Romance comics were at the peak of their popularity in the 50's, but they lingered on for a number of years after that. They were obviously aimed at girls, who didn't have much interest in the superhero, war, or western genres that were favored by boys (like us). With our heads buried in the pages of SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS, we never dreamed that romance comics occasionally featured spankings like this one, or we'd have paid a lot more attention to them!
Charlton was a small independent comics publisher (1945 - 1985) whose superhero characters were bought by DC (Time-Warner) in 1983. Those who have seen the movie Watchmen (2009) might be interested to know that many of the characters were based on old Charlton superheroes who were substantially revamped by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons for the comic series back in 1986 (by which time they were DC's property). FOR LOVERS ONLY was apparently a continuation of Charlton's HOLLYWOOD ROMANCES, which had ceased publication years earlier in 1966. This issue, #73, was published in September 1973 (note that the "mod" style emblematic of the late 60's is still evident in the cover lettering). The artist of this fine specimen of romantic spanking is unknown.
11/15/2009 Update: We recently found the spanking page from the interior of this comic, so we've added it at left. The composition is virtually identical, except for the addition of a boy onlooker, which is o.k. because the spanking is so good! In fact, it's somewhat improved by the next panel, in which Kathy rubs her bottom (we've always liked any post-spanking scene in which the spankee lets us know verbally or visually that she still feels the spanking's effects). Believers in loving discipline that we are, we'd still have liked to see a post-spanking hug, but with a nice beach spanking like this one, we're not going to complain.
