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.

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Are You Ready for Freddy?

Karl at the House of Cobwebs wrote a couple of posts about this series and so I decided to check it out for myself. Freddy is obviously intended as a knock-off of the Archie series, but with some oddball differences. For starters, Archie is reasonably admirable and upright; Freddy has, shall we say, a more ambiguous moral code.

In the first story in this issue, Freddy encounters his buddy Stuff, with a gallon of some foul-smelling perfume, which gives him an idea:

I'm not saying that Archie would be above such a prank, but at least he'd wait until Reggie did something to provoke him. As it happens, Rip gives the bottle to Peggy, Freddy's adored object, but something goes wrong:

So Freddy decides to give her an even bigger bottle of the stuff, but by that time her sense of smell returns (she had a cold) and so she's annoyed at both of them. He sells the rest of the bottle to Rip on the basis that Peggy liked it. Rip finds out it works as a great insecticide, and Freddy buys it back at twice the price. But when he offers to use it to protect Mrs Van Bank Vault's roses:

So Freddy tosses it in the dump, but a passing hobo notes that it melts (sic) tin cans and decides to use it as a trash eradicator, presumably becoming rich.

Archie had L'il Jinx, Freddy has the Little Wise Guy for a quick "gag":

There are two of these fillers in the comic, and they both follow the same formula; LWG has a problem, solves it, and (improbably) makes money.

The second Freddy story again highlights his lack of morals. There's an art contest, with the winner getting a trip to New York City as the prize. One problem: Freddy's got no talent and the teacher in charge of judging the paintings insists on realism. So Freddy gets a bright idea:

The teacher is so taken with Freddy's work that he awards it first place. One problem:

Freddy takes back the frame, explaining:

But the teacher is not so easily deterred:

Comments: Yuck! As you know, I judge comics from the Silver Age on the curve, with allowances that this was throwaway kid's entertainment. I'm more interested in solid characterization rather than depth of plot or intricacy of artwork. But this story is terrible on characterization. Not only is Freddy a cheater and a serial liar, but he gets away with it in the end! I can't help but wonder why we are supposed to be rooting for Freddy (besides the fact that his name is on the cover).

The next story features Simple Saima (a young woman). She's tired of her boyfriend Dummy Dooley and wants to meet Rock Boulder, the cowboy TV star, who's staying at a nearby resort. She's rather forward in her approach:

But Saima means "hoss" riding and she doesn't take no for an answer, resulting in Rock being shoved onto the most ornery horse in the stables. He has a wild ride and in the end confesses:

He explains that he has stunt doubles who do the riding for him. Disgusted, Saima goes back to Dummy Dooley. He may be stupid but at least he doesn't need a double.

Comments: The cowboy star who doesn't really ride is something of a cliche these days, and I suspect it was back then as well.

Remember the "free prizes" mentioned on the cover? Here they are:

Yep, for only 120 corners from Charlton comics, you could get a free tee shirt. Such a deal! Note that if you bought just one comic and sent 60 cents, you could get the same shirt, so they're essentially valuing those extra 119 comics at 60 cents, or about 1/2 a penny each. Judging from the quality of this issue that seems a little generous. ;)

The final story is another Freddy story. His angry neighbor, Mr Tantrum, doesn't believe in UFOs:

So Freddy dangles a flying saucer he got for 120 Charlton corners (just kidding; the actual text says five box tops from a cereal brand) in front of Mr Tantrum's window. But his neighbor (who's apparently a little nearsighted) assumes it's a bug and sprays it with insecticide. Freddy inhales a bit of the fumes and falls of the roof:

So while Mr Tantrum may be rational about some things, he's still got his "woo" side.

Overall, the comic is oddly entertaining, in a perverse sort of way. It's not "so bad it's good," and it's certainly not good. The artwork by Jon D'Agostino is above average for Charlton's somewhat low standards if nothing special, and the stories are reasonably coherent.

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Go Check Out

A new blog focusing on the Charlton and the Mighty MLJ Heroes. I have touched briefly on the Charlton heroes the Question and the Blue Beetle, but I have not covered the MLJ heroes like the Fly, the Web and the Jaguar, all of whom were active in the Silver Age. There are very interesting posts over there highlighting some similarities between the two sets of characters. I laughed out loud when I saw how the Web convinced IronFist that there was no fun in being an "ultra-villain" anymore. Now that's unique!

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