Now, if you asked me, say, a few weeks ago when Plastic Man joined the Justice League, I would have guessed that he did so in 1997's JLA #5, as that is the first time he appeared on the cover of the book.
But, as I recently discovered while revisiting some of the earlier arcs of Morrison and company's JLA—which was not only one of my favorite comic books ever but was one of my favorite things ever—Plastic Man's induction into the team was a rather gradual, slow-rolling affair.
So when, exactly, did Plas join the JLA?
That was, as I said, when he first appeared on the cover. A very busy done-in-one story entitled "Woman of Tomorrow", several scenes of it were devoted to Justice League try-outs. Plastic Man was one of the heroes who showed up on the lunar Watchtower to apply to the League, but he only actually appears in a single panel, the one above.
He doesn't get interviewed (like Max Mercury, Damage and "Hitman" Tommy Monaghan do), nor does he get immediately accepted (as Tomorrow Woman does).
He would, of course, eventually join—as would Green Arrow Connor Hawke, Aztek and Steel, all of whom also cameo in this issue among the others applying—but not in this particular issue.
Was it JLA #11?
He doesn't get interviewed (like Max Mercury, Damage and "Hitman" Tommy Monaghan do), nor does he get immediately accepted (as Tomorrow Woman does).
He would, of course, eventually join—as would Green Arrow Connor Hawke, Aztek and Steel, all of whom also cameo in this issue among the others applying—but not in this particular issue.
That was the second part of the six-issue epic "Rock of Ages", which included the above scene.
Batman, in his Matches Malone guise, approaches Eel O'Brien at a New York City bar, apparently to make an overture towards recruiting him for a League mission.
Was it JLA #15?
There are a couple things I didn't really like about this scene—the potty humor in one of Plas' asides to the ladies, the fact that he has apparently used "more oil...than they have on the beaches of Kuwait" in his hair despite the fact that he can control his body on a molecular level, the fact that his tongue splits into three separate horns in a Looney Tunes-esque response to the threat to set him aflame—but it also has its attributes.
Artists Howard Porter and John Dell do a great Plastic Man, one that's clearly recognizable even without his costume. I like the idea that pretend criminal Matches and reformed criminal Eel might run in similar circles. I like the implication that Plas sees through Batman's disguise when Batman slips into his "real" voice momentarily, as indicated by Plas' use of quotes around the name "Matches".
Artists Howard Porter and John Dell do a great Plastic Man, one that's clearly recognizable even without his costume. I like the idea that pretend criminal Matches and reformed criminal Eel might run in similar circles. I like the implication that Plas sees through Batman's disguise when Batman slips into his "real" voice momentarily, as indicated by Plas' use of quotes around the name "Matches".
And, of course, by the end of the arc, this will prove an effective scene, demonstrating that Batman has approached Plas about something, without revealing exactly what.
That's the sixth and final chapter of "Rock of Ages", in which regular artist Porter is joined by unlikely guest artists Gary Frank and Greg Land (whose art is obviously not that of Porter, but whose particular styles might not be recognizable as that of theirs, perhaps because they hadn't at that point arrived at their styles; the above panels are obviously by Porter).
That is when we find out that Plastic Man has infiltrated Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang, having replaced The Joker (Which is discovered when Ocean Master finds The Joker tied up and gagged in a closet; Plas-as-Joker stammers an excuse as Luthor points a gun at him: "Me and my crazy gags, huh? You know me, Lex! Laughing fish one minute, tied up...uh...Joker clones, the next.")
That's when we first see that Plastic Man is working with the JLA (this is apparently what Batman-as-Matches had recruited him for a few issues earlier in the arc), however he's not yet officially on the League.
"You're not one of the Justice League", Luthor says to Plastic Man in the very next panel following those above.
Later in the issue, after Plastic Man has helped Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow defeat the Injustice Gang—he uses his shape-changing powers to counteract Circe's magical ability to change men into animals and then later punches out the real Joker with a fist at the end of a stretchy arm—Superman shakes his hand.
"You're not one of the Justice League", Luthor says to Plastic Man in the very next panel following those above.
Later in the issue, after Plastic Man has helped Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow defeat the Injustice Gang—he uses his shape-changing powers to counteract Circe's magical ability to change men into animals and then later punches out the real Joker with a fist at the end of a stretchy arm—Superman shakes his hand.
"Thanks for your help..." Superman says. Batman adds, "Plastic Man...We'll be in touch."
Was it JLA #16?
That issue, entitled "Camelot", is the first of a two-part arc devoted to new villain Prometheus' attack on the Justice League. In it, the media is invited to the Justice League's Watchtower to meet the new team line-up, which is introduced in a two-page spread (and is thus too big for my scanner, sorry).
This line-up includes Plastic Man, who is here officially a member of the Justice League...along with Zauriel, Steel, Huntress and new Wonder Woman Hippolyta (Temporarily replacing her daughter Diana, who John Bynre had temporarily killed off or made into the goddess of truth or some such in her own title). Orion and Big Barda show up at the end of the next issue, apparently assigned to protect earth by then-Highfather Takion. Oracle is also a member, although she obviously works from home, as per usual.
So yes, I guess the actual answer as to when Plastic Man joined the Justice League is JLA #16. I was way off.
(The story of how the new line-up was gathered is left untold in the title proper, but Christopher Priest, Yanik Paquette and Mark Lipka fill in some of the blanks in "Heroes," the lead story from JLA Secret Files & Origins #2; Plastic Man is only in a handful of panels though, and it doesn't show his actual recruitment, perhaps because Morrison had previously teased it in JLA. Today the story seems particularly interesting in part because of how it, and a few scenes in the main title, present Aquaman as one of the team's leaders, alongside Superman and Batman. Wonder Woman, again, was busy in her own title.)
As for when Plastic Man leaves the team, well, that's even trickier.
He survived the next two changes of writers, being the only character other than the Big Seven to survive the line-up purge when Mark Waid took over with 2000's #43, and sticking around when Joe Kelly took the baton from Waid with 2002's #61.
In 2003's #76, in the aftermath of Kelly's "Obsidian Age" storyline, Plastic Man quits to spend more time with his son (who Kelly had introduced about ten issues previously). Plas goes to great lengths to purge his own mind of his Plastic Man persona, so he can be a father full-time, but Batman again recruits him when the team needs him at the climax of the "Trial By Fire" arc.
In attempting to purge himself of his weakness to fire, J'onn J'onnz transforms into Fernus, a "Burning Martian," and he eventually has the League on the ropes. Batman reasons that Plastic Man's plastic brain is immune to psychic attack, and that his shape-changing abilities will level the playing field against those of a Martian:
"Martians adapt form through study," Batman says of Plastic Man's ability to go toe-to-toe with Fernus:
Nearly instantaneous study thanks to the telepathy, but it's still methodical.
Plastic Man is inspiration made form.The Martian can't compete without full concentration.
And so Plastic Man grows to giant size and engages the similarly gigantic Martian.
When Fernus tells Plastic Man is out of his league, Plastic Man corrects him: Untrue, mon flammable frere! I still have all privileges to the JLA scouts club!" Apparently, his leave of absence was always meant to be temporary, then.
And then, shortly after the conclusion of "Trial By Fire," the JLA title gets...weird for its last three years or so, with the book become something of an anthology title with rotating creators on each arc.
After the conclusion of "Trial By Fire," Kelly will write two more issues, #90, a done-in-one which ties-up a plot thread regarding Batman and Wonder Woman and in which only they and a few other Leaguers appear, and #100, which is Kelly's final issue on the title, but sets up the 12-issue 2004-2005 Justice League Elite maxi-series, in which the Justice League also appears.
Plastic Man is shown to still be on the team through the end of that series, his last appearance in it being in Justice League Elite #10 (cover-dated June of 2005).
Meanwhile, in JLA proper, Plastic Man appears in some of the post-Kelly arcs (The Denny O'Neil-written "Extinction" from #91-93, the Kurt Busiek-written "Syndicate Rules" from #107-114) but is absent from others (John Byrne and Chris Claremont's "The Tenth Circle" from #94-99, the Chuck Austen-written "Pain of The Gods" from #101-106).
So Plastic Man seems to be on the JLA right up until it disbands over the course of the title's penultimate arc, the Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg-written "Crisis of Conscience" from #115-119 (with cover dates between August and November of 2005).
In that story, which explores the fallout of events revealed in the Bard Meltzer, Rags Morales and Michael Bair Identity Crisis miniseries, the current JLA dissolves, as many members peel away as the story progresses: Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and The Flash.
At the end of the arc, the League is just J'onn J'onnz and Green Lantern John Stewart, and they are in the process of discussing new recruits when Superboy-Prime attacks, destroying the Watchtower and seemingly killing J'onn.
Plastic Man doesn't appear at all in "Crisis of Conscience," and it seems that Johns and Heinberg simply didn't know or forgot he was on the team, and editor Mike Carlin failed to remind them.
The title would last for one more arc, an Infinite Crisis tie-in written by Bob Harras and eventually collected as "World Without a Justice League" (#120-125). The arc, which mostly follows Green Arrow Oliver Queen as he and other allies deal with the events of the event series, opens with an Aquaman-led ceremony at the old Happy Harbor headquarters, wherein he makes a speech, and various past Leaguers pick up handfuls of dirt and let the wind blow them away.
Plastic Man is at the ceremony (and on the cover), and that, December 2005's JLA #120, is his final appearance in the title, which would only last a few more issues anyway.
