Elementals (DC Comics)
The Elementals are a fictional team of superheroes published by DC Comics. They first appeared in Super Friends #14 (October 1978), and were created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon.
| Elementals | |
|---|---|
 The Elementals, art by Ramona Fradon; from left to right, Salamander, Undine, Sylph, Gnome. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Super Friends #14 (October 1978) |
| Created by | E. Nelson Bridwell (writer) Ramona Fradon (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Gnome Salamander Sylph Undine |
Team history
The Elementals first appear inside four giant translucent jewels located in four different cities: a ruby appeared near the Gotham City Police Department's central station, an emerald appeared atop Metropolis' Galaxy Communications Building, a diamond appeared outside New York City's United Nations building, and a sapphire appeared on a beach near the Aquacave, Aquaman's headquarters.
Superman fought a hooded man in brown who called himself the Gnome. Aquaman fought a woman in a green fishlike costume who called herself the Undine. Elsewhere Wonder Woman fought a blonde woman in blue who called herself the Sylph. Additionally, Batman fought a fiery woman in a red reptilian costume who called herself the Salamander. Strangely, their costumes proved to be ill-fitted for their powers; despite this, the Elementals put the heroes in grave danger.
The veteran heroes manage to subdue the Elementals with the help of Robin, the Wonder Twins and Gleek.
Back at the Super Friends' Hall of Justice in Gotham City, Batman identified the four Elementals as self made local socialites. The Gnome was really Grant Arden, a chemical engineer and founder of Arden Chemicals; Sylph was actually the famous vocalist named Jeannine Gale, who first appeared in Super Friends #4; Undine was really Crystal Marr, best-selling author; and Salamander was Ginger O'Shea, who first appeared in Super Friends #6, an established fashion designer and the owner of the Chez O'Shea fashion boutique.[1]
Bruce Wayne had met all four the previous evening at the Carousel restaurant in the Wayne building. It turns out that another Gotham socialite by the name of Sandor Fane had secretly shown the future Elementals a manuscript that he believed had been written by the legendary alchemist Paracelsus. Fane uses the manuscript to summon elementals and bind them to his victims, making them the unwilling hosts of four primal elementals: an actual Gnome, Undine, Sylph and Salamander. The elemental spirits now shared the bodies of the four humans. The spirits are not evil; in fact, they must perform good acts so they can gain true souls. Fane tricked them into believing the Super Friends were evil. He also gave them their costumes, apparently not knowing their powers very well.
The spirits and their human hosts come to an understanding, and become four new heroes pledged to assist the League in their fight against Sandor Fane (whom the League previously knew only as the world conquering Overlord.) Ginger O'Shea designed new costumes for them using special new materials created by Grant Arden, which work better with their powers. From their descriptions what Grant creates seems to be the DCU equivalent of Unstable Molecules (with two of the costumes made out of "air" and "water"). Meanwhile, the Overlord unleashed four simultaneous element-themed attacks: in Texas, he went after a Wayne Petroleum Complex, the city of Poseidonis was threatened with Greek Fire, Paradise Island was threatened by a meteor shower, and the JLA satellite was threatened by solar winds. All four attacks were thwarted with the help of the Elementals.
Meanwhile, Batman and the Wonder Twins discover the Overlord's castle lair and defeat Sandor Fane. This was the only recorded appearance of the Elementals.
Membership
- Gnome (Grant Arden) – Grant has considerable superstrength and durability, magnetism manipulation, is able to phase through earth based matter, and he can transmute earth based matter to other natural states, such as kryptonite.
- Salamander (Ginger O'Shea) – Ginger has the powers of fire manipulation. She can emit flames from any part of her body. She can also transform into pure flame, and in that state she can expand, becoming a giant.
- Sylph (Jeannie Gale) – Jeannie has the power of flight and wind manipulation; she also can apparently throw bolts of lightning and can become intangible.
- Undine (Crystal Marr) – Crystal has the gift of water manipulation and can shapeshift into various animals.
References
- "Obscure Characters, E". Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved November 29, 2006.