52 (comics)

From Pop-Cult Guides

[edit] Ralph Dibny

Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, is told that the gravestone of his dead wife Sue has been vandalized with an inverted version of Superman's "S" symbol, the Kryptonian symbol for resurrection. Based on the vandal's knowledge of Kryptonian culture, he deduces that Cassandra Sandsmarkis involved and goes to confront her. She tells Dibny that she is in a cult which believes that Superboy can be resurrected, but they would like to try it first with Sue. They convince him to go on a ritual only to steal his wedding ring, which, along Sue's clothes they need to resurrect her. He recruits Zauriel, Metamorpho, Hal Jordan and Green Arrow to join him in the ceremony, once there, using Hal's power ring for telepathic group communication, Dibny ask them (all have resurrection and metaphysics experience or knowledge) to review the authenticity of the ceremony. Based on that, Dibny decides to disrupt the ceremony, and the effigy of Sue crawls to Dibny, calling out to him as it burns; Dibny suffers a nervous breakdown as a result.

Ralph later encounters the helmet of Doctor Fate, which promises to revive Sue if he makes certain sacrifices. Dibny journeys with the helmet through the afterlives of several cultures, using a demon he ties into knots using Gingold, where he is cautioned about the use of magic for personal gain. After several failed attempts to resurrect his wife, Dibny prepares a spell in Doctor Fate's tower. Dibny puts the helmet on, points the gun at his temple, then shoots the helmet to reveal it is actually the sorcerer Felix Faust. Faust was posing as Nabu to give Dibny's soul to the demon Neron in exchange for his freedom. Neron kills Dibny, but realizes too late that Dibny's spell has trapped him and Faust inside a spell ward that can only be deactivated by the person who originally cast it. With Ralph's death, Neron and Faust are seemingly trapped together for all eternity. Ralph and Sue Dibny are reunited later as ghost detectives.^[1]