2005 Upper Deck Justice League of America VS System CCG Card DJL-035: Secret Sanctuary

Illustration by Joe Prado.

Fury of Firestorm #55-56 (January-February, 1987)

In Legends #1, the Apokolipsian entity Brimstone first erupted, and failing to contain it, former team member Firestorm enlisted the Justice League of America for a second, equally ineffective pass. Not only was much of downtown Pittsburgh left in flames, but a presidential order next banned super-heroes. Professor Martin Stein, one-half of the Firestorm Matrix, intended to respect the law and at least temporarily dissolve his partnership with former student Ronnie Raymond. However, fascistic followers of G. Gordon Godfrey launched a book burning on the campus of Vandermeer University, and against Stein's wishes, Raymond forced him into fusing to form the Nuclear Man. Ultimately, the right wing former Teen Titan Hawk took up the cause of costumed heroism on campus, while Stein finally forced the fission of Firestorm. In fact, Stein threatened to buy a gun and kill Raymond if he ever did that again, and in discussing the matter with his stepmother, Felicity Smoak equated Ronnie's act to "rape." During another escalation of violence, Ronnie visited his former teacher, who admitted to contemplating suicide with his new pistol, but eventually agreed to reform Firestorm on a case-by-case basis.

DC Comics 1993 Editorial Presentation: Justice League International

Hey look at that super-team with Elongated Man on it! Why, there's Green Lantern Hal Jordan and the Wally West Flash and Power Girl and... Metamorpho and... that Asian lady who was a heroic Dr. Light before DC decided it didn't have enough sodomy in its comics and... really? Tasmanian Devil? At least it's not... oh. Crimson Fox is here. She was on that TV show about the insurance agency that didn't even finish its first season. Sigh. Look, I already featured Gypsy & Martian Manhunter on my main blog, plus I linked out to pieces featuring Aquaman and Batman, so this one just kind of helps me complete the set, y'know? It's a little seen promo piece by... hmm... people? Credits were hard to come by. Sorry.

DC Comics 1993 Editorial Presentation

• Overview @ DC Bloodlines
• The Atom @ Power of the Atom
• Justice League Task Force @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Justice League America @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
• The Killing Machine @ ...nurgh...

2017 Elongated Man Jam Sketch Detail by Isaiah Broussard

Transyltown artist Isaiah Broussard has done a bunch of smaller pieces for me at local Houston shows, mostly contributing to my many (often still unfinished) jams. I think only one of them have made it onto the web so far. A casualty of my shift from blogging to podcasting, I'm afraid. Thankfully, I got something for a more substantial project from him that should be online within the next year, and I'm going to try to get that older stuff up, too.

Anyway, last year I was at Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina for a meeting of fans & hosts associated with The Fire and Water Network, and was surprised to find Broussard there. Since we were both representing The H abroad and I had a smidge of room left on one of the only jams he hadn't already contributed to, I asked him to finish off the super-friends of Martian Manhunter with Ralph Dibney (a Detroit/JLI era teammate!)

Isaiah Broussard

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"THEY ARE BACK! THE DIBNYS ARE FINALLY BACK!!" editorial by Rafa Rivas

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2014 "Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE DETROIT" by Ryan Daly

Ryan "Count Drunkula" Daly of the Black Canary blog Flowers & Fishnets has played casting director for a Warner Brothers Justice League film, including the Motor City members! If you hit his Aquaman role sheet, you'll find Alexander Skarsgård as his Sea King. I previously went with the late Paul Walker, but truthfully feel we need to both start over again. Skarsgård would be spot on for Namor, which is the problem. I strongly agree with his Mera, though, and have suggested her myself in the past. I'm also excited by his excellent suggestion of Giancarlo Esposito for J'onn J'onzz.

Justice League Satellite & Detroit was the go-to point for our team. In Daly's selections, he demonstrated an appreciation of the cast of Game of Thrones, including Emilia Clarke as Zatanna. I may be tainted by her royal countenance on that show, but Zee seems more like a cute neighbor than a queen in waiting, which is why I offered Zooey Deschanel.

The Vixen was the single most challenging and longest delayed casting pick I've ever attempted. Tika Sumpter was on my short list, so I approve of Daly going that way. I ultimately went with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, but continue to second guess the selection.

Gael Garcia Bernel is one of the most famous Latin actors in the movie industry, and one of my girlfriend's personal favorites. Vibe is frankly beneath him, but perhaps not Jake T. Austin. I wasn't too picky about emo bohunk Steel, so Jack Reynor is as good as Robbie Amell, and more age appropriate.

Will Forte as Elongated Man? Sure, Whatever. I haven't gotten around to him myself. Much as I like his missus, I think Daly overshot for Sue Dibney. Nina Dobrev is probably too big for Gypsy as well, but I'd be happy with her, though I prefer Raquel Castro. The villainy of Despero, Amazo, Ivo and more are also represented, so go fish in the links below!

Count Drunkula Casting Department

• Superman Family
• Superman Supporting Cast
• Superman Foes 1
• Superman Foes 2
• Batman Family
• Batman Supporting Cast
• Batman Foes 1
• Batman Foes 2
• Batman Foes 3
• Wonder Woman
• Flash Friends
• Flash Rogues 1
• Flash Rogues 2
• Doom Patrol
• Firestorm Fans
• Firestorm Fiends
• Green Lantern Core
• Green Lantern Corps
• Green Lantern Cretins
• Green Lantern Corpses
• Green Arrow
• Hawkman & the Atom
• Martian Manhunter
• Shazam!
• Teen Titans
• Young Justice
• Titan Terrors
• JLA villains
• JSA 1
• JSA 2
• JSA 3

Justice #12 (August, 2007)

Bio Booster Armor Batman got the captured Lex Luthor to admit that he had agreed to work with Brainiac because the alien was going to take the "lazy... sick... undisciplined... lowest common denominator" of humanity who wanted a "free lunch" off in the seven cities governed by legionnaires of doom away to outer space, leaving Luthor to shape an Earth made up solely of rugged exceptionalists unencumbered by the non-producers; basically outing him as the third Koch brother. Batman pointed out to one of the smartest men ever that Brainiac was always going to nuke whatever was left on Earth when he was done with it. Whatever your politics, shrill is shrill. Batman also threatened to murder Luthor if he didn't cooperate, with Lex even saying "You don't have to tell me, Grodd. I know he's not bluffing. Ross and company had an odd fixation on a brutal Batman unseen in popular media, even more incongruent within the context of a "mature" take on the Super Friends. Superman would truly turn a blind eye to that?



In Scarecrow's city, Zatanna teleported the Marvel Family to Toyman's city so that they could evacuate the children, which I thought was Superman's job, but he instead smashed into Scarecrow's city after beating the Toyman, so he could work longer, so he could earn more, so he could do more coke. Superman was needed there to... hear from Red Tornado that Brainiac had switched his consciousness to a robot body in another city, and from Zatanna that Black Manta had teleported away, so that he could deduce that Arthur Junior was now with Black Manta. Gee, Aquaman could never have put that together on his own. Oh, and he ordered all the super-heroes to keep evacuating Brainiac's cities, because dur.

Elongated Man was part of Supergirl's strike team against Poison Ivy's city, which also included Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Metamorpho. The Maid of Might had a "toad struck by lightning" level dumb exchange before knocking out Ivy so easily you'd wonder why the whole scene wasn't brushed off as a single captioned panel.



Aquaman alone went to Black Manta's city, because drama. Manta threatened to murder Arthur Junior most heinously, so Aquaman surrendered to a beating at the hands of Black's blacks. The Sea King had learned that Brainiac had given Manta the ability to "enslave" his African-American men through technology in his costume, which Aquaman wrecked. The men were no longer agreeable toward very late term abortions and/or being subjugated by one of their own, but they were all for unsubtle sub-text wherein they're emancipated by a white authority figure. Then the blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian royalty dressed in golden armor beat Manta like a... like a, um... red-headed step-president of the United States with a much disputed birth record? "I live beneath the sea. I rule and live in a kingdom surrounded by pressures beyond any human ability to measure. What chance did you ever have against me?" Yeah Aquaman, let's have a monologue about your innate superiority to Black. No mixed signals there.



After having helped the Manhunter and Grodd halt a global nuclear strike, Lex Luthor teleported himself to Brainiac's current location, where he revealed that he had always known the android would betray him. "You're an alien... Partner? As if such a thing were possible between us. I wanted you to know, when mankind does not die this day, that it was because of me." Luthor halted Brainiac's body hopping, preventing him from collecting his "heir" from Manta, and instead forced him to flee to his orbiting spaceship. "Get the hell off my planet!" Zatanna and her crew arrived in time to recapture Luthor and continue their pursuit of Brainic. Unfortunately, the Coluan's ship was miniaturized, stranding Zatanna in the vacuum of space. Superman froze the tiny ship in place with super breath (isn't space already pretty cold, and I guess the moisture was pure super spit?) then wrapped Zee in his cape to protect her from reentry and flew down to Earth. Zee still required CPR, administered across a 12-panel grid page. Zee finally coughed and said "Sknaht... I mean... thanks."

The Riddler was sent back to Arkham Asylum, where he was taunted by the similarly returned Joker. Aquaman kicked it with his reunited and fully restored family in Atlantis. Elongated Man proved his worth by serving duties usually reserved for inanimate objects by assisting in the loading and unloading of passengers from the cities of evil. Zatanna was neither barefoot nor pregnant, so she was unseen and unheard until the next time the League needed a magical teleport tube or a damsel in distress. Batman brooded. Our two year, twelve issue, international nightmare was over. "Chapter Twelve" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.

Continue the story through these character-specific posts:

• Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• The Atom & Red Tornado @ Power of the Atom
• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
• Coda @ DC Bloodlines

Justice #11 (June, 2007)

The Joker continued to blow up parts of the synthetic cities. "It's my party now! But don't act surprised I showed up. You should have expected me to crash. You really should. You're a regular Brainiac." Meanwhile, as villains from the Legion of Doom were teleporting to other cities, Poison Ivy asked Brainiac sarcastically if everything was still going according to his plan. "Yes."

At the big battle between the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom, Action Stealth Armor Batman™ (from Mattel®) fired real working phosphorous projectile pellets at Solomon Grundy. Meanwhile, Green Lantern John Stewart destroyed the nanite worms that were mind-controlling errbody while simultaneously liberating the non-powered supporting casts previously held hostage by teen super-heroes. This allowed the reunion of Batman Family members Batgirl, Robin and Commissioner Gordon. Zatanna had nothing but her white cloak and the company of Captain Marvel, who would oddly start wearing a white cloak himself in mainstream comics around this time. Conquering, err, saboteurs Black Canary and Green Arrow helped support a clearly weary Elongated Man as Sue Dibny and Martian Manhunter looked on. Plastic Man even gave Ralph a pat on the back, a too subtle not-quite-pay-off for the page devoted to Ralph giving Plas grief issues ago. Aqualad lingered alone from a remove. Zatanna teleported all the civilians to the Fortress of Solitude while the heroes prepared to deal with the escaped bad guys.



Aquaman followed Brainiac and son to Toyman's city, and despite a considerable lead, the Justice League caught up with him inside five panels. They would be needed, as thousands of Brainiac and Arthur Junior robot duplicates swarmed the streets. Beyond the dumbfounding specificity, there's a stupefying two-page spread of the heroes destroying all the robots savagely, relying on Superman's x-ray vision to determine that none of them were the real deal. But say, the Ductile Detective and the Pliable Paladin had a friendly team-up in the midst of it!

Zatanna contacted Superman. "I know if anyone can hear me, it's you. Brainiac- the signal I've been following for him, it's gone. And I can't find a trace of Aquaman's son in the city anymore, either. There are people here, children we need to save in addition to Aquaman's son." Superman stayed in Toyman's domain, while Zatanna magicked other heroes to Scarecrow's bleak Transylvanian-style fake city. The citizens of that plane were mind-controlled and sent against the heroes. "You only need to ask yourself how you are going to save them. How will you fight back when your every defensive blow will crush a soul. Break an arm? Make a cripple? We are legion! Green Lantern then showed up to fix that, then Scarecrow unleashed fear gas to make folks kill one another. Why Lantern didn't just fix that too, I assure you I don't know.

"Chapter Eleven" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite. Zatanna is little seen, but she seems to have the extraordinary power to fix continuity errors through patches in the script whenever needed. Since when does Zee track electronic signals and act as a message relay center? Yeesh!

Continue the story through these character-specific posts:

• The Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl & Red Tornado @ PotA
• Wonder Woman & Wonder Girl @ Diana Prince
• Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Green Lantern, the Doom Patrol, & more @ DC Bloodlines

Justice #10 (April, 2007)

Previously in Justice

Black Manta was at a formal celebration taking place at a veritable Hall of Doom in one the the super-villains' cities, as was Brainiac. Arthur Curry Junior apparently had the perfect mind to be wired up by the Coluan and serve as vanguard to a replacement race for Brainiac's home world. "Yes, Arthur. Your father is coming for you. Of course, you'll be more my son by then, won't you? First of my people, the new Coluans." Sure enough, Aquaman in his protective armor and fellow heroes burst onto the scene. The Superman villain Parasite leapt at him, threatening to steal the Sea King's powers and then go after his wife. "Wrong thing to say, Parasite. Way wrong thing to say. You're not touching anyone." Without hesitation, Aquaman speared the creep through the chest with his trident, then slammed his body hard enough against the ground to shatter the floor. Manta came at him next firing eyebeams, so Aquaman harpooned his helmet. "You will never come between me and my son again, Manta!" Unfortunately, these distractions allowed Brainiac to escape with Aquacyborgbaby to another city via transport tube. "NOOOO!!"



Meanwhile, Batman knocked Riddler and Poison Ivy around in his "Beyond" looking red and black armor. Martian Manhunter preoccupied himself with Gorilla Grodd and Giganta. Zatanna secretly teleported Green Arrow and Black Canary to a sewer, then returned to the battle before she could be missed. Members of the Metal Men pretended to act as protective armor for the two missing heroes, while in fact working independently to conceal their absence. Still, the ruse was eventually detected, and Clayface dispatched to stop the duo. In a moment the creators failed to establish beforehand, Elongated Man (wearing a sort of Shadow Thief/ninja alternate costume) turned out to have been pretending to be Ollie's "shadow" in near light-less tunnel. "I want to see Plastic Man do this." Elongated Man encapsulated Clayface, who continued to writhe and press within. The Emerald Archer thought to himself "Ralph's wife isn't even one of those that were taken. He's here for us... Some look at Ralph as a joke. Next time anyone says anything about him, I'll tell them of this moment..." Elongated Man cried that Clayface was chewing on his insides, and that there was only so much pain and stress he could take. Ollie called out, "You're a helluva Leaguer, Ralph." Queen went on to locate the kidnapped supporting casts of the various heroes, and smuggled a power ring to John Stewart...



"Chapter Ten" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite. I'm guessing Ross and company thought they'd crafted the Elongated Man redemptive moment that would be praised by Wizard Magazine for years to come. Instead, it established that he was still motivated by his ego to go up against a second rate Batman villain and whine about it all being too much for him within the span of a few panels. Plastic Man gets a lot more done in subsequent issues, a reminder of what Ralph tried to keep from getting accomplished because of his stupid pride, and then throws a spotlight at his minimal competence for unflattering measure. They had better luck inspiring Geoff Johns' very popular "Have Trident, Will Skewer" take on Aquaman, but despite this being out of continuity, the guys he stabbed regenerate like video game players without a scratch on them in later issues. The Aqualobotomy subplot dragged on unbelievably, but "a Brainiac ate my baby" does its best to match it for incredulity. Mad props for giving Aquaman his big moment in the series while wearing a lame all-green armor that renders him virtually unrecognizable, by the way.

Continue the story through these character-specific posts:

• The Atom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl @ PotA
• Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Wonder Woman & Wonder Girl @ Diana Prince
• Flash, Doom Patrol, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary & more @ DC Bloodlines

Justice Volume Two (2007)

Sue Dibny gently held her husband's arm and hand as Ralph placed a call to a mutual friend. "Look, Iris, it's me, okay? I know I'm just a JLA second-stringer and I'm lucky when I get called to tutor the Teen Titans. But I'm feeling kind of like an outsider here. Where's Barry?" The Flash had been missing for hours, and none of the rest of the League was returning the Elongated Man's calls. "Well, Batman never answers my calls, but..." Ralph had at least placed calls through to Rex and Zatanna...

Aquaman lay still and bloodied on an operating table. Lex Luthor wondered if he was dead, like most of the rest of the Justice League. "Does it matter," answered Brainiac. The Coluan knew Luthor was plotting against him, and said so, but everyone still had their roles to play. Brainiac had a handful of black marble "cities" whose time would soon come...

The Batman had his cave invaded by Captain Marvel and Superman, and when he protested, was decked and tied up with his butler. There were, of course, extenuating circumstances...

Dr. Jonathan Crane used a special solution to allow the blind to see in an impoverished land. Super-villains in civilian guise continued these miraculous acts around the world, while the media (including Vicki Vale) wondered what had become of the status quo enforcing super-heroes who had gone missing. The Joker, left out of the fun, continued his inquiries.



The Martian Manhunter helped Hawkman and Hawkgirl find Toyman in Metropolis.

Batman was bound in his newly amazonian Batcave by Poison Ivy, when he was appropriately rescued by Wonder Woman. However, the Dark Knight was being mind controlled, and return the favor with an electrocution attempt. The Lasso of Truth restored the Caped Crusader's psyche, and he made short work of Ivy. Super-Gorilla Grodd, speaking through the still-bound Alfred Pennyworth, cursed the stupid human animals. "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to dance on your bones. I will feast on your flesh. You have no idea what's coming."

"Shut up, Alfred. Are you okay, Wonder Woman? I'm so sorry." The Amazing Amazon was feeling raw, but Poison Ivy and Batman each had to be secured. "Your lasso is the only thing that's keeping whatever's inside me from controlling me... I need to be free to make sure whatever did this to me pays for it."

Elongated Man called in Green Lantern John Stewart from off screen.

Zatanna was quite busy this issue, despite not actually appearing. She was just in time to magic what was left of Red Tornado off the soon-to-explode League Satellite and send him to Doc Magnus for repairs. Aquaman's location was still locked in the android's head. Zee also guided John Stewart to Ferris Aircraft in Coast City to aid his search for Green Lantern.



The Martian Manhunter fretted as he made his way to the location Red Tornado had determined was Aquaman's last whereabouts. Using J'Onzz as a magical anchor, Zatanna materialized at his location. She remained hopeful against J'Onn's crestfallen pessimism, and was horrified at the state in which they found the Sea King's body. "What have they done to him, J'Onn? What have they done to his brain?"

Batman, still held in check by the Lasso of Truth, flew to the Fortress of Solitude with Wonder Woman. They were forced to wait outside until Superman arrived to lift his massive key.

Outside Atlantis, Aqualad fled the eye lasers of the Black Manta.

As other heroes arrived at the Fortress of Solitude, Batman apologized to Red Tornado for the damage he had wrought. Superman arrived to let everyone inside.

"People of magic should never be required to wait," griped Zatanna to Martian Manhunter at the headquarters of the Doom Patrol. She was concerned that Caulder couldn't "do more than he was able to do for Cliff Steele." Robotman took offense to that remark, while the Chief explained that there was nothing that needed to be done for Aquaman. While Caulder and J'Onzz compared notes on why Arthur had been assaulted in this manner, Zee thought, "The hole doesn't seem so large anymore. Did you replace some of the tissue?" Caulder assured her he had done nothing. Instead of offering a proper answer, the Chief directed his staff to place Aquaman in a healing tank he'd prepared. Zee asked Cliff "Is Niles always like this?" Robotman responded, "What, having three different conversations at once? Yeah, pretty much."



As part amphibian, Aquaman could regenerate the portion of his brain that had been removed. "He really is a man of untapped potential. Extraordinary." While Beast Boy covertly brushed against Zee's legs in cat form, the Sea King was revived with a name on his lips. "Mera...?"

Aqualad made his way to the royal palace to warn Mera about Black Manta, or so it seemed. Instead, Garth punched the queen out cold, then took her infant son from her arms. Clearly under someone's mental thrall, Aqualad fled the city to deliver Arthur Jr. to his father's greatest enemy. "I can't tell you how happy this is going to make Brainiac."

Still under the influence of the Lasso of Truth, Batman explained to Superman that there was little difference in their methods, only their effectiveness. Since Superman makes a point of letting everyone know how omnipotent he is, nobody in Metropolis wants to commit a crime based on the assumption the Man of Tomorrow knows all. The Dark Knight tried to make a parallel to the League's false assumption of safety, but Kal-El blew him off to chill out in space. Once there, he recognized the handiwork of Brainiac in the black sphere cities.

The Flash delivered Captain Cold to the Fortress of Solitude for questioning. While the rogue sat in a Plastic Man chair, sweating under a light, Batman threatened the icy villain with his own pistol. When Batman extorted information out of Cold at the potential expense of his larcenous digits, the lasso made clear it was no bluff.



Elongated Man bounced into a meeting elsewhere in the fortress to announce Batman's findings, as well as to enlarge an eye to inspect one of Brainiac's mind-controlling worm creatures under study. "Hmmm. Carter found this? Leave it to a bird to find a worm. And can someone tell me why I wasn't attacked? What's wrong with me? I have a lot of power. I'm formidable."

In a conference hall, Batman explained that the Legion of Doom had suffered reoccurring nightmares abut the world coming to an end despite (or perhaps partially because of) the Justice League's best efforts. "And so, our enemies have formed an alliance to either stop the coming end of life, or prepare a remnant of humanity to survive it." This involved killing off the heroes, seizing power, and "healing" people through the mind-controlling worms.

Zatanna materialized at the fortress, with Martian Manhunter, the Doom Patrol, and the revived Aquaman in tow. The Sea King immediately chastised the heroes for hiding in the fortress...

The Joker, pretending to be some sort of Amish preacherman, managed to score a ride to one of the black sphere floating cities.



Elongated Man decided to confront Plastic Man about his non-League presence. Eel retorted, "...Another one of those talks, is it? I'm sorry you're not the only stretchy guy... I wasn't attacked either. Maybe none of us are important. Feel better now?" Plastic Man kept trying to chill Ralph out, but Elongated Man kept insisting that the League didn't need this particular two of a kind. Eel rightly refused to leave, pointing out the similarities between Captain Marvel and Superman. Ralph insisted on being a jerk, while Plas thought maybe Elongated Man could take the form of "something the League actually needs one of these days."

Mera had Lord Yuko govern Atlantis while she searched for her missing son, beginning at the Fortress of Solitude. Elongated Man helped Mera inside, where she was reunited with her husband. Learning about the kidnapping, Superman wondered which other loved ones of the super-heroes were in danger.



Zatanna had asked the Phantom Stranger to find the missing Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and both returned from the furthest reaches of uncharted space. Zee thanked the Stranger for his aid. "It was a privilege, my dear. Perhaps now he really will be the greatest Green Lantern of them all one day." The Emerald Gladiator used his power ring to extract all the worms from Batman's body.

Aquaman stated his pleasure about everyone else being all right, but worried about his kid being in the hands of the enemy. "J'Onn told me that he had learned that Brainiac cut me open in an attempt to discover a means to control Grodd." The Sea King was furious with the Coluan and his war on all life. "He's a machine. Only a machine. And maybe that's for the best. Because I'm going to kill him."

Meanwhile, Aqualad had joined other mind-controlled teen heroes in kidnapping the supporting casts of heroes that matter (i.e. not the Martian Manhunter.)

"Justice, Vol. 2," collecting issues #5-8 of the 2005 mini-series, was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.

2011 Elongated Man “A Ralph and Sue Dibny Romantic Mystery” art by Kyle Latino

Click To Enlarge

"Cover based on a Blackshirt cover."

Kyle Latino

• “Darkseid Eats” @ DC Bloodlines
• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince
• Hawkgirl “Hawk-Nuts Flakes” @ Power of the Atom

Ralph Dibny: The World-Famous Elongated Man #1-2 by Rafa Rivas

Between a move, working crazy hours and general burnout with blogging/comics (both reading & writing about,) my productivity here has been poor, and I apologize. We will be covering the new Vibe series in the near future though, and in the meantime, I'm perfectly happy to redirect readers to other Detroit content on the web.

Rafa Rivas has put together his own period Elongated Man series proposal, and with the words "period" and "Elongated Man" in that proposal, you know this is as far as it gets. The setting, supporting cast and villains are discussed here, while the first issues are outlined here. Check it out!

2010 Elongated Man art by Craig C. Cermak II

Click To Enlarge

"Done for my friend, Ramon, who was working on a Flash mock-up cover. We both thought it'd be cool to have the co-feature on there with the Elongated Man (like it should be!!!)"

See the pencil art here.

Craig C. Cermak II

• 2011 Silver Age Atom color art @ Power of the Atom
• 2007 Captain Comet inkwash @ DC Bloodlines
• “Death of Wonder Woman” @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
• 2011 Justice League of America vs. Starro @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu

2012 “JLA by George Perez” Elongated Man Commission

Click To Enlarge


Aric Shapiro is a comic art collector with the good taste to pursue a series of Justice League of America member spotlight commissions in their full Satellite Era glory by George Pérez...

"Ralph Dibny, how I've missed you!! Ralph is a character that George drew so well; I can look at this drawing and wax nostallgic about a character long since gone. Another Perez masterpiece."

There's a whole slew of Detroit favorites in Shapiro's gallery, which I'm sure I'll revisit for this blog at a later time. I chose to feature the Elongated Man piece because Ralph doesn't get enough love here, and Dibny is one of the heroes most classically "on model" of the set, though it bears noting that the Stretchable Sleuth was never model pretty to begin with.

2012 “JLA by George Perez” Commissions

• The Atom @ Power of the Atom
• Firestorm @ DC Bloodlines
• Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince

Ralph Dibny, the World-Famous Elongated Man

By golly, who'd have thought slapping a logo at the bottom of a picture from off the DC Comics site would get such mileage as to end up on Bleeding Cool, who got it from Rafa Rivas' fan blog Ralph Dibny, the World-Famous Elongated Man. Created back in March, Rivas does an excellent job covering Stretchable Sleuth story synopses, artwork, merchandise, and whatever randomness sets his nose twitching. You've gotta love the sweet banner and character-specific color scheme! I've slowly been reading my way up from the beginning, and wanted to off a linkpost to help Detroit fans sample the wares. Enjoy!

• Mystery of the Elongated Man!
• The Elongated Man's Secret Weapon!
• The Elongated Man's Undersea Trap!
• Squeaky wheel: Elongated Man in Justice League Unlimited
• The Elongated Man's power control
• The Space-Boomerang Trap!
• Showcase Presents: The Elongated Man, vol. 1
• The Many Names of Randolph W. Dibny
• The top 20+ Rubbery Rivals of Ralph
• Top 20 Elongated Man Deviantart
• Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man!
• $#*! my Elongated Man says!
• The Man Who Mastered Absolute Zero!
• Top 25 Detectives that should cross magnifying glasses with the Elongated Man
• "A Long Talk With A Long Guy: The Elongated Man Tells All"
• Speculating about the Elongated Man's life in the DCnU

DC Retroactive: JLA - The '80s #1 (October, 2011)

Steel: "Guess somebody forgot to tell them we're just the second string." A school bus had pulled up outside the Detroit League's headquarters, the Bunker.

Vibe: "So now we're giving tours to school kids?"

Aquaman: "For years the old JLA orbited the Earth in a satellite, Hank. We looked down on the world-- literally. One of the reasons I accepted your grandfather's offer of this factory was the opportunity it presented to ground our new League-- again, literally. Here in Detroit, the League is part of the community.

Sue Dibny: Back home visiting her mother.

Elongated Man: Loving the tour, and wishing his wife could do the same. "She loves kids. One of these days we're going to have a big family."

Martian Manhunter: "Children are precious among my people as well, Ralph. Still... for reasons I cannot articulate, I feel apprehensive."

Felix Faust: Taking advantage of the deep depression that choked the Motor City once the car manufacturers went elsewhere, the sorcerer used an ancient tablet to cast a spell that turned its citizens into monsters.

Lamont: A jerky kid on the tour who complained about the absence of real heroes from the League. "You guys are nobodies. Just a bunch'a losers."

Geoff: Another kid bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain future writer/executive who came to the Detroit League's defense.



Zatanna: Offered to break the tension by showing the kids some magic, but they were blown away by the real deal when Faust came calling. The League were tossed around like rag dolls by his beasts.

Dale Gunn: Suggested the medical lab as the best position to retreat to, since it could be hermetically sealed behind a vault door. Ten hours after the start of the tour, and everyone was trapped by monsters.

Vixen: One of the few members to maintain her positive outlook. She had cheered Geoff on, and even when her planned kicking of some ass ended with a dragon's tail sending her flying, she kept it together. While trapped, she checked on the unconscious Elongated Man, Dale Gunn, and Martian Manhunter. She also caught the wounded but defiant Aquaman as he collapsed toward the end of a speech intended to hearten the troops.

Zatanna: Still on her feet to look over the fallen Vibe and Gypsy.

Steel: Tried to hold the line against the monsters, but any effort on his part ended with him flying and the locking vault saving his armored tushie. Hank mocked Aquaman's speech, and once again branded his team "light-weight wannabess. Vibe, Gypsy, me-- even Vixen-- we're not good enough to be part of your precious League."

Aquaman: Argued otherwise, but still called Hank a spoiled brat whose granddaddy's bucks gave him a sense of entitlement. Steel rushed Aquaman, who rolled onto his back and kicked Hank across the room.

Geoff: Convinced the team that heroes helped people rather than fighting amongst themselves.

Aquaman: Ordered Dale, Elongated Man and Gypsy to guide the children out of the Bunker to safety while the rest of the team ran interference. Gypsy protested, but Aquaman explained, "forgive me, but you're just a child. You deserve the chance to grow up. Just like these kids. They need you to do this. I need you to do this."

Zatanna: Determined from something her father told her long ago that Faust must have used the Tablet of Tel El-Amarna, stolen from Iraq, to conjure the monsters out of men. Beyond helping the children, Zee wanted the tablet targeted.

Steel, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter: Caught the vault door when it was finally burst in, and tossed it back at the monsters. The rest of the team fought hard and followed orders... except for Gypsy.



Vibe: Flat on his back as Felix Faust gloated over how his massacre of the Detroit League would serve to bring the real heroes into his murderous clutches. Vibe was playing possum, and spit in Faust's face while telling him "...bite me."

Gypsy: Invisibly swiped the tablet and smashed it to pieces over Faust's noggin. "For a guy wearing a pointy hat, you sure do think a lot of yourself." The monsters vanished, saving everyone's life.

Aquaman: "Gypsy, I told you to go with Ralph and Dale. You disobeyed a direct order... Good job."

Creators: "Siege" was by Gerry Conway and Ron Randall.

Whether you enjoy the team for the kitsch factor of its instantly dated fad jumping or recognize that the team starred in several of the best story arcs ever featured in JLofA volume I, there seems to be enduring affection that keeps readers and creators coming back to revisit this team. A shame then that Conway doesn't seem to share it anymore. Part of the joy of his early issues with the team was its unrelenting, meta-defensive optimism in the face of scrutiny in both the stories and the letter columns. Later writers even used that unmerited self-esteem as a means of generating poetic irony, these poor doomed fools believing they would someday earn a place among titans when most would instead die violently or fade into obscurity. Conway, in an about face, starts this story with the team unanimously agreeing that they suck and their incompetence was going to cost a bunch of innocent lives. Not only is that a downer, but in giving in after all these years, Conway seems as clueless about his team's retroactive appeal today as he was their complete unsuitability while he was writing them the first time.

The characters aren't in character and their powers are downplayed to suit an unimpressive threat. I guess Zatanna is consistent at least, since Conway never wrote her worth a damn. I'll acknowledge Gypsy as well, since she had a few occasions of playing David-out-of-a-box to the Goliath of the month in the original series. The bland art by Ron Randall doesn't do any favors, especially when the only thing keeping his Dale Gunn from being 100% Caucasian is someone failing to tell the colorist that this book would be printed on cheap stock. It was obviously meant for glossy, because the colors are uniformly murky.

DC Retroactive

• Wonder Woman - The '80s #1 (DC, 2011) @ Diana Prince
• JLA - The '90s #1 (October, 2011) @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• JLA - The '70s #1 (September, 2011) @ Power of the Atom
• The Huntress in "Trial by Fire" (October/November, 1978) @ DC Bloodlines

2011 DC Fifty-TOO! Plastic Man #1 by Jon Morris and Stephen DeStefano

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Jon Morris is a Washington-based cartoonist and is probably best known for his webcomic Jeremy. He is also the writer of the comic blog Gone&Forgotten, operates the Cornered collaborative art blog, and is the founder and curator of this, the DC Fifty-Too project. His website is Calamity Jon Save Us! Morris prefers the Jack Cole version of Plas as a flexible straight in a crooked world, which includes being confronted by an uncharacteristically mellow Black Lantern Elongated Man as an unwanted houseguest. Morris elaborates at DC Fifty-TOO!

New Elongated Man Blog!

Rafa Rivas of the Yucatán claims to have a direct line on Gingold, the elixir that has been a contortionist's favorite for years and bestowed the power of elongation upon one Ralph Dibny. Perhaps this explains Rivas' being enamored enough with the character to give him his own blog, Ralph Dibny, the World-Famous Elongated Man. I firmly believe that every super-hero possible should have their own blog, and I certainly support the creation of ones for JLD members. Between my treating 2011 as "The Year of The Vixen" through weekly posts and cutting back frequency of this blog (obviously not as of this week, but feast before famine,) I think it's great that someone's picking up my upcoming slack. Rivas also authored an Elongated Man Biography online, so check it out!

2009 “Curry and Dibny” by Evan “Doc” Shaner

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Of all the Detroit League reunions that one could conjure up, it takes a special kind of weird to pair off Aquaman and Elongated Man in a detective mystery involving Starro the Conqueror. Kudos!

Elongated Man's Stretchable Sleuth

Ralph Dibny was fascinated by contortionists as a kid, and found that one thing they all seemed to have in common was an addiction to the soft drink Gingold. Why, it would take quite a detective to put that together, based on a fixation with pliability. Could this convergence possibly lead to Ralph's isolating the active ingredient in Gingold, dosing up on the stuff regular, and enhancing his performance to become a second rate Plastic Man? Indeed!

Unlike Eel O'Brien, Ralph was only thought to be a crook when he made his debut as the Elongated Man, making fast friends with the Flash. I guess he lacked that certain something though, because he wasn't offered more than a back-up series, and it took years to land a spot on the Justice League. In the meantime, Ralph gained fame enough to attract the attention of a delightful heiress, and his marriage to Sue Dibny was about the most original and noteworthy thing about him.

From second banana to background team player, Elongated Man rode his association with the Justice League until their first volume was canceled. Even with the slim pickings available, Justice League International still left Ralph on the shelf for two years, until they needed to staff a spin-off team. Once they burned the engine up on that one, Elongated Man was retired until such a time as he and his wife could be used to fuel the tragedy in a crossover, and they were both permanently laid to rest.

Solo Blog
Ralph Dibny, the World-Famous Elongated Man

Ductile Detective
Who's Who Vol.VII: The Elongated Man (9/85)
The Top 10 Elongated Man Covers
Ralph Dibny Can't Keep It Together (Identity Crisis #1, 2004)

22,300 Miles above the Earth
Justice League of America #133-134 (8-9/76)
Justice League of America #221-223 (12/93-2/84)
Blue Devil #4, #5 (10/84)

"Oh, NO! Lake Michigan!"
Justice League of America Annual #2 (1984)
The New Teen Titans #4 (1/85)
Justice League of America #233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238,239, #241, #242, #243
JLA Classified #23 (Late July, 2006)
JLA: Incarnations #5 (11/2001): 1st Story, 3rd Story
Infinity Inc. #19 (10/85)
Justice League of America #244 (11/85)
Justice League of America Annual #3 (1985)
Justice League of America #246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 257
Legends #1 (11/86), #2
Justice League of America #258 (1/87)
Legends #3-6 (1-4/87)

Europa
Justice League Spectacular #1 (1992)

Identity Crisis
The Flash #208-209 (May-June ’04)
Identity Crisis #1 (8/04), #2-5 (Sep-Dec. 2004), #6, #7
JLA#115, #116
Batman and the Outsiders #1-5 (December 2007-May 2008)
Green Lantern #43 (Early September 2009)
Blackest Night #1, #2, #3

Elseworlds
Detroit League in JLA/Avengers (2003)
Justice #5, #6, #8

Signed Glossies

• 1986 DC Comics "Legends" Promotional Ad by John Byrne
• 1984 DC Sampler #2 by Chuck Patton
• 1998 George Pérez & Alex Ross Painted Crisis On Infinite Earths Hardcover Art
• "Infinitely Heroic" Giclee by Alex Ross
• 2007 Green Lantern vs. Elongated Man by Steve Rude

One Word: Plastics

• 1970s Detroit League 7-11 Slurpee Cups
• 1984 The Elongated Man Postcard by George Pérez
• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Elongated Man Character Card Front
• 1991-92 Impel DC Cosmic Cards #47- Elongated Man
• 1993 Skybox DC Cosmic Teams Justice League International Team Triptych Cards
• 2007 Upper Deck VS System DC Comics Legends Elongated Man Card (DCL-011)
• Ryan Schrodt's Custom Ralph and Sue Dibney Wedding Centerpieces
• Elongated Man Custom Total Justice/JLA Action Figures
• Comic Book Movie Casts the ENTIRE 108 Members of the Justice League!
• 2009 Black Lantern Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man) Custom Action Figure by StEvOtoys
• Colección Super Amigos: Liga de la Justicia de Detroit 
• Colección Super Amigos: Zatanna & other Liga de la Justicia de Detroit Mini-Comics
• Justice League Detroit in upcoming “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” DVD
• 2010 Justice League of America #217 Twin Pocket Folder and Notebook Style #3009DC