Element Girl
Element Girl | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Metamorpho #10 (February 1967) |
Created by | Bob Haney, Sal Trapani |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Urania "Rainie" Blackwell |
Abilities | Can transmute her body to any elemental compounds and form it to her will |
Element Girl is a
Fictional character biography
Element Girl
Urania "Rainie" Blackwell began as a spy for the United States government. Her first major assignment was to infiltrate a European crime syndicate called Cyclops and get a firsthand look at the workings of its leader, a man code-named Stingaree. She soon fell in love with him, and agreed to marry him, only to have him spurn her when his mercurial affections turned elsewhere. In turn, Blackwell managed to convince her agency that the romance had been a sham, as part of her role, and asked their help in finding some way to strike back at Stingaree. The agency obliged by offering her the chance to take part in a long-planned experiment.
A few months earlier, an adventurer and soldier of fortune named Rex Mason had entered the Egyptian pyramid of Ahk-Ton on a treasure hunt. There he had been exposed to the radiation of a buried meteor, part of the great Orb of Ra, and had been transformed into Metamorpho the Element Man. Blackwell volunteered to duplicate Mason's encounter, and consequently found herself, once inside the pyramid, molded by the mystical sun god Ra into an elemental with superpowers identical to Mason's.[2]
Blackwell, now calling herself Element Girl, sought out Metamorpho and recruited his help in her mission to destroy Stingaree. Together they destroyed Cyclops, and the two allies found themselves in danger of becoming a romantic pair, much to the dismay of Metamorpho's fiancee, the debutante Sapphire Stagg. Though it was obvious to Mason that he and Blackwell were kindred spirits, he eventually severed his ties with her to salvage his relationship with Sapphire. This abandonment devastated Blackwell. Overnight, she found herself cast back into the "real world", a place where men and women labored in mundane nine-to-five jobs and where contact with superhumans like her was limited to television newscasts and the occasional fleeting glimpse of an Earthbound demigod. She turned to the agency for help and acceptance, but their activities had become delicate and covert; their missions were such that a "metamorphosized freak" like her would be more of a hindrance than a help.
Her insecurities caused problems, and in later years when her feelings for Metamorpho went unrequited, she became isolated. Blackwell found herself utterly alone, ostracized by the employers who had helped destroy her humanity and terrified of interacting with more normal-looking men and women. For years she endured a completely insulated existence, living on a disability pension and for the occasional phone call from the agency. Abandoned by her employers and unwilling to face the world, Blackwell attempted suicide many times, but her powers saved her every time.[2]
Eventually,
Element Girl appeared again as Rex Mason's sidekick in the "Metamorpho" feature of the summer series Wednesday Comics.[3] This feature is written by Gaiman with art by Mike Allred and occurs outside of DC continuity.
Element Woman
Element Woman | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Flashpoint #1 (May 2011) |
Created by | Geoff Johns(writer) Jim Lee (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Emily Sung |
Team affiliations | Justice League Doom Patrol |
Abilities | Can transmute her body to any elemental compounds and form it to her will |
Emily Sung, the Element Woman, first appears during the "
She is later inducted into the League alongside a new female
After the events of Forever Evil, Element Woman joins the Doom Patrol.[6]
Flashpoint
Prior to appearing in the mainstream
Emily continues to accompany the new gathering of heroes as they travel to visit the members of
Powers and abilities
Like Metamorpho's original powers, Element Girl (and Element Woman) could transform her body into any of the elements naturally found in the human body and shape them at her will. She can change her hair color using metals, and she can create silicate faces that fall off after a while. She uses the faces for ashtrays. She said she once tried to transmute her body into flesh, but this experience ended badly and she vowed never to try it again.
Other versions
Emily Sung appears in
Quotes from Neil Gaiman
- Neil Gaiman: There's one called "The Death of Element Girl", in which Sandman probably won't even appear. He might appear, I dunno. That has Death, and an old DC character called Element Girl, who nobody remembers any more.
- Comix Experience: From Metamorpho.
- Neil Gaiman: Yeah. The Lady Metamorpho. So famous she never even made it into Who's Who. Anyway, she's in there. Terribly sad story.[10]
Although she did not have an entry in the original series, Element Girl received an entry in Who's Who in the DC Universe #10 (June 1991), stamped "DECEASED" after her appearance in Sandman.
References
- ISBN 978-1605490557.
- ^ OCLC 213309017
- ^ Splash Page: Wednesday Comics Week One.
- ^ Aquaman (vol. 7) #16
- ^ Justice League (vol. 2) #18 (May 2013)
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ^ Flashpoint #1 (May 2011)
- ^ Flashpoint #4 (August 2011)
- ^ Flashpoint #5 (October 2011)
- ^ "Comix Experience interview". Archived from the original on 2014-11-21. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
External links
- The Sandman Annotations Archived 2008-02-18 at the Wayback Machine