Teen-Age Romances 016 (1951-06.St. John) (JVJ-Two-Dar)
Another fine romance for y'all today from the
JVJ collection! An all-Baker issue. Whew, Archer St. John sure kept him busy. Per usual, a titillating cover, people are starting to talk! As with many of the Baker covers, Baker tends to use some a small collection of distinct character types. There's the judgmental bystander, short-haired and leaning back with hands in pockets, washing her hands of the situation paired with the surly and controlling brother, grabby and mean and on the verge of violence. Then there's our heroine, the beautiful blonde, torn but following her heart, come what may with arm around the bad boy, not smug in facial expression as you might expect, although his body language certainly shows a laid-back arrogance you wouldn't really expect in this confrontation. A fully-set scene for certain placing the voyeuristic reader in the position where she (or he
might condemn the wayward lass as well as sympathize.
Within, there's the inside covers' story with a Baker spot illustration, "How I Found Romance," which seems to offer some strange advice on how to find romance.
The comic leads with "I Was Scarred by Love!" regarding Karen whose boyfriend goes into the military with promises to be true but never returns a single letter. Soured completely by men, the heroine coldly turns down all offers for dates from the boys. Her officer father suggests she get her mind off it by volunteering at the V.A. hospital helping injured boys back from Korea, and Karen reluctantly agrees. Dutifully going about her work and spurning all advances from patients, Karen nonetheless begins to think about Ray, and her dad even gives her the green light:
Can a girl scarred by love ever move on?! Next up is "I Was a Cheat." Watch out for this cutie, she looks like trouble!
Baker gets to put his sense for glamor on display as this little secretary tires of her boyfriend and hits the town with the upper-crust. Will she ever come to her senses?! Then there's "What is Love?" in which Emily and Bob, longtime sweethearts, decide whether it's time to tell the world that they are in love. But Emily has her doubts, and she shares few interests with Bob. They seems to work it all out in very thoughtful manner...Next is "I Tried to Buy Love -- With Kisses" which begins when Muriel slaps Barbara down at a party for moving too fast with her little brother and turns out to be a thoughtful discussion on the role of necking in a healthy relationship. Barb's parents are surprisingly open-minded on the subject, geez. Last up is "Forbidden Fruit," the tastiest kind, I hear, a story of April's attraction to bad seed Ronnie, a man her older brother has forbidden her to see. Her brother brings his friend Larry home for the weekend hoping to spark a romance, but April has a plan to use the situation to her advantage:
Will the devious April get her comeuppance? Or will some poor sap forgive all her transgressions? Hmm...
A fun issue, thanks as always to Jim for letting us scan his collection (and to all the donators that help shuttle the comics about) and to
Twobyfour for providing the raw scans.
Available here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?x6ff2ofayop0h2v
