PUCK #1 by Jon Morris

Jon Morris is a Washington-based cartoonist and the founder of DC Fifty-Too, which has morphed into this project. He couldn't resist giving Puck his first-ever solo series, because he's been wanting the little guy to have his own series since 1983. Don't believe me? Read on ...

Jon says: I've always loved the offbeat superheroes, so I was bazonkers for Alpha Flight when it debuted as its own series in 1983 - Sasquatch and Puck were immediately my favorites (somewhere around here I have both of them drawn as the Captain America and Bucky of Canada), but Puck more than anyone because he had depth. 

I like the direction that's been taken with Eugene Judd in the most recent Alpha Flight miniseries - trapped in Hell for the last several years and finally brought back to life, he's become deranged and exuberant. I picture any ongoing series as bar fights and scuffles with rogue demons from the underworld who - like he did himself - escaped into the living world. Any excuse for a fight!

I enjoyed Puck's original backstory in Alpha Flight up to the point where he once was a normal-sized dude who was magically shrunk to dwarf-size. Everything up to that is golden - Eugene Judd, the world traveler and adventurer and hunter of rare and often mystical artifacts. I see no reason not to go back to that. Marvel has their fair share of world-travelling guns-and-fists adventurers, but none of them would be half as much fun to see in action as Puck.

Puck was created by John Byrne.  Read more...

PLASTIC MAN #1 by Jon Morris and Stephen DeStefano

Jon Morris is a Washington-based cartoonist and is probably best known for his webcomic Jeremy. He is also the writer of the comic blog Gone&Forgotten, operates the Cornered collaborative art blog, and is the founder and curator of this, the DC Fifty-Too project. His website is Calamity Jon Save Us!

Stephen DeStefano is a legitimate cartooning legend, and is best known for 'Mazing Man, Hero Hotline, Instant Piano and the very popular pilot for the Plastic Man cartoon, plus his extensive storyboarding work, liscensing artwork for Popeye, and most recently his new book "Lucky In Love." Much more of Stephen's work can be seen at his blog.

Jon says: First off, it was a real thrill and an honor to have my pencils inked by Stephen DeStefano. I'm all kinds of a fan of this guy, this is a high point of my cartooning career.

I've always thought Plastic Man worked best in the way Jack Cole originally intended him - as a perfectly sane man in an utterly insane world. As much as I've enjoyed the 'wacky' Plas from other stories, I've always enjoyed it more when Plas is a flexible and unflappable straight man and everyone else around him provides the absurdity. I'm also a big fan of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man series, so it's in the spirit of that book that I picture Plas as a family man - not only is his 'adopted' daughter Edwina still lurking around, as is Plas' teenage son (you may know him as Offspring) but Plas has a new pair of bouncing baby Plases - I've named them "Sugar and Spike". I couldn't fit him into the cover (except as a photo), but no fear, "Uncle Woozy" is still part of the crew.

One of the things Kyle Baker was so good at doing was parodying not only the contemporary 'events' of the DC Universe, but the conventions of the superhero comic genre in general, so that's the inspiration behind taking a shot at Blackest Night...

The only other thing I wanted to mention was the logo - I'm sure you noticed that it's a Batman logo with Plastic Man's head popping out of the top. I envisioned the logo changing every issue to another familiar silhouette of another character's logo - Superman's one month, The Justice League the next, Aquaman, Flash, etc -  with Plas' head popping out of it and the actual title in that lovely Organda Bold (you have to love that "C", don't you?)

Plastic Man was created by Jack Cole. Read more...