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Jack Cole

Creator Jack Cole (1914-1958)
Profession Cartoonist, Writer, Editor
Total Entries 28
Articles
The Lost Comics of Jack Cole Part 2 – The Comics Journal
Forgotten Masterpiece: Smash Comics #36 and the Death of Midnight – Tom Brevoort at tombrevoort.com
Connecticut Cartoonists #3: Quality Folks – The Comics Journal
Cole rode a bicycle across the country at age seventeen, was married to his high school sweetheart at nineteen, and began working in comics at twenty-four, creating one-page fillers at the Harry “A” Chesler comics packaging shop for several titles published by Centaur Publications. Cole was hired by Lev Gleason Publications in 1939 to edit Silver Streak Comics and help revamp the new superhero character Daredevil. From there he moved to Everett “Busy” Arnold’s Quality Comics, where he… created his own character, Plastic Man, to star in a backup feature in Police Comics. Plastic Man became an instant hit and was given his own title in 1943. The elastic Plastic Man was a satiric send-up of the muscle-bound superheroes of the Golden Age of comics, and the title was groundbreaking for its day, balancing Cole’s wild humor and incredibly animated, taffy-pulling artwork with his experimentation with text and graphics, thus stretching the boundaries of comics and creating one of the most enduring comic book heroes ever. ~ Drew Friedman’s Heroes of the Comics: Portraits of the Legends of Comic Books – Fantagraphics (2014)

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Amorpho

Image of Amorpho
Category Amorpho
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Amorpho was an alien shapeshifter who crash-landed on Earth. It tried duplicating a squirrel and a dog before realizing humans were the planet’s dominant species. Amorpho became an exact duplicate of the first human it […]
Entry Amorpho
Description 

Amorpho was an alien shapeshifter who crash-landed on Earth. It tried duplicating a squirrel and a dog before realizing humans were the planet’s dominant species. Amorpho became an exact duplicate of the first human it […]
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Claw (Lev Gleason)

Image of Claw (Lev Gleason)
Category Claw (Lev Gleason)
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A chunk of mass blew off the planet Zylmarx and was hurtled towards Earth. It streaked over New York and landed in Tibet, far from civilization. For almost four years, the crater remained untouched. There […]
Entry Claw (Lev Gleason)
Description 

A chunk of mass blew off the planet Zylmarx and was hurtled towards Earth. It streaked over New York and landed in Tibet, far from civilization. For almost four years, the crater remained untouched. There […]
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Comet

Image of Comet
Category Comet
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John Dickering was a chemist who discovered a special gas that was many times lighter than hydrogen. Dickering injected himself with the gas, discovering that along with the ability to fly there was a side-effect, […]
Entry Comet
Description 

John Dickering was a chemist who discovered a special gas that was many times lighter than hydrogen. Dickering injected himself with the gas, discovering that along with the ability to fly there was a side-effect, […]
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Death Patrol

Image of Death Patrol
Category Death Patrol
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The Death Patrol was a squadron of criminals and misfits who fought for America in World War II. They were distinguished by their striped costumes that made them look like jail birds, though these birds […]
Entry Death Patrol
Description 

The Death Patrol was a squadron of criminals and misfits who fought for America in World War II. They were distinguished by their striped costumes that made them look like jail birds, though these birds […]
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Defender

Image of Defender
Category Defender
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As a child, Robert Larson’s face was mutilated by an explosion in a grocery caused by criminals. His disfigurement leads him to become the crime fighter the Defender. He was assisted by Lucky and J. […]
Entry Defender
Description 

As a child, Robert Larson’s face was mutilated by an explosion in a grocery caused by criminals. His disfigurement leads him to become the crime fighter the Defender. He was assisted by Lucky and J. […]
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Dickie Dean

Image of Dickie Dean
Category Dickie Dean
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Dickie Dean was an American boy inventor who lived in a small town called Castleton, near Philadelphia. His father, John, worked at the local chemical factory, and his mother’s name was Martha. He was described […]
Entry Dickie Dean
Description 

Dickie Dean was an American boy inventor who lived in a small town called Castleton, near Philadelphia. His father, John, worked at the local chemical factory, and his mother’s name was Martha. He was described […]
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Face in the Clouds

Image of Face in the Clouds
Category Face in the Clouds
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The “Face in the Clouds” were really two blimps controlled by a mobster in Florida. One blimp projected a monster’s face on the clouds and a bellowing loudspeaker would threaten the people below. The second […]
Entry Face in the Clouds
Description 

The “Face in the Clouds” were really two blimps controlled by a mobster in Florida. One blimp projected a monster’s face on the clouds and a bellowing loudspeaker would threaten the people below. The second […]
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Figure

Image of Figure
Category Figure
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The Figure was a beautiful and intelligent young woman whose good looks made most people forget she was also very smart, much to her annoyance. She took over her ex-boyfriend Wishbone’s gang by threatening to […]
Entry Figure
Description 

The Figure was a beautiful and intelligent young woman whose good looks made most people forget she was also very smart, much to her annoyance. She took over her ex-boyfriend Wishbone’s gang by threatening to […]
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Granite Lady

Image of Granite Lady
Category Granite Lady
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Sheila Sorrell was a singer at the Red Angel nightclub. Even though she had a voice like a frog, the singer’s good looks would bring in droves of men, hanging on her every move, mesmerized […]
Entry Granite Lady
Description 

Sheila Sorrell was a singer at the Red Angel nightclub. Even though she had a voice like a frog, the singer’s good looks would bring in droves of men, hanging on her every move, mesmerized […]
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Grasshopper

Image of Grasshopper
Category Grasshopper
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The Grasshopper was an armed jewel thief who had the good fortune of meeting an entomologist named Professor Chase. Looking for a better way to evade capture, the thief asked the professor what the secret […]
Entry Grasshopper
Description 

The Grasshopper was an armed jewel thief who had the good fortune of meeting an entomologist named Professor Chase. Looking for a better way to evade capture, the thief asked the professor what the secret […]
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Jerry Morris

Image of Jerry Morris
Category Jerry Morris
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Professor Jerry Morris was a brilliant scientist and an adventurer. In his debut appearance, he was escorting Eloise Pearsall, a female American ambassador, who was supervising the delivery of American financial aid to war-torn China. […]
Entry Jerry Morris
Description 

Professor Jerry Morris was a brilliant scientist and an adventurer. In his debut appearance, he was escorting Eloise Pearsall, a female American ambassador, who was supervising the delivery of American financial aid to war-torn China. […]
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Jets

Image of Jets
Category Jets
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Jets was a criminal who used a pair of rocket shoes to make a fast getaway. He also wore a cone-head prosthetic, presumably to disguise his appearance and make himself more aerodynamic. He was caught […]
Entry Jets
Description 

Jets was a criminal who used a pair of rocket shoes to make a fast getaway. He also wore a cone-head prosthetic, presumably to disguise his appearance and make himself more aerodynamic. He was caught […]
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Madame Serpina

Image of Madame Serpina
Category Madame Serpina
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Serpina was a sideshow carnival entertainer turned assassin. At the carnival, she appears to have done private snake dances with her boa, Bobo. When she ordered Bobo to kill a man, she and her conspirators […]
Entry Madame Serpina
Description 

Serpina was a sideshow carnival entertainer turned assassin. At the carnival, she appears to have done private snake dances with her boa, Bobo. When she ordered Bobo to kill a man, she and her conspirators […]
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Mantoka

Image of Mantoka
Category Mantoka
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Mantoka was a mysterious Native American man given the powers of his father, the tribe’s Shaman. During a shamanic initiation ceremony, a rattlesnake bit him and he presumably had a vision. He discovered he had […]
Entry Mantoka
Description 

Mantoka was a mysterious Native American man given the powers of his father, the tribe’s Shaman. During a shamanic initiation ceremony, a rattlesnake bit him and he presumably had a vision. He discovered he had […]
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Midnight

Image of Midnight
Category Midnight
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Dave Clark was a radio announcer at UMAX who decided to become the nocturnal crime-fighter Midnight. His identity was based on a radio character who he voiced at the station. His assistants included Gabby, a […]
Entry Midnight
Description 

Dave Clark was a radio announcer at UMAX who decided to become the nocturnal crime-fighter Midnight. His identity was based on a radio character who he voiced at the station. His assistants included Gabby, a […]
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Mr. Aqua

Image of Mr. Aqua
Category Mr. Aqua
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While chemist Duncan Groat was experimenting with chemicals to create a catalyst that would make solid water at room temperature, there was a chemical explosion. In the aftermath, a sentient creature made of water called […]
Entry Mr. Aqua
Description 

While chemist Duncan Groat was experimenting with chemicals to create a catalyst that would make solid water at room temperature, there was a chemical explosion. In the aftermath, a sentient creature made of water called […]
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Mr. Green

Image of Mr. Green
Category Mr. Green
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Mr. Green is a botanist who, while working with plants, began to take on plant-like qualities. He came to hate humanity and decided to use the specialized plants he had created to commit crimes. He […]
Entry Mr. Green
Description 

Mr. Green is a botanist who, while working with plants, began to take on plant-like qualities. He came to hate humanity and decided to use the specialized plants he had created to commit crimes. He […]
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Pirate Prince

Image of Pirate Prince
Category Pirate Prince
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The Pirate Prince was the captain of a crew who operated out of “Shelter Island” in the Carribean. His crew boarded the ships of those who they considered unjust, especially slave traders. They freed slaves […]
Entry Pirate Prince
Description 

The Pirate Prince was the captain of a crew who operated out of “Shelter Island” in the Carribean. His crew boarded the ships of those who they considered unjust, especially slave traders. They freed slaves […]
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Plastic Man

Image of Plastic Man
Category Plastic Man
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Patrick “Eel” O’Brian was a crook. He was shot by a security guard during a heist and fell into a vat of acid. He managed to walk away, stumbling his way to a monks’ mountain […]
Entry Plastic Man
Description 

Patrick “Eel” O’Brian was a crook. He was shot by a security guard during a heist and fell into a vat of acid. He managed to walk away, stumbling his way to a monks’ mountain […]
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Professor Skinn

Image of Professor Skinn
Category Professor Skinn
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After being severely beaten by his brothers, who intended to kill him and collect on his life insurance, Professor Skinn found himself blind. He turned to science and created an artificial eye for himself, which […]
Entry Professor Skinn
Description 

After being severely beaten by his brothers, who intended to kill him and collect on his life insurance, Professor Skinn found himself blind. He turned to science and created an artificial eye for himself, which […]
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Riverman

Image of Riverman
Category Riverman
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Riverman was a undersea monster who attacked and killed workers on the South River Tunnel because he felt they were invading his territory. The F.B.I. sent Plastic Man to investigate why the workers were disappearing, […]
Entry Riverman
Description 

Riverman was a undersea monster who attacked and killed workers on the South River Tunnel because he felt they were invading his territory. The F.B.I. sent Plastic Man to investigate why the workers were disappearing, […]
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Sadly-Sadly

Image of Sadly-Sadly
Category Sadly-Sadly
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Phil Sanders was a bank robber, forger, jewel thief, and smuggler, who had the ability to make anyone weep and feel sorry for him when they saw his face. During a robbery, he used his […]
Entry Sadly-Sadly
Description 

Phil Sanders was a bank robber, forger, jewel thief, and smuggler, who had the ability to make anyone weep and feel sorry for him when they saw his face. During a robbery, he used his […]
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Silver Streak

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Category Silver Streak
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A swami’s best race car, the Silver Streak, was a constant target of sabotage. Every time someone drove it, they were attacked and killed by a giant insect. When no other driver would accept the […]
Entry Silver Streak
Description 

A swami’s best race car, the Silver Streak, was a constant target of sabotage. Every time someone drove it, they were attacked and killed by a giant insect. When no other driver would accept the […]
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Spadehead

Image of Spadehead
Category Spadehead
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Master villain Spadehead, who uses the Ace of Spades as a calling card, sends his henchmen out to rob a museum, but the heist is foiled by Plastic Man and Woozy Winks. Angry at the […]
Entry Spadehead
Description 

Master villain Spadehead, who uses the Ace of Spades as a calling card, sends his henchmen out to rob a museum, but the heist is foiled by Plastic Man and Woozy Winks. Angry at the […]
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Stretcho

Image of Stretcho
Category Stretcho
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Stretcho was an Indian “rubber man” who worked in the sideshow at a carnival, and surreptitiously as a pickpocket during his act. Like Plastic Man, he was capable of stretching and contorting his body in […]
Entry Stretcho
Description 

Stretcho was an Indian “rubber man” who worked in the sideshow at a carnival, and surreptitiously as a pickpocket during his act. Like Plastic Man, he was capable of stretching and contorting his body in […]
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Thelma Gordon

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Category Thelma Gordon
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Thelma Gordon is the reporter girlfriend and non-costumed sidekick of, first, John Dickering, the Comet, and then his brother, Bob Dickering, the Hangman. She also had a brother of her own, Johnny Gordon. Although being […]
Entry Thelma Gordon
Description 

Thelma Gordon is the reporter girlfriend and non-costumed sidekick of, first, John Dickering, the Comet, and then his brother, Bob Dickering, the Hangman. She also had a brother of her own, Johnny Gordon. Although being […]
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Thrilla

Image of Thrilla
Category Thrilla
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While in prison, Thrilla, the Electrifying Crime Queen, learned that she could absorb the electrical energy produced by the prison’s generator. She mastered her powers, and, when let out for good behavior, immediately turned back […]
Entry Thrilla
Description 

While in prison, Thrilla, the Electrifying Crime Queen, learned that she could absorb the electrical energy produced by the prison’s generator. She mastered her powers, and, when let out for good behavior, immediately turned back […]
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Woozy Winks

Image of Woozy Winks
Category Woozy Winks
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Woozy Winks is the inept sidekick of Plastic Man. He is bumbling, overweight, and slobbish in appearance. These flaws often lead him into hilarious danger, usually involving some manner of wacky hi-jinks. Prior to working […]
Entry Woozy Winks
Description 

Woozy Winks is the inept sidekick of Plastic Man. He is bumbling, overweight, and slobbish in appearance. These flaws often lead him into hilarious danger, usually involving some manner of wacky hi-jinks. Prior to working […]