Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (6) - Secret Romance 33

"The Love Goddess" (July 1975) is an eight page Demetrio story set in the motion picture industry. Richard Wharton and his wife Eliza (you don't need me to tell you this is a thinly veiled reference to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) have fought throughout their stormy marriage. Wendy, a young actress, gets swept away with the fantasy of marrying Richard as he romances her in front of his wife, and proposes they wed after he divorces Eliza. Having been warned by Steve Romano (who is seriously in love with Wendy) that Richard is just using her to annoy his wife, and that Wendy is the latest in a string of girls who all thought things would be different with them, Wendy forges ahead with the relationship with Richard, despite the awkward fact that he is married. It's public knowledge that Richard and Eliza aren't getting along, so apparently this justifies, in Wendy's mind, her being the 'other woman' in Richard's infidelity.

What Wendy really can't grasp is that Richard is still going through his mid-life crisis - he's moving towards/into old age and he's in big time denial about the natural aging process as it applies to his physical body. Being an actor he's used to adopting different personae, so he slips easily into playing the still young mature guy. Don't you love the way Demetrio draws Eliza's and Wendy's hair? And who is the colorist on these Demetrio stories? Nice job!

Despite the obvious chemistry between herself and Steve, Wendy continues to be carried along by her infatuation with the illusion that Richard presents. But as Steve predicted, Eliza won't allow it to go too far, although she is not exactly the bitch about it that we'd been led to expect. Instead she gives Wendy a fairly good shove in the right direction by setting up a rendezvous for her with Steve, after first counteracting the spell that her husband had cast over the younger woman by letting her see him without his props. What was she thinking? Really! And she knows it - she was bewildered by Richard's charm and status, but now she has all the facts she sees which side her bread is buttered on. Yes that young, handsome man Steve, who adores her so, will make a much more appropriate lover and father for her future children. Age gaps can be okay, but this one wasn't right, not by a long way. And Wendy should have known better than to go messing with a married man. Does she really want the reputation that goes with that? I don't think so.