Alex Ross 'Plastic Man' Cover Revealed By Writer Gail Simone

Gail Simone, writer of DC's upcoming Plastic Man series, shared a first look with fans of an [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Gail Simone, writer of DC's upcoming Plastic Man series, shared a first look with fans of an upcoming cover -- apparently an homage/parody of Alex Ross's cover to Kingdom Come #4, by Ross himself.

"I just got the most incredible piece of art in my inbox for an upcoming issue. I had NO IDEA this was happening," Simone tweeted about 15 minutes before releasing the piece. "I am right now trying to see how much trouble I will get in if I sneak it out."

Later, she said that she was going to tweet it, and after a series of teases (should we call teases in tweets "tweezes?" Food for thought), she revealed the image itself.

You can check it out in the tweet below.

Simone's long-in-development Plastic Man series will finally come to life this summer with art by Simone's Birds of Prey collaborator Adriana Melo.

The six-issue miniseries for DC Comics will chronicle the adventures of Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, a petty thief and con artist who ended up with his stretchy, rubber-like powers after being shot in the shoulder and doused with chemicals. Created by Jack Cole for Police Comics #1 back in 1941, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to incorporate humor into action stories.

"He's the jester, the joke, the stretchy weirdo," Simone said at the time of the announcement. "He's not credible. He's not reliable. He's...well, he's Plastic Man. "He's like a stretchy Swamp Thing or the bouncy Batman; writing him is a goofy, snarky honor and I'm thrilled to be part of his rubber ribaldry."

The villain-turned-hero character has been a member of various Justice League teams over his comic book history and made his Rebirth return in Dark Nights: Metal. And while the character has never been a solo star in his own right, he's long been a favorite of creators such as Mark Waid, Frank Miller, and Grant Morrison with Simone referencing Morrison's run with Howard Porter as one of her favorite takes on the character and inspiration for her work as well.

"One of my favorite takes on Pas was from the classic Grant Morrison/Howard Porter run," Simone said. "We are definitely taking inspiration from that, and just pushing it even further for rudeness' sake. Plas is funny, happy, and has enough star power to hold his own against the big guns. He's not afraid of Batman, he's not afraid of Darkseid, he's only afraid of messing up, of going back to being the punk thug he used to be."

Plastic Man #1 is in stores on June 13.

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