The recent series I did on how reprinted Plastic Man stories were altered by the Comics Code got me thinking about when the last original Golden Age Plastic Man story might have been done. So I did some quick research, and now I present it for your entertainment. It was in PLASTIC MAN #52 cover-dated 1955, just before the Comics Code came in. PLASTIC MAN would run for another dozen issue on an all reprint basis (two of the three stories in #52 are reprints as well) but this was the last gasp of an incredibly popular character within the era in which he was created.
The Grand Comics Database credits this story to writer Dick Wood and artist Charles Nicholas. And it’s very much in the Quality house style.
You can immediately see how much less visually interesting this story is than any of teh ones illustrated by Plas’ creator Jack Cole. At this point, this could almost be a Blackhawks adventure.
Shades of the Kremlin!
It looks like there was some last-minute editing done right here at the end, where the lettering changes as Plas says that he had to locate “THE GOOD FILMS OF THE” radar plans. All in all, this is a fairly mediocre story for the series to go out on–which, I;d imagine, is what may have caused it to go out in the first place.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 