Element Girl

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caption=Element Girl debuts in "Metamorpho" #10.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Metamorpho" #10
creators=Bob Haney
character_name=Element Girl
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
real_name=Urania "Rainie" Blackwell
alliances=
aliases=
powers= Can transmute her body to any elemental compounds and form it to her will|

Element Girl is a fictional DC Comics superhero who first appeared in "Metamorpho" #10 (Jan-Feb 1967). The character's death was featured in Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series in issue #20, "."

Fictional Character Biography

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 first-hand 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.

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 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; however, her powers saved her every time.

Eventually, Death of The Endless helped Blackwell. Death stated that she could not personally help Blackwell, since Blackwell's immortality and powers had originated from the sun god Ra. Death revealed that Blackwell was one of many "metamorphae" created by Ra to battle the god Apep, "the serpent that never dies". Death comments on the irony of this, stating that Apep is long dead. Death then tells Blackwell how to ask Ra to remove her "gift", by looking straight into sun and asking him, and Blackwell finally dies, leaving behind a disintegrating husk of a body with an expression of pure joy.

Powers and Abilities

Like Metamorpho's original powers, Element Girl 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 can create silicate faces that fall off after a while. She uses the faces for ashtrays. She said she once tried to transmutate her body into flesh, but this experience ended badly and she vowed never to try it again.

Quotes from Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman, author of the "Sandman" comic book series, discussed the death of Element Girl in an interview with Comix Experience:

: 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." [ [http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/lore/interview1.html Comix Experience interview] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.arschkrebs.de/sandman/annotations/sandman.20.shtml The Sandman Annotations]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=elementgirl The Unofficial Element Girl Biography]