The Elongated Man's Undersea Trap!

 Here's the story from The Flash #119. It's a very important story for the future of Ralph as we know him, because we can honestly say that after this story, he was never the same.

The team that introduced Ralph is back for this milestone: Julius Schwartz as editor, John Broome writing, Carmine Infantino on pencils, Joe Giella on inks, and Gaspar Saladino lettering.

This splash page gives us another exciting tease of what's to come in the story with Ralph and Barry in action against what appear to be aliens with Ralph directly attacking one in what would be a flying saucer, except it's on wheels.

Then you notice the rocky outcropping at the top and see that this must be some underground place. Infantino once again did great work here to convey the action of the moment.

Heck, blow this up and make it into a poster, it's that good.

There is so much to talk about on this first page. Ralph is married now to Sue Dearbon, a debutante. And note: Dearbon. For the longest time, I thought it was Dearborn, but there's no second r. Some sites and other media get this wrong, but honestly, it's an easy enough mistake.

Ralph, as you remember, was a kid from an unremarkable family in Waymore, Nebraska. Sue being a debutante means she's a far higher class, and her marrying Ralph means she's married below her own class. Yeah, Ralph said he's made a lot of money from media appearances, but if he's gotten married and might want to start a family, he might want to look at getting some more eventually...

The thing that frustrates fans of the character is that this is the first time we've met Sue, who becomes a mainstay of Ralph's life. We're told nothing of how they met or how Ralph convinced her to marry him. Later stories would flashback and reveal that Ralph crashed her debut ball. Specifically Secret Origins #30 and Identity Crisis #1. Maybe more, but I haven't read all of the Elongated Man stories yet... Why do you think I started this blog? And while Ralph wasn't quite the most physically attractive person around, his personality and the energy he brought to the debut ball was what made Sue fall for him.

The question that arises here is if Ralph is still doing the whole secret identity act. You can see that he had the Flash as his best man, and apparently, Barry can't keep Ralph's identity a secret... Some fans believe that of course a legal wedding would require Ralph to reveal his name. The confirmation that Ralph didn't have a secret identity would be made in a few issues time, and was not a big plot point. So, Ralph revealing his secret identity at the same time he married Sue would be quite the romantic and public move that would feel just so typical of the character.

Well, I just spent four paragraphs on the first panel of this page. Well, moving on, Infantino gives us the first look at Mr. and Mrs. Dibny together and they make quite the cute couple. Sue would undergo many style changes over the years, and most of the time, her hair would be depicted as jet black. In 52 and Secret Six, however, her hair was colored brown.

Okay, Ralph goes skin diving and it seems he uses his regular costume for it. The idea of him elongating while swimming does make for an interesting visual, especially when you try to imagine it in motion.

Suddenly, Ralph is zapped by a paralyzing beam and that's the last we see of him for several pages.

It wasn't until recently I realized that Sue is looking over the edge of the boat. Previously, I'd thought she was sitting over a wireless telegraph sending a message out. She heads to the nearest town and sends a telegram to Barry Allen, who they were told to contact if they needed the Flash. (Which likely means Ralph has deduced Barry's identity.) Barry luckily has the weekend off and hurries to the hotel where Sue is staying.

I'm going to have to warn you that if you were expecting these early stories with Sue to have her be a remarkably strong female character, you're going to be disappointed. Fortunately, as the comics continued and the society reading and creating these stories progressed, it got better. But we do have quite a few well-intentioned bits of sexism coming our way.

Sue fills Barry in on all the details she knows and Barry remembers hearing about skin divers going missing in the area. (Funny no one mentioned that to Ralph who would definitely take an interest.) He prepares to go underwater at super speed, but Sue insists he wear diving gear.

As it turns out, Sue has the right idea because as Barry goes underwater, he spots strange fish-men who ride on underwater jet skis. They paralyze him with their rays and he awakens, feeling very hungry, in a tank with other men who are caught by these fish-men who dangle steaks in front of them on fishing lines.

Infantino is well-suited to drawing this underwater civilization and the strange men that inhabit it. It's not a particularly striking piece of work, but the designs work well.

Barry manages to learn that this civilization is called Breda, and the strange fish men who live there are the Bredans, who capture skin divers for their slaves, called the Kota. The Kota are building the homes of the Bredans, but most of them seem to have their memories wiped so they don't fight back. Only Barry seems to be exempt thanks to his speed. The Bredans communicate telepathically through tiny devices they wear around their necks.

I mean, to be fair, Barry is kind of the worst and Ralph knows it.

Barry spots Ralph as part of the crew building the home of a Bredan. After being fed, Barry completes the house at super speed so he can talk to Ralph, but Ralph's also been affected by the mind wipe.

Or maybe Ralph's really hoping Barry will just leave him alone.

Barry manages to jumpstart Ralph's memories by tickling him and making him use his stretching abilities, because I guess his gingold hadn't worn off. And that's how you know this is definitely a Silver Age comic book, kiddos.

The next page sees Ralph and Barry handle a pair of Bredan guards, which off-panel inspires the other Kota to rise up against the Bredans. If it wasn't for the dialogue, you just see a bunch of people standing off to the side, which you might actually miss due to being obscured by shadow.

So, viva la revolution!

 
This is the moment the splash panel was inspired by, with Ralph riding Barry's shoulders and stretching up to wreck the Bredan's assault cars. Infantino does a lot with just three panels, this would be a number of pages in a modern comic.

This gives Barry and Ralph the leverage they need to parley a truce with the Bredans to release the Kota to the surface. Good thing it was done with no threat of violence, right?

Okay, I lied.

After the Kota are released to an island, Barry manages to get a cruise line to take them to the mainland. No mention of if their memories were restored...

Barry takes Ralph back to Sue personally and we get one more look at the happy couple as Barry decides to spend the rest of his weekend off with them.

So, wow, the first story to feature Sue also features Ralph and Barry teaming up to stop a race of underwater people from taking humans as slaves. And the Bredans have seemingly never popped up again, so I guess they learned their lesson.

Sometimes the 14 page limit is a bit too compressed for all of the story to really play out. But if you carefully read all the details, wow, what a story!