Another week, another blog!
"Case of the 20 Grand Pay-Off" first appeared in
Detective Comics #337 with a cover date of March 1965. It was written by Gardner Fox with pencils by Carmine Infantino, inking by Sid Greene and Julius Schwartz credited as editor. (Given the last couple stories, I'm beginning to think Julius didn't edit much.)
Comixology has this issue, and it's on DC Universe. Otherwise, this story has only been reprinted in
Showcase Presents The Elongated Man.
Over in the Batman story, Batman and Robin were dealing with a dethawed prehistoric man. The letters page is actually abuzz with love for Ralph's adventures. "The Infantino-Greene combo is performing wonders in this strip," wrote Doug Potter. "The Elongated Man is the most promising 'new' character that DC has," said Guy H. Lillian III. Mike Fredreich enthuses "Elongated Man seems to get better and better with each story" while offering the criticism that the art of "The Robbery That Never Happened!" was better than the story.
The splash page looks pretty fun, with Ralph doing "calisthenics" and stretching his knees to knock out some mobsters. The text teases him ditching Sue for another woman, so a little odd that the art doesn't feature Sue at all. Looking at the splash page again after reading the story, it's rather underwhelming.
Sue's trying to find Ralph as they board a plane, and seemingly, boys and girls, this is how you could actually board a plane in the 1960s. How times have changed.
Sue finally spots Ralph boarding with another woman who looks a lot like her. When she confronts Ralph on the plane, he denies knowing her. The woman Ralph is with claims to be the real Sue. The
actual Sue is understandably quite upset.
Okay, some notes on the art. Sue still has her Shirley MacLaine-inspired hairdo and her fashion sense is clearly very contemporary. For 1965, of course.
Here, I can see where the claim that Infantino used Dick Van Dyke as reference for Ralph came from. However, despite the claim appearing in Rags Morales' comments on his work for
Identity Crisis, it doesn't seem to be true. I actually wondered about this claim and wrote to
Brian Cronin of Comic Book Legends Revealed at CBR.com. He responded swiftly with a good debunk.
Both Ralph and Sue debuted before the Dick Van Dyke Show did, so I'm
going to go with a solid "no" on that one. It's a good one, though, for a
legend! Thanks!
Sue is very suspicious and even her nose twitches a little as she thinks about how something's up. I think it's adorable that non-powered Sue has picked up her husband's nose-twitching.
As Ralph's plane descends, he instructs the Sue with him to get ready. She replies that she has the gun in her handbag. Oh, the things you could say and bring on a plane in the 60s...
While walking across the tarmac (once again, you'd never get away with this today), "Sue" fires a gun, drawing fire on them from three concealed gunmen.
The next page sees Ralph switching into his costume and "Sue" taking cover. He uses his powers to sneak around and finds one of the gun men and knocks him out cold. He draws the attention of a second, who of course stops to say "Here's where you go
blam!"
The thing I am most impressed by in the art on the page I'm showing is the fake Sue firing her gun through her purse. It just makes it a little sad that it's not the
actual Sue doing it.
The only thing we see Ralph elongating on the next page is his neck. Presumably he elongates his arm as well. It's pretty fun, but Ralph's face is very intent. He might have fun, but he takes his job as a superhero very seriously, and Infantino conveys that very well.
Ralph doesn't dodge a bullet, but instead wrecks the gunman's aim by stretching his finger, then walloping him with two crates.
Ralph finally takes out a third gunman by grabbing his feet and knocking him out on the pavement.
You know, while I guess if these guys really didn't want to get seriously injured, maybe don't do crime, I really gotta think that getting knocked unconscious by Ralph really can't be good. That might actually be concussion.
This page really just shows off more Infantino's fun drawing Ralph and all this action.
On the next page, Ralph has "Sue" (making her final appearance) take the last two gunmen away, leaving the first behind. He says he needs to get evidence against the syndicate leader.
The first gunman gets up and figures the cops got his partners and hopes they got Ralph first. As he drives away, he realizes Ralph might have stowed away in his car, so he checks but can't find the hero "under the car or under the hood, not in the trunk or under the seat cushion!" So he figures he can call the boss, "Big" Jackson. His thoughts confirm that he and his friends were hired to ambush and kill Ralph. He calls "Big" from a phone booth. "Big" says that he heard Ralph was killed on the radio. They agree to meet at Dawson Woods for a payoff of twenty thousand dollars.
So, if you haven't figured out the story yet, Ralph is assisting the police in breaking up a crime syndicate. Gotta admit, that's pretty cool. But where is he?
Ralph hid
inside the tire! And he hid a miniature camera under the hubcap so he could photograph "Big" meeting with the gunman.
It's been claimed that Ralph can't stretch himself too thin or else his blood can't flow and he'll pass out. Right now, that hasn't been established. And in any case, what Ralph's powers can do is usually flexible depending on the writer and artist.
As good as Infantino draws it, in the first panel of Ralph coming out of the tire, Ralph's head looks
really tiny. Not sure how that would've happened.
Ralph trails the gunman and witnesses the meet up and photographs it. The he moves to capture them with a sock to the jaw for the first two, then extending his knees to knock out the other two. On the next page, he again punches the first two as they begin to get up and draw their weapons.
I can totally buy the extended arms in Infantino's work here. The extended knees, however, just make me think the only explanation is that Ralph is showing off.
Ralph also cracks a few lines here, paraphrasing Mark Twain in "The report of my death was greatly exaggerated." When he shows off with his knees, he calls it a "kneesy capture." And when the first two guys he clobbers go down with a "THONK!" and a "THWAKK!", he comments "What beautiful sound effects!" Is that Ralph trying to break the fourth wall?
Not the most exciting or visually stunning capture we've seen Ralph make, but it's well done regardless.
The next day, Ralph meets Sue with a gift to apologize for the business with the false Sue. She informs him that she already knows, having figured it out and gotten some information from the police. In fact, the false Sue was a policewoman named Susan Johnson.
Sue says, "You didn't let me in on your plan because you knew I'd never let anyone go into danger in my place!" This doesn't sit well with me. Ralph
should have told his wife. He should have let her choose, possibly travel with him disguised as someone else. While it's admirable that Ralph wanted to keep her safe, denying her a choice in the matter is the issue. While it's a good intention, it's also sexist. They
really aren't doing well by Sue.
There could have been a really interesting story by having Ralph not in league with the police, he and Sue get fired at after debarking their plane, both of them getting out of harm's way. Ralph knocks out the three gunmen, then the police arrive on the scene and inform Ralph that they're hired guns by "Big" to take Ralph out. Ralph then works with the police, and the story could go as written, ending with Ralph and Sue having a conversation about what it means to be a superhero with no secret identity and what it means for the spouse of that hero. It wouldn't be so fun, but it would've avoided stripping Sue of her choice and would likely add a serious note to a comical character.
Anyway, the story ends with Sue revealing that as a pre-emptive apology gift from Ralph, she treated herself to a new chinchilla coat worth $20,000. Ralph sheepishly tosses his little, inexpensive gift in the back seat without Sue seeing it at all.
Ralph busting a crime syndicate makes a great story, and I was thinking I'd be hailing this as the best in a while, but reflecting on the treatment of Sue, I think I have to reel my praise in. It doesn't completely ruin the story, and the art is fantastic, but there was certainly potential to do much more.
Next time, they're on a boat.
