Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Mexican Madness! The return of Hump Day with Jonnie L♥ve

"Mexican Madness!"
Teen-Age Love
Charlton Comics
Cover and Story Art by José Luis Garcia-Lopex
Number 95
1973

Ah yes, the term "Mexican Madness" brings such fantastical images to mind. The possibilities seem almost endless. Possibilities that can't be dampened even by the laws of mortal men.

So, when I found that Jonnie Love starred in a story by that title, I knew I must posses it. Which then lead to Hump Day with Jonnie Love.

Now my schedule has left poor Jonnie by the wayside for a few weeks, but not forgotten. So today, I will present the 2nd to last tale in the Hump Day series. The one that started it all, 'Mexican Madness!' So please seat back and enjoy ... well, an extremely similar Jonnie Love story to the one we just read back in Teen-Age Love # 93.

As the Jonnie Love saga continues, Jonnie has once again gotten turned around only to head back into the open arms of sunny Mexico. Of course, as always, his off-beat bearded beatnik looks draw all kinds of attention.

And, in the economic boom that was Mexico in 1973, it isn't long before employment falls right into his lap.


Accepting the job due to a lack of 'bread', Jonnie agrees to accompany the "couple" back to their hotel. (Wow, this is getting even wilder than I dared imagine!) And then Jonnie, the man who seems to possess only a guitar and the cloths on his back, whips out a blue suit and ascot as if from another dimension.


Luckily for Jonnie, Uncle Arthur, everyone's favorite guardian, isn't well enough to attend dinner and generously offers this car for the young pair's use.


Of course, nothing makes for a more romantic evening than a little queso fundido and the music of a mariachi band.


Maybe it was the setting of moonlight and ancient history, or perhaps it was the warm breeze and the smell of nicotine breath, but Jonnie Love finds himself falling for Susan. Or, at least, falling enough.


But if I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, you can not trust a blonde with that must volume.


We were all well aware that something about Jonnie Love makes people what to run him down in a car, but this is the first time I realized that there was something about his motorcycle that makes people want to shove diamonds into its gas tank.


Too bad "the Latimers" hadn't bothered to read Teen-Age Love #93. If they had, they would have known how Jonnie Love rolls.



Happy Hump Day everyone!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Proof that 'Teen Love Stories' was written and edited by a bunch of old men.

( Teen Love Stores Magazine# 2, 1967)

If it is 1967 and you have trouble telling the Beatles apart you probably shouldn't be working on a love stories magazine for girls.

Also, put out that cigar, smoking will eventually be found to cause cancer.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

More Vietnam-Time Romance.

"Second Choice!"
Heart Throb
DC Comics
Cover Art by Nick Cardy
Story Art by Tony Arbuzzo
Number 121
1969

Once again we have a story in which the Vietnam War plays somewhat of a role. In this case, it allows for a convenient set-up where we can find a newly married man raising another man's baby without implying anything improper on anyone's part.

Okay, so convenient may be a bit of an exaggeration. The whole set up is terribly contrived and seems wholly unnecessary. But we are talking about the moral standards of the 'Code' and not necessarily a reflection of reality. I mean surely my parents weren't the only young teens driven down South for a quickie wedding in the late 1960's.

With Second Choice! we enter a story already underway. In a scene played out a thousand times before, Jim walks in on his girlfriend Amy in the arms of another man. The arms of a good friend.


Jim, though madly in love with Amy, is a complete gentleman about the situation and even acts as the Best Man in the wedding. But don't worry, give him a chance, he will eventually show his true colors and like all men reveal himself to be the tool he really is.


Now, of course, things get complicated. Serving together, Billy is a constant reminder to Jim of the woman he loves and the life that would have been his.


And then tragedy strikes.


Wounded himself, Jim is soon home. And thrown together by circumstance, it is only a matter of time before the feelings Amy felt for Jim before meeting Billy start to come back.



It only takes 3 months of marriage before the reality of having a baby really starts to sink in for Jim.



And raising someone else's baby at that.




Eventually the sleep deprivation has Jim cracking up.


And when you are THAT tired, not to mention badly in need of a quick tumble in the back room of a Thom McAn, you are bound to act like a jackass.




What a tool.

Of course, everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves.



It is hard to believe it took Jim that long to figure it out. Maybe that war wound was a head injury.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Jonnie Love - Sexiest Man Alive?

"The Town that Forgot Love"
Charlton Comics
Teen-Age Love
Number 94
1973

There can be no doubt the women love an artist. Whether a man can paint, sculpt or string a coherent sentence together, we find it irresistible. But sometime around the age of 32 a whole new world of sexy opens up - a man who knows how to fix things. And there is nothing hotter!

About this time conversations start to change from "And then he sketched me in charcoals while I slept." to "Afterwards he fixed that toilet downstairs that kept running."

Now men, don't be foolish enough to make the assumption that you can, if nothing else, skate by on good-looks and talent all your life. At some point you WILL be asked to install a ceiling fan. And if you know how to snake a drain or switch out an alternator! OMG are you getting lucky tonight!

With that said, we come to Jonnie Love.

Everyone's favorite stray, Jonnie is adabtable as well as bearded. And he has learned a great deal on the lonely road. A lot more than just that there are alternatives to washing dishes to get a free meal. Yep, a lot more.

In The Town that Forgot Love, Jonnie's never ending drive home brings him to yet another town in need of his help.



White - Jonnie's favorite kind of trash!



He says "family" but I think it's a Social Security check.



See! Women of all ages just really like Jonnie Love.



Wait! Who's seducing who here?



Fix up the place? Jonnie, Bonnie is only a teenager, you're pulling out the big guns for the wrong woman!.



Oh, Bonnie, where to begin?



Oh, except for the time where the disapproval of my principle and my parents had me running away for, like, twenty years.



Jonnie, this is kind of private. Can you and creepy green sweater guy give them some room?



Happy Hump Day everyone!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Outlaw Girl!

Like your romance with more cowboy hat? Make sure to check out ...



As I get a chance to guest blog on