Why does DC have Plastic Man AND Elongated Man?

[tib2d2]

Never understood why there were two characters with such similar abilities in the DCU

[Jody Garland]

Because abilities don't define characters. Plas isn't one of the world's greatest detectives nor is he happily married. Ralph isn't a shapeshifter, etc. There's plenty of difference between the two.

[Flash Gordon]

They're entirely different characters. Plastic Man is a Golden Age Jack Cole creation, very experimental and wacky. Elongated Man is more of a straight superhero of the Silver Age vein.

[skyvolt2000]

Never understood why there were two characters with such similar abilities in the DCU

Why do we have Supergirl & Superman & Superboy?

Why do we have 6 Earth Lanterns?

Because how they all use their powers VARY for whatever reason.

[scary harpy]

The writer of the JLA didn't know that DC owned Plastic Man so he created Elongated Man.

Later, he found out DC did own Plastic Man. Live and learn.

At least, that's the story I heard.

[Flash Gordon]

The writer of the JLA didn't know that DC owned Plastic Man so he created Elongated Man.

Later, he found out DC did own Plastic Man. Live and learn.

At least, that's the story I heard.

Elongated Man began as a supporting character for Barry Allen.

He later showed up in JLA, but wasn't created for it.

[tib2d2]

The writer of the JLA didn't know that DC owned Plastic Man so he created Elongated Man.

Later, he found out DC did own Plastic Man. Live and learn.

At least, that's the story I heard.

See, now that seems plausible and makes sense. Thanks!

[byrd156]

I'm sorry but are you serious? Do you not see character traits or personality? It's like saying do we need more human heroes than Batman because they have the same "power set".

[Frontier]

This thread reminds me of this video:

[Jim Kelly]

Think of Elongated Man as the "Silver Age" revival version of Plastic Man, just as Barry Allen is the revival version of Jay Garrick/Johnny Chambers (and a little bit original Captain Marvel), Hal Jordan is the revival version of Alan Scott (and a little bit Adam Blake Captain Comet), Thanagar's Hawkman is the revival version of Egypt's Hawkman and Ray Palmer is the revival version of Al Pratt (Atom)/Daryl Dane (Doll Man).

I don't really think that an actual Plastic Man revival would have worked with the Schwartz era Justice League. Even if they knew they had the rights to the character, the Schwartz revival would have probably fit within that same reality of the times and he wouldn't have been like the original Jack Cole version.

When they finally realized they could revive the actual Plastic Man, in 1966, the result was not like Elongated Man but it also wasn't like the Jack Cole version. It was campy sophomoric humour at best. It took them another ten years, in 1976, before they got Plastic Man right, with Ramona Fradon doing the art and various writers.

Actually, before then, the comic that felt the most like how Plastic Man ought to be was Charlton's E-MAN from Joe Staton and Nicola Cuti.

[AdamFTF]

No one has mentioned yet that Elongated Man is a riff on Dashiell Hammett's detective character Nick Charles, while his wife Sue was his Nora. Even the name Elongated Man is a take on the title of the book The Thin Man. They'd travel around solving mysteries. Though, the roles were reversed from the characters in Hammett's book. Ralph was flightier and loved the fame of being a super-detective, while Sue was the more grounded one.

Plastic Man, on the other hand is . . . not. He's an ex-crook who changed his ways after an unfortunate dip some strange chemicals. And as I understand it, his early stories are a rather unique sort of humor. Basically, Plastic Man was the straight-man in a series where everything including his abilities was off the wall. And nowadays, he's a wisecracking, wacky, shape-changer.

Basically, the two characters come from different places in terms of inspiration.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

The writer of the JLA didn't know that DC owned Plastic Man so he created Elongated Man.

Later, he found out DC did own Plastic Man. Live and learn.

At least, that's the story I heard.

It makes sense. DC only acquired Quality comics a few years before Ralph was created.

[LordMikel]

This thread reminds me of this video:

Why did they dodge the bullets at the beginning?

[tib2d2]

It makes sense. DC only acquired Quality comics a few years before Ralph was created.

Agreed. I can't believe how rude some of these folks are being just for me asking a question about some characters I'm not totally familiar with.

[Jim Kelly]

It was probably thought that an India Rubber Man character was now free for anyone to use, once Quality went out of business and Plastic Man was gone from the comic book shelves--his last issue being PLASTIC MAN 64 (November 1956).

DC had three of them, all with red hair and all in similar outfits. They had Jimmy Olsen making his first appearance as Elastic Lad in SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 31 (September 1958), Ralph Dibny as Elongated Man in THE FLASH 112 (April-May 1960) and the one-time only Rubberman in DETECTIVE COMICS 310 (December 1962).

While Marvel had Mr. Fantastic debuting in FANTASTIC FOUR No. 1 (November 1961).

There were also various other stretchable characters like Madame Rouge in DOOM PATROL. Plus the ductile METAL MEN in their own title--havng made their first bow in SHOWCASE 37 (March-April 1962).

Ralph did start out as being a suspicious character, but proved to Barry that he was a real hero. That first story used a common plot, where some new super-powered guy appears in town and the lead super-hero suspects the guy is a bandit, but it turns out not to be true.

I agree that the classic version of the Elongated Man took inspiration from the Thin Man movies, but John Broome or Gardner Fox probably developed that approach later, once Sue Dibny had been introduced--and especially once the couple had their own series in DETECTIVE COMICS. It was just a happy coincidence that the Elongated Man and the Thin Man were similar names.

I say the movies--starring William Powell and Myrna Loy--because there was a whole series of those (plus a radio show), whereas Hammett only wrote one THIN MAN novel (and a great novel it is). Nora is helpful in the book, but she becomes much more of a foil to Nick in the movies--just as Sue was to Ralph in 'TEC.