Comic Title: Secret Origins #30
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: September 1988
On Sale Date: May 24, 1988 Shipping Date May 24, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #4

Shipping Date May 24, 1988
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #756, #758, #760

Copyright Date May 24, 1988
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1988

Shipping Date May 26, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #139

Newsstand Date June 7, 1988
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #756, #758, #760

Newsstand Date June 18, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #139

Cover Price: $1.50
Page Count: 48
Editor: Mark Waid

Title: "The Secret Origin of Plastic Man"
Pages: 19

Feature(s):
Plastic Man (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Stephen DeStefano
Inker: Paul Fricke
Letterer: Jean Simek (Izzo)
Colorist: Liz Berube

Feature Character(s)

• Plastic Man (Eel O'Brien; first post-Crisis appearance; last appearance in Secret Origins #30; no further appearances)

Supporting Character(s)

• Woozy Winks (first post-Crisis appearance; see comment; next appearance in Plastic Man #1)

Villain(s)

• Skizzle Shanks (in flashback; no further appearances)
• Melvin, Wilbur, and Rocco (Skizzle's gang; in flashback; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Burp the Twerp (no further appearances)
• Brother Willis (a monk; in flashback; no further appearances)
• A night watchman (in flashback; no further appearances)
• A bank messenger (in flashback; no further appearances)

Flashback Appearance(s)

• Plastic Man (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Secret Origins #30)

Comments:
This story tells the post-Crisis origin of Plastic Man. However, it would be contradicted just four months later in Plastic Man #1 which introduces a modern day Plastic Man. The Plastic Man in this story is named Eel O'Brien. The modern Plastic Man is Eel O'Brian.

For the purposes of this index, they will be considered entirely separate characters.

Woozy Winks also appears in this story. Given that he is shown to be incarcerated at Arkham Asylum in Plastic Man #1, it is conceivable that there is a single Woozy who associated with both versions of Plastic Man, without actually being aware of it.

Synopsis:
The gang of Skizzle Shanks rob the Crawford Chemical Company. During the robbery, Eel O'Brien, the safe cracker, is shot and wounded. Acid from one of the chemical vats spills on the wound. The gang gets away, leaving Eel to fend for himself. Eel is found by a monk and taken to a monastery to recover from his injury. He soon discovers that the chemicals changed his body giving him the ability to stretch into a multitude of shapes at will.

Eel leaves the monastery and rejoins Skizzle's gang. The group attempts to rob a bank messenger while Eel remains in the car. As soon as he is alone, Eel dons a disguise and becomes Plastic Man. He chases the crooks, but they eventually make it back to the car. Plastic Man switches back to Eel O'Brien and leads the crooks away from the scene. However, he is only taking them into the police with the evidence.

Plastic Man would eventually give up his Eel O'Brien identity, and he joined the FBI as a full-time crimefighter. He later took on a partner, the reformed pickpocket Woozy Winks.