RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Death Wish List

Which character do you think is the most played out, overdone, useless being kicking around comics?
Who would you really love to see die?
And Why?
(let's exclude Hawkman )
I'd say.......
Elongated Man - Ralph Dibny
I mean what's the point of this guy? He was in the JLA yeah, but those backup stories in Brave& The Bold sucked and he was always just a shmuck, like he was trying too hard to be Plastic Man+Batman but lacking the outrageous humor or detective intrigue of either. Why kill Aquaman & Hippolyta? Give Ralph the flick.

Rob Liefield!
But seriously, howabout JJ Thunder from Grant Morrisons "Crisis Times 5" storyline? I know they're fixing him up in JSA, but do we relly want them too? I think it would be way cooler for his stupid ass to be blown from here to kingdom come in some JSA mission along the line!

im not big on character deaths... i dont really see any need for it. if you kill a character, then there's no real (good) way to bring them back, for a future writer to tinker with. plus, if (when) they do come back to life, the idea of possibly dying in a book loses all power, cuz all fans know they'll just keep coming back to life.

i AM, however, in favor of sitting a character out for a few years, then bringing them back with a newer, better storyline. BTAS's mr. freeze is a great example. or kevin smith's new GA.

id say wonder woman has been in need of a (good) revamp for quite some time. there was a period of time in the late 80s, early 90s, where one of the only reasons dc kept putting her in books was to maintain the copyrights to her.

this whole complexity of making wonderwoman her mother's daughter, sent through time to give birth to herself, etc, etc... whatever the hell happened... it was just too much. she's a somewhat ageless goddess, there's no reason they had to do all that messin around with her age and her hippolytha / diana persona.

another example: the riddler is, now, a terrible character, who doesnt really serve any purpose in today's books, for today's fans. so, sit'em out. take'em down. rebuild him ("we have the technology...")

Time out...Elongated man rant coming up...

Elongated Man was not really intended as a rip-off of Plastic Man, but as a homage/rip-off of the old Thin Man movie series of the thirties. The movies, of course, were loosely based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett. The movies were mystery movies that featured a sauve, wisecracking Private Detective named Nick Charles and his tag a long wife Nora. Both were heavy drinkers, and much of the humor came from their imbibing. Ralph Dibney and his wife were orginally patterned after this pair, but since most creators now a days have no concept of the original source material, they never really get Elongated Man right. Quite a shame, considering how much fun he could be with a creator who knew how to handle him properly...

End of rant...Thank you for your patience...You may now rejoin your regular thread already in progress...

I like Elongated Man too! I never read Flash or JLA in the Silver Age, but Ralph was great in Justice League Europe and most recently in Starman's Grand Guignol storyline where he got to play the detective again instead of a stretching stooge. With the exception of Plastic Man, stretchy powers do seem silly today. Mister Fantastic is one of the most brilliant scientific minds in the world, and it seems too goofy that he also stretches. Same with Ralph Dibny as a detective will deductive skills on par with Batman and Hamilton Drew. I've read Hammett's novel The Thin Man (big fan of hard-boiled detective stories and film noir), and I would love to see Ralph (and Sue) treated more like this, or at least with some level of respect. James Robinson started to come close.

I guess I have a love for "underdog" characters like Ralph Dibny and my personal favorite superhero, Blue Beetle. He is too often dismissed as a redundant mix of Batman and Spider-Man, but good writers like Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis in JLI, and more recently Chuck Dixon in Birds of Prey are doing new and different things with Ted, and he deserves the chances to shine. I don't read the Superman or Batman books, even though I respect those characters' iconic qualities. I'd just rather read about the second-stringers, the everymen, the guys trying really hard who don't get the respect they are due.

However, I gotta admit I'm not a big fan of Lobo. He reeks of the fanboy age of the early '90s, the time of VALIANT and IMAGE and CABLE and STUFF WITH "BLOOD" IN THE TITLE.

Sorry. No offense to ralph dibny, just never read a good Elongated Man story. I'll check out Grand Guignol - any other recommendations?

Managed to read most of Grand Guignol (missed parts 1, 2 & 6).
Nice story. Where's The TP?
Ralph Dibny - yeah , I like the idea of that Justice League Opal City. Where's Kieth Giffen?
Maybe if Suicide Squad takes off....
hmmm.

There are so many haked-baked, half-assed, and -- two halves making a whole -- entirely useless superheroes cluttering up the landscape that it would probably be easier to list characters who ought to be spared from a general extinction. But, then, people tell me I'm a crazy old coot.

Rufie I think you need to clarify a bit, maybe later down the road Ralph and Sue were intended to be the couple ala the Thin Man, but at first Ralph was a bit of a sidekick to Barry Allen's Flash. A Circus RubberMan who stumbled across the secret potion of GinGold. Sue wasn't introduced until much later.
I agree the character has much unexplored potential and when written properly the pair were entertaining. I'd like to see them get juiced though.

I think I would rather get juiced myself...

did anyone wish for aquaman's death? do i see steel?

I'm Brian Fellow!