECIAL 15 (November-December 1971), which was the last issue of this title for a few years. I had got the issue before that, but I missed this one and I only heard vague rumours of such a comic that existed, but I never found it back then. And it wasn't like there was an internet that could help you find such a comic in those days.

Strangely Dick Giordano did the cover--you can see his distinctive DG symbol. He did a lot of DC covers around that time, but he also happened to be the Elongated Man artist for THE FLASH at that time.



The first comic that I got with a Jack Cole reprint was BATMAN 238 (January 1972)--with a Neal Adams cover.



But what really brought me around to appreciating the Jack Cole character were the write-ups in THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS Vol. 2 (1972) and in THE COMIC-BOOK BOOK (1973): "The Rehabilitation of Eel O'Brian" by Don Thompson.