Robberies in Reverse!

Detective Comics 345 has a cover date of November, 1965 and is available on Comixology and DC Universe.

Over in the letters page, most readers are continuing on about Batman, but Ray Clason of Del City, Oklahoma has a question about "Mystery of the Millionaire Cowboy." He asks if the Midwest City in the story is the Midwest City in Oklahoma, which he claims he's heard is the only Midwest City in the United States. The editor replies with a sly "The Midwest City the Elongated Man visited can be found in the same gazetteer that lists Gotham City, Batman's home town."

"Robberies in Reverse!" was written by Gardner Fox, drawn by Carmine Infantino, inked by Sid Greene, lettered by Gaspar Saladino with Julius Schwartz as editor.

The dynamic splash page shows Ralph taking out three crooks with his elongating body. It's fairly good, and a welcome change from the past few we've looked at. The text in the panel indicates that Ralph is investigating a case in which crooks are putting money into a cash register.

As the story starts, Ralph and Sue are heading down a highway when Ralph spots that they're nearly out of gas. Sue's a little upset, but stretching his neck up, Ralph spots a nearby gas station and drives there, extending his arm to shake the attendant's hand.

The attendant is a little shaken at the sight until Sue explains that this is the Elongated Man. Ralph fills the tank for only $5.25, which is how you know this is the 60s.

However, when Ralph goes in to pay, the attendant gives him $5.25. Ralph protests and the attendant explains that Ralph is the third person he's paid to buy gas (and the only one to insist on actually paying). The attendant goes on to say that three gunmen entered the station earlier and instead of robbing the cash register, they put $500 in it. The attendant says after he closes, he's taking the money to the police. This sends Ralph's nose twitching, however, the attendant spots the gunmen returning, prompting Ralph to suit up for a fight.

So far, so good. A curious situation and the artwork is good at carrying the story and we've already seen Ralph use his powers, both practically (spotting the gas station) and impractically (shaking the attendant's hand from a distance). However, during the first panel where Ralph has his arm extended, we see the shadow of his arm, which nearly looks as if he's extending both arms.

The gunmen return, holding the attendant and Sue at gunpoint. They explain they've been robbing gas stations, but for some reason, they were compelled to leave money at this one.

Infantino doesn't miss a beat and has Ralph's hand poking in through the window as one of the gunmen heads to the cash register.

Ralph snaps into action and slams that particular gunman against the cash register, knocking him out. He goes on to punch the other two as he comes in through the window, instructing Sue to get out with the attendant.

I mean, not the worst use of Sue... We've already seen some bad ones. If, say, Ralph was helping take down the aggressors of a hostage situation, seeing Sue help get the captives out would be kinda awesome.

The gunmen try to hold Ralph down, but he springs into action, arching his back to send one of the men flying through the window, with Sue saying "That's my boy!" and the others are taken out by Ralph elongating his knee and knocking the last one into a stack of oil cans.

Ralph and Sue take the gunmen and the loot to the police, but when Ralph is supposed to turn over the stolen money, he refuses to. Sue tries to encourage him to turn it over.

This results in a humorous tug of war with two policemen trying to take the money while Ralph holds onto it, his arm stretching. Sue finally gets Ralph to surrender by tickling him, causing the police to fall backwards humorously.

Oh, Gardner Fox, I missed you.

The inking here looks pretty similar to when Infantino was inking his own art. Perhaps Greene was trying a bit harder to bring Infantino's style through. Or else Infantino had to fill in some of the inking work. Or the crediting was off and this was just Infantino. Otherwise, the art has really bounced back with some nice action and shading.

Realizing that he's been the latest in a string of people who have been compelled to act against their will, Ralph goes back to the first person: the attendant at the gas station. The attendant says that his troubles started after "Doc Evans," a retired police scientist, bought a "quarter cigar." He further says that Doc is trying to invent a way to prevent people from committing crimes. Ralph reasons that he must have the same quarter that Doc paid with and decides to pay him a visit.

At Doc Evans' place, he explains that he got the idea to create a pill that deters criminals from committing crimes. He's managed to help "rat packs" (did he mean "pack rats?") stop stealing things. He's been also trying to help a kleptomaniac named Ed curb his tendencies, and at the drop of a hat, Ed enters with a necklace he stole from a jewelry store. Doc Evans is about to take it to return it, when two crooks enter, saying they were intending to take the necklace themselves.

This area has a huge crime problem. We had a roaming pack of three gunmen earlier, now we got two guys who just brazenly walk into a retired police scientist's house where the Elongated Man just happens to be. No wonder Doc Evans is hard at work.

In four panels, Ralph quickly takes these two crooks out, first by tickling them, then kicking them against a wall, then turning them upside down and cracking their heads on the floor. It's fast and effective.

Ralph returns the necklace himself, noting that now without the quarter, he doesn't have the problem of handing it over.

If you were wondering how the quarter worked, well, Ralph returns to Doc Evans. Ralph explains that when people near it think of money, it makes them do the reverse thing.

Doc Evans explains that he had the pill powder in a box with the quarter, and radioactive elements from the powder reacted with the quarter, giving it its strange behavior-reversing power. He decides that this is a step in the right direction and he'll keep working, hoping to eliminate crime altogether. Ralph says he hopes he's successful.

The final panel shows Ralph and Sue in their car with Ralph waving goodbye to Doc Evans. Maybe Sue was just out of frame or waiting in the car all the time. We only see her in the car, she doesn't do the "go off to shop" sendoff.

Sue asks that if Doc Evans eliminates crime, wouldn't it put Ralph out of business? Ralph replies with a good bit of dialogue: "Honey, the world is full of unsolved mysteries that have nothing to do with crime! I'd just as soon tackle them!" That's a nice line for Ralph, that he's anxious to discover the mysteries of the world.

This story might rely on some iffy science that would only work out like this in a comic book, but altogether, it's sound and presents all the needed elements right there. Gardner Fox, welcome back to penning Ralph's adventures.

Next time, Ralph picks up a new superpower.