Chicago Spanking Review

Just Married #53

We continue with our new series of three spankings from Charlton Romance comics. At left is the cover of Just Married #53 (July 1967), on which is pictured a scene from the story "Unhappy Bride". As it happens, this is not the story that concerns us here because it contains no spanking (if it had, the bride wouldn't have been so unhappy!). Fortunately, there is another story in this issue called "The Taming of the Brute" which is of much greater interest - in fact, the spanking panel from it has been seen around the web, although in a low-quality scan. We recently obtained a copy of this issue and are pleased to be able to bring our own better-quality scans (putting modesty aside) to light, as well as give some more excerpts from the story to provide a context for the spanking panel.

[Note: after the above was written, we realized that SpankingPanels.com must have posted ther version some time ago. In fairness, their scans are at least as good as these, and they also have a complete analysis which the reader is advised to consult.]

While we're still on the subject of the cover, Nick Caputo believes the pencils are by Pat Masulli. We don't know enough about Masulli's work to say, but we do think we recognize the inking as Dick Giordano's (Giordano was also Charlton's Managing Editor at the time). © Charlton. Posted by the Web-Ed on 10/01/2010.

The psychology in this story is quite interesting. In the very first panel, we meet a brand-new couple, Loretta and Nick (the "brute" of the title) as Nick muscles his way past Loretta's soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Georgie and plants a kiss right on her lips - and she loves it! "He's unbelievable ... absolutely wild! But I'll tame him ..." she thinks.

Now basically we think the writer, Joe Gill, is correct in his understanding of female psychology - women are attracted to "take charge" types who act boldly (of course, this is also the type of man who gives spankings). That is not to say they want to be grabbed and kissed by any perfect stranger, but when they're attracted to a man, they want him to act decisively and take the first step. Gill also wastes no time in setting up the story's conflict: Loretta's determination to "tame" Nick and bring him under control will, if successful, undermine the very qualities she finds most attractive in him.

© Charlton. From the author's collection.

For once, the script and artwork are both credited: the script is by the prolific Joe Gill, perhaps the only man who might have written as many romance stories as Stan Lee, and the art is by Vince Colletta. It is worth noting that the lettering is credited to "A. Machine", apparently a reference to the mechanical lettering used. Was someone suggesting that he would rather see the more expensive hand-lettering employed? We don't know, but that would certainly be our preference as well, although we admit it has little to do with spanking except that pained exclamations like "Ouch!" could be made more effective.

As the story progresses, Loretta becomes more demanding and Nick becomes more accomodating, until at last she realizes she wants the old "brute" Nick back. "What have I done? More important ... how can I undo it?"

Now comes the best part for us spankos: she decides the way to get the strong, masculine Nick back is to provoke him with classic bratty behavior. "Nick, can't you clean up more quickly? And the coffee was worse than usual tonight." Well, that does it! Nick asks their guests to leave, whereupon he immediately turns Loretta over his knee. From the hallway, their guests hear the sounds of the spanking within: SLAP SLAP SLAP! "Why, that brute is ..." begins the wife, to which her husband's reaction is, "I hope to heaven he is!" Right on, brother!

The spanking panel is fine, in fact one of the best we've seen from Charlton. Loretta is rueful: "I asked for it, and I got it, but I certainly didn't expect it to be this painful!" "Who wears the pants in this family?" asks the masterful Nick. "Y-you do, Nick! I'll never forget it again!" A brat gets her comeuppance and becomes submissive - the perfect outcome of a successful spanking!

We can't resist repeating the spanking sequence one more time. Throughout his comics career, Vince Colletta worked mainly as an inker, and honestly was never one of our favorite artists. His work often had a rushed appearance, though to be fair that may be partly because he was called in when an editor needed a quick inking job. He was at his best when he had strong, complete pencils by someone else to work from, as for example with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Here he did his own pencilling, and you can see some weaknesses in his grasp of anatomy, for instance Loretta's oversized head twisted at an almost-impossible angle in the spanking panel. He did do a pretty decent job on this most-important panel overall, with well-defined buttocks and good OTK positioning (something he was not consistent about, as we'll see next time).

Another happy ending, thanks to a good spanking!