RAPT IN PLASTIC PT. 5

 

It's Doctor Dome's third appearance, and already it feels like his three hundredth, despite a Joe Orlando cover that's better than average.

This is another lame gimmick issue, said gimmick being that a guy called The Duke of Wheelington claims to hold a patent on all the wheels in the world. Since the cover informs us of Doctor Dome's presence within, most readers probably figured out the Duke's ID pretty easily.

Plastic Man tries to get the goods on the Duke's dirty deal, but his efforts backfire, and the world turns against him for antagonizing the Duke and boosting his "wheel tax." Micheline's nawsty mothah seems to sympathize with her daughter, but it's just a scam to con the young woman into marrying the powerful wheel-magnate.

Plastic Man finally trumps the Duke's hoax with one of his own, and then exposes the villain as-- guess who. The cover scene is faithfully replicated, for whatever that's worth, resulting in a very blah conclusion, both in writing and art.

This issue debuts the book's letter column, and one of the correspondents (assuming it's a real missive) says he likes the book but misses Woozy Winks. The editor responds that he was retired to the Old Heroes' Home.