WARNING! RAMPANT SPOILERS! GET THE CITRONELLA CANDLES!
Title: Bouncing Baby BoyRelease Date: June 2002
Writer: Joe KellyPenciller: Doug MahnkeInker: Tom NguyenJLA Members: Batman and
Plastic Man.
Guest Stars: Luke McDunnagh.
Bad Guys: A few disposable goons and gangstas.
Cameos: Two-Face.
So what happens?It's a Batman/Plastic Man team-up! Expect
comedy! Expect
pathos!
The
action starts out with Plas showing up in
Gotham City and wrecking one of Batman's
stakeouts. Bats is, predictably,
irritated, and Plas explains that he needs Batman's help with a
favor: one of his old
ex-girlfriends, Angel McDunnagh, has a ten-year-old son named Luke who's gotten involved with a
street gang, and Plas needs Batman to scare the kid back onto the
straight and narrow. When Plas and Batman finally catch up to little Luke, they find him hanging out with his gang... and
shapeshifted into an oversized
dinosaur! Awww, Plastic Man is a
father? Ain't that
cute!
Well, Batman and Plas aren't able to catch Luke and his cohorts. Plas is afraid to show his face, so he disguises himself as
the Flash, but without superspeed powers, he gets squished when Luke turns into a giant
bouncing ball and makes his
getaway. Afterwards, Batman is giving Plas a talking-to; he doesn't care about Plas'
private life, but he wanted to be told that the kid had powers. Plastic Man says he ran as soon as he learned Angel was
pregnant and has never had any contact with the boy. Batman points out that Luke has more
control over his powers than Plas does -- able to pull fancier stretching stunts than Plas, the kid can even change
colors, which his dad can't handle. And though Batman says that Plastic Man should be the one to talk to Luke ("Do you know what
effect I can have on the mind of a ten-year-old?" Bats says, "It's not going to be
nice."), Plas is still too
chicken to make an appearance.
So Batman shows up at the gang's
crib, effortlessly terrifies the gangstas into
paralysis, and confronts Luke. He leans on the kid hard and gets him to repent his coulda-been-evil ways, but Luke reveals that he knows that Plastic Man is his father; Plastic Man, who came along disguised as Batman's
utility belt, watches
silently.
Back aboard the JLA Watchtower, Batman warns Plas not to ask him for any more favors, and Plas, after a
tremendous strain, is able to change the color of his
nose to
blue. "Just wanted to be clear," he says. "I can
change color, too." "Maybe you can," Batman replies, handing him Luke's ball cap. "Maybe someday... you will."
Cool Moments!Plastic Man gets to take a whole lot of really interesting shapes in this issue; Luke McDunnagh
melting into a terrified
puddle when Batman confronts him; the sight, both
surreal and
heartbreaking, of Plas, disguised as Batman's utility belt, shedding
tears as he watches Batman berate his son.
Cool Quotes!Plastic Man, impersonating
Catwoman and endangering the JLA's
Comics Code Seal: "Hey there, big boy. Show me your
Batmobile and I'll show you my
Batcave -- Rowrrr!"
Plas: "The JLA aren't in on this. I'm like
Beyonce without
Destiny's Child... solo and
oh so pretty -- but worthless without a partner."
Batman, explaining why he always believed that Plastic Man would've made the best JLA
father: "I thought you'd be the kind of father who would show his children that he
loved them, instead of just telling them. I thought you would make them
laugh all of the time."
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