Plastic Man literally turns into things. (When the character was created, this is what the word "plastic" meant.)

Brian wrote: ...I never understood why Plastic Man was on the JLA instead of Elongated Man....

My guess is that the writer (Grant Morrison, I think) probably believed that if there was a stretching hero it should be the first that is a member of the JLA. The only problem is that Plastic Man doesn't really belong in the DC Universe, proper. Elongated Man is very DC, though.

The Elongated Man was created so that DC could have its own version of Plastic Man. After this had happened, someone pointed out that DC already owned the real Plastic Man, and had for some time.

I'm glad DC made that "mistake."  I love the Elongated Man. Plastic Man is ok too, but if I had to choose to read about one of them, Ralph Dibny is my choice.

  I also like the fact that much like Reed Richards' abilities as a scientist, the "sillyness" (and I mean silliness in a good way, not as a put down of the character) of Dibny's powers is contrasted by the "seriousness" of his skill as a detective.

Foglio also did an x-rated humor comic in the late 80's called:  "XXXenophile" which I highly recommend for those who can find it and those of us here old enough to read it. 

The Elongated Man was also a superheroic twist on the popular "Thin Man" movies and stories, with the husband and wife team solving mysteries, affectionately battling one another as much as they battled the criminals.  Killing their Nick Charles' Nora was perhaps the most antithetical move DC could have made.  I said at the time that it was good that the couple didn't own a dog or there would have been pieces of Asta everywhere.

Something about Plas (probably my favorite super-hero) that I cannot understand is the writers' need to saddle him with children in nearly every incarnation.  The 60's version by Arnold Drake revealed that the character "Plaz" we'd been reading about throughout the series was actually the son of the original, who was now a doddering codger making a go at running a rest home for the elderly. The Plastic Man TV series killed any notion of sexual tension between Plas and Penny (not to mention his infatuation with the Chief ((not Niles Caulder))) by marrying Plas off during the summer and introducing Baby Plas!  You'd think the stigma of that association would end any future Baby Plases, but Mark Waid's "Kingdom" one-shots featured Offspring and a major subplot of Plas' recent run in the JLA was his deadbeat dad status as father of a troubled teen.  (Other subplots included insanity and functional immortality for our hero...) And most recently, Kyle Baker's series gave us Edwina, and a screechier, more antagonistic teenaged daughter  you could not imagine... Unless you happen to know one, and then she seems downright quaint.

Why all the kids?

Just a guess at my own question here, but would I be giving them too much credit to theorize that they're tackling the theme of Parenthood with Plas because there is no adjustment, including Marraige and Old Age, that so completely twists, befuddles, and pretzelizes a man so much as becoming a father?  Suddenly becoming, as JB correctly observes about Plas, the only sane man in an insane world; that world in this case being his own home?

Whatever the cause, I wish they'd knock it the hell off already.  Done and doner, at this point.  Move on, already.

Let me add my voice to the rising chorus calling for a JB Plastic Man series. You clearly understand Cole's concept of the intelligent, savvy sane man making his way through an often perversely twisted world.  You've obviously got the visual quality of the character down beautifully, and the possibilities for commenting on insanities both modern and eternal seem boundless. Kyle Baker's run owed nothing to Grant Morrison's hideous mischaracterization or to current JLA continuity. The break with the current "official" model is already accomplished, and there's nothing to hold you to Baker's interpretation either. It would be a kick.  And if you decide against it, at least we have this picture as taste of what could be...

Now -- it is true that some of the best work I have done has been on projects for which I have no emotional connection. Jobs that were "just" jobs -- but I don't think I could maintain a series, coming from that starting point.