Am I the only one who used to read romance comic books? Becky Motew reminded us all about Katy Keene.
The comics I loved were pure schmaltz. The women wore shirt-waist dresses and pearls--yes, we're talking way back, maybe the late 50s early 60s? Invariable there was a tear oozing from the corner of an eye.
Stereotypes: good girl who gets her heart broken; bad girl who breaks the boys' hearts. But the good girl always triumphed in the end.
The good girl (she's the one crying)/bad girl (she's the one with the great clothes) dichotomy was went on to greater glory and less schmaltz in the Archie comics' Betty and Veronica.
HANK: Katy Keene! I LOVED her. And haven't thought about her for decades. I was a big big comic book reader. I got to buy one a week--they were 10 cents, right? And my sister got to buy one, too. It was about the only thing we happily shared.
I was very involved in the romances of Riverdale High of course. But I am a Veronica fan. So sue me.
HALLIE: I was SO Betty. But I wanted Veronica's hair and outfits.But who did you lust after? Ron or Archie or Jughead?? Actually, sometimes I think I married Jughead. Sweet, dopey, boy genius...
Did you read comics? What are the ones you loved??
