DC Comics has announced a new four-issue DC Black Label series coming this September titled Plastic Man No More. The Eisner-nominated creative team of Christopher Cantwell (Batman: The Brave and The Bold) and Alex Lins (Immortal Hulk) are teaming up for what's being described as a "Hard-Boiled Plastic Man Noir."
The character remains a firm fan favourite and there have long been rumblings about him taking centre stage in a movie. Unfortunately, none of those have ever really come close to happening, though that may change under the watch of DC Studios and James Gunn.
As for this series, here's the official description:
Eel O’Brian might be a superhero now - but before he was anything else, he was a crook. Until the accident that turned him into the pliable Plastic Man, Eel was bad to the bone...and just because he no longer has bones doesn’t mean that’s not still true. When an incident on a Justice League mission leads to catastrophic cellular damage, Plastic Man discovers he just might be out of time to make amends for the past he’s tried hard to outrun - or to save the soul of his son, who (unfortunately for him) might have inherited more from dear old Dad than just his superpowers.
"I don’t know about you, but when I think about Plastic Man, I immediately think of David Cronenberg," Cantwell said in a press release. "There is an element of body horror to his story that I have always found fascinating. And I also found myself wondering recently - How would Plastic Man actually die? What would that look like? Is he immortal?"
"And then I thought of the long and particularly nasty way real plastics and petroleum products break down when and if they finally do. That’s how I learned about depolymerization and the chemical process of 'unzipping,' - from a particularly morose afternoon on the ol’ Internet, picturing what might happen to Eel if his entire cellular structure started to give way," the writer concluded.
This sounds like a much-needed refresher for Plastic Man and, like Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, could serve as a launching point for DC Studios if the hero does eventually get his own solo outing.
Plastic Man No More! #1, written by Cantwell with art and main cover by Lins, additional art by Jacob Edgar, colors by Marcelo Maiolo, and lettering by Becca Carey, will have variant covers by Michael Allred, Chris Samnee, and Tyler Boss.
You can take a look at those covers below.