Today’s performance reviews didn’t just evaluate employee performance — they completely eliminated the need for Dr. Muskiday’s "inter-office orgy" plan. Turns out, nothing clears the emotional air quite like brutally honest feedback.
Upcoming Events
If you’ve ever thought about stopping by to say hello, these two events are genuinely special opportunities to do that.
Since I’m no longer doing the traditional comic-convention circuit, chances to meet up in person have become pretty rare — which makes days like the Moore College Comics Expo and the NCS Cartoonist Showcase all the more meaningful to me.
Philadelphia
Moore College Comics Expo
Saturday, April 11th
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
https://moore.edu/events/2026-moore-comics-expo/2026-04-11/
Columbus, Ohio
Cartoonist Showcase — Billy Ireland Museum of Comic Art
Saturday, August 8th
1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
https://nationalcartoonists.com/showcase/
I always enjoy putting faces to names, chatting about comics, and hearing what you’ve been reading (or creating). So if you’re anywhere nearby, I’d love to see you there.
And who knows — with travel getting trickier these days, these kinds of appearances may end up being even fewer and farther between… which makes this a pretty great time to take advantage of one.
Transcript
Panel 1:
Cassie Cruz: “The clouds are disappearing! But how?!”
Giant Tess: “Heh.”
Giant Tess: “Since everybody was standing around, I decided to make good use of the time by handing out the annual performance reviews.”
Panel 2:
Giant Tess: “Believe it or not, I actually softened the wording from last year.” In the office, all of the co-workers are furious, (clockwise from upper left: Miss Match, Count Spurlock, Psy-Chick, Lightning Lady, Iron Dragon, Desdemona, Holo-Clone Miss Match, and Catnip).
Detailed Alt Text
Panel 1:
Dr. Muskiday (a small, fly-like scientist with wings and large red eyes) hovers near Cassie Cruz, the branch manager, who is walking briskly into the office. Cassie looks surprised and says, “The clouds are disappearing! But how?!” Standing nearby is Giant Tess, a tall, muscular woman in a green superhero outfit with a cape and a large “G” emblem on her chest. She calmly holds a stack of papers and explains, “Heh… Since everybody was standing around, I decided to make good use of the time by handing out the annual performance reviews.”
Panel 2:
The scene cuts to the open office floor in complete chaos. Employees are reacting violently and emotionally to their performance reviews (clockwise from upper left: Miss Match, Count Spurlock, Psy-Chick, Lightning Lady, Iron Dragon, Desdemona, Holo-Clone Miss Match, and Catnip). MIss Match is surrounded by flames, Psy-Chick is shouting angrily, Lightning Lady is generating crackling energy around her hands, and others are arguing or throwing things. Papers are scattered everywhere, chairs are overturned, and computer monitors are damaged. Despite the destruction, Giant Tess stands calmly in the foreground, still holding her papers, and says, “Believe it or not, I actually softened the wording from last year.” Cassie stands beside her, taking in the mayhem.
Catching up on my comics-reading since returning from Comic Con and Connecticon, I see that I almost missed the return of my all-time favorite character, Plastic Man, to active duty in the JLA.
As I
mentioned earlier, Len Wein was tapped to write a two-issue arc, and he promised to bring Plas back for the ride. Since he had all-but-officially written out of DC continuity, I was thrilled at the prospect.
And with everything that happened between then and now, I was actually thunderstruck to see Mister O’Brien make his entrance onto the pages of
JLA #35.
Which is odd, because as you can plainly see, he’s on the cover of the issue. (No, really. He is.)
Sure, the foes are the well-trodden Royal Flush Gang. I mean, at this point, I’d be more frightened by the
Full House Gang. But apart from a couple of real dialogue duds (including a tired “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” line), it’s Plastic man at his most ductile and demented.
Which brings me back to Comic Con.
Discussing Plastic Man with a friend in San Diego, I learned that none other than my friend Hugo-Award-winning Phil Foglio (
which is now his full name, thank you) wrote several issues of Plastic Man!
Not only that, but he wrote the following little bit of history into Plas’ origin:
When Eel O’Brien was subjected to the chemical bath that turned him into the “Indian Rubber Man,” another side effect was that the same chemicals that keep him pliant also have an ongoing effect on his mental state. In other words, the stuff that keeps Plastic Man rubbery also has him on an ongoing high.
This allowed Phil to write the character straight-up as a justifiably whacked-out character — not just a device to be introduced solely for comic relief and then embarrassedly pushed back into the shadows. With this plot gem, Plas’ bizarre behavior was every bit a part of his character as his super powers, and to write him “normal” would be like not letting him stretch.
Which brings me to two conclusions:
(1) Phil is a genius.
(2) If I never get to write
Plastic Man for DC, I at least want to see Phil take another tilt. Best case scenario, of course, would be if both ensued.
(3) I need to get may hands on those old copies of the Foglio-scribed
Plastic Man.
Until then, we have Our Hero around for at least one more issue, the upcoming JLA #36.
Title:
JLA #35
Team: Written by Len Wein. Pencils by Tom Derenick & Pow Rodrix. Inks by Marlo Alquiza, Rob Hunter, Walden Wong & Dan Green.
