Chicago Spanking Review

Range Romances #2

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spanking range romances #2

Artwork thought to be by Reed Crandall (good OTK positioning); added 05/10/2008. Published by Quality Comics.

We have mentioned elsewhere that the superhero genre in comic books lost its dominance in the postwar period, to be replaced by others such as Western, Crime, and Romance. Naturally, there were some efforts by comic book publishers to increase sales by combining two genres into one. Here we see an example from Quality Comics, Range Romances #2 (February 1950), which combined Western and Romance. There were several spanking scenes in Western/Romance comics of the period, perhaps because it seemed natural for the presumably tough and self-reliant ranch hand or trail boss to take a mule-stubborn female over his knee without a lot of preliminary debate or discussion. It will be noted that this kind of scene was also visible in the early television series that were produced a few years later, such as the famous 1959 episode of Wagon Train where Robert Horton spanks Susan Oliver (see Spanking Facts and Research ).

We think we saw this one on Vintage Spanking . While we don't know exactly what led up to this spanking, we're willing to assume the young lady did something to deserve it [see below for an update]. Her cries of "Oh! Oh! You beast!" aren't very convincing - it sounds like the kind of protest many women make when trying to cover up their gratitude at finally receiving the punishment they deserved and secretly wished to experience. The bozo standing on the right, positioned as though he still had a horse between his legs, sure isn't doing her much good - all he can think of to say is "Hey...!". We say, "Hey Hey, A-O.K.!"


02/08/2013 Update: A set of complete scans of this issue became available since we posted this page almost five years ago, so let's see some more now. First, here is this issue's cover. We love the cover blurb, apparently designed to stir the interest of young girls: "Unbridled passion and death-defying devotion in the lawless country where primitive emotions hold sway!" It isn't hard to imagine that by "primitive emotions" they meant "sexual desire," although this message is undercut somewhat by the horse "coming between" the lovers pictured on the cover.

cover of range romances #2

Range Romances #2. Cover artist unknown. Posted by the Web-Ed on 02/08/2013.

Our story is called "She-Devil Canyon" which is about as subtle as a horseshoe falling on your head. Interestingly, on the splash page Kate Boylan is pictured using her whip on some cowhand, which incidentally is precisely the behavior that later gets her the spanking she deserves. Of course this is very much like The Taming of the Shrew, even to using the name "Kate," and Kiss Me Kate with its famous spanking scene had only hit Broadway a couple of years before this comic was published.

splash page from spanking story in range romances #2
pre-spanking panels from range romances #2

Here are the panels just before the spanking (above) and the spanking itself (below). Kate has tried to ride a bucking bronc and failed, leaving her so enraged she wants to shoot the horse. This is a little extreme, and our unknown writer would have been better-advised to follow the Kiss Me Kate script more closely than he did, but in any case the new ranch foreman, Dent Taylor, intercedes on the horse's behalf. Kate responds by lashing him across the face with her whip. Uh-oh! - time to see to it the color of Kate's bottom matches that of her hair!

spanking panels from range romances #2

spanking panel from range romances #2

Another version of the spanking panel, source unknown (click to enlarge).

This is a good spanking, so let's see another scan here. Kate really does need to be tamed, and Dent eventually succeeds in doing so by breaking the horse she couldn't and using her desire for him, although the writer doesn't express this too well in the dialogue (see below).

happy ending from range romances #2

"I swore... to make you love for love's sake, not for the power of winning!" We can't tell what the writer thought he was saying, but whatever it was, he didn't succeed. We won't rewrite the dialogue, but we will explain what has actually happened is that Dent by spanking Kate and earning her respect and love has forced her to give up her stubborn pride and embrace her submissive desire to be taken by him. In other words, spanking saves another relationship!


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