WOOZY WINKS

Real Name: Woozy Winks

Class: Human

Occupation: Sidekick

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Plastic Acres, Earth-12

First Appearance: Plastic Man I #7 (November-December, 1967)

Powers: Woozy was a skilled con artist and pickpocket, and an average hand-to-hand combatant for a man of his years.

History: (Plastic Man I #7) - Woozy Winks, a former crook, became the sidekick of 1940s crimefighter Plastic Man. Plas eventually settled down, got married, and had a son, “Eel” O’Brien, Jr. Plas loved his boy, but wished he was abnormal like he was. One day the young boy guzzled down acid from a flask that Plas kept as a memento of his crimefighting career. The acid was from the vat of chemicals that gave the Plas his powers, so his son now had stretchable abilities, and Plas was overjoyed that he now had a weird son. Plastic Man retired when he got too old for crimefighting, and his son became the new Plastic Man. In his retirement the original Plas bought a health resort for the elderly that he named Plastic Acres, and Woozy Winks served as his business partner. After some trying times the resort was a hit, attracting the attention of the criminal King of Spades, Queen of Hearts and Jack of Diamonds, who coveted the resort. The King ended up holding the mortgage to Plastic Acres, and Plas fell behind in payments because Woozy forgot to mail out the money. The King was a criminal, but no one had ever caught him in the act, so when he pulled an art heist Plastic Man and Woozy went back into action and tried to foil them, but they’d lost a few steps over the years and bungled it. The new Plastic Man and his sidekick Gordy K. Trueblood read about Plastic Man’s return to action, and went to visit him at Plastic Acres. After a fond reunion the original Plas showed his son and Gordy the sulfur springs that brought all the business to Plastic Acres. After their daily drink from the spring the old timers were all fired up and acting like irresponsible youth. Plas took Woozy aside, certain that he’d done something to the spring, because he didn’t buy that his dad had a fountain of youth on his hands. Woozy admitted that business was originally crummy at the resort, and he didn’t want to see his friend’s bushiness go under, so Woozy had started pumping white wine into the springs. Woozy assured Plas that he screened residents so it couldn’t hurt him, but Plas insisted he stop acting like the con man he used to be and turn off the wine going to the springs before he told his father what Woozy had done. The original Plas told his son about the situation with the King, and Woozy wanted to frame him, but Gordy would hear of no such thing. They came up with a plan, and the following night they arrived at a ritzy hotel with the original Plas posing as wealthy sheik Grand Mahfah of Eliakazan, with a large diamond in his turban. His son posed as a camel, Woozy as an attendant, and Gordy as a harem girl. The King, Queen and Jack broke into their room in an attempt to steal the diamond, and Plas took a picture of them in the act. The two groups scuffled, but in the battle the camera was destroyed, so the plan was for naught. The original Plas relented, inviting the King and his crew to what would soon be his health resort. The King, Queen and Jack indulged in the springs, but Woozy hadn’t turned off the wine, so they were all soon dead drunk and confessing to numerous crimes before passing out. Plas recorded their conversation and then celebrated with his dad for saving his business.

Comments: Created by Jack Cole.