Elongated man, plasic man or elastic lad....who do you like better?!
Question: Plastic Man is my favorite comic book character, rivaled only by Scrooge McDuck, but I've learned the hard way that I only like Plastic Man stories by his creator, Jack Cole (who, unfortunately, died back in the fifties). No other author has ever seemed to have gotten a grip on what made Cole's Plastic Man so entertaining, mainly that Plastic Man has a dubious ability and is the only sane man in an insane world. Plastic Man isn't a clown or a comedian, he's the straight man with a perfect sense of timing, who never even lets out a hint that he gets any of the jokes.
Cole took the concept of "super heroes" and stood it on its ear during the course of Plastic Man's run in 'Police Comics' and in 'Plastic Man'. I would be delighted if someone else would emerge who could handle Plastic Man as adeptly as Jack Cole, but so far no one else has come even close.
Some of the Elongated Man stories that ran as a backup feature in 'Detective Comics' had charm and some of those stories also worked a decent short mysteries, but since the Elongated Man showed up in the early 60s, in the pages of 'The Flash' (and that was so long ago that the Flash of that time was Barry Allen), the Elongated Man has generally not been used very well (as he was in most of the issues of 'Justice League of America' in which he appeared, for example). I think part of his problem is that he is such a derivative character, and some authors don't see him as anything but a visual power that can easily be made to appear rediculous or even quaint.
I never really liked any of the Elastic Lad stories, but I can't say I ever cared for any of Jimmy Olsen's "heroic" personas, with the exception of the "novel length" story from the early 60s in which Jimmy took on the identity of "Flamebird", who was the junior partner to a hero called "Nightwing," who was actually the powerless Superman. Elastic Man was only marginally better than Jimmy as the Giant Turtle-Man, and the Giant Turtle-Man was terrible in both concept and execution. Elastic Lad is a character I really don't ever want to see again.
I think the key to characters with similiar unusual abilities is not how they use that ability, but how they are depicted as human beings. Only the best authors (and it helps if said author is also the artist of the series) can capture the essence of the character and manage to convey it to the reader. Any character can be mishandled, but it is a rare character who can't be crippled by consistant mishandling and I don't think any of this plasmic trio qualify as characters who can't be done badly by bad authors (particularly bad authors working with poor artists).
Answers: Plastic Man is my favorite comic book character, rivaled only by Scrooge McDuck, but I've learned the hard way that I only like Plastic Man stories by his creator, Jack Cole (who, unfortunately, died back in the fifties). No other author has ever seemed to have gotten a grip on what made Cole's Plastic Man so entertaining, mainly that Plastic Man has a dubious ability and is the only sane man in an insane world. Plastic Man isn't a clown or a comedian, he's the straight man with a perfect sense of timing, who never even lets out a hint that he gets any of the jokes.
Cole took the concept of "super heroes" and stood it on its ear during the course of Plastic Man's run in 'Police Comics' and in 'Plastic Man'. I would be delighted if someone else would emerge who could handle Plastic Man as adeptly as Jack Cole, but so far no one else has come even close.
Some of the Elongated Man stories that ran as a backup feature in 'Detective Comics' had charm and some of those stories also worked a decent short mysteries, but since the Elongated Man showed up in the early 60s, in the pages of 'The Flash' (and that was so long ago that the Flash of that time was Barry Allen), the Elongated Man has generally not been used very well (as he was in most of the issues of 'Justice League of America' in which he appeared, for example). I think part of his problem is that he is such a derivative character, and some authors don't see him as anything but a visual power that can easily be made to appear rediculous or even quaint.
I never really liked any of the Elastic Lad stories, but I can't say I ever cared for any of Jimmy Olsen's "heroic" personas, with the exception of the "novel length" story from the early 60s in which Jimmy took on the identity of "Flamebird", who was the junior partner to a hero called "Nightwing," who was actually the powerless Superman. Elastic Man was only marginally better than Jimmy as the Giant Turtle-Man, and the Giant Turtle-Man was terrible in both concept and execution. Elastic Lad is a character I really don't ever want to see again.
I think the key to characters with similiar unusual abilities is not how they use that ability, but how they are depicted as human beings. Only the best authors (and it helps if said author is also the artist of the series) can capture the essence of the character and manage to convey it to the reader. Any character can be mishandled, but it is a rare character who can't be crippled by consistant mishandling and I don't think any of this plasmic trio qualify as characters who can't be done badly by bad authors (particularly bad authors working with poor artists).
elastic lad. elongated man sounds perverted. plastic man is taken by michael jackson. so...yeah.
They all sound same except age.
I like young people, so i would choose elastic lad.
elastic man. he sounds boss. need i explain more?
they all have the same power so how would you choose based on personality? if that was the case id have to say jimmy olsen's elastic lad
elongated man would be my fav but only after he lost his powers, his wife, and his mind. Thats my opinion.