This appeared in Plastic Man #14 (1948). The Grand Comics Database gives writing credit to Joe Millard* and art credits to Jack Cole (pencils), and Alex Kotzky (? ), question mark meaning they aren't sure, for inks.
Although they have the same name, the villain Concrete is not the same as the character, Concrete, created by Paul Chadwick in the 1980s.
*I am a fan of the “Who Created the Comic Books?” blog by Martin O’Hearn, who by studying their styles, has proved he is observant and knowledgeable about writers and artists. I went to the blog to see if his research might show a corroboration with the Grand Comics Database that Joe Millard was the author of this story, based on the use of two unusual utterances I have seen before in other comics: “GRAWK!” and “YAWP!” In his posts concerning Millard’s style he does not mention them, which makes me wonder if GCD identified the writer of the story correctly, or if it is another writer who uses those made-up words? To look at Martin’s blog and his outstanding research go to the right and click on the link in the sidebar of this blog.
Concrete can be a problem even when it is not substandard. One of the reasons that the Millennium Tower in San Francisco is tilting is that it is too heavy for its pilings; it is so heavy because it uses a great deal of concrete in its construction; and it uses concrete because concrete was less expensive than was steel. Now, because of the protectionism effected by the President and tolerated by Congress, steel has become significantly more expensive than it was when the Tower was built.
ReplyDeleteThe origin of the superpower of Concrete Cargill is reminiscent of that of Plastic Man himself; essentially, both have synthetic chemicals introduced into their bloodstreams. In the case of Eel O'Brian, repeated injections seem to have been unnecessary; but of course a different substance and power were involved. And the writer (be it Millard or someone else) was going for a twist of “poetic” justice.
But the wacky Doc revealed the need for repeated injections to Plastic Man in 8:2, so what Plastic Man rather obviously ought to have done was to seize Doc (who could be legally arrested) and keep him away from Cargill. It would have made more sense for the rôle of Doc not to be revealed to Plastic Man until the climax approached, and for that climax to take place at a location where Cargill produced cement or concrete, so that Plastic Man could improvise.
Daniel, my civics lesson this week was prompted by your note. I found out that the president can create tariffs without any input from congress. That seems out of sync with the separation of powers, but years ago congress gave the power to the president.
ReplyDeleteHow I feel about that type of action from this administration will be evident by the low growl in the back of my throat when I speak of it.