Recently we updated Brenda Starr Spanking #3, in which Hitch Rider spanked his daughter Merrie. Thanks to JS666 it was known that there was an earlier plotline in the strip involving Merrie getting spanked repeatedly, and now thanks to Sweetspot, we're going to see it. Story and art by Dale Messick (with assistants); scans are all by Sweetspot with some minor edits by Web-Ed. (See also the discussion on the CSR Forum topic Merrie's Earlier Spankings from which some of the following commentary was taken).
To set up the scene, we will repeat what JS666 had to say back in Brenda Starr Spanking #3:
"The father and daughter had been involved in a previous story line where he was raising her alone and had let her get entirely out of line. He eventually tried to remedy that by spanking her, over and over, until she submitted. It took several days, and they made so much noise that everyone in the neighborhood could hear. One young woman in a nearby house turned to her mother and said, 'It must be gruesome getting all your spankings at once.'"
Brenda Starr, May 22, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot. © Chicago Tribune Syndicate
At least five neighborhood kids gather to observe Merrie getting spanked, including three in a tree! (Was this intended as a play on "Three on the tree" (three-speed transmission with shift on the steering column), popular in American cars of the day? We doubt it, unless Dale Messick was really into cars). Note Merrie's exclamation, "Eee-Yowee!" to which we'll return later.
Brenda Starr, May 24, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot. © Chicago Tribune Syndicate
A truly spectacular panel emphasizing the sting in Merrie's derriere! No doubt she's raised it high in an attempt to lessen the sting somewhat.
Brenda Starr, May 25, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot, who comments
"A teen tantrum results in another spanking. A talking cat that predates You Tube by decades."© Chicago Tribune Syndicate
Spanking details from Brenda Starr, May 25, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot. © Chicago Tribune Syndicate
Once more, "Yowee!"
Brenda Starr, May 26, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot. © Chicago Tribune Syndicate
More stinging effect lines and more pain stars, yet Merrie refuses to give in - more spanking is needed!
Brenda Starr, May 26, 1954. Scan by Sweetspot. © Chicago Tribune Syndicate Posted by the Web-Ed on 12/29/2017.
Sweetspot continues:
"Reconciliation closely follows this final spanking. Another teenage girl is thankful to her mom for spreading out her spankings over several years instead of having to go through the intense experience that Merrie is having to deal with."
The third spanking and the third "Yowiee!" instead of the more traditional "Baw!" (as Sweetspot has discussed elsewhere). Why? We think that Messick was trying to underline just how much a good spanking really hurts. But we must also ask why the intense focus on spanking? (Not that we mind - we're thrilled!) Granted that spanking was an everyday part of American life in 1954 - still is, but probably not quite as common as it was back then - to have a plotline revolve around repeated spankings with the whole neighborhood watching(!) is still rather remarkable. We have seen something comparable perhaps only once before, in The Oaky Doaks Spanking Storyline. When we combine that with the emphasis on stinging buttocks and being spanked to the point of submission in these scenes, and the existence of four other spankings in Brenda Starr, the conclusion is inescapable:
We believe that Messick, if not a practicing spanko, obviously had some interest in spanking and clearly imagined herself on the receiving end (the welcome M/F orientation of her known spanking scenes guarantees this). Was she spanked, or was being turned over a man's knee and spanked into submission merely a fantasy that she was never able to experience in real life? We may never know.
