Number 2323: “The sweet torment of a strange new hunger!”

Mike just doesn’t move Arline, even though they are engaged. When a woman thinks “. . . I tried frantically to respond to the burning demand of his embrace! But I was untouched by his ardor. . .” then you think she wants to live in a romance novel, not a real-life romance with pitfalls and impediments to love. Arline and Mike are flying to South America to get married when a clogged fuel line puts them down on an island with some island rowdies who hang around bars. That’s when she meets Chris and falls for him, despite being torn between love and duty to her future husband, Mike.

“Derelict Bride,” the tale of Arline’s “strange new hunger” is from Quality Comics’ Love Scandals #5 (1950). It is not an untypical love comic story, but has some added cheesecake: Arline’s sexy costume when she agrees to sing in the nightclub, and a lingerie panel to add a bit more spice to the tale of two guys fighting for the love of a woman who might not deserve either one of them.

Sorry, although I know romance-starved readers would just love to know who wrote and drew this, it is unknown by the Grand Comics Database.

Number 2220: Daddy was a con man

As a child Frances Wells traveled around with her dad to foreign lands and also around America. Daddy was a card sharp and confidence man, and so he’d get caught, leave Frances with a relative, or even in boarding school while he does time in prison. You would think young Fran would have had daddy issues with a father like that. And apparently she does: as an adult she still loves the old crook!

Before you get to thinking, as I did, that they had some sort of unhealthy relationship, Fran becomes interested in Cary, the biggest catch in town. Of course, being a love comic, there has to be conflict, and besides Dad being in the background, the conflict is with Doris, who also has her eye on Cary. Cary’s family hire a private detective to check up on Fran’s old man. Do two negatives make a positive? Cary’s family has its own problems, which cancel out the problems with Mr Wells. It is a lot to take in, especially for a love comic with a limited number of pages to get to the nitty-gritty. It appeared in Quality’s Love Scandals #1 (1950), a provocative title for a love comic. Despite the purity of Frances, there is an undercurrent of criminality running throughout the story. Of course, it is conquered in the quest for true love. Sigh. If only true life could be so easy!

Grand Comics Database doesn’t give any credits for writing or artwork, but my eyeballs tell me Bill Ward had something to do with it. Those females are Ward’s, either in the penciling or inking stage. The image of Doris, from the teaser panel on top of this page, is pure Ward.

Number 2205: Jungle love

Love Scandals from Quality Comics is aptly named. In the lead story from issue #4 (1950), Lona, a receptionist for Tacker Rubber Company, meets and falls for Dan Best, wealthy rubber plantation owner. The relationship proceeds at near supersonic speed. One date is enough: Dan and Lona get married and she moves to his plantation with him. No love story runs smooth, and this is no exception. Lona meets and falls for Sam Wells, a local bounder, who charms Lona into nearly running off with him.

The Grand Comics Database doesn’t guess at the artwork, but I’ll throw in my 2¢ worth and say I think Bill Ward did the pencils, and another artist did the inking. Ward is my choice for pencils because we get at least one good lingerie panel. Lona’s face does not look like a typical Ward face, so my guess is that more than one artist is responsible. Besides the lingerie, Ward’s style jumps out at me with the shopgirl on page 5, who looks like a dominatrix. (To me, anyway, heh-heh.)