But un-seriously, folks...

Pastic Man has made a bit of a resurgance in the past few years, moving from early comic relief to someone that authors went so far as to have Batman say was "the most powerful member of the Justice League" when faced with having to defeat the Martian Manhunter gone crazy. This past year, DC put Plas into his own strip with a solid return to the humor that had begun to be forgotten in his past.

In this collection of that mini-series, we see Plas as scripted by Kyle Baker. Plas - formerly Eel O'Brien, petty criminal and zoot-suit wearer - helps solve a crime and finds that he has been framed for the murder involved. He pledges to find the killer - who the FBI thinks is Eel O'Brien, long thought dead, but instead Plas's identity is instead revealed to the FBI whose newest agent, Plas's cartoonishly pneumatic partner who turns out to have a secret that is revealed by the end of the book.

The humor is very well-written and refreshing with all of the gloom-and-doom of modern superhero books (the Justice League lobotomizing criminals, Blue Beetle dead, Genosha wiped from the world, Batman psychologically wounded, Nightwing turning himself in for a murder he didn't commit), and Baker does a great job of telling an entertaining and well-crafted story while revealing Plas's origin to those who are new to the hero. And the twist at the end is well done, if a little cornball in the happy ending.

This is a TPB that kids and adult will likely both enjoy, and it's a good lark.

PS. The Plas series also won a couple of Eisner awards for humor writing and series for a younger audience.