You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover (Part 2)

It's cooled off in Chicago, so I've been able to get to the various comics I want to talk about in my cover "lesson" (leaving my thoughts on the demise of romance comics for another day).

The photo cover was utilized by publishers mostly the first few years of romance comics' life, and I suspect they were used to more resemble women's magazines like Vogue or Bazaar and confession magazines (which the comic stories were based on) like True Story or True Confessions.

I also think that the publishers thought these covers looked better -- isn't a photo more impressive than a line drawing? -- and many companies, Dell in particular, put photo covers on their comics, especially those titles related to movie or television.

To me, however, photo covers are not particularly exciting. As I mentioned earlier, they were mostly stock photos that the company had likely used in another publishing capacity or had purchased for the sake of putting it on the cover, with no regard for what was going to be inside.

Young Romance #18 featured a lovely brunette (who surely could've done with a little cosmetic dentistry) smiling away, while the blurb below says "Look into the heart of a woman who knows she is losing her man! Read 'Just No Good'". Jeez, if she's losing her man, she certainly isn't letting on any. The story "Just No Good" is about a clarinetist in a jazz band who isn't a good enough fellow to marry the stunning, red-headed singer. No brunette. (The story, drawn by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, isn't one of their best. The last one in the issue, "Mother Tags Along," is great; I always loved the mama's boy tales.)

So, yes, the cover's neat and appealing, and, yes, the girl is certainly attractive and wholesome, but overall I'm not sure if this would make me want to buy this over another comic.

These are the most common type of photo covers. The best, though, are those that feature a little story to them.

For example, Romantic Affairs #3. In it, there's a story ("My Lips Were Too Willing") that featured a doctor (Lee Barrett if you're following at home) who must choose between sisters Claire and Betty Satterlee. The great thing about the cover is that it shows us something, tells us something about what's going to be inside. You pick up that comic and you think, "Oh, that poor girl! Who is it that's coming in? The doctor's fiancee? A nurse that he was dating? And what of the look on the doctor's face! He looks pissed!"

There's someting going on! There's a story there! And, if I had to choose between the two, I think I'd go for Romantic Affairs. (There was a good chance they were both on the stands at the same time, by the way. Young Romance was cover dated February 1950, while Romantic Affairs was March of that same year.)

Of course, it seems that I would've been the only one. Young Romance was by that time one the best selling comics on the stands and would continue to be published for another 25-odd years. This was the only issue of Romantic Affairs.

See what I know, eh?