Action Comics #661 (January 1991)
Action Comics #661 (January 1991)
Superman solves a mystery with the greatest detective in the DC Universe and his dynamic partner: I mean Plastic Man and Woozy Winks, of course.* If you’re somehow not familiar with them, Plastic Man is a superhero who can stretch any part of his body, as seen in the cover above, and Woozy is just a fat guy in a straw hat who hangs around him.
Speaking of useless sidekicks, the issue starts with our pal Jimmy Olsen dropping off his maybe-girlfriend Lucy Lane at the airport when he runs into Plastic Man and Woozy, who were traveling as luggage (literally as luggage in Plas’ case, since he can change shape). Plas and Woozy are looking for a dangerous criminal only known as “T.B.” who is supposed to arrive on Metropolis today, and Jimmy agrees to help them with the case in exchange for getting the scoop on their story for the Dailt Planet. I think a better subject for an article would be “Since when do they let junior photographers write newspaper articles?”, but that’s me.
Meanwhile, Superman intercepts a shipment of Intergang weapons and, while snooping around inside one of the criminal cartel’s futuristic flying ships, he sees a message that says “T.B. ARRIVES TODAY.” Superman’s and Plas/Woozy/Jimbo’s parallel investigations eventually lead them all to some docks, where we find out that “T.B.” is apparently a supervillain called Time-Bomb who can make explosions with his fists. We also find out that Plas is clearly high as balls, judging by the Looney Tunes art style in the panels drawn from his perspective:
Time-Bomb is defeated when Plastic Man covers the guy like a human tablecloth while Superman pins them down – Time-Bomb tries to punch his way out of the trap, but the resulting explosions backfire and knock him out. Plas solved his mystery, Jimmy got his exclusive story and Superman… well, Superman didn’t do a whole lot, actually. THE END.
Wait, no, plot twist! It turns out Time-Bomb wasn’t the “T.B.” Intergang was expecting: it was just an astronomical coincidence that he happened to make his debut on that same day, and on the same docks Plastic Man and Woozy were visiting. On the last page we find out T.B. actually stands for… Tiny Bubbles, the sister of Intergang’s “executive secretary” (read: Ugly Mannheim’s girlfriend) Sweet Leilani. Why were people so worried about a random lady? Because look at her:
This revelation happens right behind Jimmy, and he doesn’t notice. Stick to taking photos.
Character-Watch:
Before reading this issue as a kid I was only familiar with Plastic Man through the old cartoon, so I was confused about why his sidekick was a fat white guy instead of a fat Hawaiian. Twenty years later I’m still confused, but in the other direction. While this is kind of an odd team-up (I’m pretty sure they only did it to add some much needed levity after all those death-related stories), Plastic Man joins Guy Gardner as yet another unlikely ally from this era who will actually become Superman’s trusted teammate in the future: in Plas’ case, during Grant Morrison’s JLA series. Come to think of it, even a couple of the villains seen recently eventually turn into Superman’s friends…
Plotline-Watch:
Introducing Bibbo’s Ace O’ Club! In Superman #51 we saw that lovable tough guy Bibbo Bibowski found a lottery ticket bought by Jose “Gangbuster” Delgado – this being Jose, the unluckiest character in comics, of course the ticket turned out to be worth $14 million bucks. Bibbo uses the money to buy the seedy bar he’s been hanging out in since his first appearance in Adventures #424, in 1987. And so, Jerry Ordway’s five year plan for this fascinating character is at last nearly complete.
I like how Jimmy is uneasy around Plas because the stretching powers remind him of that time he became a human rubber band upon being infected by an alien virus (Adventures #458). See, those are the kind of little details other comics just forget about and never mention again. I also like how Jimmy is uneasy, period. (Actually, he’s no longer a pain in the ass in any sense, but I can’t seem to stop making fun of him. Sorry, it’s beyond my control now.)
Tiny Bubbles will continue appearing as the whole Intergang cast steps in to fill the villainous void left by Luthor’s death, and the fact that we never see her face becomes a running joke. As for the other T.B., Time-Bomb, I’m pretty sure he only appeared one more time before being sentenced to limbo. That’s too bad, he could have made a nice addition to the Suicide Squad.
* I’m joking obviously. “The greatest detective in the DC Universe and his dynamic partner” are actually Elongated Man and his wife Sue.