The First (and Only) Live-Action Plastic Man Goes to the 1984 Democratic National Convention

There's no current shortage of live-action superheroes running around these days -- I mean, did you ever think we'd see a day where there would be a live-action Crimson Fox? -- but there's still plenty of untapped potential in the comic book archives. 

Where, for example, is Plastic Man?  The Jack Cole-created stretchy crime fighter has been far from an unknown figure since his first appearance in 1941, commanding several solo comic book series along with his own cartoon and plenty of appearances in other DC Comics-related properties.  Sure, his powers are a bit tough to do in live-action, but that's what terrible CGI is for!  It is a bit odd that the character, a fun-loving creation with a good back story, decent name recognition and an affable sense of humor that would appeal to younger audiences, has never appeared as a live-action figure.

Except that one time.

In 1984, Arlington Television picked up the two-season animated TV series "The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show" for syndication a few years after the show had concluded its Saturday morning run on ABC.  Not content to just repackage the old material, director Steve Whiting shot additional bookend footage for the show, featuring actor and comedian Mark Taylor (billed as "Taylor Marks") as the lead character in all his plastic glory.


The segments aren't exactly action packed - they're mostly making Plas making gags about the show coupled with some rudimentary special effects.  But the costume design is good, and Taylor seems to be having a good time, so it's not all that shocking that the syndicated package became a minor hit, with Taylor's Plas getting the attention of the San Francisco-based "Evening Magazine."

In fact, Taylor's incarnation of Plastic Man was enough of a hit that Whiting and Taylor took it on the road to the 1984 Democratic National Convention.  According to Noblemania's great interview with him, "I did a more lame version of what [Sasha Baron Cohen's 'Borat'] did so well."

Sadly, Taylor's Plastic Man didn't fare much better than the Democrats that year, and he was soon retired to the footnotes of history.  Taylor went on to continue his stand-up comedy work and, as of 2011, works in a hospital as a physical therapist - a perfectly appropriate calling for someone whose portrayal of an infamous comic book character who can assume any physical form is, to date, the definitive one.

The Less-than-Auspicious Other Debuts of Wonder Woman

The common consensus seems to be that Wonder Woman's appearance in BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, the first (or second, if you count 1989's ALYAS BATMAN AND ROBIN) time the character has appeared in a feature-length theatrical film as a live human being, is the highlight of the movie.  However, Diana Prince's earlier debuts in other formats haven't been nearly so notable or well-received.

The first time the character appeared in live-action was in the prospective television pilot for a "Wonder Woman" TV series entitled "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" in 1967.  Clearly inspired by the successful "Batman" series of the time, Elle Walker plays Diana, who lives with her nagging mother who demands she not go save the world on an empty stomach.  She does, briefly, become Wonder Woman (and is then played by Linda Harrison), but mostly it looks like a zany comedy about a man-crazy single woman who sometimes saves the world.  It's... not good.


Wonder Woman's animated debut came along a few years later, and may be even less noteworthy, as she's not even the star.  In the 1972 episode of "The Brady Kids" animated series, itself a spin-off of "The Brady Bunch" but with fewer parents and more magical talking birds with the voice of Larry Storch (as was the style at the time), Jan Brady visits the university library in order to research Euclid and meets librarian Diana Prince.  When the aforementioned magical talking bird zaps them back to ancient Greece, zaniness ensues.



As with much '70s kids animation, it's pretty awful, and the randomly-appearing laugh track (which even goes off when Wonder Woman makes her first appearance!) doesn't help matters any.  At least Wonder Woman gets to do something and the Grecian setting pays some reference to her origins, so it's mildly better than the 1967 pilot -- or it would be, if it wasn't over four times as long.

Morning Cartoon: The Atom fights beetles in a 1967 Filmation adventure

There's been a bit of speculation recently as to what the costume ot The Atom, the DC comics character that can shrink to the size of, well, an atom, will look like when it appears on "Arrow," so I figured it might be worthwhile to take a look at an earlier incarnation of the Mighty Mite.  In this episode of the 1967 Filmation series, our hero highs bugs with rather disturbing-looking human features.  Through the magic alchemy of nature's most awesome sources of energy!

TV's Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson, hosts a Thanksgiving Superman marathon on the character's 50th anniversary

For several years, Larson, who played spunky bow-tied reporter Jimmy Olsen on "The Adventures of Superman," hosted a Superman marathon on television, featuring episodes from the '50s TV series.  This 1988 compilation acts as a mini-documentary on the character on his 50th anniversary, featuring interviews with "Adventures"' Lois Lane, Noel Neill and a look at the history of the man of steel.

The Batman OnStar commercials of Andrew Davis with Curtis Armstrong as the Joker

Birthday boy Andrew Davis is a famous, big-time director of THE FUGITIVE, UNDER SIEGE and COLLATERAL DAMAGE, but in 1990, he directed a series of Batman-centric ads for OnStar, the system that allows you to unlock your car by remote.  (It was a big deal in 1990.)  Here they all are, combined into one really strange-looking narrative featuring Michael Gough returning as Alfred and Curtis Armstong as the Joker.  (Batman is not played by Michael Keaton, but rather Bruce Thomas, who later voiced Jim Gordon in the SON OF BATMAN animated film.  So you can used THAT as a trivia point along the lines of "What actor has played both Batman AND Jim Gordon?")

Superman fights the forces of the evil Nick O'Teen in this 80s commercial

I don't believe there are any plans to revive Nick O'Teen for the new Superman films, which is a shame, as it's be great to have a break from Lex Luthor again.  He did, however, appear in print form as well.

The Teen Titans battle alien robots in 1967's Filmation adventure

Sure, a new, live-action TV series based on the Teen Titans may be in the works, but could it possibly live up to the lofty heights set my the super-team's 1967 Filmation series?  You know, the one where they couldn't even get Robin because the rights to him were otherwise occupied, Kid Flash had a strange composite costume, the animation was poor and the plotting was... questionable, even to the eyes of eager 7-year-olds.  Did anyone associated with this even have a basic understanding of physics?

Batman and Robin shop at Zayre

Good thing the now-defunct department store Zayre is open 24 hours a day until Christmas! The most surprising thing here is that it's clearly a Dynamic Duo from the '60s live-action TV series, and they couldn't get Adam West OR Burt Ward.

Watch This Thing - 11 minute documentary on Steve Ditko's Randian antihero The Question

This past weekend marked the 87th birthday of Steve Ditko, the reclusive comic book writer and artist who co-created the likes of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and the Ted Kord Blue Beetle.  He also created the underrated The Question, the character who provided the basis for Watchmen's Rorschach.  Here's a brief documentary on The Question, featuring interviews with comic book artist Rick Burchett, writers Greg Rucka and Denny O'Neil and actor Jeffrey Combs, who voiced the character on the "Justice League" animated series.

Watch This Thing - Teen Titans Anti-Drug Commercial footage from 1984

In 1984, the George Perez era Teen Titans comic book was at the top of the comic book food chain, and there were plans to turn it into an animated series -- however, an apparently-lost animated commercial for drug awareness is the closest they got.  This internal marketing video shows off a bit of that commercial, along with selling the DC Comics roster as reliable figures for a drug-free message.  (Roy Harper does not appear.)