Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits

Pulitzer-Prize winning writer and illustrator Art Spiegelman pays homage to his favourite comic book hero, Plastic Man, and his creator, Jack Cole. With his exuberant energy, preternatural flexibility, charming boyishness, and only partially sublimated sexuality, Plastic Man literally embodied the comic-book form. Though he was introduced in 1941 and produced for only 16 years, Plastic Man has remained a cult classic, and this art-packed book will delight any fan. Our text originated as an essay in The New Yorker and is very well-written. It discusses the life of Plastic Man as well as the life of Jack Cole, which some would argue (including Art Spiegelman himself) are equally interesting. Along with illustrations throughout, three comic books will be printed throughout the book (on comic book paper).

Art Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1948 and raised in Queens, New York Ever since 1992, when Art Spiegelman won a Pulitzer Prize for Maus, his masterful Holocaust comic book narrative, fans of adult comics have had a sparkle in their eyes. In Maus and Maus II, by portraying Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, Spiegelman created an unusual and controversial context for his powerful narrative. In more recent years, he has illustrated many covers for The New Yorker magazine. His comics are best known for their scratch-board, illustrative style and controversial content. He has also published a children's book entitled Open Me... I'm A Dog, as well as the illustration accompaniment to the 1928 book, The Wild Party, by Joseph Moncure March. Art Spiegelman is currently working on the story and the sets for a new opera entitled "Drawn to Death: A Three Panel Opera" with composer Phillip Johnston. Art Spiegelman's most recent publication is the children's anthology entitled Little Lit. Other honours he has received are a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a nomination for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Spiegelman currently resides in New York City.