Reviews, comments and observations on stories that feature DC Comics' best detective (cough, afterbatman, cough) and the sensational Sue, his spoiled wife. I'll be pointing the best ones, the key ones and the lousy ones.
Believe it or not, somebody thought it would be a good idea to portray the Elongated Man fighting Darkseid (the ultimate and most powerful villain of the DC Universe) for the Justice League Unlimited promotional art. If that wasn't odd enough, Ralph seems to have the upper hand, and we could only assume that if he decided to attack the most powerful being is because he his brilliant detective mind determined that he has the advantage.
This odd match never actually happened in the comics. There are few degrees between them: The Elongated Man inspired Mr. Fastastic, who was created by Jack Kirby, who also created Darkseid. Even shorter, Darkseid is enemy of the Justice League, of which the Elongated Man is a member. However, they never met and Kirby never even drew the Elongated Man.
I might be wrong, but I don't believe that kind of promotional art comes from Bruce Timm (creator of Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited , and the rest of the series in that continuity), the quality does not match his pin ups. At least I don't think he does more than rough sketches, completed by other people. However, this is still a pretty good pic. Darkseid's body looks odd, but Ralph looks awesome. It's rare to find great poses for him, but they just hit the right spot with this one.
Kenner screwed up by not including the Elongated Man (and Zatanna) in the the famous Super Powers Collection (oddly enough they didn't forget about freaking Red Tornado), and there were no more chances after that. Enter Mattel and DC Direct, who made 3 action figures between late 2004 and 2006, and then one repainted edition in 2009. Let's have a brief review:
DC Universe: Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection
Manufacturer: Mattel Wave: 1 Released In: Fall 2004 (3-pack), 2006 (single) and 2009 (comics uniform in 6-pack). Size: 4" tall Accessories: Gauntlet Notes: "From Mattel's Justice League Unlimited action figure line. Like most Justice League figures, this has five points of articulation. This figure can be found on both the orange and purple carded DC Super Heroes packaging" (DC Collector Universe).
It was first released as a 3-pack deal along with Batman and Hawkgirl. This Elongated Man action figure, Green Arrow and Dr. Fate were the first superheroes to be released after the big 7 and Aquaman.
It was released again as a single pack in 2006, as part of the 4th wave, and then again, as part of a six pack with his satellite era red uniform (which didn't appear in the series) in 2009.
It looks great; however, the character looks taller and slimmer in the cartoon. This figure has a huge chest for someone called "The Elongated Man". I have no clue about the weird weapon.
Justice League
Manufacturer: DC Direct
Wave: 2 Released In: November 2004 Size: 6 3/4" tall (with a 1" neck extension that makes him 7 3/4" tall) Accessories: JLA base and is Notes: Multiple points of articulation. Packaged in a 4-color blister
Now we're talking! This figure was part of the second wave of Justice League members, focusing on the satellite era (including the Atom, Firestorm, and honorary member, Adam Strange). Not bad at all, considering that the first wave only included Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Kyle Rayner and Flash. Although he kind of have chubby cheeks, this one looks a lot better. I like that they made him almost the tallest figure, few people remember that about him. The only taller guys are Firestorm (because of the flames, i suppose) and, for some reason Adam Strange (I wonder why). The stretching neck makes more sense than the weird arms of the Identity Crisis figure, but I wish the arms stretched as well.
The art from the package is awesome. I think it really captures the nature of those four characters. Ralph looks like a bit of a smart class-clown.
Identity Crisis
Manufacturer: DC Direct
Wave: 2 Released In: 2006
Size: 6 -7" tall Accessories: Gauntlet Notes: "Diamond Select Toys produced this line of highly detailed 6-7 inch scale action figures based on the characters and events introduced in the DC Comics".
All the closeups indicate that his face was messed up, specially with the ugly eyebrows. He looks like he escaped from a Monty Python skit:
DC Universe Classics
-- Is still not going to happen...
However, I see that the idea at least has a number of enthusiasts. They started a surprisingly large thread at the Fwoosh action figure forum:
Their main concern seems to be that the Elongated Man is essential to complete the JLA roster of the satellite era. I'd add that he's also a JLE and Super Buddies essential and a notorious silver ager, handled by the big names of that era: Scwartz, Broome, Infantino, Fox and then Wein.
I'd actually love if it came with a Sue. Along with Oberon she's the only supporting cast that became a JL member.
Thoughts
Its funny, the Elongated Man kinda had a bit of well deserved hype around 2005 to then disappear around 2007 from all media.
Formerly Known as the Justice League started in 2003. In 2004 he also appeared in Identity Crisis, the first season of JLU, and had his first and second action figures. In 2005 appeared in I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League (a story that takes place before Identity Crisis) and the second season of JLU. From May 2006 to May 2007 he appeared in 52, they released the Identity Crisis action figure that year. After that there's only a couple of cameos as a ghost, one in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (January 2009), and the Zombie thing in Blackest Night.
I insist, it seems to me that there's a mandate to avoid the character -- Which would be outrageous! Or maybe Warner just feels uncomfortable working with death characters.
For an early silver ager featured in the companies flagship title (Detective Comics, mainly during most of the 60s), the Elongated Man has a terrible record in other media: not a single TV, radio or movie appearance during the 20th century! His first guest star role came with Justice League Unlimited, a popular series produced by Bruce W. Timm and the late and great Dwayne McDuffie, that featured a version of the League with 52 members operating from a satellite Watchtower. Ralph guest starred in:
The Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales
Flashpoint
Shadow Of the Hawk
The Great Brain Robbery
Destroyer
Ralph's voice was done by non other than one Jeremy Piven. And it suits him greatly. However, his speaking scenes barely amount to a bit more than 3 minutes. Luckily for fans, there's plenty of non-speaking cameos (so many that it seems unbelievable that he only spoke 3 min.). One of the most interesting ones has him fighting Khunds with Hawkgirl in Shadow of the Hawk. I loved the way his powers look in action.
I can't help but wonder how come Mr. Piven bothered to participate in such a small role. I'm glad he did, though. The portrayal was very proper: he's a funny guy, but closer to Jerry Seinfeld than Jerry Lewis. I love that at least once he gets to save the day and I think it was funny that it was one of the biggest threats the Justice League ever faced (Mordru the Merciless, an evil wizard from the 30th Century) and that we still don't get to see exactly what he did.
Ralph's design for Justice League Unlimited.
I must confess that I don't have a favorite Elongated Man costume (there are four in the comics), but Bruce Timm's design comes really close to that. I suspect it has a lot of influence from Mr. Fantastic. I like that the purple and white border is not at the middle - that always looked weird in the comics for me, the collar was really needed, and I like what was done with the black, specially around the logo. However, I prefer the logo he used during the JLE years. He's the thinest and one of the tallest members of the league (the rest of the male characters have ridiculously enormous backs, chests and shoulders), which suits him well.
The powers look fantastic with that design and animation; very neat. Too bad there was no scene to showcase him fast stretching (he's supposed to be able to do it at "rocket speed", according to Flash #119) or making giant fists.
We don't get to learn much about his background in this version of the DC Universe; however, he mentions that he's mainly a detective, and he's just called Ralph by his co-workers, which means that this animated version doesn't use a secret identity either. He's seen talking or collaborating with characters he usually associated with in the comics, specially in the last two decades: Batman, Flash, Metamorpho, Fire and Booster Gold. He also mentions that he has been around longer than the Flash; now, since this cartoon is in the same continuity of Superman: The Animated Series, it means that he started working as a ductile detective some time before the Speed Demons episode, most likely, during the first season of that series.
The sad part is that, in this series, there's no nose twitching and we don't get to see him solve a mystery. I love that series, but I wish they could have had episodes featuring the Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Zatanna and Firestorm before making the change from Justice League to Justice League Unlimited.
A great thing about this appearances is that it also got him an action figure. The made him with the enormous chest that characterizes other characters in the series, but I still think it's fantastic. Mattel (which still has to get cracking with the long over due DC Universe Classics Ralph figures!) has also made a variant with the red uniform from the late 60s and 70s.
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease, my friend". As you can see from the video I posted at the top, that's a line from the show. I think Elongated Man's fans should go by that motto to get DC and Warner to do stuff with him.
