No "Nose-twitching" action, but still good...
Introducing...Elongated Man!
Ralph Dibny is far from the first man in comics with elastic-based powers, but he is still an enjoyable character. His first story is actually pretty good or at least I enjoyed it. If you look at the past 12 appearances of Barry Allen, you won't really see a big competitor for him. Sure, there are the famous Rogues (who haven't organized themselves yet in case you were wondering), but there is no one superhero wise that really challenges Barry to the extreme Elongated Man did in this issue (sure, there is Wally West, but at this point Wally is still evolving and he is far from a match for Flash). So, this issue is really cool. If you think about it, this is a landmark issue. It is the first real team up between Barry Allen and a superhero who actully appeared in more than one issue (again, not including Kid Flash). That being said, it really wasn't a team up per se, more of a rivalry and a...misunderstanding (I think that works...).
Even in this early issue, you do see hints of the character we have come to know as Elongated Man. For example, you do get the sense that Ralph likes the attention he gets from the press. Since the publication of this comic, writers have enlarged his love of attention, but even in this issue you see it a few times. There have been a few additions to the character since he first appeared, such as Sue (she won't appear until a little later in the series btw) and the mystery/detective deal. The Elongated Man is mainly a superhero in this issue, not a super-sleuth, so there is no sleuthing in this issue.
Kid Flash's Story
There is actually two stories in this issue. If there was only one I think I would actually rate the comic higher, but Wally West has his own adventure in this comic. Don't get me wrong, this second story staring Kid Flash is nice, but just not up to speed (pun intended) with the stories of the Flash. It does, however, have some good highlights. For example, we actually get some characters who were created solely for Wally's little corner of the DC universe. Both Miss Grant and Ralph seem to be nice characters and I wouldn't complain if they appeared again.
A complaint I have had in the back of my head is how we don't really see Barry at work aside from a few times and he normally doesn't stay there long. One advantage of the Kid Flash Stories is the characters Wally interacts with are people he would normally see a lot (not super-villains like Barry), such as classmates or (in this case) a teacher.
I think the reason why I don't like this second story is its similarities to the first story, mainly Ralph Parker. If I was writing this comic, I don't think I would have named the character "Ralph". I mean, we just got finished reading a story about Ralph Dibny, so the best idea in the world is to give the next story a character named RALPH Parker. Its confusing slightly. Another complaint I have with the character is his appearance. If I was paying no attention to the lines spoken in this story, I would swear Ralph was Barry Allen without his mask. I mean, he looks so similar!
Anyway...
This is a good issue even with its downfalls. It hosts a nice story with Barry and Ralph DIBNY and also has Wally West having his own characters to interact with, so, its a good issue. No "Nose-twitching" action, but still good...