Who's This? A wiggly-nosed detective.
The facts: John Broome and Carmine Infantino created Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, in The Flash #112 (February 1960, with significant input from Julius Schwartz). Ralph's wife and Gal Friday Sue was introduced a few months later in #119. They were redefined as Nick & Nora-type detectives in Detective Comics where their back-up lasted from #327 (May 1964) to #383 (January 1969), which is where his nose started wiggling when he smelled a mystery. He joined the Justice League in the early 70s and was a mainstay even through the JLDetroit era. After Crisis, he joined Justice League Europe and even got a mini-series during this era, and would also return to the team in Formerly Known as the Justice League. While Identity Crisis unfortunately (and inexcusably) destroyed Ralph and Sue, they were turned into ghost detectives (in 52), but never fulfilled their potential. The New52 brought him back as a member of the Secret Six, which no one remembers.
How you could have heard of him: Other than their infamous last stories, Ralph and Sue might register as members of the CW Flash's later seasons, played by Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfuss.
Example story: Detective Comics #381 (November 1968) "The Come-and-Go Mansion Mystery!" by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene
In true detective fashion, the Dibnys stumble across a mystery while on holiday - a fog-shrouded Victorian house that their hotel manager later says burned down a year ago. Get ready from some disturbing "The game is afoot" nostril action.
A bizarre mystery to be sure, but even more bizarre detectives.
But if you ask me, it's Sue that makes these strips come alive. The stretching is weird, sure, but I really love a "superhero couple", and while Sue doesn't have her own heroic identity, detective stories don't really require one. But how involved WAS she in those old tales? Let's keep reading. Ralph returns to the old house and indeed only finds rubble. Unlike frequent Spectre and Deadman partner Batman, he also acknowledges that ghosts exist even if this particular phenomenon is new to him. Except... this might very well be a Scooby-Doo mystery.
That's the butler with the "shattered mind" being caught up in a con, but to what purpose? Well, apparently he saved all the priceless artwork from the flames somewhere, and just can't remember. I don't know how much it costs to recreate a Victorian house precisely as a bouncy castle, but probably less than what they can get for the art. Something jogs the poor man's memory and Ralph follows the party to a cave and intervenes before the crooks kill the butler.
Fun, but too much action, not enough mystery. Also, too much Nick, not enough Nora. Sue returns at the end for a debriefing and a bad joke:
So while this is a fair and typical Elongated Man story (he's enjoying life with Sue, a mystery piques his interest, some stretchy superhero action), I'm disappointed that Sue wasn't more of a partner to him. Not too surprised given the date, but if you're going to specifically evoke The Thin Man (and Ralph is the thinnest), you need to give the Nora character more to do.
Who's Next? A Mexican bandito.
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