These four 'Elemental Spirits' were: Gnome who held power over the element of earth, Undine who held power over the element of water, Sylph whole held power over the element of air and Salamander who held power over the elemental of fire.

Each Elemental had a 300 year life-cycle. In order for them to be set free, and gain true 'spirits', they had to inhabit a Human-form and either marry or perform good deeds the rest of their life.

The Plant Elementals also existed on Earth, although they didn't seem to share any connection with the other four Elementals.^[1]

Background Information

Gotham socialite, Sandor Fane had shown a manuscript to four individuals he had secretly chosen to be the hosts of the elements. He believed that he would be able to use this manuscript; which had been written by the legendary alchemist Paracelsus,^[2] to summon and control the four primal elementals and bind them to his victims, making them the unwilling hosts. He also gave them each costumes, that apparently did not fit their powers very well. He then told them that the Super Friends were their enemies and needed to be destroyed. Eager to end their mortality and become 'spirits' they complied.^[3]

The elemental spirits now shared the bodies of four humans:

• Grant Arden
  • A chemical engineer and founder of Arden Chemicals.
  • Inhabited by the Gnome (Earth Elemental).
• Jeannine Gale
  • A famous vocalist.
  • Inhabited by the Sylph (Air Elemental).
• Crystal Marr
  • A best-selling author.
  • Inhabited by the Undine (Water Elemental).
• Ginger O’Shea
  • An established fashion designer and the owner of the Chez O'Shea Fashion Boutique.
  • Inhabited by the Salamander (Fire Elemental).

The Elementals first appear inside four giant translucent jewels located in four different cities: a ruby appeared near the Gotham City Police Department central station, an emerald appeared atop Metropolis Galaxy Building, a diamond appeared outside New York City near the United Nations Building, and a sapphire appeared on a beach near the Aquaman's under sea home.

They are soon subdued by Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, the Wonder Twins and Gleek. The spirits and their human hosts soon come to an understanding, and become four new heroes pledged to assist the League in their fight against Sandor Fane (whom the League previously knew only as the world conquering Overlord.)

It is not long before Ginger O'Shea designs new costumes for them using special new materials created by Grant Arden, which work better with their powers (two of the costumes are made out of "air" and "water").

Notes

• The Elementals only appearance so far is in the pages of the SuperFriends Comic Book.
• The Elementals are exclusive to the continuity of the Earth-1A.
• Out of the four, Grant Arden and Crystal Marr appear in the least amount of SuperFriends comics.
• An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemical works of Paracelsus.
• The basic concept of an elemental refers to the ancient idea of elements as fundamental building blocks of nature.
• In the system prevailing in the Classical world, there were four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. This paradigm was highly influential in Medieval natural philosophy, and Paracelsus evidently intended to draw a range of mythological beings into this paradigm by identifying them as belonging to one of these four elemental types.

Appearances

SuperFriends Comic Book:

• Jeannine Gale first appears in issue issue #5 (June 1, 1977).
• Ginger O'Shea first appears in issue issue #6 (August 1, 1977).
• As a Team:

• Issue #14 (November 1, 1978)
• Issue #15 (December 1, 1978)

External Links

• Elementals at the DC Database
• Elementals at Wikipedia

Reference

1. ↑ In DC Comics, Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing have been described as Plant Elementals, which were capable of communicating with The Green. Presumably the same might be the case in the Earth-1A continuity.
2. ↑ See: Paracelsus at Wikipedia
3. ↑ As revealed in SuperFriends, #14 (Oct./Nov., 1978).