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Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Bring on the Back-Ups: Elongated Man by Neal Adams and Gardner Fox

I was surprised to find out that before Neal Adams started work on such iconic DC superhero comics as the Spectre, Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow he deubted (along with his work on Deadman) on an Elongated Man back-up tale in Detective Comics # 369 (September 1967). Since finding this out I have been searching for a copy of this comic and as luck would have it I came across a copy while visiting family in the USA. Although the cover was badly ripped the interior pages were complete and for only around £8 I snapped it up for excellent Neal Adams art on this his one and only Elongated Man story.
Below the cover to Detective Comics #369 - image from DC Fandom

10 comments:

  1. I always enjoyed The Elongated Man strips, though I don't recall seeing this particular story before. You wouldn't think 'stretching' heroes would be so popular, would you? Ping the Elastic Man, Elongated Man, Plastic Man, Mr. Fantastic, Rubberman (Smash!), and there are probably others I've forgotten. I'm hoping Rebellion will eventually get around to publishing a collected edition of Rubberman - or Rubber Man as he was sometimes referred to.

    If you'd like me to have a go at fixing the cover for you, McS, let me know.

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    1. I've always had a soft spot for stretchable heroes in particular Plastic Man and Elongated Man, daft powers but fun. Mr Fantastics powers always seemed less silly for some reason. Thanks for the cover offer but along with a rip the previous owner drew over Batman in ink and scrawls over it. It's a lost case lol

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    2. Incidentally, meant to say that Ping the Elastic Man appeared in The Beano 1938-'40.

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    3. Ahh I was wondering who that was. I thought it was a US golden age character. Now I need to see if I can find an image of the character.

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  2. I was lucky enough to inherit this particular comic book from a rich cousin who was into comics and got bored with them and gifted them to me. I love that cover, and I found Batgirl to be among the hottest superheroines of the time. She made my boyhood heart bubble with an emotion I didn't fully understand.

    As for the Neal Adams take on Elongated Man, I have to say that it's not my favorite work by him. His realism made Ralph's powers look creepy rather than whimsical under Infantino's hand among others. Elongated Man needs a bit of abstraction or he looks unsettling, or at least that's my first impression. Great comic though, and I'm glad to see your trip over here went smoothly. Not everyone is so lucky these days much to the shame of my beleaguered homeland, but hopefully we'll rid ourselves of this scourge sooner than later.

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  3. I have to say we had a great trip the locals (Cincinatti area and a bit of Kentucky) were very friendly indeed and they even understood our Scottish accent although a few kept asking what part of Ireland we came from lol. I agree on Adams art on Elongated Man not being the best suited for his style, but as a fan of Neals I had to have this one. The world's in a bit of a mess at the moment let's hope things get better everywhere Rip

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  4. That's a great find, McScotty. Adams did a great job of working around the huge amount of dialogue that Gardner Fox put in the story. Those speech balloons really crowd the artwork. I used to have this issue back in the 1970s - must track a copy down now.
    Glad to hear you had a good holiday with your relatives in the Cincinatti area.

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  5. I just saw this book as I was leaving the shop with 3 early Marvels ( which I will show later on this blog). The cover was a bit of a mess but as I only wanted these pages I was more than happy to buy it plus we were leaving in a couple of days for Glasgow and I had some US money burning a hole in my pocket. The trip was great the folk were very nice

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    1. You won't win points with the relatives with that sequence, McS. Don't you mean 'The trip was very nice, the folk were great'?

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