Vietnam through the lens of Romance Comics 0

[Crimebuster]

I have recently refocused my collection on romance comics, which as been a back burner interest of mine for over a decade. I'm currently focusing on Bronze Age romance, but recently have begun sliding slowly back into the Silver Age as well. As part of this, I have two romance subsets I am working on. The first is a Bronze Age subset of romance comics dealing with the feminist movement; once I have more examples in my collection, I will likely start a thread over the Bronze Age section. he other, though, is a subset that spans both the Silver Age and Bronze Age, and which is of particular interest for me - romance comics that deal with the Vietnam War. 

This is a collecting focus that is of special personal interest to me. My parents were high school sweethearts, but the year my mother graduated from high school - 1965 - my father volunteered for the Marine Corps. When he completed his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he re-upped and volunteered for a second tour. While on his 23rd combat mission, he was seriously wounded in action. he was sent back to the U.S. for medical treatment, and was in the hospital for nine months. My parents married at the end of 1968, and in the wedding photos, he is still using crutches to get around. 

So this has a lot of personal meaning to me. On a broader scope, though, I find it to be a fascinating window into how the war was being portrayed back home in popular culture and media. Generally speaking, I have found three basic types of Vietnam romance stories:

 

1. The girl waiting at home learns that her love has been killed in action. Generally, a) she then finds a new love, possibly in the arms of his grieving best friend; or b) it turns out it was a mistake, and he's still alive. Or sometimes both!

2. The girl waiting at home finds a new love, often in the arms of his guilt-racked best friend. They then deal with the consequences when her love returns from Vietnam. Often, it's a "happy" ending as it turns out he found someone else too. 

3. The girl is a nurse, or some other caregiver, and develops a relationship with a wounded soldier. Often, they don't end up together, but he finds new hope as a result of their interaction. 

 

My collection at the moment is focusing on issue that have Vietnam themed covers, mainly because these are the easiest to find information about. Plus, of course, the covers are often striking. I do have at least a couple issues in my collection with interior stories about Vietnam which are not reflected on the cover. 

In general, Charlton seemed to be the most bold in terms of dealing with Vietnam, which isn't much of a surprise. However, there are exceptions. DC did have stories about Vietnam, but they rarely featured this on the cover, with the notable and major exceptions being the two part story in Girls' Romances #127 and #128 (which I do not yet have). Likewise, Marvel didn't really touch on Vietnam that much in their romance books, but there's one major exception in maybe the unlikeliest place (which I will be posting about some time next week).

Anyway, i thought I would share some of these issue with you as I work on this subset. and since this isn't the journal section, I certainly welcome everyone else chiming in with their own contributions! Right now I only have about half of Vietnam romance covers I have identified so far, and I'm sure I am missing lots of interior stories, so I'm curious to see what other people have!

 

I think the best place to start things off is with Secret Romance #1

 

This isn't the earliest Vietnam romance comic, as Charlton, DC, and Marvel all had Vietnam themed romance comics before this. But it sports one of the best covers around. My copy, as you can see, also has a beautiful date stamp from June 12, 1968. This is from the height of the war. It also happens to be during the period when my father was in the US recovering from shell shrapnel in his leg - which is exactly what the male lead in this story, Greg, is doing. In this tale, poor Regina is mourning her fiance Bob, who was killed in Vietnam. Bob's army buddy Greg, who was wounded in the same attack, has been sent back to the states to rehabilitate his leg. He visits Regina, one things leads to another, and the two fall in love (despite him saying at one point "Bob always said you were a stubborn wench!"). 

It's a textbook Vietnam romance comic. The moral of the story, which Regina shares at the end, is that people should move on. "We mourned for Bob... but now the mourning is done, and we, the living, must go on!" 

I find that to be interesting, and kind of problematic. It's essentially telling people, you know, the war is bad, but life goes on, so just deal with the loss, and don't make too big a deal about it. I don't want to say this is exactly a pro-war sentiment, but it's certainly not the kind of anti-war message that the comic companies were actually serving up regularly in their war comics at the time! I'm not sure how much of this is because of the people writing the stories, and how much of it is the target audiences. Also, the time frame matters - 1968 is when things were really getting bad. Much of the anti-war subtext we see in a lot of comics really started showing up a couple years later, when war fatigue and cynicism had truly set in. Either way, though, this story is basically a reassurance rather than a challenge. 

What a great cover!

Edited March 1, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Next up, it's Love Diary #53

This comic features one of the most vicious covers I think I have ever seen:

 

 

I mean, holy smokes! It would be one thing if she were just thinking she doesn't want George to leave. That makes perfect sense. But that's not what she's thinking here. She specifically wants Adam to be sent off to Vietnam instead.

"I wish Adam would get killed so I could make out with George more!"

Jeeeeeeezus, lady!

 

Anyway. Note the date stamp - December 5, 1967. This was less than two months before the Tet Offensive. It's perhaps important to note that in this story, the guy never gets to Vietnam - he's sent away for training to a distant Air Force base, in preparation for deployment, but that deployment ends up happening some time after the end of this story. 

And the story inside is a classic example of the story where she cheats on him, but then it's okay because he was cheating on her too. Basically, he gives her his ring the night before he is sent off to Air Force training. Their mutual friend Adam — who set them up to begin with, and was her friend before she met George — is all like, eh. You guys are just infatuated. Wait and see. Sure enough, within a couple days, she gets bored writing George letters, and she starts hanging out with Adam. Then she kisses him to prove she's not in love with George! it works - they make out before she has a massive guilt attack. Luckily, the next day she gets a letter from George telling her he's gotten engaged to someone else that he met during training. So she's off the hook, and she can fool around with Adam without felling guilty! Hurray?

I'm not sure what kind of message this is. It's cool to fool around while your fella is away in the service, because he's almost certainly getting some side action over there too.  Whatever the case, this is a pretty common plot — so common, in fact, that the used the exact same plot just a couple years later in this very title for Love Diary #75! Which I will post about at some point soon.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Actually, let's just jump right to Love Diary #75!

 

 

This issue has the exact same plot as Love Diary #53. The girl and her beau have made promises to each other. But while he is away in Vietnam, she and his best friend start spending a lot of time together. Things get romantic, but they are both racked with guilt. Suddenly, without warning, the fiance returns from Vietnam on leave! Much to everyone's shock, he turns out to be a gigantic dilweed. He tells her that getting engaged was a dumb mistake, and he just freaked out before going to war. but he realized that he doesn't love her. She asks him why he kept writing her love letters the whole time, and he's like, "because it was funny and I was bored! Now give me the engagement ring back!" Because of course, he's met some other victim girl. 

I mean, complete, utter jerk.

However, rather than being upset by this horrible treatment, she's overjoyed, because it means she can be with the best friend without any guilt. The two of them have a celebratory makeout session. 

Everybody in these stories comes off badly. In both issues, the one who comes off best is the best friend I guess. But it's bad. 

These weren't written to provide a message, just to entertain. Yet they do provide messages regardless, revealing some of the weird cultural and gendered assumptions of the writers. These are much easier to see and decode in the issues dealing with feminism, but even in regular romance comics, they are often straightforward (be proper, love is the most important thing, etc.) but these two issues have such a weird batch of mixed messages that I am just unsure what to make of them. 

Another excellent cover, though. Note how the "Unfaithful Heart" from the cover of #53 has now become "Unfaithful Forever." In both cases, "unfaithful" applies to every character in the story, not just the lead girl. 

Edited March 1, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Let's take a look at Sweethearts #115, which had an on sale date of January 1, 1971.

 

 

This story has almost the same plot as Secret Love #1, though it plays out a little differently. In this story, Anne gets a telegram that her fiance has been wounded in action in Vietnam. He's been sent to Hawaii to recover. She uses the money she had saved up for their wedding to fly to Hawaii to see him. However, when she arrives, her fiance Mel will barely talk to her. He angrily tells her that he never loved her, and he demands the ring back. heartbroken, she leaves for home, comforted by Mel's best friend, Whit, who is also recovering from wounds in Hawaii. 

Fast forward two months later. Mel recovered and was sent back to Vietnam - where he was killed in action. Anne is heartbroken. Some time later, Whit shows up! He was - again - injured in the same attack that killed Mel, so he's been discharged back to the states. He tells her what she suspected - Mel did love her, but he was sure he was going to be killed, so he wanted to spare her the pain. Guess what? That plan sucked, and didn't work. Still, Whit is a nice guy and he falls in love with her and they end up together. Happy ending!

Well, mostly. This one actually has a slightly melancholy feel to it at the end. It's clear Whit is more into her than the other way around, as she's still depressed over Mel's death. When she and Whit finally kiss, she's thinking of Mel - "We're not forgetting you, Mel!" Then, at the end when they finally get engaged, they share a big romantic kiss... but we the reader get to see this:

 

 

For me, this is the best and most nuanced of the four issues I've reviewed so far. I think it's instructive that this is from 1971, two and a half years after Secret Romance #1. The same plot, but there's much more sadness. And there's a world weary feeling significantly added by the decision to have her see Mel, rather than just get a letter that he died. When they meet up, she narrates: "When I saw Mel I understood... he looked haggard and when he looked at me his eyes were haunted by what he'd seen!"

 Much less tidy than in Secret Romance #1, where the man and his war experiences are completely out of sight and out of mind. She doesn't have to deal with the cost of war to him, only to her by proxy. Here, though, she sees it and understands it in a way that never happens in the previous three stories we've looked at.

Add in a great cover by the criminally underrated Art Capello and this one is a real keeper!

 

 

Edited March 1, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

It's time for...

Time For Love #16!

One guess what happens in this story, which had a cover date of May, 1970, so an on sale date probably in February:

 

 

First off, man, that's a great cover. The caption makes the cover almost chilling. I do have to say, though, that the "Time for swinging" slogan at the top of the book feels really out of place with this cover. 

Anyway, by now you can guess what happens in this story. Though the details are still interesting. this time, Leah was actually already married to her love before he was sent off to Vietnam. Sadly, he died there, and she has vowed to never love again. 

The story does a good job of showing her depression. The house is a mess, and she can barely get out of bed. At one point in the story, she debates whether or not to take sleeping pills, but decides against it because she's worried about becoming addicted. Again: Charlton comics!!

Instead, she rouses herself enough to go for a walk, and its symbolic of her gradual rise from depression. Around this time, she encounters her neighbor, Ben Tibbs. Ben is a Vietnam vet who returned home with a scarred hand. And he is also struggling with loss — in a twist, his fiancee died in a car accident while he was in Vietnam. The two slowly learn to love again, punctuated by some atypical action sequences. First, she's out for a walk and notices Ben following her, which he says is for her safety. She gets upset and tells him off, only to be immediately jumped by two knife wielding thugs! Ben clobbers one of them, but the other is about to stab him when Leah drills him over the head with her shoe, knocking him out. Pow!

She then saves him again at the end of the story, as his house catches fire while he's sleeping. She runs in and saves him from the blaze and realizes her love for him. They get engaged, and again we get a moral — narrated by her — that loss is temporary, and the heart can heal, so moving on from the tragedy of war isn't just important, but inevitable. 

 

One funny thing that struck me here is that, since she doesn't want to get too cozy with this guy, instead of calling him Ben, she calls him Mr. Tibbs for most of the story. During the fight, she yells, "Hit him again, Mr. Tibbs!"

I felt like this had to be some reference to In the Heat of the Night, which had come out just a couple years earlier. The writer clearly liked movies, as he has the couple go to see Oliver! at the theater. That movie came out in 1968, well over a year before this issue was published, so I wonder just when this ---script was originally written.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Crimebuster

[1950's war comics]

thanks for the great thread your time and effort is much appreciated ,,, this was an excellent read for me !!! 

[Crimebuster]

3 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

thanks for the great thread your time and effort is much appreciated ,,, this was an excellent read for me !!! 

 

Thanks!

I have a couple more I'm going to get to some time in the next few days. Then it will be a matter of picking up the rest of the issues on my want list. 

[MusterMark]

Amazing thread!!! 

[Crimebuster]

This is one of the comics that really made me fall in love with the romance genre to begin with, no pun intended. I saw this incredible cover and I knew I had to own it. Someone asked me recently why I read romance comics. The answer I gave is that, when the stories are good, they're romantic and even moving. And when they're bad, they're often hilariously campy. Either way, they are almost always entertaining (well, almost - some SA DC in particular get very formulaic). 

And sometimes, the stories are both at the same time. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Young Love #104:






This is the first of the issues I've looked at where the Vietnam aspect of the story isn't highlighted on the cover. And with a release date of March 15, 1973, it's also the latest of them (so far). The timing is interesting. The U.S. signed the Paris Peace Accords in January, 1973, which stipulated a withdrawal of American troops within 60 days. This withdrawal was completed in March, 1973, the same time this issue came out. 

The story inside is the third story archetype I've identified, which is a wounded vet falls in love with a caretaker who nurses him back to health and helps him love again. It's also an example of another overlapping story type which would go on to become a cliche across all media in the 70's and 80's, as it's about a vet suffering from PTSD. From John Rambo to Vega$ to The A-Team to Spencer: For Hire and Magnum P.I>, American TV and movies were full of emotionally affected Vietnam vets. Though this was maybe more common in action settings, as it also gave a good reason for them to have a particular set of skills, it carried over into all sorts of other genres, including romance comics here. 

The story: Lee is a Vietnam vet who tries to drown his problems in a sea of female flesh. But these encounters only leave him even colder inside. He heads to a countryside lodge and meets a woman who captures his imagination. Despite his best efforts, though, she doesn't seem into him. Finally, after a few encounters, he almost drowns in the lake while trying to swim to her. She rescues him from the seaweed, saving his life. He thinks this is a sign they should be together, but she sees it as something else - a sign from god! That's because she's a nun! She was doubting her calling, though, and was at the lodge taking a break to decide whether to go through with her vows. Her answered prayer at being able to save him, though, convinces her to take the cloth for good. She leaves him in the capable hands of the lodge receptionist, who has been throwing herself at the distracted Lee for the whole issue. THE END!

This story is unusual for a few reasons, and not just because it's about a nun. First, it's a full length story, instead of a short 5-8 pager like the others. Second, it's told from the man's point of view instead of the woman's. Usually these stories are about how the women want and need love and connection, but here, Sister Teresa is looking for a connection to god, and it's Lee who needs the emotional love connection. 





This is by Robert Kanigher, and he establishes right on the first page that Lee's emotional problems stem from his time in Vietnam, with artist John Rosenberger even comparing the physicality of war and romance in the opening sequence:





Despite the campy cover and some lurid scenes - like a guy attacking the nun in the woods with a knife - this is actually a pretty interesting (and early) portrayal of Vietnam vets struggling to acclimate to civilian life on their return. Kanigher, of course, spent many years writing war books for DC, including the great Sgt. Rock series, as well as Enemy Ace, The Losers, Unknown Soldier, and Haunted Tank. Those, for me, are his best work, and in his best stories he frequently examines the human cost of war. So in that sense, it's not unusual for him to write this type of story; but for a romance comic, it's definitely a different sort of thing.

This is a good one! Jacque Nodell at Sequential Crush has written up a longer examination of this one if you're interested; I borrowed a couple of her scans, as I don't currently have access to my copy of this issue.





Next time, we'll take a look at another story that deals with vets and PTSD, but in a different, and much more meta way, because even by 1977, it had already become a bit of a storytelling cliche.