From Maine to Japan

When I was a wee lass, visiting my grandmother's, my sister and I found a box full of musty romance comics that had belonged to my uncle. We consumed enough of them that we were capable of drawing our own "fake romance covers" later (I wish I could find those now!).

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I've gotten my hands on some vintage romance comics from the 50s-70s. Fun, sometimes very crazy stuff. For example: Forbidden Future! a cautionary tale of the dangers that divorce will wreck on your life, with a sentimental happy ending thrown in for the bargain (you couldn't count on romance comics having happy endings, by the way--each title had a different "tone," and some leaned heavily toward "she learned too late" sorts of stories).

In Forbidden Future! (yes, the exclamation point is necessary!), a young divorcee returns to her home town to discover that her reputation is permanently soiled by her hasty actions:



Our heroine explains her sad situation:



There's a pretty creepy near-rape scene:





The doctor and she fall madly in love, but she's afraid to marry him because his patients may shun him for marrying such a loose woman. He supports her, but she decides to flee town rather than ruin his life:



I love the 180 degree turn of the town scold there. :)

So in summary: divorce might ruin your reputation, but if you manage to save a busload of school children from a blazing death, you can salvage it somewhat! No problem!

Labels: romance