Thursday, September 9, 2010

Nurse Romance Stories: Love and Marriage 8 - "Love and Be Loved"


Superior's Love and Marriage 8 from May 1953 features a fairly mediocre nurse romance story. There's very little in the way of a crisis for this couple to overcome, and so it's a rather bland tale, but interesting nevertheless. It's the story of an army nurse, her GI sweetheart, and their rapidly evolving romance that quickly leads to an engagement. The trouble comes in the reaction from Leonard's parents when he goes home on leave and presents them with the news that he will soon marry a girl they have never met. When they do meet Sue, the parents make her unwelcome. Sue asks Leonard to make his choice between her and his folks, and he doesn't hesitate in declaring his allegiance to his girl. Fast forward a couple of years and as does happen in real life, the appearance of a grandchild soon softens up Leonard's Ma and Pa, and now Sue can't put a foot wrong. All ends well. What is slightly unusual about the tale is that the man is the narrator - it's Leonard who talks us through this journey into adulthood.


It's another example of a Korean War era blended romance/war story, although there's no military action included in this one. I think my favorite part of the story from the point of view of the art comes in panels 2 & 3 on page 2, where Sue is sitting on Leonard's bed in the hospital and then let's it out that she loves him. There's the usual professional misconduct with the nurse kissing the patient, the military nurse getting romantically involved with one of the enlisted men, but this is a romance comic after all!

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