Friday, August 18, 2017
Making a Splash: Joe Staton and Bob Smith's Plastic Man
Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Ya know, when the final Dollar Comics issue of Adventure Comics (#466) hit the stands, Teen Groove was rather bummed. No more cool stories featuring JSA, Aquaman, or Deadman. But it was kinda hard to stay bummed when a month later, standard-sized ish 467 came out (in October 1979) with a cool new Starman (by Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko, and Romeo Tanghal) series...splitting the book with the return of Plastic Man, written for two issues by Len Wein, who was followed by writer Martin Pasko. The stories were different and fun, but the big (and Ol' Groove means big) attraction for the Plas series was the art by penciler Joe Staton and finisher Bob Smith. If ever an artist was born to follow in the footsteps of Jack Cole, t'was Joe Staton. After all, wasn't part (the best part many might say) of Joe and Nick Cuti's E-Man inspired by Cole's Plas? And just how perfect for Plas was the art team of Staton and Smith? Just take a look for yourself, baby...
Great post, Groove!
ReplyDeleteAnd yep, I had that same reaction: I absolutely loved the dollar comic incarnation of Adventure, but when that first issue with the split Plastic Man/Starman format came out I was hooked in right away. I loved both of those features equally (and I still kind of wish DC would collect and reprint both the Pasko/Staton Plastic Man and all of the Prince Gavyn Starman stories).
I read Codename: Pinkeye quite a while back (thank you for posting it!) and have been hoping that you would post more of these fun stories. These splash pages are awesome. And don't forget that the Pasko / Staton / Smith dream team did 4 more Plas stories: 1 in World's Finest, 2 in Super Friends, and a full-length team-up with Superman in DC Comics Presents. I'd love to see any or all of them.
ReplyDeleteI do plan on running more of the Staton/Smith Plas stories! Stay tuned!
DeleteOh man, I loved that Adventure Comics Plastic Man series. Joe Staton's pencils were incredible. My favorite version of Plas after Jack Cole's. I dig it so much, I still have ever single issue of that run.
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