The Periodic Table of Superheroes

It's funny how as awesome as it is I can't help but nitpick minor details. Like The Atom, Speedy and Mr. Mxyzptlk so notoriously missing. They were popular during that era, as well as Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beastboy. Harley has nothing to do there (although, retroactively, it would have been a really cool thing to see), and I feel that the Scarecrow, Captain Cold, Grodd, Black Manta, Zod, Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Sivana, Mr. Mind and Mordru were more popular than Two-Face. That being said, we have to note that whoever did this grouped heroes by families, which wouldn't have made easy to fit everyone there. It's fun to play with these ideas, anyway.

The Golden Age chronology!

For no particular reason (well, there's one, but you don't get to know about it for a while), I'm posting a chronological list of the debuts of the golden age characters of DC.

1935

Oct, More Fun Comics #6 – Dr. Occult, Rose Psychic

1937 

March, Detective Comics #1 – Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan

1938 

Apr, Action Comics #1 – Superman, Zatara, Tex Thopson

Oct, Detective Comics #20 - Crimson Avenger and Wing

1939 

May, Detective Comics #27 – Batman

Jul, Adventure Comics #40 - Sandman

1940

Jan, Flash Comics #1 – Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder

Feb, More Fun Comics #52 – The Spectre

Mar, Adventure Comics #48 - Hourman

Spr, Batman #1 – Catwoman

Apr, Detective Comics #38 –  Robin

May, More Fun Comics #55 – Dr. Fate

Jun, More Fun Comics #56 - Congo Bill

Jul, All-American Comics #16 – Green Lantern

Oct, All-American Comics #19 – The Atom

Nov, All-American Comics #20 – Red Tornado
Win, All-Star Comics #3 – The Justice Society of America (Hawkman, Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, Spectre, Hurman and Sandman).

1941

Apr, All-American Comics #25 – Dr. Mid-Nite

Apr, Adventure Comics #61 - Starman

Sep, More Fun Comics #73 – Aquaman, Green Arrow, Speedy

Sep, Adventure Comics #66 – Shining Knight

Sep, Action Comics #40 – Star-Spanged Kid, Stripesy

Oct, All-Star Comics #8 - Wonder Woman

Oct, Star-Spangled Comics #1 - Tarantula

Nov, Action Comics #42 – Vigilante

Winter, Boy Commandos #1 – Liberty Belle
Winter, Leading Comics #1 – Seven Soldiers of Victory

1942

Jan, Sensation Comics #1 – Wildcat, Mr. Terrific

Feb, Detective Comics #60 – Air Wave

Apr, Star-Spangled Comics #7 – Robotman, TNT and Dan the Dyna-myte, The Guardian

1947

Aug, Flash Comics #86 – Black Canary

1948

Jun, - Star-Spangled Comics #81 – Gimmick Girl

1983

Jul, All-Star Squadron #23 – Amazing Man

Adoptive characters

A bunch of current DC Comics properties were created outside National Comics / All-American Publications. In this list I'm mixing Fawcett Comics, Quality Comics and Fox Comics. However, it must first  be considered that [besides the ancient and classic god pantheons and the biblical characters] certain classic characters that exist in the current DCU were created even before that:

c. 9th Century: King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table

c. 1422: Robin Hood

1887: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson

1904: Rima, the Jungle Girl

1912: Tarzan

1933: Doc Savage

1939

Aug, Mystery Men Comics #1 – Blue Beetle

1940

Feb, Whiz Comics #2 – Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher

May, Nickel Comics #1 – Bulletman and Bulletgirl

May, Crack Comics #1 – Black Condor

Jul, National Comics #1 – Uncle Sam

Jun, Register and Tribune Syndicate – The Spirit

Sept, Smash Comics #14 – The Ray

1941

Aug, Police Comics #1 – Plastic Man, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Firebrand

Aug, Military Comics #1 – Miss America, Blackhawks

Dec, Whiz Comics #25 – Captain Marvel Jr.

1942

Dec, Captain Marvel Adventures #18 – Mary Marvel

1943

Jul, Military Comics #20 – Lady Blackhawk (unnamed)

Oct, Wow Comics #18 – Uncle Marvel

1944

Apr, Feature Comics #77 – Doll Man

It is interesting to note that in both cases, most of the characters were created between January 1940 and December 1941, and that, in general, they also had more staying power than the rest, with the exception being the two big archetypes that predate them: Superman and Batman.

Villains

And finally the villains (I might do supporting cast if I'm ever in the mood). It's funny I'd have never expected Wonder Woman to have the clearest gallery or Superman to be so difficult.
In this case we can also appreciate that, unlike superheroes, must of the villains were not created in 1940 or 1941. However, many archenemies are from those years: Luthor, Joker, Catwoman, Clayface, Scarecrow, Penguin, Hugo Strange, Sivana, Captain Nazi, Wotan, Karkull, Mr. Who, Hath Set, Dummy, Zor, Oom and Blackjack (hey, he was basically the only Aquaman guy back then!)

Wonder Woman

1942, Feb, Sensation Comics #2 – Doctor Poison

1942, Apr, Sensation Comics #4 – Baroness Paula von Gunther

1942, Sum, Wonder Woman #1 – Ares

1942, Fall, Wonder Woman #2 – Duke of Deception, Lord Conquest, Earl of Greed

1943, Apr, Wonder Woman #4 - Mavis

1943, Jun, Wonder Woman #5 – Dr. Psycho

1943, Oct, Wonder Woman #6 – Cheetah

1943, Dec, Comic Cavalcade #5 -Zara

1944, Mar, Wonder Woman #8 – Queen Clea

1944, Jun, Wonder Woman #9 – Giganta

1944, Fall, Wonder Woman #10 – Eviless

1944, Win, Wonder Woman #11 – Hipnota

1945, Apr, Sensation Comics #42, Draska Nishki              

1946, Sep, Sensation Comics #59 – Blue Snowman

1946, Oct, Comic Cavalcade #17 – Gunra the Valkyrie

1947, Jul, Wonder Woman #24 – The Mask
1948, Mar, Wonder Woman #28 – Villainy Inc.

1948, Apr, Wonder Woman #29 – Minister Blizzard

1949, Sep, Wonder Woman #37 - Circe

1953, Nov, Wonder Woman #62 – Angle Man

Batman

Wasn't able to get any Kane gallery, but here's some Sprang.

1939, Jul, Detective Comics #29 – Dr.  Death

1939, Sep, Detective Comics #31 – Monk & Dala

1940, Feb, Detective Comics #36 – Professor Hugo Strange

1940, Spr, Batman #1 – The Joker
1940, Apr, Detective Comics #38 –  Boss Zucco

1940, Jun, Detective Comics #40 - Clayface

1941, Fall, World’s Finest Comics #3 – The Scarecrow

1941, Dec, Detective Comics #58 – The Penguin

1942, Ago, Detective Comics #66 – Two-Face

1943, Apr, Detective Comics #74 – Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

1943, Nov, Detective Comics #81 – The Cavalier
1947, Sep, World's Finest Comics #30 – The Penny Plunderer

1948, Oct, Batman #49 – The Mad Hatter

1950, Jun, Batman #59 – Deadshot  

1951, Feb, Batman #63 – Killer Moth

1952, Jun, Detective Comics #184 - Firefly
1983, Jul, The Brave and the Bold #200 – Brimstone

Captain Marvel

1940, Feb, Whiz Comics #2 – Dr. Sivana

1941, Dec, Master Comics #21 – Captain Nazi

1942, Mar, Captain Marvel Adventures #8 – Mr. Banjo, Ibac

1942, Apr, Captain Marvel Adventures #9 – Nippo

1943, Feb, Captain Marvel Jr. #4, Sabbac

1943, Mar, Captain Marvel Adventures #22 - Herkimer

1943, Ago, Captain Marvel Adventures #26 – Mr. Mind, Goat Man

1944, Jun, Captain Marvel Adventures #36 - Jeepers

1944, Nov, Captain Marvel Adventures #41 – Evil Eye

1945, Dec, Marvel Family #1 – Black Adam

1946, May, Captain Marvel Adventures #61 – Oggar

1947, Nov, Captain Marvel Adventures #78 – Mr. Atom

1951, Oct, Captain Marvel Adventures #125 – King Kull

Superman

1939, Jun, Action Comics #13 – Ultra-Humanite

1940, Jan, Action Comics #20 – Dolores Winters (who woud become Ultra-Humanite)

1940, Apr, Action Comics #23 – Lex Luthor

1941 Nov, Superman #13 – The Archer

1942 Aug – Action Comics #58 – The Prankster

1942 Nov, Superman #19 – Funny Face

1942, Jun, Action Comics #49 – The Puzzler

1942, Sum, World’s Finest Comics #6 – Metalo

1943, Sep,  Action Comics #64 – Toyman
1943, Nov, Superman #25 – Hi-Jack

1944, Jan, Superman #26 - J. Wilbur Wolfingham

1944, Sep, Superman #30 – Mr. Mxyzptlk

1950, Feb, Superboy #6 – Humpty Dumpty

Flash

1942, Sep, Flash Comics #33 – The Shade

1942, Dec, Flash Comics #36 ­– Rag Doll

1943, Fall, All Flash Comics #12 – The Thinker

1945, Win, All Flash Comics #21 – The Turtle

1947, Nov, Flash Comics #89 - Thorn

1947, Dec, All Flash Comics #32 – The Fiddler, Star Sapphire

1949, Feb, Flash Comics #104 – The Rival

Green Lantern

1943, Win, Green Lantern #10 – Vandal Savage

1944, Sum, Green Lantern #12 – The Gambler

1944, Oct, All-American Comics #61 – Solomon Grundy

1947, May, All-American Comics #85 – Sportsmaster
1947, Ago, Green Lantern #27 – Sky Pirate

1947, Sep, All-American Comics #89 – Harlequin

1947, Oct, All-American Comics #90 – Icicle

Dr. Fate

1940, May, More Fun Comics #55 - Wotan
1941, May, More Fun Comics #67 – Nergal
1941, Jul, More Fun Comics #69 – Ian Karkull 
1941, Nov, More Fun Comics #73 – Mr. Who
1942, Jun, More Fun Comics #80 – Octopus
1942, Jul, More Fun Comics #81 – The Clock

Justice Society of America

1943, Feb, All-Star Comics #15 – Brainwave

1945, Win, All-Star Comics #23 – Psycho-Pirate

1947, Apr, All-Star Comics #34 – The Wizard

1947, Jun, All-Star Comics #35 – Per Degaton
1947, Oct, All-Star Comics #37 – Injustice Society of the World 
1948, Dec, All-Star Comics #44 – Evil Star
1951, Mar, All-Star Comics #57 – The Key
1999, Dec, Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant #1 – Johnny Sorrow

Hawkman

1940, Jan, Flash Comics #1 – Hath Set

1940, Fall, All-Star Comics #2 - Nyola
1941, Jan, Flash Comics #13 – Satana

1945, Apr, Flash Comics #64 – The Monocle

1947, Oct, Flash Comics #88 – The Gentleman Ghost

Plastic Man

1950, May, Plastic Man #23 – The Figure
1950, Sep, Plastic Man #25 – Mr. Aqua

The Spectre

1940, May, More Fun Comics #55 –  Zor
1940, Win, All-Star Comics #3 – Oom

Aquaman

1941, Dec, More Fun Comics #74, Blackjack

Green Arrow

1946, Sep, World's Finest #24 – Bulls-Eye

Dr. Mid-Nite

1947, Feb, All-American Coics #82 - Dr. Light

Starman

1941, May, Adventure Comics #62 – The Light

1941, Oct, Adventure Comics #67 – The Mist

Vigilante

1941, Win, Leading Comics #1 – The Dummy

Zatara

1938, Apr, Action Comics #1 – The Tigress
1938, Oct, Action Comics #5 – Amen-Hotep

Congo Bill

1940, Jun, More Fun Comics #56 - The Skull

Robotman

1943, Feb, Star-Spangled Comics #17 – The Turtle

Wildcat

1943, Ago, Sensation Comics #20 – Yellow Wasp
1947, Ago, Sensation Comics #68 – The Huntress

Sandman

1942, Sum, World’s Finest Comics #6  - Ramulus

Boy Commandos

1946, Jun, Boy Commandos #15 – Crazy Quilt

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Survivors of the Golden Age! - A description of the transition between the Silver and the Golden Ages of DC Comics.
• The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline! - A series of lists of the most important debuts and events of the Silver Age in chronological order.
• Part I: Pre-Classic - 1947 - 1956.
• Part II: Classic - 1956 - 1969.
• Part III: Post-Classic - 1969 - 1973.  
• The Elongated Man and the Bronze Age Timeline! - A list of the Bronze Age debuts of DC Characters and events in chronological order.

Know your Justice Leaguer

In a previous article, I made the personality profile of The Elongated Man. Knowing what makes a character tick is what makes them interesting. The bad (or the badass) seems to be the flavor of the day since the late 80s. Everybody needed to be like Rorschach, Batman or Wolverine to be cool. But that’s not good writing, just selling fool-proof hooks that can be pulled even by the lesser writers.

Good writers know how play with personality traits in order to sell any character. Take Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as instance, Tolkien and Jackson, managed to make a pop cult icon out of Gollum, a petty worm who is the very antithesis of any type of alpha male. The most read book of all times is about a loon that sees windmills as villains. The most popular sitcom is about four neurotic misfits… The trick is to know the character and to know how to exploit his personality traits.

With that in mind, I give you a list of sketches the most notorious members of the Justice League. My focus is on temperament, which I consider the very core of a person’s attitude.

Aquaman: His personality has wildly changed in some media; however, in comics, he’s most commonly portrayed as a tough yet melancholic, no-nonsense guy with a lot of weight over his shoulders. That crown is heavy.

He has an old soul. Like Batman, his eye for detail is just as sharp as his eye for the big picture. He’s extremely loyal and noble, but he doesn’t waste time on lost causes.

Within the League he sits among the other "kings": Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter. I just happens.

Other versions have him as a merrier guy. Batman: The Brave and the Bold even gave him a loud, bigger than life personality, very similar to the Thor of the 2011 movie. It’s not the original deal, but I kind of like this better, even if toned down a bit.

The Atom: It is ironic, but the smallest man alive, often feels like a small man inside. Despite being a genius and having one of the greatest super powers, he tends to feel guilty and undeserving, making him the most typically melancholic member of the team. He’s very creative and escapes everyday life through science and superheroics. He pulled the whole superhero thing for a woman, who doesn’t seem to appreciate him that well, which doesn’t speak well of his self-esteem. Hawkman, his best friend is also bossy and overly confident. The second he gets out of his lab, Ray Palmer tends to give a lot, expecting nothing in return.

He loves his role as the idea guy of the JLA, he's no tactician, but when it comes to tehnical matters, hes the go-to guy.
However, he is sometimes portrayed as an absent-minded genius with little interests outside science; your average Egon Spengler, Gyro Gearloose or Mr. Fantastic.

Batman: A compulsive melancholic who is obsessed with perfection. Fueled by survivor’s guilt, makes sure he’s the best at everything he does, including being the ultimate alpha. He’s very methodical and needs to control people and information alike. Years of practice have made him faster when it comes to acquiring new skills. He is able to act like a very social person as Bruce Wayne, but that’s all it is, an act. He has deep trust issues and can’t communicate affection properly to his loved ones (even though he is not that bad at hinting it). His most significant love affair is with Catwoman, who is just as distant in her own way. 

Working with the JLA, he arrives late at the Watchtower, takes charge, solve the problem and goes back to Gotham.
During the silver age, both as Batman and as Bruce, he was more civic-minded, polite and preachy. This characterization was reused with some added coolness in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Black Canary: She’s an overachiever, focusing all her dedication and discipline in continuing her mother’s legacy as a superhero. Mother issues and poor taste in men are perhaps the biggest aspects of her personal life. Opposed to Green Arrow, she’s also a strong, independent woman with feminist values. She works her ass off; Hal would just get the job done right with the best  tool available, and then hit the bar; by contrast, Dinah would do hours of exhaustive practice, almost as intensively as Batman. She plays hard to get, but she is no Catwoman. Ollie is her weakness; she demands a lot of herself only to fall for the resident ladies man. Her temperament is a bit melancholic, but phlegmatic enough to have great people skills, which makes her a perfect field leader.

The Elongated Man: The guy is all about doing what he loves and getting some attention while he’s there, by far, the most laid back out of the classic leaguers; a perfectly sanguine type. He’s quite diligent but wastes no extra energy to get the job done; he’s so practical that in his debut, he proved to be a faster crime-solver than Flash himself. He can solve anything Batman does – only with fewer resources and more lateral thinking. He's often the one who humbly presents a practical solution when the team seems to be up against the wall (even more often when Batman is not around). 

Out of the entire league, he’s the one that makes the most assertive life-choices and avoids drama the best. Ralph is a fun guy who managed to get the money, the girl, the fame and the status on his first day and then saves the world merely by “stretching at the right time”.

Firestorm: Ronnie is frat guy with a heart of gold. Being analytic never worked for him, so he focused on fun and what makes a male kid popular, but then, he got a challenge and was forced to change his ways. His fusion with Professor Martin Stein is like a permanent, intensive and forced mentorship that forces him to overcome that one aspect of his life he used to neglect. The way he acts, he looks self-secure, yet, he’s overcompensating for his lack of intellectuality, which he is overcoming as Firestorm. The JLA became even more reinforcement. Starting with Superman, they believe in his potential. He's the rookie of the team and when it came to fitting in, Ralph often took him under his wing.  

The Flash: One of the hardest to define for many people. He’s all about diligence and a huge sense of civic duty. His temperament is somewhere between phlegmatic and melancholic. He feels the need to complete great task and to do it step by step and by the book, often missing the forest for the tree. However, he can still be very creative. He’s very similar to Superman, only less bold, more humble and more of a side thinker. And while Clark pretends to be boring, Barry is the genuine article.

Green Arrow: This one is all about character. He’s sanguine like Hal, only with a shorter temper, savvier and more stubborn. He relies heavily on common sense and cynical observation to the point that he is perhaps the best judge of character in the League and, even though he’s about as old as the rest, he’s seen the “old devil” of the team. 

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and yet, he’s so stubbornly liberal that he became the most socially aware JLAer; he’s the guy that often keeps the rest grounded. To him, watching out for the little guy is way more important than defeating the bad guy and his teammates appreciate him for that. That being said, he can also be patronizing, flawed and a bit chauvinistic. The fact that he’s an idealist doesn't mean that his behavior is perfect as a person, especially when it comes to women.

Green Lantern: The guy is the epitome of the charming alpha male. He likes, he takes. He shoots, he scores; very good at saving the day, getting the girl and having a great time. However, like a good sanguine (and unlike Ralph), he is not that great on the long term. Hal can’t keep the girl and doesn't really climb the job ladder, even when he has all the opportunities there. He probably feels a bit undeserving under all that cockiness.

Hawkman: He is a tough alpha male; nerves of steel, sharp, to the point; never misses a thing and he is always talking with authority. He never backs away from his frame. His views are often the toughest of the team. He and his wife might walk around bare-naked, yet he is very conservative (Republican in fact), overprotective with women (at least one time with Black Canary and often with his wife) and he takes the most aggressive stands on punishments.

As serious as Katar is, the ones that get close to him like Hawkgirl, the Atom and Elongated Man, can get him to show his lighter side.  That being said, he can’t stand Ollie.

Superman:  I always say, when your father treats you as if you were Superman, you end up flying. This is literally the case with Clark. He comes from two great sets of parents, the first gave them his genetic characteristics and the double gift of life and the second raised him as an assertive man with great values. He might feel the weight of the World when it comes to do the right thing with his powers (especially in the last decades), but classically, he does good because he truly likes and believes in kindness, Midwestern, all-American kindness.

The big difference with Barry, is that he is not as pressured by guilt, and that, as Clark, he only pretends to be a square. When it comes to Lois, he barely minds her aggressive exterior; he can only look at her great fiery heart.

In general, he’s easy going and calm. Modern interpretations have him more introspective, early ones had him self-righteous and the ones from the silver age, had him more easy going and even more chivalrous, with a slightly geeky sense of fun.

Wonder Woman: She is like Athena or King Solomon: graceful, merciful, assertive, proper, respectful, wise, kind and as self-secure as the archetypal good monarch. Generally calm and nice, she has no trouble being aggressive and taking the bull by its horns when the situation requires it. I would say that she is the best leader a team can have (keep in mind that leadership rotated in the original JLA).

With so many attributes everybody is in love with her; yet, she has something that prevents most from hitting on her. At some points she has been attracted to the idealist Superman, and at least an interpretation has had her with a thing for the more magnetic Batman; however, the guy that gets her heart (Steve Trevor)  is a suave gentleman with the right cause.

Zatanna: She is a crowd pleaser, loves the attention and manages to get that with her charming personality. Since she was created, there has always been constant drama on her life, she is always missing something, which tells me that she is a bit codependent. She’s mostly sanguine, having fun and going with the flow; however, she also has some supine and melancholic characteristics. Between the lines, I have noticed some daddy issues in her persona.

Did you like the character profiles? Here are some more:

Know your Super Buddy!
Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire,  Ice, Sue, 
Maxwell and the rest of the late 80s gang!

Know your Bat-Villain! Part I - 
Probably the craziest supervillains in 
American comics, so it is a longer read.

Art for Absolute Identity Crisis: BOO-YAH!!

Front center, a great place for the World-famous Elongated Man.
This page was created for the cover art of Absolute Identity Crisis released October 12th, 2011. This has to be the greated thing DC has done for the Elongated Man this year.
Artists often forget how tall is Ralph supposed to be, but that's clearly not the case here.

The End of the DC Universe!

The other day, I saw a thread in the DC message boards that got me thinking about the kind of endings that I'd like for the characters of the current DCU. Here's what I came up with:

Green Lantern
Sinestro finally gets Oa destroyed, but he loses his own life in the process. Kyle, John, Kilowog, Soranik, Salaak, Arisia, Ch'p, Katma, Tomar Re, and Sodam become the new Guardians of the earth battery, which only survived because Hal merged with the light.

The Flash
Barry Allen returns after surviving the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Realizing that Central City has long moved on after he disappeared and that Earth is safer than ever, he moves to the future with Iris [so that his climax is CoIE but he still gets his happy "silver age" ending]. The Rogues retire and Wally remains the guardian of the city.

The Atom
Ryan and Ray find a way to cure Jean from her Jimbaran relapses. Ray decided to retire as the Atom to focus on his marriage.

Justice League International
Booster Gold makes the ultimate sacrifice, which only a resurrected Ted will ever acknowledge. Ted becomes the new "Maxwell" of the last JLI [it's a switcheroo deal topped with a "Greatest story never told" situation], which also has Fire as its field leader. Ice retires to have a family with Guy... What none of them ever find out is that Maxwell's actual brain remains in his old cyborg body; he retired long ago and has lived with L-Ron and Wanda managing a Manga Khan space resort ever since.

Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman saves USA from the wrath of the Gods, her body becomes a statue at Washington and Zeus gives her soul, along with Steve's a place in Mount Olympus [CoIE + Greek tragedy].

Batman
The Joker and a small gang of old time criminals push Damian betray his father and Terry. Damian sacrifices taking the Joker with him. Eventually, Bruce dies by Selina's side surrounded by Terry, Barbara, Dick and Tim [It's a legacy thing, he made a difference]. He's buried by them, along with the remaining leaguers and the Batman Inc. Corps.

The Elongated Man
Ralph and Sue keep solving DC mysteries forever [Quantum Leap, anyone?]. Billy Warner becomes the best detective of his generation, the Detective Chimp invites him to join the Croatoan Society.

The Martian Manhunter
The Martian Manhunter retires to live with a single mother and her daughter [is, he embraces humanity]. They die at the same time from natural causes.

Green Arrow
Dinah and Ollie remarry, only to get divorce the next year after that. They remain a couple. They have a daughter; she becames a registered Republican and wants nothing to do with superheroes.

Hawkman
It took a thousand reincarnations, but Hawkman and Hawkgirl finally complete their lives without early tragedies.

Zatanna
Zee finally starts a drama-free relationship with a normal guy and retires [she got over her daddy issues]. She becomes a hot soccer mom. Her kid is teased because there are a lot of "glamour" pics of her mom all over the Internet.

Starman
Not an important character, but Starman sacrificed himself to save Earth from his own race [Ziggy style], which were actually mutants created by the Spiders from Vega.

Aquaman
After Aquaman achieves great peace between Atlantis and the rest of the World, and a lot of prosperity emanates from his county, he dies in a fight against One's son, who was then killed by Garth, who was, at the time, considered a traitor to the kingdom. This way, Garth gets this way his redemption, as well as the forgiveness of Meera and Atlantis. He is finally allowed to reunite with his Atlantean wife: Arthur's daughter.[something Arthurian without making Mera a **** or dragging swords and lakes into it].

Black Lightning
Black Lightning reveals his identity and becames Mayor of Metropolis [he finally made the difference. Would President be too much?]. The Suicide Slum becomes the Suicide District, the cultural center of the city (real state agents keep trying to push for "Simon Heights", but nothing). He puts on his wig for one more fight along the League after that.

Metamorpho
Java takes one of Simon's plan to the extreme, and kills Sapphire; Simon kills Java trying to save her. Although old habits die hard, Simon rejects his own selfishness for her and his grandson; Metamorpho accepts himself in order to provide a role model for his son, he gets Simon's frequent cooperation as a grandfather.

Justice League Unlimited
The Justice League is carried on by Terry.

Superman
Mr. Mxyzptlk puts Superman him through some ultimate test of morals and courage. He passes and the imp alters reality so that his enemies fade away. However, many years later, Luthor returns and things too far in order to destroy him (probably something involving the Anti-Monitor technology from Crisis on Infinite Earths). He is a shell of a man, merged with Brainiac, Amazon and Metallo technologies, and he makes Superman chose between sacrifice or the destruction of all reality. Superman chooses the former and dies. Right then, after realizing that he has lost his humanity and has almost destroyed everything he ever cared about in the process of eliminating him, Luthor commits suicide. It turns out this was Mxyzptlk's real test. He pops up again to restore everything, only this time he leaves Clark without his powers, thus lifting the overwhelming responsibility from his shoulders, so that he finally has no other choice than to spend the rest of his days living a normal life with Lois and their half Kryptonian son. Karen retires to lead her own life with her family. Kara married Jimmy and along with Krypto, she proudly carries Superman's legacy.
The Kents retire to live in the old Smallville farm. Every day Clark looks more like Jonathan. 

Surviviors of the Golden Age!

The Golden Age has little to do with the Elongated Man; however, a little reference could help understand the Silver Age, which is the context of the character. Besides, the Golden Age is the is the historical dawn of the superhero genre. Without Superman and the golden age of superhero comics, there would be no Elongated Man.

After a couple of Jewish kids from Cleveland managed to convince National Allied Publications (DC's name back then) to publish the adventures of their super powered man in blue tights with a red cape and underwear over it, dozens of similarly dressed super heroes popped up in the then-booming American comic book industry. Comics already existed, so did characters like Slam Bradley and Dr. Occult, but Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's creation was largely the inspired some of the most notorious DC characters:

• National Comics: Batman, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Speedy, Robin, Crimson Avenger, Zatara, Sandman, the Spectre, and the Guardian, Hour Man, Robotman, TNT, Dan the Dyna-Myte, etc.
• All-American Publications: Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Dr. Mid-Nite, Sargon, Johnny Thunder, Black Canary, Wildcat and the humorous Red Tornado.

All-American added a lot of properties to the market, but was absorbed by National Comics in 1944. One way or another, the most notorious properties of both teamed-up as the Justice Society of America.

Likewise, a lot of companies were doing the same. Some were bought by National Comics at different during the silver age (I mean, before 1985):

• Fawcett Comics: Captan Marvel and the Marvel Family, Spy Smasher, Bulletman and Bulletgirl.
• Fox Comics: Blue Beetle.
• Quality Comics: Plastic Man, Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, Manhunter, Doll Man, Doll Girl, Human Bomb, the Blackhawks.  

Additionally, there were the characters of Timely Comics (eventually Marvel), Nedor Comics, Centaur Comics and Archie Comics.

By the late 40s the industry started shrinking, a lot of characters and titles were cancelled, including a lot of National Comics' and  almost all of All-American's, with Wonder Woman as its big exception. The most notorious survivors of the Golden Age of DC Comics were:  

• Robin Hood and the Sherwood characters (New Adventure Comics #23, January 1938).
• Superman (Action Comics #1, June 1938), along with him Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lex Luthor, the Prankster, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Toy-man, the Puzzler.
• Batman (Detective Comics #27, May 1939), aong with him Comissioner Gordon, Hugo Strange, Robin, the Joker, Catwoman, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Two-Face, the Cavalier, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the Mad Hatter, the Riddler. Alfred was switched from Beagle to Pennyworth at some point. 
• Wonder Woman (All-Star Comics #8, Dec. 1941), along with Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, Ares (often "Mars"), Cheetah, Dr. Psycho, Giganta and Angle Man.
• Aquaman (More Fun Comics #73, Nov. 1941). 
• Green Arrow and Speedy (More Fun Comics #73, Nov. 1941). 
• Congo Bill (More Fun Comics #56, Jun. 1940).

The titles or features of those characters survived through out the 50s, in which the industry was damaged even more by McCarthism, the efforts of Dr. Fredric Wertham and the Comics Code Authority, all of which caused the comics to be heavily censored. Plots became childish and often ludicrous. Additionally, by the mid 50s the focus concentrated on space and sci-fi, do even Batman started to fight alien invaders. This is the early Silver Age period, and it's around this point, 1956, that National Comics (known as "Superman - DC") decided to reintroduce the Flash. Only this time they decided to change his identity. The original Flash was last published in 1949, so the man responsible for this, editor Julius Schwartz felt that it was necessary to reintroduce the character to the new readers of the time. He also felt the need to update him for the 50s. Consequently, the new Flash kept his powers, name and even started his adventures with one of his main villains (the Turtle became Turtle Man); however, his secret identity wasn't Jay Garrick, the college student from Keystone City, but Barry Allen, the police scientist from Central City.

After the success of Flash, National revived old properties in the same fashion with different identities: Green Lantern (1959), Hawkman, Hawkgirl and the Atom (1961); all of them were All-American characters and the the sources of their super powers relied more heavily on sci-fi elements. 

Hawkman and Hawkgirl (Flash Comics #1, Jan. 1940) got almost identical Earth-One counterparts for the Silver Age in 1961, including very similar uniforms and the same civilian names, only their back-story was completely changed. In the Golden Age, they are reincarnated royalty of ancient Egypt; in the Silver Age, they were aliens. One of their enemies, James Craddock a.k.a. the Ghost, also got an almost identical counterpart, this time called the Gentleman Ghost.

New characters created around this era include the Martian Manhunter (1955), the Challengers of the Unknown (1957), Adam Strange (1958), Speedy, Aqualad, the Elongated Man (1960), the Metal Men (1962), the Doom Patrol, Mera (1963), Zatanna, Teen Titans and Wondergirl (1964) and Metamorpho (1965). Zatanna is a very curious case, since she was daughter of Zatara, a Golden Age character.

Another important revamp of this era is the Justice League of America, which took the premise of the Justice Society to a grander scale, starting its roster with the most popular superheroes of DC at the time (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern) and then increasing it with the best next characters (Green Arrow, the Atom, Hawkman and eventually Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna and Firestorm).

The practice of creating new versions of the Golden Age heroes slowed down after the creation of the new Atom. The probably because, exactly the same month, August 1961, Jay Garrick was reintroduced in the pages of Flash. It was then explained that the adventures of the contemporary superheroes took place on a reality "Earth-One" and that the old Golden Age ones were alive on "Earth-Two". The characters from Earth-Two started their superheroic careers between 1938 and 1943 and the ones from Earth-One around 1954.

The creation of this alternative realities allowed DC to keep using its old properties without the need for much introduction. Black Canary, for instance, became a member of the JLA simply by moving permanently from Earth-Two to Earth-One. However, as we have seen, the occasional revamp was still done after this point:

• Robotman (1963)
• Red Tornado (1968)
• Manhunter (1973), and 
• Sandman (1974). 

DC also did the opposite with Power Girl. After the concept of Earth-One and Earth-Two was introduced (along with many more Earths that conformed the 'Multiverse'), they eventually started doing stories completely set on Earth-Two, so they decided to create Power Girl, counterpart of Supergirl, a widely popular character, originally created as supporting cast of Superman during the Silver Age. They are both the cousin of the Superman of their respective Earths, only PG is older and has a bigger and more voluptuous body. Huntress is perhaps the analogue of Batgirl, only with a completely different background as the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.

It's important to consider that a number of characters debuted in the late 40s and the 50s and kept appearing at least during the early silver age. The transition was gradual:

• Tommy Tomorrow (Rea Fact Comics #6, Jan. 1947). 
• Pow Wow Smith (Detective Comics #151, Sept. 1949).
• Deadshot (Batman #50, Jun 1950).
• King Faraday (Danger Trail #1, Jul 1950).
• Darwin Jones, Chris KL-99 (Strange Adventures #9, Aug. 1950).
• Killer Moth (Batman #63, Feb 1951).
• Captain Comet (Strange Adventures #9, Jun. 1951).
• Phantom Stranger (Phantom Stranger #1, Aug. 1952).
  Rex, the Wonder Dog (Rex the Wonder Dog #1, Jan. 1953).
• Detective Chimp (Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4, Jan 1953).
• Space Cabbie (Mystery in Space #21, Aug. 1954).

Additionally, some Golden Age characters disappeared during the early Silver Age, but returned before it ended (c. 1986):

• Vigilante (1970, created in Action Comics #42, Nov. 41), along with the Dummy.
• Wildcat (1970, created in Sensation comics #1, Jan. 1942).
• TNT and Dan the Dyna-mite (1978, Star Spangled Comics #7, Apr. 1942).

So, there, that's the context in which the Elongated Man and his wife were originally created. He was the partner and best friend of the 50s version of a character from the 40s. Some people believe he was meant to be the silver age version of Plastic Man, a Golden Age character that as already property of DC by the time Ralph Dibny was created; however, Julius Schwartz always denied so.

Related articles:

• The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline! - See what the Silver Age of DC Comics was all about ,event by event, in chronoogical order.
• Part I: Pre-Classic (1947 - 1956).
• Part II: Classic (1956 - 1969).
• Part III: Post-Classic (1969 - 1973).  
• The Elongated Man and the Bronze Age Timeline! (1973 - 1985).