Elongated Man Appreciation Thread

[Timothy Hunter]

1) No negative comments about the honoree of this thread. It's an appreciation thread, not a non-appreciation one.

2) No negative discussion about any competitors of the honoree of this thread (i.e. John Stewart in the Hal Jordan thread). No ifs, ands, or buts. Find another non-appreciation thread to do that, just not here.

3) No negative comments about other versions of the character. For example, if you like the DCU version of Cyborg, but hate the DCnU version (or visa versa), just appreciate the earlier version and keep your comments about the latter to yourself.

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elongated_man.jpg

[Phoenixx9]

From the little if Elongated Man that I know, I like the character.

How did he gain his powers? How far can he stretch? Can he stretch his head and fingers? Does he also have the power to flatten himself out to slide under doors?

[The Darknight Detective]

Discovered Ralph back in '76 and have been a fan of him ever since. Not the first rubbery guy I saw (I can recall seeing Mr. Fantastic as far back as '68 on TV and Plastic Man during the first season of Super Friends), but I had more comics featuring him as a kid.

[Mike]

One of my favorite characters.
I picked this issue of the JLA up because of him and the George Perez art.
JLA_v.1_186.jpg

[Graphic Autist]

A Super Buddy.

[Timothy Hunter]

From the little if Elongated Man that I know, I like the character.

How did he gain his powers?

Well, I haven't read his origin story in a long time, but from what I recall he was a chemist who developed this fruit which gave him Stretching powers.

[Graphic Autist]

Well, I haven't read his origin story in a long time, but from what I recall he was a chemist who developed this fruit which gave him Stretching powers.

Fruit...never heard that before, but it's so weird it's awesome.

[Jon Clark]

Well, I haven't read his origin story in a long time, but from what I recall he was a chemist who developed this fruit which gave him Stretching powers.

Actually I think it was that an existing fruit gave people stretching powers. Carnival performers known for being able to twist their bodies in the DCU were drinking some soda/drink that had the "gingold" fruit as a main ingredient. Ralph discovered this connection and either due to his meta-gene or the fact he took more concentrated doses it gave him stretching powers way beyond just being able touch his shoulder to his heel.

[ultradav]

I love Elongated Man, his detective skills were an interesting trait, as was his romance with his wife, a relatively rare thing in comics.

[MajorHoy]

[SJNeal]

Ralph Dibny is the only stretchy hero I've ever cared for. There are some great Reed Richards stories out there, but as a character, he's never clicked for me the way Ralph (and Sue!) did. The less said about Plastic Man the better... ugh.

My first exposure to the Elongated Man was in the pages of Justice League Europe; I still love everything about that series, and the Dibny's play a big part in that.

[Phoenixx9]

Ah, so from these scans, Elongated Man's first and original costume was lavender in color, before the red one and then the later darker lavender and white one. Many people just assume they came up with a new color, when it was actually his original!

[Denirac]

I smell a Mystery....
IMG_3318.jpg

[scary harpy]

I am not trying to offend his fans but the only reason Elongated Man exists is that the writer didn't know DC owned Plastic Man.

I like Ralph but I wish he would lose his stretching abilities. He could still be the world's greatest contortionist (from the gingold extract) and inhumanely durable. I don't want him to lose this "mystery scents" ability.

I think this would take him in his own direction and make him a more street-level adventurer.

[MajorHoy]

from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol. VII (September 1985)