[professor echo]

I only read the first story and while it was a very familiar idea, it had some potential to be an ok little melodrama. Unfortunately, it’s so rushed as to be laughable. A lot of questionable and even creepy behavior exhibited at times, silly developments in the story plus a ridiculously pat ending, as per most of these romance comic tales. I do think if they had let it play out longer it would not have seemed so ludicrous, but it’s all wrapped up nearly immediately after it starts. And what island has Hispanic women dressed in Polynesian apparel?

Link to the book: Complete Love Magazine 183 (v31 2)

[Robb_K]

And what island has Hispanic women dressed in Polynesian apparel?

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) owned by Chile would have had women wearing similar dresses, and could have had families with Spanish surnames.  But, their houses wouldn't likely have been raised on pilings, and there wouldn't likely have been nearby islands in view, nor so many palm trees, as that island was still almost treeless during the 1950s (although there has been some attempts at reforestation (or, at least tree importation) since then).

[professor echo]

And what island has Hispanic women dressed in Polynesian apparel?

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) owned by Chile would have had women wearing similar dresses, and could have had families with Spanish surnames.  But, their houses wouldn't likely have been raised on pilings, and there wouldn't likely have been nearby islands in view, nor so many palm trees, as that island was still almost treeless during the 1950s (although there has been some attempts at reforestation (or, at least tree importation) since then).

Great info, man. Thanks.

Have you ever read the Thor Heyerdahl book about Easter Island? I hear it's pretty good.

[The Australian Panther]

Have you ever read the Thor Heyerdahl book about Easter Island?

I read that back in the 60's when it was a world wide best seller. But that was 60 years ago and there has been a great deal of research carried out since then, so it is well out of date.
What that book did do was inspire a few others to imitate the idea of making a boat or ship that was faithful to an ancient time period and going on a voyage to test the verity of the story. 
The one case I can clearly remember was a retracing of the voyage of the Argonauts.
Turned out it was probably a real voyage and 'the Golden Fleece' would have been in [Russian] Georgia where people dunk a fleece in the river so it will catch gold specks in the fleece.

Cheers!
     

[Captain Audio]

The one case I can clearly remember was a retracing of the voyage of the Argonauts.
Turned out it was probably a real voyage and 'the Golden Fleece' would have been in [Russian] Georgia where people dunk a fleece in the river so it will catch gold specks in the fleece.

Cheers!
   

Interestingly, to me at least, Georgia in whats now the USA began as a British Penal Colony, much like Australia.
Also like the European Georgia it has Gold deposits. The Gold found in Georgia caused the mass expulsion of most American Indians of the region that became known as "the Trail of Tears".

A tropical island with spanish influence isn't that strange, but such an island where a white man could use a Mexican style sombrero and serape as an attempt to go un noticed among the locals would be odd.

[professor echo]

Really love all the enlightening responses here. Thanks guys.

[Rintintin]

Gordon probably ended up with Carlotta in that ugly little room. Double happy ending. The art was really good on that story with great backgrounds despite the fashion & architectural ignorance on display!

[Robb_K]

Gordon probably ended up with Carlotta in that ugly little room. Double happy ending. The art was really good on that story with great backgrounds despite the fashion & architectural ignorance on display!

Almost ALL Golden and early Silver Age comic books with semi-realistic stories travelling to exotic lands contained "what is wrong with this picture"-type visual or text informational errors.  That is because the story writing pay for most comic books was so low, that comic book story writers couldn't't afford to spend virtually ANY time doing research, to assure that there were no glaring errors in the settings, and especially in stories that involved historical settings and events.  In the earliest period of comic book publication, when publishers needed to pay decently, to entice professional writers to notice new opportunities in the newly-opening market, the few well-paying offers were filled by pulp writers, who already had crank-out systems in operation, that basically used mainly clichees to avoid spending more than a couple minutes on researching for a given story.  Most of them already had them in their minds for Latin America, The Far East, Polynesia, Africa, The Middle East, Australia, The American West, The Romans, ancient Greeks, Mongols, etc.  So, most often, effectively, no research was done by the writers.  The artists often had stashes of photos of period clothing, animals, landform backgrounds, etc., and only the dedicated might make a short trip to a library to get books for any especially esoteric subjects they might decide to portray (or were actually "assigned" to them by the story writers' inclusion in their stories. 

So, it's no wonder that a goodly percentage (if not most) Golden Age comic books that have stories taking place in exotic lands, and/or back in distant historical periods, have setting and characterisation lack-of-researching type errors.  It was a rare, dedicated story writer or scenaricist/plotter, who was willing to basically "donate" money from his contracted pay or wages, to ensure more realism in his or her tales, given that the pay for such jobs resulted in the person "living from hand-to-mouth", IF that writer didn't have some other, higher-paying source of income providing enough supplemental income to get them by; or, as in most cases, the comic book writing just provided supplemental income to add to what they got from their main source or sources (short stories to magazines, book publishers for regular books, pulps, comic strips, one-panel cartoons, newspaper articles, journals, writing for animation, advertising, or just regular, unrelated, "day jobs".

I know from my own experience from the 1970s till now, plus that of my colleagues over the years, that that was the case from the late 1940s till now, and it likely was (although there was a little more opportunity for the comic book writer to "donate" more time to "research" his or her story detail requirements during the earliest (1936-46) period.  But, even then, on the better-paying "enticement jobs", it was only the very dedicated writer, who did enough research to do his job correctly.  The comic book industry was always a sales volume business, selling an extremely low-cost product, mainly geared towards children and lower-educated adolescents, so publishers had really low profit margins, needing high sales counts.  And a few errors in settings and historical details didn't matter, because most of the readers wouldn't notice the difference, and most of those who WOULD notice those errors, were more interested in the action and emotions of the characters, and the errors in the details wouldn't stop them from liking the stories or from buying the books.

So, such errors become just a "charming" added feature, bringing in more nostalgia, for readers of Golden Age comics.  But, for a historian, like me, it makes me cringe every time I notice one.  That's because I was introduced to comic books by Carl Barks, who spoiled me, by "donating" LOTS of research time, to ensure realism in the settings of his "Calisota/Duckburg Universe", and include actual historical facts, when basing his adventure stories on historical events or legends.

[The Australian Panther]

Interestingly,
some of the most celebrated and successful creators were those who, in fact, were well read and did do research.
Carl Barks certainly did. Lee and Kirby were obviously well-read, for example, 'the Warriors three' characters from THOR are clearly taken from Shakespeare's Henry the fifth. They also watched film and listened to radio drama. Also most of those of that generation were in the military as young men and had a much more mature experience and understanding of the world than subsequent generations. Some, like Sam Glantzman, who always got his research right, served in the Pacific or other non-USA theaters.
That said, it makes my teeth grate how many times US writers (in particular) try to do an Australian character and end up not just inaccurate but insulting and sometimes offensive. 
Also, if you haven't visited an artist's studio, you would be amazed just how much reference material most artists have in their libraries, to refer to.