After the disappointment of King David and The Truth, I was a little wary of Plastic Man, even though its cartoonish nature seemed a natural fit for Baker's talents. Having read the first issue, I think I'm ready to suggest a new theory, which is that Baker is one of those few artists who works better on smaller projects in black and white, because Plastic Man is another disappointment from a creator whose work I usually really love. Baker's goal here is obvious, to use Plastic Man as a sort of wacky Looney Tunes character, but the slapstick funny that was the domain of Chuck Jones and others has never translated that well into comics, and Plastic Man #1 is no exception. Baker's artwork looks terrific, and every so often the outrageous double-takes or unusual uses of Plastic Man's powers are worth a chuckle, but so far this is awfully lightweight and unfunny stuff.
Given that Plastic Man has become the comedy relief of the JLA, not to mention the sort of whacked-out style that was the Jack Cole Plastic Man, a humorous interpretation of the character seems not only natural but probably the only way to go with the character. Baker is definitely playing around with the weird and nearly unlimited potential of Plastic Man's powers that some writers have picked up on, showing him using his powers to change shape in more subtle as well as drastic ways and even be in more than one place at a time. His stretchy, impervious nature is also used to great effect, as it lets Baker do the sort of bizarre squashed response to damage that befits a cartoon more than a person.
Unfortunately, while this type of thing might be highly entertaining as CGI against a real world backdrop or in a cartoon where there are sounds and motion to accompany it, on the page it often falls flat. Baker hints at an edgier humor with "You don't want to see how he hails a stretch limo," a joke aimed at a more naughty use of Plas's powers, or hits on perfect timing with the slow burn of Plastic Man realizing that the acid has given him powers, but those moments are few and far between. Instead we're treated mostly to gags that seem tame, likely to bowl over the younger set but lacking the humor that Baker has brought to his other work.
Maybe that's the problem, not that Plastic Man is something of a lightweight comic, but that my expectations were sort of edgy Baker fare and instead I'm getting a comic that could be placed without much risk next to Powerpuff Girls and Archie on the shelves. Certainly the book has plenty of action and hijinx for the younger set, and it's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying the cartoony, exaggerated artwork that Baker brings to the book. It's very different from most of his work that I've really enjoyed, but it's much more solid and rendered than his Truth work. One look at the book and it's easy to see all the work that went into drawing and coloring the artwork.
Ultimately, I was hoping for a laugh riot from Plastic Man, and instead I got a mild series of chuckles. This is something of an esoteric choice for DC anyway, a book clearly driven by the talent, but I wonder if the audience for Baker's work won't be as disappointed as I am to see such a complete change of style from the creator of such hilarious (and adult) works as Cowboy Wally Show and Why I Hate Saturn.
