Plastic Man #19

Outside a city bank, a blue-and-yellow-costumed rival hero holds a crook upside-down while a police officer looks on approvingly — leaving a stunned, question-marked Plastic Man arriving just a step too late and very much surplus to requirements. The taunting speech bubble ("our new super-hero has beaten you to the punch again!") sets up a wonderfully comedic rivalry that suits Plastic Man's always-elastic dignity perfectly. Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith deliver a lively, good-humored cover for this September 1977 issue — and as a bonus, DC was running a contest inside that could land you in the Superman movie.