Weekly Updates

[web-ed]

I haven't had a lot of time to log in lately, hence not many comments... but I had to say how much I liked this week's installment of Romantic Spanking Month! Yeah, there was the continuity error in how the artist left out her belt and I agree that it would've been more exciting if the shape of her buttocks had been more defined... but still... the overall composition of the spanking panel was pleasing and the woman being spanked was quite attractive.

Most of all, I appreciate that you posted the whole story, so we could see the context of the spanking. She clearly deserved her punishment!

Even though this story is narrated by its female lead character, I suspect that the unknown author was actually a middle-aged man. Did girls read it and identify with the narrator? I'd like to hear from any women who read these comics when they were young! Did they fantasize about being spanked by their husbands someday? Did they ever fantasize about being spanked by a handsome stranger, and eventually falling in love with him? A lot of the situations in the romance comics seem to be male fantasies... (Well... speaking for myself, I used to fantasize about spanking pretty girls for various offenses and then having them fall in love with me!)

I also enjoyed last week's comic with the rough tough cowboy spanking the girl and winning her heart!

I'm glad you've enjoyed these entries of Romantic Spanking Month, b00m (and thanks for pitching in), and liked seeing the complete story.

In case anyone has been wondering as to why I sometimes present the entire story and sometimes only excerpts, there are two reasons why I wouldn't share the whole thing: (1) The story is still under copyright; (2) The story is long and not good enough to bother showing the whole thing but just enough so we can see how the spanking fit in.

#(2) is why I only bothered with four of the six pages of "A Private Matter" two weeks ago. Fortunately for us, neither reason applies to this week's "You'll Come A-Begging!" or to next week's "The Vengeful Heart," which will also be presented in its entirety and is probably the most interesting story of the bunch.

As to the question of authorship and reader identification, I absolutely agree with you that the author here was probably a middle-aged man. Very few women worked in comics during the 1950's - Ramona Fradon and Marie Severin, both artists (Severin colored a ton of Atlas/Marvel books) are the first that come to mind - and that's not as bad a thing as it sounds, because for the most part comics was a lousy industry to work in (still are in many ways). However, that doesn't mean that girls didn't identify with the protagonists of these stories - if they didn't I don't believe for a moment romance comics would have sold as well as they did - and any decently-skilled male writer should have been able to master the rather basic skills needed to appeal to girls.

Now, it is certainly true in more advanced forms of literature that male writers often have trouble creating believable female characters (the reverse is also true), although the guys at the top of the heap can certainly manage (e.g. Flaubert's Madame Bovary) - but then again, a girl's romance is not a very advanced or difficult form. And when it comes to eroticism, the writer's task is eased considerably by the fact that men and women may have similar fantasies, but of course from the opposite points of view. Thus a "straight" fantasy might be a strong man "forcing" the secretly-willing female to submit to him, while a spanko fantasy would be a strong male confidently taking the female over his knee. In both cases, boys would identify as the male and girls as the female, and when a fantasy is presented in story form, boys would identify with the man and girls with the woman. And remember that the first-person point of view was mostly used in these romances, with the story being told from the female point of view, making reader identification even easier.

Yes, at times a writer could have messed up, but as I say, it wasn't all that difficult.

[web-ed]

Romantic Spanking Month concludes with a fine public spanking witnessed by a guy who should have done it himself (but didn't) and a lot of other people - two boys even taunt the spankee later on! Yes, it's the story of "My Vengeful Heart" - (and sore butt) !

A couple of notes on Romantic Spanking Month: first, although I discovered all four of these spankings independently, one or more of them were co-discovered by Bishop Berkley, and if there's anyone else who contributed, please speak up so you get credit for helping out! I'm very grateful for all submissions and intend that proper credit be given, but sometimes I forget to note who sent something in, mostly when I already have the item carefully filed away.

Second, when I reported a few years ago that the 1956-65 period was a virtual "dead zone" for non-parental M/F spankings in comics due to the Comics Code Authority (see The Effects of the Code on Comic-Book Spanking Part 3), there were a few skeptics. It was thought that perhaps those years simply hadn't been searched to the same extent, and it is true that as we go forward in time, fewer and fewer digital scans of comics are available because of copyright restrictions. However, after searching many hundreds of romance comics in the five years since, I have discovered not one new spanking from the 1956-65 dead zone! That would seem to confirm my original conclusion. (For the curious, after the lame, reprinted True-Brides Experiences #16 in 1956, the only non-parental, non-robot M/F spanking during the dead zone was in Charlton's Career Girl Romances #45.)

Of course the search continues, and it may be that something will be discovered in the DC or Atlas romance books during the "dead zone," but I rather fear Mrs. Trulock and her "Code Ladies" were pretty thorough in eliminating romantic spankings from comics during those years. We may perhaps have higher hopes for Atlas from 1949-55 and DC from 1966-onward. By the way, I hope everyone knows they can search the Comics Spanking Data Base by Year(s) and Type (e.g. M/F) as well as several other variables. Check it out sometime as it took a bit of programming for me to make that possible (and of course is one of the advantages of having a data base in the first place).

Next Week: we get back to the Comic Strip Series and an old favorite, Mary Worth, with new clear scans (in color!) and the publication date. Plus something new from Doctor Cylon! And if that's not enough, I'll have the February Spanking Search Report (which so far is pretty dull), get into the question of future Romantic Spanking Months, and reveal Sweetspot's discovery of the long-sought-after 5th spanking from a certain comic strip. You won't want to miss it !

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

HI WEB ED CSR!!! VERY GREAT STORY AND SUPER HOT SPANKING Love how the female heroine Helene is humiliated in public with a good spanking! also like how she had to tell Keith`s boss the whole story the over the knee is good!!like how she is struggling too bad we couldn`t see her face please tell me did Keith change seats I thought they was facing the street but when Phil and the crowd shows up we see Helene`s rear This is A Super Spanking in comic and Keith should have spanked her again for tampering with her father`s mail to see Romance Spanking Month Gone! Can`t wait for SUPER SPANKING SUMMER !!THANKS!

[overbarrel49]

Hi web-ed,

This week's update was a great ending for Romantic Spanking Month . I liked this story much better than the one from last week. Our spankee in this one certainly deserves a spanking as much as any I've seen, which is just the way I like it . We would probably all have liked it even better if she had learned her lesson right away although I do like the fact that she certainly earned a second spanking, even if she didn't get it . Our hero seems to be satisfied that she has suffered enough that a second spanking isn't necessary.......what is wrong with him ? Personally, I would have preferred it if the last panel had showed him marching her off, with a swat on her butt, to somewhere private and letting her know that this time he was going to pull her panties down and blister her bare bottom until he was sure she had learned her lesson . I suppose that's too much to ask, even if it was before the comics code. Of course, it would have been even better if we had gotten to actually see the bare bottom spanking while he points out to her that, as his wife, she can expect to be spending even more time over his lap . They should have let some of us write these stories . Anyway, I really enjoyed this one even if they did blow an obvious opportunity for a second spanking right out their asses . After having looked at the 2 spanking panels again, I can see that Butch is right.......in the first spanking panel, she is facing the street and in the second one, she appears to be facing the house with her rear toward the street. In addition, in the first one, she is lying across both legs but in the second one, it appears as if he has her leg locked. As always, I liked your comments and the information you presented with this story . Thanks, Phil O

[web-ed]

HI WEB ED CSR!!! VERY GREAT STORY AND SUPER HOT SPANKING Love how the female heroine Helene is humiliated in public with a good spanking! also like how she had to tell Keith`s boss the whole story the over the knee is good!!like how she is struggling too bad we couldn`t see her face please tell me did Keith change seats I thought they was facing the street but when Phil and the crowd shows up we see Helene`s rear

After having looked at the 2 spanking panels again, I can see that Butch is right.......in the first spanking panel, she is facing the street and in the second one, she appears to be facing the house with her rear toward the street. In addition, in the first one, she is lying across both legs but in the second one, it appears as if he has her leg locked.

I wondered if anyone would notice the continuity problems between the two panels. Let's take another look at them here:




So we can see that Butch and Phil O. are right: Helen's position changes from head toward the street to head toward the house (rear end toward the street). It's as if Keith had said, "O.K. Helene, now to make sure you get the maximum dose of humilation, we're going to rotate 180 degrees in the middle of the spanking so that the spectators can get a good look at your upraised rear end!" And yes, we go from no leg lock to a leg lock. But that's not all !

Look closely, and you'll see that they've moved from the right side of the porch (as viewed from the street) to the left side of the porch! Want more? In the second panel, the artist put a ground floor window (second from right to left) in the wrong place - it runs all the way to the corner of the house! I'm not a big believer in strict local building codes, but this is ridiculous! [That is, because there's too much load bearing on the left side of the window frame, where I can't even see one stud let alone two as would be expected, which is why you don't locate your window at the end of a wall - carpenter Web-Ed]

[Sweetspot]

I just lost my long comment when I was unknowingly disconnected from my internet just before I hit the submit button. Let me run though it briefly:

Applauds to you folks who caught the continuity problems during the spanking scene. I guess she escaped mid-spanking and turned to go into her home but he caught her, brought her back down and this time locked her legs so she wouldn't get back up again until he was good and ready. Totally agree with the commits about humiliation and this story was very good with that. In fact, this was the best story of the month as it was a simple boy gets to know girl, boy spanks girls, girl repents story. No going off the rails with gun play, artillery range fire or ship fires.

The canoe ride was interesting though with the canoe starting with one supported seat in the back, then two - back and middle - then just one in the middle that Keith evidently jumps over to be with Helene and then jumps over again to maneuver the canoe from the rear. As far as the crowd at the aptly addressed 414 Walnut (lots of nuts not enough wall) is concerned I would guess when someone sees Helene walking down the street with a fellow the whole neighborhood is alerted so they can see who it is she's going to slap this time. Had to shake my head at some of the overwrought dialogue like - continuous chain of sorrow linked with sorrow. The only other complaint I want to note is that the slap to Phil's face doesn't make sense, "It was the way you asked, Phil that I objected to!" Unless he was groping her breast while asking I don't see the problem. Phil should have spanked her, her dad should have spanked her. But she was spanked so all is well. A fine conclusion to a great month for fans of CSR.

I would like to support your statement about The Spanking Data Base. It's been an invaluable asset to me as I've sought to find some of the more, shall I say obscure spankings in the funny pages. It is a real go-to source for information about graphic spanking scenes.
Phil S.

[web-ed]

Phil - sorry your comment was lost - a wise precaution when writing a long comment here or on any other forum is to copy it to your clipboard before trying to post it. That way, you can always recover it. (Quickest way is to right-click, choose "Select All", then right-click again and choose "Copy").

I'd glad the CSDB has been of use to you when performing your own comics searches.

[willjohn]

So she got two spankings and a run in between!

[web-ed]

This week's helpful hint: if you aren't getting the updated CSR Home Page (or any other page), be sure to refresh the page or delete your internet cache. This forces your browser to get the latest page from the server. There are so many scripted web pages these days, where the script fetches or generates HTML code, that it's possible to forget this step may be necessary with good, old-fashioned, non-scripted pages like CSR's. (This board, our two interactive game pages (Spank Batgirl and Spank Wonder Woman), the Comics Spanking Data Base, and the Humorama Spanking Cartoon Data Base, are the only scripted pages at CSR). Non-scripted pages are nothing but pure HTML, and most browsers will pull the code from the cache if it exists there rather than the actual web site, which means you get the old version rather than the new one if a new one exists. Another clear-as-mud technical explanation from the ol' Web-Ed!

The February Spanking Search Report:
Pages searched: 1501
Total: 563221
Comic Spankings: 0

Yep, it was a big goose-egg this month, although I only had time to search 1500 pages. Nothing new turned up in Humorama, either, although the search goes on. I do have something like 100 romance comics piled up to go through yet, so we may hope we'll have enough for another Romantic Spanking Month next year.

Speaking of which: I hope everyone enjoyed this year's Romantic Spanking Month, and thanks to our contributors including Resident Artist Hugob00m who pitched in at the last minute with some re-captioned cartoons (I provided a link with the Feb. 17 updates). Not that our other RA's have been idle: Dan provided another colorization of one of his great cartoons from the past, and Phil Overbarrel continues to amaze us with his long-running saga "Good Marks" which, if memory serves, celebrates its one-year anniversary tomorrow. So if you haven't been following B00m's, Dan's, and Phil's galleries, for Pete's sake head over there and feast your eyes on their spanking 'toons!

Now it's time to march into March by returning to the Comic Strip Series. Only two strips will concern us this month, Mary Worth and Abbie an' Slats. I have updates of the two known Mary Worth spankings, while Phil Sweetspot found updates for three of the four known ones from Abbie an' Slats that I posted back in 2010. But that isn't all!

Remembering that years ago Resident Artist Dan Rivera had spoken of a fifth spanking from Abbie, Phil set out to find it - and he did ! Yes, the 5th spanking does exist, and we'll be bringing it your way four weeks from today! (As a matter of fact, Andre found 6th and 7th spankings but they involve juveniles and will not be presented on CSR, although I'll talk about them later). Not only does the 5th spanking exist, but it's as good as Dan remembered!

And finally, this week's updates (links may be found on the Home Page):

• The Comic Strip Series returns with a revisit to "Mary Worth #1" - the first of two known spankings from that strip. We've got some new scans, and in color!
• Sweetspot recently discovered two missed opportunities for spankings in Mary Worth. (I can't link directly from here, but they're over in the "Missed Opportunities" topic in the Comic-Book and Superhero Spanking gallery of this board. Link is on the Home Page if needed).
• Doctor Cylon brings us a colorization of Julius Zimmerman's "Cool Blue".

Next Week: The Comic Strip Series continues with the second spanking from Mary Worth: new clear scans and publication info! Plus more new scans as we revisit Abbie n' Slats #1.

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

HI WEB ED CSR!!!!!! Love seeing Doctor Cylon doing his thing coloring a beautiful Julius Zimmerman`s drawing only problem WHERE`S THE SPANKING COOL BLUE! How about RED HOT anyway this is a Great Drawing even though UI wish the woman was bending over for a hard paddling OUTSTANDING Spanking in a Mary Worth comic strip both the Black and White and color scan the color version shows off the woman`s shapely bottom. the otk is good think she should have been planted flat across his lap! And the spanking is kind of hard got to love the good old days in comics nothing sadder than someone threating to spank a beautiful woman and not following through maybe having the woman over the knee and for some reason not spanking her like in an episode of The Saint Missed opportunities are hard on a spanko all that build up for nothing would love to see the guy in Mary Worth use that paddle on that brat`s bottom and when in comic is a girl too old for a spanking from her daddy GREAT FIND THIS WEEK THANKS!!!

[overbarrel49]

Hi web-ed,

It appears that you have uncovered all the answers to the questions you had about this in your original 2010 post. Since you seem to have a real talent for this kind of thing, I am not at all surprised . I was also not surprised to find that your original speculation about the identities of the writer and artist were correct all along. I've seen you do this often enough to have strong confidence in your abilities in this area too . I thought the story was entirely plausible, especially considering the 1948 publishing date. It kind of reminds me of my ideal spanking fantasy world Since they're already engaged, it's certainly not too early for him to start training his bride to be and making it clear just who is in charge in their relationship . Overall, I though the OTK position was good. She seems to be well positioned and like you, I appreciate that line that gives her bottom some definition . You mentioned that she has her head up causing her back to arch and that's certainly true enough but considering the position of his hand, I have to wonder if he didn't grab a bit of her hair and encourage her head to come up. That's the only reason I can think of why his hand would be on her head. Still, his hand appears to be open so perhaps not. I'm not sure why the artist placed his hand where it is. I do like the look of surprise on our spankee's face...........just as it should be .

Doc Cylon certainly knows how to pick a drawing to colorize . Too bad he didn't choose to add some additional color to her bottom. Good updates this week . Thanks, Phil

[web-ed]

You mentioned that she has her head up causing her back to arch and that's certainly true enough but considering the position of his hand, I have to wonder if he didn't grab a bit of her hair and encourage her head to come up. That's the only reason I can think of why his hand would be on her head. Still, his hand appears to be open so perhaps not. I'm not sure why the artist placed his hand where it is.

Actually, Phil, when I first wrote the copy for that one I said something like he was gently pulling on her hair. I think I changed my mind when I saw that Ken Ernst had drawn the spanker's hand in exactly the same place in the second spanking from Mary Worth 12 years later (which we'll see next week). It seemed that in the second spanking, the hand could not be gripping the hair because the index finger was straight, so I decided Ernst hadn't intended any hair pulling in the first spanking either. If we remember, we should check again next week when I've posted the new scans from Mary Worth #2.

We may be getting old, but no one can say we don't notice little details here at CSR !

[overbarrel49]

Actually, Phil, when I first wrote the copy for that one I said something like he was gently pulling on her hair. I think I changed my mind when I saw that Ken Ernst had drawn the spanker's hand in exactly the same place in the second spanking from Mary Worth 12 years later (which we'll see next week). It seemed that in the second spanking, the hand could not be gripping the hair because the index finger was straight, so I decided Ernst hadn't intended any hair pulling in the first spanking either. If we remember, we should check again next week when I've posted the new scans from Mary Worth #2.

We may be getting old, but no one can say we don't notice little details here at CSR !

Hi web-ed,

I also concluded he couldn't be pulling her hair because his hand was open. It's just such an odd placement of his hand?? I'll be looking forward to seeing the new scans of Mary Worth #2 next week. Thanks, Phil

[Tanner]

Romantic Spanking Month was great. Agree strongly with. those who said Helene in "My Vengeful Heart" should have gotten more spankings- and most certainly over her bikini that she was wearing in the opening panel of the original story. That woukd have been fantastic! Especially if it had a followup panel of her frantically rubbing her sore, burning bottom that woukd result from a spanking over a bikini.

[web-ed]

The Comic Strip Series continues with

• a revisit to Mary Worth #2 - the second of two known spankings from that strip. New scans!
• More new scans from Abbie an' Slats #1.

O.K., we're finishing up Mary Worth, and anyone who was interested in last week's discussion of whether the spanker was pulling the spankee's head up a little by the hair should take a close look here - the index finger is straight, so the hand is not grasping anything:


Artist Ken Ernst may have intended to indicate that the spankees' upper bodies were being held in place by light pressure on the head. This is the old scan, by the way - check out the page for the new scan.

Now let's move on to Abbie an' Slats, and the first of many updates to old pages and new spankings due to Sweetspot. In fact, I still haven't got them all in my files yet, but I really am almost caught up on my mail. Lots of distractions, unfortunately, including some complaints of spamming by this board, which is pure B.S. - the only automated notices put out by this board are in response to user requests of one sort or another. I may have to shut even those down, if I can, as my web host does not seem to understand the situation and I don't want them taking this board off-line.

Anyway, I would like to tell you more about what Sweetspot's been doing, but I'm just not up to it at the moment so it will have to wait. Suffice it to say he's been doing a bang-up job for all of us with his researches into comic strips, and we'll be seeing his work pretty much every week for a long time into the future.

I've decided to do the Abbie an' Slats spankings in order, so spanking #1 is featured this week with a new scan. The next two weeks we'll feature updates of spankings #2 and 3, then three weeks today we'll have one of Sweetspot's most interesting discoveries: the long sought-after Spanking #5 ! What about Spanking #4, you ask? Our scan of that one is already pretty good, and the spanking takes place off-panel anyway.

Anyway, please stick with CSR, won't you? Not only do Phil Sweetspot and I have many, many wonderful things to show you this year from newspaper comic strips, Doctor Cylon has sent me so much stuff I still haven't organized it all (and I'm a nut for organization, as everyone knows ), and our wonderful Resident Artists Dan, Hugob00m, and Phil Overbarrel are always full of pleasant surprises (if you're not one of their spankee characters )

[overbarrel49]

Hi web-ed,

I thought it was interesting that the hand position was basically the same in both of the spankings drawn by Ken Ernst, especially since 12 years elapsed between them. It makes me wonder where he got the idea for this. I guess it could be that he's a spanker and this is his preferred method . Anyway, I thought this Mary Worth was a really good story and I'm glad that you shared more of the story with us than just the spanking itself Like you, I like the view in the first spanking panel although I could have done without the pain stars and such so we could see it better. I also like the fact that there are 2 spanking panels and they are from different angles so we get a look at both her bottom and her face . I really like the spanker's expression of determination and satisfaction........probably just like I would look . The spankee's expression is a bit less well defined but it's obvious she's yelling, her eyes are closed and there's a tear on her cheek so I'll take it. I just loved it that Mary knew that proper thing to do was to stay and watch while the naughty girl got spanked Her expression appears to be one of satisfaction too. Then we have 2 panels of the spankee rubbing her freshly spanked bottom and she is in a very submissive pose in the next to last panel. There's a lot of things to like about this one .

The new scans of Abbie an' Slats is certainly an improvement over the old ones . It's kind of a peculiar story and I have to think that Al Capp isn't a spanker. If he was, he could have come up with a better spanking fantasy than this one . I agree with you that Margie probably had a good reason to slap him but after he spanked her anyway, she doesn't seem to care that he was in the wrong........just the way we like it . While she looks irritated during the spanking, she looks much happier sitting on a sore bottom with him afterwards . I'd say this will be a happy relationship . It's a good thing for Margie that the spanking took place while the lights were out . Good updates this week . Thanks, Phil

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

HI WEB-ED CSR!! ABBie On Slats spanking is Very Good although it took place in the dark that's a new one anyway the otk is good! And the spanking hurt judging by her cries of Ouch the new scan of this spanking is much clearer THANKS !! LOVE the spanking in Mary Worth Uncle Wally certainly knows how to handle a young brat like how the artist not only shows the guy turning the girl over his knee but a GREAT angle of her bottom being smacked feel like Button`s spanking was long and hard the after spanking is GREAT too!! is Button standing in a corner love how we get a good view of her burning bottom Now that ASUPER SUPER HOT SPANKING IN COMIC

[Sweetspot]

"Most reference works on comic strips say Mary Worth is a continuation of Martha Orr's Apple Mary, which Publishers Syndicate (Steve Roper, Willie Lumpkin) launched in 1934. But publicity materials from King Features Syndicate, which currently distributes the strip, say the two are separate — Mary Worth's Family, as Mary Worth was called at the time, was started in 1938 as a replacement for the earlier strip, which folded. The only thing the protagonists have in common, King Features says, is their first name." - Don Markstein
"Other than the first name and the fact that the stop/start dates line up, there isn't much reason to consider Apple Mary and Mary Worth the same character. Apple Mary was a dumpy old lady who made ends meet by selling apples on the street, whereas Mary Worth is a svelte suburbanite who has a much more reliable and less strenuous (albeit less well-defined) source of income. Apple Mary's most prominent character motivation was to protect and provide for her crippled grandson, Dennie, whereas if Mary Worth has a crippled grandson named Dennie, he's long since drifted out of her life.
Another difference is that the Apple Mary strip was about Apple Mary, whereas Mary Worth is about the chance acquaintances who come and go in Mary's life. That way, her strip has been able to tackle teen pregnancy, drug abuse, dysfunctional families, and a host of other fascinating issues, without requiring any drastic changes in her lifestyle." -Don Markstein's Toonopedia

But Allen Saunders (the long-time writer of the Mary Worth strip) said:
"Soon after our team took over, we changed the name of the strip to Mary Worth’s Family. Later, it took on its present title, Mary Worth. In her new role, the old street merchant obviously was not usable. So Ken Ernst gave her a beauty treatment, some weight loss and a more appropriate wardrobe.... We put her applecart in storage, where it will remain, even in the event of another economic slump."

Using just a few clips we'll make the conclusive case that Mary Worth and Apple Mary are one in the same. First we have to take Mrs. Worth at her word that during the depression of the '30s she held the same fruit retail occupation as Apple Mary.

MaryWorthJune25,1952.png (51.12 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

Next we see that contrary to what it says in The Toonopedia, Dennie was indeed a part of Mrs. Worth's life. But having received a delicate operation during the '30s he was no longer a "cripple" and no longer needed the constant attention of his grandmother. Little Sunny, from the Apple Mary strip, was also seen to be living with Mrs. Worth for awhile.
Phil S.

MaryWorth'sFamilyMay5,1940.png (69.93 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

Taking information from Wikipedia I ran down a strip that let's us know that Apple Mary's last name is Worth.

AppleMaryIsMaryWorthFebruary14,1935.png (31.95 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

Why would King Syndicate deny the history of their own strip? Perhaps it's just a matter of laziness, in that no one at King bothered to research Mary Worth's true origins. More likely they didn't want to get in to a Siegel/Shuster type court battle over royalties with the descendants of Martha Orr.

[overbarrel49]

Hi Phil,

This is interesting information you've presented here. Thanks for sharing this with us. Phil O

[web-ed]

Thanks for doing all that research, Phil. I wasn't sure myself whether the two Marys were one and the same, but you made a definitive case and checking Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics just now, he agrees with your conclusion that they were the same woman.

By the way, Phil also found a follow-up strip to spanking #2 in which Button mentions getting spanked, and I'll add that to the page as quickly as I can. [Since completed].

One spanking from Apple Mary is known and posted in Gallery Two, making three for the strip altogether. If any more turn up, we'll post them here on CSR!