Sally has the love of a good guy, Frank, but she doesn’t appreciate him. He’s boring...a
square! She meets Buck, a night watchman at Shipman’s Department Store, and that’s where it all goes wrong. Buck is as bad as Frank is good, as exciting as Frank is boring. Some girls like bad boys. Sally does. Sally also likes the presents Buck gives her, but isn’t inquisitive enough about where they are coming from. Buck expects repayment for his gifts to her, and we all know what that means.
I like the pre-fabricated house inside the department store. Just the thing for illicit love after the store doors are closed. But for Sally, it signals the end of her “Side-Street Love.”
This tale of a good love thrown over for a bad boy lover, is from Harvey Comics’
First Love Illustrated #15 (1951). Artwork is by Bob Powell.
Sometimes authors write with an imagined audience clearly in mind; sometimes they really just write to express their own desires. So one cannot be certain whether this story were by some guy resentful of female faithlessness, or for guys resentful of such betrayal; but it seems fairly sure that it were one of those two.
ReplyDeleteThere's no female heroine here. The Girl doesn't get to have her fling with the Bad Boy and then to be rescued, redeemed, or forgiven by the Good Guy. There's no other Girl, shown waiting in the wings for Frank. The Girl is convicted and sent to prison for crimes that she did not commit, as if she were really going to prison for infidelity.
Well, that was a kick in the teeth!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sally here, Frank really *is* dullsville!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, think about what this comic is teaching us. Frank is the "good guy" but all he does IS constantly nag at Sally that she's doing the wrong thing. Now, was she doing the wrong thing? Maybe, but nagging isn't going to help anybody, and most of the time, the wrong thing was Sally wanting to be only 99% "proper" all the time.
Of course, Sally was also a dope with the obviously stolen gifts.
Great work from Powell, the man could really do different genres well.