Plastic Man was parodied lovingly by
Big Bang Comics, a publisher who specializes
in that sort of story. Created by
Gary Carlson, Protoplasman was more
about channeling the magic of Jack Cole than simply renaming a popular character.
These stories are a lot of fun, and while the art doesn't capture
Cole's unbridled sense of composition, it's a solid homage. The first issue
of
Big Bang Presents (2006) also contained editorial comment about the
road to Proto. Carlson had many proposals
to do a Big Bang version of Plastic Man, but found them all lacking
until meeting artist
Mort Todd. Todd's drawing style mimicked both Cole's
early Plastic Man style, and the later horror style of the pre-Code 1950s.
The first issue jumped right into his story,
and the origin was told in his second appearance,
Big Bang Presents #3…
Protoplasman's origin was a tale that also
parodied Jack Cole's "the Claw" from Lev Gleason's
Silver Streak Comics. At Big Bang, Claw was called
Dr. Fang,
and he was
to blame for Protoplasman's powers. This was also set in the World War II era.
Hitler launched a "Buzz-Bomb" at Mammoth City,
USA, which instead of explosives housed the vampiric Dr. Fang (Hitler's former
head of Secret Service). Banished to the United States, Fang unleashed a reign
of terror and one of his first victims was
Butch Castle. Days
later, Dr. Fang used his Universal Solvent to destroy a dam and proceeded towards
the city's water works. There he was confronted by Butch's brother, private
eye
Jake
Castle.
Fang produced the remaining poison, which exploded all over Castle, and he
tumbled into a tank of water. Later the police drained the tank and discovered
that Jake's body was broken down by the Solvent. He could now turn his body
into a protoplasmic mass of goo. He donned a rubber suit that helped him hold
his shape. Now a "human water balloon," Castle could elongate
his body and unleash its mass as a sort of torrent of liquid. Fang then revealed
that he had kept Butch Castle as a prisoner—in shrunken form! But Butch was
mentally unstable and attacked his brother after Dr. Fang grew him to
giant size.
As the villain stole away, he doused Butch with the Solvent, killing him.
In the morgue they unearthed a new threat: two unnaturally conjoined men.
The trail led to
Yin and Yang, conjoined twins who worked at the circus.
Proto set a date with Yang but on his way, he stopped a robbery by a yin/yang
dressed crook. The twins had a super-power based on a pair of ancient coins:
when given to someone else, the power allowed them to separate and the new
possessors of the coins became conjoined. Yin accidentally shot her sister,
which caused them both to die.
(Big
Bang Presents #3)
It was Proto's first appearance that introduced his supporting cast.
Dr.
Noah Toll had recreated
the Philosopher's
Stone in the form of an elixir. It was immediately stolen by a succession of
crooks and wound up in the possession of Proto's enemy,
Mint Julip.
She lost it in the sewers
and it found its way to
Willy Wampum. Wampum was bound to commit suicide
and took the elixir for poison. Instead when he ingested it, he found
he could take the properties of anything he touched. He began robbing banks
for the cash to woo back his sweetheart—who turned out to be Julip. She spurned
him still and Wampum becam suicidal again. He leapt into the water, turning
to H20 himself, and disappeared.
(#1)
The crew was called to Hollywood by Goldfish Studios to find their missing
star, the super-handsome
Paul O'Dennis. After suspecting a succession
of bitter ex-girlfriends, they discovered that the actor had eaten himself
into a behemoth so that women would love his personality, not his face.
(#4)
Protosplasman's powers differed slightly from Plastic Man's. He wasn't a true
"shape-shifter," but
could change form. He could form his body into
shapes such as a water balloon, that would essentially expel himself. The bouancy
also allowed him to stretch and bounce.
APPEARANCES: Big
Bang Presents #1 (July 2006), 3–4
SEE ALSO:
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