Today in Comics History: Happy Birthday, Ralph Dibny (Post-Crisis)!

Happy birthday to the malleable manhunter, the pliable P.I., the gumshoe actually made out of gum, Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man!


Panels from "Take My Wife — Please!" in Justice League Quarterly #6 (Spring 1992), script by Mark Waid, pencils and inks by Eduardo Barreto, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Bob Pinaha
Even tho' this story actually took place last week.


Happy birthday, Ralph! Even tho' you have a different birthday before the Crisis. Seriously, how does that work? Anyway, see ya back here on May 26!


from "Green Lantern's Blackout!" in Detective Comics #350 (DC, April 1966), script by Gardner Fox, pencils by Carmine Infantino, letters by Gaspar Saladino

Today in Comics History, November 9, 1990: Consumers roundly reject new talking newspaper technology

from Justice League Quarterly #1 (DC, Winter 1990), plot and layouts by Keith Giffen, script by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Chris Sprouse, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Bob Pinaha

Today in Comics History, November 4, 1990: First appearance of Booster Gold on the front page of a newspaper not accompanied by the world "alleged"

from Justice League Quarterly #1 (DC, Winter 1990), plot and layouts by Keith Giffen, script by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Chris Sprouse, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Bob Pinaha

Take a look at that poor little empty spot on my third finger

Now, as we all remember, Batman is very good about taking Green Lantern rings away from...well, Green Lanterns. He's got an entire display case of them in the Batcave, and he puts ten of them on when he wants to really get his point across with the Riddler or Clayface. We've seen the Dark knight take a power ring away from Hal Jordan:


Panels from Justice League v.2 #1 (November 2011), script by Geoff Johns, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Patrick Brosseau

He's grabbed one off the tightly clenched yet silky soft knuckle of Kyle Rayner:


Panel from The Batman Chronicles #15 (Winter 1998), script by Kelley Puckett, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz, colors by Rob Schwager, letters by Ken Lopez

He even stole my Green Lantern ring! Boo! Bad Batman! Sniffle!



So, I believe my point has been made: Batman is very very good at stealing Green Lantern rings. (And he probably even has a red one too, possibly with a severed finger inside it.) But the question we must ask...really, it must be asked...is "Can anybody and everybody just grab a Green Lantern ring whenever the heck they want?

And the answer is, yeah, probably yes they can.

Of course, Superman can do it...especially Comrade Russkie "What If Superman's Rocket Landed in the USSR?" Red Son Superman:


Panels from Superman: Red Son #3 (August 2003), script by Mark Millar, pencils by Kilian Plunkett, inks by Walden Wong, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Ken Lopez

Sure, but he's Superman. He's the Man of Steel! (Oh wait, no, that was Josef Stalin.) But how about if somebody else tries to take a Green Lantern ring away from the greatest Green Lantern of them all (no, no, not G'nort!)? How about if it's Apokalyps's top press agent...Glorious Godfrey?


Panels from Adventures in the DC Universe #4 (July 1997), script by Steve Vance, pencils by John Delaney, inks by Ron Boyd, colors by Tim Harkins, letters by Bob Le Rose

Well, sure, he's Glorious Godfrey. He's a minion of Robert B. Darkseid. Now, does that mean that just around anybody can take a Green Lantern ring, even from the toughest of their warriors, Guy Gardner?



Panels from Justice League Quarterly #5 (Winter 1991), script by Mark Waid, pencils by Mike McKone, inks by Andrew Pepoy, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Bob Pinaha

Yep! Yes, she can. So, the moral of the story? If you have a Green Lantern ring...it's probably best left in your safety deposit box.

Some people call him the space cowboy

Remember earlier tonight when I asked you to look at this comic book cover and ID the figure behind the Justice League Quarterly logo?


cover of Justice League Quarterly #1 (DC, Winter 1990), pencils by Adam Hughes, inks by Chris Sprouse
Did you answer...Batman? Did you?

Oddly enough, you'd be wrong!


from Back Issue! #2 (TwoMorrows, February 2004)
Why, it's The Joker!


You've gotta love Adam Hughes. He pencils an entire head for a joke that will never be seen by the public.

Who's That Behind Those Foster Grants That Justice League Logo?

Hey, it's one of those Justice League covers from the 1990s that features everybody on the team looking up at us! (We must be tall!) And AH!: it's by the ever-talented Adam Hughes, so feast your ganders and gape at this!


Justice League Quarterly #1 (Winter 1990), pencils by Adam Hughes, inks by Chris Sprouse
Now, take a good look at the cover. You can probably name most of the heroes pictured here, with the possible exception of some of the members of the Conglomerate, which consisted of Booster Gold, Echo, Vapor, Maxi-Man, and Reverb...I'll let you figger out which is which.

Here's my question: can you name the figure located behind the JLQ logo?

Answer later tonight at 11:59 PM!