Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Mar 1, 2019 22:29:10 GMT -5
I have recently refocused my collection on romance comics, which as been a back burner interest of mine for over a decade. I'm currently focusing on Bronze Age romance, but recently have begun sliding slowly back into the Silver Age as well. As part of this, I have two romance subsets I am working on. The first is a Bronze Age subset of romance comics dealing with the feminist movement; once I have more examples in my collection, I may start a discussion thread about those as well. The other, though, is a subset that spans both the Silver Age and Bronze Age, and which is of particular interest for me - romance comics that deal with the Vietnam War. This is a collecting focus that is of special personal interest to me. My parents were high school sweethearts, but the year my mother graduated from high school - 1965 - my father volunteered for the Marine Corps. When he completed his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he re-upped and volunteered for a second tour. While on his 23rd combat mission, he was seriously wounded in action. he was sent back to the U.S. for medical treatment, and was in the hospital for nine months. My parents married at the end of 1968, and in the wedding photos, he is still using crutches to get around. So this has a lot of personal meaning to me. On a broader scope, though, I find it to be a fascinating window into how the war was being portrayed back home in popular culture and media. Generally speaking, I have found three basic types of Vietnam romance stories: 1. The girl waiting at home learns that her love has been killed in action. Generally, a) she then finds a new love, possibly in the arms of his grieving best friend; or b) it turns out it was a mistake, and he's still alive. Or sometimes both! 2. The girl waiting at home finds a new love, often in the arms of his guilt-racked best friend. They then deal with the consequences when her love returns from Vietnam. Often, it's a "happy" ending as it turns out he found someone else too. 3. The girl is a nurse, or some other caregiver, and develops a relationship with a wounded soldier. Often, they don't end up together, but he finds new hope as a result of their interaction. My collection at the moment is focusing on issue that have Vietnam themed covers, mainly because these are the easiest to find information about. Plus, of course, the covers are often striking. I do have at least a couple issues in my collection with interior stories about Vietnam which are not reflected on the cover, though, which I will also be discussing. In general, Charlton seemed to be the most bold in terms of dealing with Vietnam, which isn't much of a surprise. However, there are exceptions. DC did have stories about Vietnam, but they rarely featured this on the cover, with the notable exception being the two part cover story in Girls' Romances #127 and #128 (which I do not yet have). Likewise, Marvel didn't really touch on Vietnam that much in their romance books, but there's one major exception in maybe the unlikeliest place (which I will be posting about some time next week). Anyway, I thought I would share some of these issue with you as I work on this subset. And I think the best place to start things off is with Secret Romance #1:
 This isn't the earliest Vietnam romance comic, as Charlton, DC, and Marvel all had Vietnam themed romance comics before this. But it sports one of the best covers around! My copy, as you can see, also has a beautiful date stamp from June 12, 1968. This is from the height of the war. It also happens to be during the period when my father was in the US recovering from shell shrapnel in his leg - which is exactly what the male lead in this story, Greg, is doing. In this tale, poor Regina is mourning her fiance Bob, who was killed in Vietnam. Bob's army buddy Greg, who was wounded in the same attack, has been sent back to the states to rehabilitate his leg. He visits Regina, one things leads to another, and the two fall in love (despite him saying at one point "Bob always said you were a stubborn wench!"). It's a textbook Vietnam romance comic. The moral of the story, which Regina shares at the end, is that people should move on. "We mourned for Bob... but now the mourning is done, and we, the living, must go on!" I find that to be interesting, and kind of problematic. It's essentially telling people, you know, the war is bad, but life goes on, so just deal with the loss, and don't make too big a deal about it. I don't want to say this is exactly a pro-war sentiment, but it's certainly not the kind of anti-war message that the comic companies were actually starting to serve up regularly in their war comics at the same time! I'm not sure how much of this is because of the people writing the stories, and how much of it is the target audiences. In many of those war books, we have younger men writing for other young men (who could be sent to war) about the pointlessness of war. In this case, we have older men writing for young women (whose boyfriends may be sent away), reassuring them that the loss of their loved one, while painful, is fleeting; and in the long run, things will be okay. It's a very different message, one that basically boils down to: girls, do your duty too. Also, the time frame matters - 1968 is when things were just really getting bad. Much of the anti-war subtext we see in a lot of comics really started showing up a couple years later, when war fatigue and cynicism had truly set in. We'll see this when we get to 1971, and another Charlton with a very similar plot but a quite different tone and feel. |
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Mar 1, 2019 23:11:22 GMT -5
What a fascinating project! I'll be following your posts closely.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Mar 2, 2019 0:52:23 GMT -5
As I mentioned, I see three basic plots that many (or most) Vietnam romance stories fit into. Secret Romance #1 is a perfect example of the first, which is about a woman whose love is killed in Vietnam, and how she later finds new love. I thought it might be interesting to stick with this plot and see some other treatments of it, so here's our next example of that story, also from Charlton Comics. We've moved forward almost two years, though, as this issue hit stands in February or March of 1970. It's... Time For Love #16 First off, man, that's a another great cover. The caption makes the cover almost chilling. Note that it may actually be a reworking of the previous caption from Secret Romance #1 - where that one said "Love lies buired here" this one says "loves lies cold and deep." They have found a formula and are sticking to it. I do have to say, though, that the "Time for swinging" slogan at the top of the book feels really out of place with this cover. There are some subtle differences this time, though. First, Leah was actually already married to her love before he was sent off to Vietnam. Sadly, he died there, and she has vowed to never love again. The story does a good job of showing her depression. The house is a mess, and she can barely get out of bed. At one point in the story, she debates whether or not to take sleeping pills, but decides against it because she's worried about becoming addicted. It's actually a pretty sober look at mourning and depression. Instead of taking the pills, though, she rouses herself enough to go for a walk, and its symbolic of her gradual rise from depression. Around this time, she encounters her neighbor, Ben Tibbs. Ben is a Vietnam vet who returned home with a scarred hand. And he is also struggling with loss — in a twist, his fiancee died in a car accident while he was in Vietnam, so he is also in deep mourning. The two slowly learn to love again, punctuated by some atypical - and weirdly out of place - action sequences. First, she's out for a walk and notices Ben following her, which he says is for her safety. She gets upset and tells him off, only to be immediately jumped by two knife wielding thugs! Ben clobbers one of them, but the other is about to stab him when Leah drills him over the head with her shoe, knocking him out. Pow! She then saves him again at the end of the story, as his house catches fire while he's sleeping. She runs in and saves him from the blaze and realizes her love for him. They get engaged, and again we get the same basic moral — narrated by her — that loss is temporary, and the heart can heal, so moving on from the tragedy of war isn't just important, but inevitable. "I learned you can't keep love buried in a grave — it will rise again!" So this is essentially the same story, but with more action, and perhaps tellingly, a little more focus on the real cost of the war for Leah. She feels more authenticaly affected here than Regina did in Secret Romance #1. On a side note: One funny thing that struck me here is that, since she doesn't want to get too cozy with this guy, instead of calling him Ben, she calls him Mr. Tibbs for most of the story. During the fight, she yells, "Hit him again, Mr. Tibbs!" I felt like this had to be some reference to In the Heat of the Night, which had come out just a couple years earlier. The writer clearly liked movies, as he has the couple go to see Oliver! at the theater. That movie came out at the end of 1968, well over a year before this issue was published, so I wonder just when this script was originally written. Hmm. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Mar 2, 2019 5:23:18 GMT -5
Cool!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2019 6:34:02 GMT -5
Kind of fascinated by this subject ... I'm intrigued.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 2, 2019 6:52:53 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread. I think comics of all types can shed light on the times in which they were created. As a history buff -- particularly a 20th century history buff -- it's one of the things I like best about old comics. I've been interested in the Vietnam War since I was 11 or so, when I watched a TV documentary about it, and these days am very knowledgeable about the subject. So, I'm sure this is going to be a fascinating thread to follow.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 2, 2019 7:17:09 GMT -5
It's a textbook Vietnam romance comic. The moral of the story, which Regina shares at the end, is that people should move on. "We mourned for Bob... but now the mourning is done, and we, the living, must go on!" I find that to be interesting, and kind of problematic. It's essentially telling people, you know, the war is bad, but life goes on, so just deal with the loss, and don't make too big a deal about it. I don't want to say this is exactly a pro-war sentiment, but it's certainly not the kind of anti-war message that the comic companies were actually starting to serve up regularly in their war comics at the same time! Yeah, but it's also a very pragmatic attitude, and war breeds pragmatism by necessity. I mean, ultimately, mourning the dead and moving on is all you can do in circumstances like the protagonists in this story find themselves in. It sounds to me as if the "moral" of the story, if there is one, is neither pro nor anti Vietnam. It's simply saying the War is what it is, and the tiny people who get chewed up in it have to be pragmatic, since they're largely powerless to stop what is happening to them and their loved ones. I'm not sure how much of this is because of the people writing the stories, and how much of it is the target audiences. In many of those war books, we have younger men writing for other young men (who could be sent to war) about the pointlessness of war. In this case, we have older men writing for young women (whose boyfriends may be sent away), reassuring them that the loss of their loved one, while painful, is fleeting; and in the long run, things will be okay. It's a very different message, one that basically boils down to: girls, do your duty too. This attitude is probably something of a World War 2 throwback, and is likely there because, as you note, the comic is being written by older guys. Even if the writer(s) weren't old enough to have served in WW2, they would likely remember it and remember the atmosphere of "We Can Do It!" among women on the home front. You see this fundamental lack of understanding a lot in mainstream media representations of the Vietnam War in the mid-to-late '60s. A lot of the old guard (and a fair proportion of the young folks too, actually) failed to recognise that this was not "World War 2: The Sequel". Vietnam was something much messier, much more controversial at home, and America's involvement much less justifiable. See the John Wayne film The Green Berets, or the popular success of Sgt. Barry Sadler's "March of the Green Berets" for further details. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 2, 2019 10:12:28 GMT -5
I'm not really a fan of Romance comics, but this sounds like a super interesting way to look at them! Great idea!
I was wondering if perhaps that 2nd title was a reference to Elton John's 'Funeral for a Friend'.. but no.. the song came out after.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Mar 2, 2019 16:54:58 GMT -5
It's a textbook Vietnam romance comic. The moral of the story, which Regina shares at the end, is that people should move on. "We mourned for Bob... but now the mourning is done, and we, the living, must go on!" I find that to be interesting, and kind of problematic. It's essentially telling people, you know, the war is bad, but life goes on, so just deal with the loss, and don't make too big a deal about it. I don't want to say this is exactly a pro-war sentiment, but it's certainly not the kind of anti-war message that the comic companies were actually starting to serve up regularly in their war comics at the same time! Yeah, but it's also a very pragmatic attitude, and war breeds pragmatism by necessity. I mean, ultimately, mourning the dead and moving on is all you can do in circumstances like the protagonists in this story find themselves in. It sounds to me as if the "moral" of the story, if there is one, is neither pro nor anti Vietnam. It's simply saying the War is what it is, and the tiny people who get chewed up in it have to be pragmatic, since they're largely powerless to stop what is happening to them and their loved ones. True. And yet, I think the way this is handled suggests a certain outlook on the part of the writers. In Secret Romance #1, Regina's parents are pushing for her to get involved with this new guy. She frames it as "they think I have been mourning too long." No doubt parents in this situation would be concerned for the happiness and mental health of their daughter, but it comes across just a bit like "get over it already!" This 1968 story is a pretty big contrast to how this same plot is handled at the beginning of 1971, where the writer shows a much deeper empathy for both the woman and the men involved, and her family. As we see in our next entry: Sweethearts #115, which had an on sale date of January 1, 1971.  In this story, Anne gets a telegram that her fiance has been wounded in action in Vietnam. He's been sent to Hawaii to recover. She uses the money she had saved up for their wedding to fly to Hawaii to see him. However, when she arrives, her fiance Mel will barely talk to her. He angrily tells her that he never loved her, and he demands the ring back. heartbroken, she leaves for home, comforted by Mel's best friend, Whit, who is also recovering from wounds in Hawaii. Fast forward two months later. Mel recovered and was sent back to Vietnam - where he was killed in action. Anne is heartbroken. Some time later, Whit shows up! He was - again - injured in the same attack that killed Mel, so he's been discharged back to the states. He tells her what she suspected - Mel did love her, but he was sure he was going to be killed, so he wanted to try and spare her the pain. Guess what? That plan sucked, and didn't work. Still, Whit is a nice guy and he falls in love with her and they end up together. Happy ending! Well, mostly. This one actually has an unusually melancholy feel to it at the end. It's clear Whit is more into her than the other way around, as she's still depressed over Mel's death. He needs her in order to move on, and she eventually decides maybe it will help her too. But it's not exactly the kind of new love we've seen in the previous stories (and in romance comics in general). This relationship doesn't erase her past or let her forget it or even move on, really. When she and Whit finally kiss, she's thinking of Mel - "We're not forgetting you, Mel!" Then, at the end when they finally get engaged, they share a big "romantic kiss"... but we the reader get to see this for the final panel:  His joy, not hers. Though she likes Whit and appreciates his company, attention, and affection, she doesn't really seem to actually fall in love with him, certainly not in the same way the previous two women did. It's more that she recognizes he's a good man, and maybe more will grow for her. For me, this is clearly the best of the issues, and actually just a really good story, period. It shows a much deeper empathy for the characters. Crucially, we get to meet Mel before he dies, allowing us to see not just the pain the war has inflicted on the home front, but the price being paid by the soldiers. We don't just see her pain - as we have in the previous issues - but we also see his pain. While she later has to deal with his literal death, in his scenes Mel is dealing with the death of his hope. When she gets to Hawaii and sees Mel again for the first time, she is instantly struck by how changed he looks. Her narration: "When I saw Mel I understood... he looked haggard and when he looked at me his eyes were haunted by what he'd seen!" This isn't a nice, tidy message of comfort like the other two - "shit happens, but it's cool because you'll still be happy later!" Instead, the characters are marked and changed by what has happened. In the end, they move forward, yes. But they don't really move past it. Finally, i also wanted to mention yet another great cover, this time by the criminally underrated Art Capello. Capello did Charlton romance comics for decades, but his best work for me is the early to mid 70's, where he developed a bold and simple graphic style that favored thick, clean lines over the Neal Adams inspired sketchiness that was influencing so many other arts at the time. His work in this period can be a bit cartoony, but in a good way; though he doesn't quite approach the level of geniuses like Alex Toth or Harry Lucey, he's in that kind of school, and turned out some really excellent work that sadly most people have never seen, heard of, or appreciated. Also, the only thing that slightly marred this story is that my copy at least printed pages 2 and 3 out of order, which confused me a lot at a key point in the story! So if anyone decides to track this issue down, be aware. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2019 17:12:12 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread. I think comics of all types can shed light on the times in which they were created. I agree. I always thought you could teach a class on late 20th century American history using Archie Comics and the trends that were shown in those issues. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2019 17:14:30 GMT -5
I'm not really a fan of Romance comics, but this sounds like a super interesting way to look at them! Great idea! Same here. I don't remember ever reading a romance comic unless an Archie comics counts. I was aware they existed growing up. But had no interest. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Mar 2, 2019 18:40:46 GMT -5
As I mentioned, I see three basic plots that many (or most) Vietnam romance stories fit into. Secret Romance #1 is a perfect example of the first, which is about a woman whose love is killed in Vietnam, and how she later finds new love. I thought it might be interesting to stick with this plot and see some other treatments of it, so here's our next example of that story, also from Charlton Comics. We've moved forward almost two years, though, as this issue hit stands in February or March of 1970. It's... Time For Love #16 First off, man, that's a another great cover. The caption makes the cover almost chilling. Note that it may actually be a reworking of the previous caption from Secret Romance #1 - where that one said "Love lies buired here" this one says "loves lies cold and deep." They have found a formula and are sticking to it. I do have to say, though, that the "Time for swinging" slogan at the top of the Holy cow, man, this brings to light one of the few Jim Aparo covers I haven't seen! I thought I knew 'em all, but this is a new one. The GCD says "Previous indexer credited Jim Aparo pencils, inks and letters. Present indexer believes cover is a Sal Gentile pastiche, based on the inside story's characters," but I disagree, and don't even understand it, since Jim didn't draw the interior cover story, which I was able to find online. That's definitely an Aparo cover, with his lettering, his distinctive style, through and through. No way Sal Gentile could so accurately copy Jim's style in every respect. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2019 19:19:01 GMT -5
As I mentioned, I see three basic plots that many (or most) Vietnam romance stories fit into. Secret Romance #1 is a perfect example of the first, which is about a woman whose love is killed in Vietnam, and how she later finds new love. I thought it might be interesting to stick with this plot and see some other treatments of it, so here's our next example of that story, also from Charlton Comics. We've moved forward almost two years, though, as this issue hit stands in February or March of 1970. It's... Time For Love #16 First off, man, that's a another great cover. The caption makes the cover almost chilling. Note that it may actually be a reworking of the previous caption from Secret Romance #1 - where that one said "Love lies buired here" this one says "loves lies cold and deep." They have found a formula and are sticking to it. I do have to say, though, that the "Time for swinging" slogan at the top of the Holy cow, man, this brings to light one of the few Jim Aparo covers I haven't seen! I thought I knew 'em all, but this is a new one. The GCD says "Previous indexer credited Jim Aparo pencils, inks and letters. Present indexer believes cover is a Sal Gentile pastiche, based on the inside story's characters," but I disagree, and don't even understand it, since Jim didn't draw the interior cover story, which I was able to find online. That's definitely an Aparo cover, with his lettering, his distinctive style, through and through. No way Sal Gentile could so accurately copy Jim's style in every respect. Totally agree. That's definitely an Aparo cover. Beautiful. Love his distinctive style and the fact he usually did his own lettering. |
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Mar 2, 2019 20:14:22 GMT -5
Yeah, the interior art is by Luis Avila, and looks nothing like this. Avila's art is very delicate.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Mar 3, 2019 0:18:39 GMT -5
So, now that we have three examples of story type 1 (from 1968, 1970, and 1971), let's take a little step back in time for a look at an example of story type 2, courtesy of Love Diary #53 with an on sale date of December 5, 1967. This comic features one of the most vicious covers I think I have ever seen:  I mean, holy smokes! It would be one thing if she were just thinking she doesn't want George to leave. That makes perfect sense, and it tally swet. But that's not what she's thinking here. She specifically wants Adam to be sent off to Vietnam instead. "I wish Adam would get killed so I could make out with George more!" Jeeeeeeezus, lady! Anyway,about that date stamp - December 5, 1967. This was less than two months before the Tet Offensive. It's perhaps important to note that in this story, the guy never actually gets to Vietnam - he's sent away for training to a distant Air Force base, in preparation for deployment, but that deployment ends up happening some time after the end of this story. Inside is a classic example of the story where she cheats on him, but then it's okay because he was cheating on her too. George gives her his ring the night before he is sent off to Air Force training. Their mutual friend Adam — who set them up to begin with, and was her friend before she met George — is all like, eh. You guys are just infatuated. Wait and see. I know George, and I know people. Sure enough, within a couple days, she gets bored writing George letters, and she starts hanging out with Adam. Then she kisses him to prove she's not in love with George! it works - they make out before she has a massive guilt attack. Luckily, the next day she gets a letter from George telling her he's gotten engaged to someone else that he met during training. So she's off the hook, and she can fool around with Adam without felling guilty! Hurray? I'm not sure what kind of message this is. It's cool to fool around while your fella is away in the service, because he's almost certainly getting some side action over there too?  This feels a bit constrained by the tropes of the genre. Typically, romance comics have happy endings for the girl. Not always (especially at Charlton) but this might be a case of the writers coming up with a basic premise for a story that's probably a common problem for their readers - boyfriends going off to war - and then struggling to come up with a way to get a happy ending out of an inherently unhappy situation. It seems like a pretty crappy solution, though. Nobody in this story comes off well. The girl is a shallow flirt, the guy is a cheating jackass, and the cynical buddy fools around with his best friend's fiancee. He actually comes off best here, so really, there are no winners. On the flip side, this sort of thing does happen a lot in war from what I understand, so in that sense, it's at least realistic, even if problematic. The writers apparently didn't think it was problematic, though, because as we'll see next time, they used this exact same plot in the same series just a couple years later, in issue #75. |
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