The Puzzling Prophecies of the Tea Leaves!

So, it's been a second. One thing that's happened is I got a new job that drastically changed my day to day schedule, so that's one thing I've had to adjust to. Plus, there's a pandemic going on and there was an election and a lot to think over. Shout out to my friend Sean who's currently quarantining after a positive test. Admittedly, the Hartley Sawyer news was also a buzzkill. (They've announced that Ralph will be leaving the show, his farewell episode will see him replaced with another actor, so there won't be many more TV reviews when the show comes back in February. Hopefully his reception on the show gets them to adapt the character in other ways. It's just a shame that once we get the start of Ralph and Sue, it's over.)

Anyway, on to Detective Comics #353 which is available on Comixology and DC Universe.

In the letters page, only a couple readers wrote in to weigh in on Ralph. Alan Trahern of Covington, Louisiana wrote that "The 13 O'Clock Robbery" was "excellent, as usual. I always enjoy reading (Ralph's) yarns and love his tricky tactics that he uses in winding up his capers." Ingrid Nurenberg of Woodland Hills, California says that Ralph is "groovy! I luv the way he stretches—but how does he do it? I can almost understand getting his cells (muscle-wise) to stretch, but what about his bones?"

"The Puzzling Prophecies of the Tea Leaves!" was written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Carmine Infantino with lettering by Gaspar Saladino with Julius Schwartz as editor.

The Splash page sees Ralph creeping through a keyhole and wrapping up a couple crooks with his stretchy arms, thinking how he was informed about the crime and his involvement by a fortune teller. An interesting note is that there's a clear artist credit, unusual, but Infantino deserved it.

The text says this takes place in Quaker City, which is the name of a village in Ohio and a community in Pennsylvania. Most likely, as usual, this is supposed to be "Any Metropolitan City, USA," but it's always fun to see if it matches up to any actual places.

So, we kick off with Sue having her fortune told. Sue doesn't believe in it, but thinks it's fun as the teller warns her that she is "destined to take a fall," and that "an ominous voice will greet you when you return home!"

While walking an hour later, a heel on one of Sue's shoes breaks, making her fall, but Ralph is nearby and grabs her before she hits the ground, his jacket ripping in the process. She explains the fortune teller's prophecy, but Ralph dismisses it.

However, when they arrive at their hotel room, they hear the promised ominous voice saying "They say nothing ever happens in Quaker City—but beware!" Ralph slips out of his jacket, which Sue collects and notes the rip in it. She says she'll mend it.

Okay, we're supposed to believe that Sue mends Ralph's clothes? I'm not saying she wouldn't know how, but given they're a rich couple, couldn't they drop it off at a tailor's instead? But then, it's nice to know Sue's helping Ralph out somehow.

Infantino is in his usual pencil and inking style and doing all right. He's able to detail action well, even if it's not looking as good as when Sid Greene handled inking.

Ralph laughs when he discovers that the ominous voice is coming from a mynah bird that was delivered to their room, however, when questioned, the manager says that he was told Sue ordered the bird. Ralph decides to question the fortune teller himself and finds her telling a widow that she'll receive $100,000 in the mail tomorrow.

Ralph asks the teller about the mynah bird, and she protests that she can indeed read the tea leaves, and she tells him that he'll stop three men attempting a robbery at 10 o'clock that night at the Loftus Jewel Salon.

Ralph decides not to go so as not to give the fortune teller the satisfaction, especially as he and Sue have theater tickets. However, Sue can tell that Ralph is thinking of the prediction as his nose keeping twitching and growing longer. When it reaches into the piled up hairdo of the woman sitting ahead of him, Sue finally tells Ralph to go look into the robbery.

Ralph goes to the jewelry store and indeed finds two (not three) robbers inside. He surprises them by wrapping them up with his arms, then socking them in the jaw, then knocking their heads together. Turning them over to the police, Ralph decides to go see the fortune teller again, thinking that she might actually be the ringleader of the robbers, but he finds two more trying to rob her.

Ralph knocks these two out with a safe. Which would probably really hurt someone. Then he smacks them together as Ayda the fortune teller comes downstairs.

Ralph questions Ayda, who reveals her real name is Alice Avery, the daughter of the late Andrew Avery, a ruthless businessman who legally took advantage of people, including Ralph. Alice has been using the guise of Ayda to make restitution to people he wronged. She was actually mailing the $100,000 to the widow she was talking to earlier.

As for Ralph, she knew he didn't need financial compensation, so she offered him a mystery to investigate. She arranged the mynah bird and noting Sue's shoes, predicted the fall. She overheard the crooks talking about their plans to rob the jewelry store, so sent Ralph on their trail.

Ralph declares that he's been repaid with interest.

Ralph meets up with Sue in their hotel room, and they say that Quaker City is a "fun town" now. Sue can be seen mending Ralph's jacket in the final panel.

Overall, not a bad story. It's just not very memorable. Gardner Fox wrote an okay story without many logic leaps, and Infantino is doing good but not great work here.

Next time, jewel thieves.