In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Chris C., we look at when the Elongated Man revealed his identity to the world!

This is a fascinating one because for years, that was not the ONLY cool thing about the Elongated Man, because probably the MOST notable things about him were that A. he was a married superhero well before most superheroes got married and B. he loved mysteries, but the fact that his identity was public was definitely a big hook for him. Heck, whenever he would show up, it was unusual enough that Julius Schwartz would usually give it a footnote to let the readers know that, yep, everyone knows this guy's secret identity. That's how out of the ordinary it was at the time.

But here's the amazing thing about this one - this is a rare comic book first that never REALLY happened, exactly. Oh, I mean, obviously it happened, but there's no instance where I can say "Oh, here is when it happened" since it really does appear to have occurred OFF-PANEL!!

The Elongated Man debuted in Flash #112 by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, where hilariously enough, the Flash is actually super jealous when a new superhero shows up and takes some of the Flash's thunder...

What's great about the Elongated Man is that he clearly doesn't give a hoot about the whole "don't use your powers to make money" deal, since he flat out does shows and pockets the bread by showing off his superpowers.

However, this new very famous hero, the Elongated Man, is then framed for robbery. The Flash agrees to clear his good name and, in the process, he learns the Elongated Man's secret identity...

Ralph shows up again three issues later (Murphy Anderson now inking instead of Joe Giella) and the Flash explicitly notes that only he knows the Elongated Man's secret identity (even though he freakin' calls him Ralph OUT LOUD!)...

Okay, now here's the tricky part. I GUESS the answer is here, in the Elongated Man's next appearance in Flash #119 (by Broome, Infantino and Giella), where we meet Sue Dibny for the first time, as she marries Ralph. The newspaper only says that she married the Elongated Man...

But I guess the implication is that to make their marriage official, he revealed his identity? It is not shown in the comic book at ALL.

It isn't evident that his identity is public in the next appearance in Flash #124, although the Flash DOES shout out his name again, but we saw him do that when the Elongated Man's identity was specifically hidden, so that doesn't mean anything.

In his NEXT appearance in Flash #130, he teams up with Kid Flash, and although Barry tells Wally what Ralph's real name is, it doesn't seem like anyone else knows...

As seen later in the story...

So when did things change?

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In Flash #134 (by Broome, Infantino and Giella), the Flash meets up with the Elongated Man and we just get to see that familiar footnote telling us that, oh yeah, everyone knows Elongated Man's secret identity, and it is then demonstrated on the next page that it is public knowledge...

So yes, something as notable as a Silver Age DC superhero who actually had no secret identity was just revealed off panel. Very odd.

I think it wasn't until the 1990s that we got the whole "revelation" that Elongated Man just kept wearing a mask even after his identity was public because he thought it was cool-looking.

Thanks for the suggestion, Chris! If anyone else has a comic book first that they were wondering about, please drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!