First Kiss #2

I haven't talked much about Charlton Comics here. Aside from Steve Ditko's terrific work, it's safe to say that they are considered the ugly stepsister of Silver Age comics, with (mostly) mediocre art and stories. Their comics even seemed to be printed on cheaper paper than the other publishers. And yet they did publish a boatload of comics in the Silver Age; at least 2500 that I've been able to catalog, and I'm positive that I'm missing some.

Like most publishers in the Silver Age, Charlton eschewed the superhero comics except during Batmania. They published a LOT of romance comics, even more than
DC. Their active romance titles in the Silver Age included Career Girl Romances (37 issues), Cynthia Doyle, Nurse In Love, Dr Tom Brett Young Intern, First Kiss (40 issues), High School Confidential Diary and Confidential Diary (17), Hollywood Romances (10), I Love You (82), Just Married (74), Love Diary (69), My Secret Life (29), Nurse Betsy Crane (16), Romantic Secrets (44), Romantic Story (83), Secret Romance (10), Secrets of Love and Marriage (25), Secrets of Young Brides (40), Sweetheart Diary (34), Sweethearts (92), Teen Confessions (65), and Teen-Age Love (70 issues). When flipping through the comics racks back then, I often thought of Charlton as the equivalent of Harlequin in the comics.

The opening story in this issue is pretty good despite the dull-as-dishwater title, Love Him, Love What He Does. Alice is a bit ashamed of her prizefighter boyfriend George. She wants him to take up a more genteel profession, like her friends' husbands:

So she gives him an ultimatum: Either he gives up boxing or she dumps him. However, he's on the verge of a title bout and isn't about to abandon the sport he loves. Alice, who's been moping about, decides to attend the big fight, initially hoping that he will lose and come to his senses:

And win he does, making Alice realize that she's as proud of him as she would be of a lawyer or doctor:

The story could have been more dramatic if there had been a confrontation before the fight between the two lovers, with Alice initially admitting that she hoped George would lose, and then him recovering to win the bout when he realizes that she's rooting for him. Still, it's a solid effort. The subtext (accept your man for who he is, not for who you wish he were) is a frequent theme during romances of this era, although that would change as editors began to demand that leading men be wealthy and/or powerful. Of course, you could argue that a championship fighter was exactly that; back in the 1950s they were probably the most well-paid figures in sports.

The second story is not as satisfying; you can probably guess the ending from this panel alone:

The dreaded mustache tells us that he's not the right man for her. She goes out shopping, gets stuck in a ditch and meets an arrogant man who tells her to stop spinning her wheels. No real surprises here; the arrogant man is her true love.

The third story does present some interesting points. Doris Wiles had married a wealthy playboy, who died and left her and her infant son penniless. She works her way up from waitressing to running her own restaurant. A wealthy former friend of her husband, improbably named Carlos McLean, starts to woo her. But wait, he has the dreaded mustache! Is he a villain?

Nope, and he seals the deal when her son swallows something that puts him in peril:


I'm going to guess that the specialist went by the name of Dr Heimlich. ;)

There's an interesting PSA:

I don't remember DC publishing any overtly religious PSAs during the Silver Age, although they certainly published ones that promoted religious tolerance.

Solid Gold Heart closes out the book. Donna is a succesful model who wants to make the jump to acting. Her downstairs neighbor is Larry, a self-employed biochemist. Donna is promoting her career and making the gossip columns by going out with various wealthy playboys, but she wishes Larry were more successful. One days she promises to attend a sales pitch to an investor, but then her manager calls with a rich date who will certainly get her name in the paper. Torn, she attends the date even though it is at the same corner as Larry is waiting. But it all works out in the end, as:

It's an entertaining story, largely selling the same message about accepting your man for who he is as the opening tale. And as in the opener, the woman doesn't really have to suffer, as it is clear her man will become wealthy.

There's a "movie date" filler bit of advice here:

One oddity; the comic does not seem to contain many ads aimed at women; in fact the inside front cover contains a Joe Weider body-building ad.

Superman and Lois

Over at Superman Fan, blogger Nightwing posts a scathing review of a Silver Age Lois Lane story. He's particularly hard on the supposed romance between Lois and Superman:

Honestly, I don’t know why so many people talk up the Superman/Lois relationship as some kind of great romance, when most of the time he treats her as at best a pain in the neck and at worst some kind of crazed stalker.

And given the details of that story, it's hard to argue that is an unfair assessment of their relationship.

As it happens, right after reading that post, I was flipping through Superman #142, and found another zany Superman and Lois story, called Lois Lane's Secret Helper. One night, Krypto and Supergirl overhear Lois Lane pouring out her heart to sister Lucy:

So Krypto decides to play Cupid. He does some research around the world to find out what gets men in the mood to pop the question. In Venice, he observes a man proposing after the couple was serenaded by a gondolier. So he spreads some birdseed around where Lois and Superman are talking to attract a few songbirds and:

But it proves almost as easy to distract Superman, as the singing of the birds attracts some cats and:

Next Krypto observes some castaways who decide to marry after being rescued from their desert island. He manages to maroon Lois and Clark. At first Lois is scornful of her companion, but when he manages to get some coconuts she warms up quite a bit:

So Krypto causes an earthquake to throw them together, but Lois is disgusted when Clark remains prostrated on the ground:

Next, Krypto observes that seeing another couple in love can cause a man to lose his inhibitions. So when Lois finds a stray female dog, Krypto brings her a bunch of bones as a gift and:

But the arrival of all those dogs on the scene ruins the moment, and Krypto gives up on getting Superman to marry Lois. He's so peeved, in fact, that he decides to become Lois' pet. Which doesn't work out so well for her, as a cop issues her a citation because he doesn't have a license.

Comments: This story is played strictly for laughs, and it actually delivers, partly because of Superman's rather ridiculous behavior in a) falling for Krypto's romantic cues and b) promptly losing interest in proposing to Lois the minute something unexpected happens.

Exit question: I rather enjoy the snark in Nightwing's post about Superman and Lois. However, I usually grade these stories myself on the curve, recognizing that they were written for kids. Would you like to see a little more bite to my posts, or should I stick to poking fun when appropriate but gently?

The Legion of Super-Romances

In their first several appearances, the members of the Legion of Super-Heroes were somewhat asexual. This is not that surprising, since they initially encountered Superboy, who almost never acknowledged an interest in girls.

However, we learned over time that they could be just as hormone drenched as real teenagers. The first hint appears to be in Action #276, where Supergirl and Brainiac 5 are inducted into the Legion together. Later:

In Action #289, we learned that at least one Legion romance led to the altar:

In Adventure #311, we learned that Night Girl, a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes was sweet on Cosmic Boy:

In #316, Phantom Girl expresses her admiration for Ultra Boy:

The very next issue of Adventure features the first appearance of Dream Girl, and all the boys go gaga over the platinum blonde:

Especially Star Boy (with fateful consequences much later).

In Adventure #321, Bouncing Boy loses his powers, slims down, and picks himself up a plumper:

Of course, much later he'd, err, pair up with Duo Damsel.

Shrinking Violet didn't shrink away from Duplicate Boy, even though he was supposedly the leader of a gang of crooks:

In actuality, however, Duplicate Boy and the rest of his group had been duped into attacking the Legion, and in the end of the story, Violet and he appear to be starting a romance.

Adventure #326 featured The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires, a zany story where the girls are hypnotized into destroying their male counterparts. As part of their plot, the gals pretend to be interested in some of the boys. For example:

But the romances are all phony, and none of the gals were later romantically linked to their chosen victims in this case. In fact, Light Lass (shown kissing Element Lad there), met her chosen beau in the next issue:

In Adventure #329, a reader wrote in requesting more romance:


That takes us through the first 30 issues of the Legion in Adventure, and seems like a good breaking point. Still more Legion love to come!

Best Romances of the Silver Age?

Note the question mark at the end there. I'm asking for your help. As I see it, there are not really a lot of contenders, so here's a rundown:

Superman and Lois Lane: A rather tepid romance at best, and it was not, as Mort Weisinger put it, consummated during the Silver Age (although that changed eventually).

Batman and ???: 'Nuff said.

Barry Allen and Iris West. One of several marriages within the Silver Age of a long-dating couple. Lots of good interaction, although Iris could be a beeyatch when she wanted to as well.

Aquaman and Mera. One of the definitely consummated marriages in the Silver Age; they did, after all, have a son.

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris. It ended badly, and this was always an oddball romantic triangle with Hal competing against his secret identity as I have discussed previously.

Ray Palmer and Jean Loring. A solid contender; don't let the ridiculous Identity Crisis storyline distract you. A major reason why Ray fought crime as the Atom was to help Jean establish her practice so she'd marry him.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl: Unique situation as the Halls were married when we first met them. Worked well together both in their costumed identities and as civilians.

Ralph Dibney and Sue Dibney: Another early married couple, one of the charms of the Detective Comics series was the interaaction between the pair.

Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Another rare case of consummated love, as they bore a son as well in the Silver Age.

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Ill-fated and frequently tested, their love was surprisingly strong during the late 1960s.

Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. Like the Dibney's they were not really major characters at the time, but they did marry.

Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. They came close to getting married in the Silver Age, but I never really felt a strong bond between the two.

Any others? The Marvel characters pretty much turned over all their girlfriends before the decade was over: Karen Page, Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, etc. Archie and Veronica/Betty and Richie Rich/Gloria are cute, but not really romance in my book.

Update: Some very good suggestions in the comments:

Adam Strange and Alanna. An excellent romance with lots of interaction, the involuntary separations and even an accepted proposal of marriage. A very strong contender.

Ben Grimm and Alicia. If we look at a romance as union of yin and yang, this would have to rate strongly. Alicia completes Ben, and softens his hard edges (although figuratively, not literally).

Green Arrow and Black Canary. I'd rate this as more of a Bronze Age Romance. Same with the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.

Catwoman and Batman. Terrific pick but more Golden Age than Silver; the Catwoman only made two real appearances in Batman during the Silver Age.

BTW, on the consummated part, I do think that marriage and children are an important manifestation of love, but I was also being a little puckish; see this post for more.

Great Moments In Comic Book Romance

Steve Trevor asks Diana Prince to engage in a little game: