Threats and Missed Opportunities

[web-ed]

I just posted a lovely "togetherness" picture of Bulletman and Bulletgirl about to get blown up, and I also wanted to post this one of Bulletman alone. Here we see him presented with a golden opportunity to administer some OTK discipline:

Bulletman can't figure out how to deal with an obstreperous female.

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"What am I going to do? I can't hit a lady!"

No, BM - you can't hit a woman (this one certainly is no lady), but you sure as heck can spank her! If you don't know how to do this, try talking to Superman, Batman, The Phantom, etc. (anyone except Capt. Marvel Jr.) - they can set you straight.

Bulletman was actually one of the earliest super-heroes, careening into action only a couple of years after Superman. We think every male superhero should be trained in spanking techniques so he can handle those bad girls who refuse to behave themselves.

[web-ed]

There must have been over a hundred stories with Nyoka, both in her own book and in other places, and I'm still going through them, but without much hope. Her stories are pretty repetitive, with most panels showing her running through the jungle, lying unconscious on the ground, or getting conked on the head. Let's take a quick look:

Nyoka #30 - conk!

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He should have aimed lower with that spear - it would have been like using a cane. Next issue, they use a gun butt:

Nyoka #31 - conk!

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Later that same issue, she determines not to be on the receiving end, and conks (or klonks) some poor ape on the head instead:

Nyoka #31 - klonk!

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But it doesn't last long, because the very next issue things are back to normal:

Nyoka #32 - conk!

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And the next:

Nyoka #33 - conk!

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And the next:

Nyoka #34 - conk!

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I think we skipped an issue to allow Nyoka time to see a neurologist.

Nyoka #36 - conk!

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Even when she tries to get ahead, the result is the same in issue #45:

Nyoka gets ahead in issue #45

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Nyoka #45 - conk!

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She was in good spanking position only once (over a block), but the native guy strangely preferred the machete to a paddle:

Nyoka #8 - on the block

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Finally, there was this weird cover that made it look like Nyoka was going to get butted by a goat as she bends over while making a judo throw! Now, this wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as a spanking even if it had happened, but inside it's the guy who gets butted by the goat while Nyoka just stands there. Go figure.

Cover of Nyoka #15

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[Ripley]

That Nyoka cover to issue #15, where she is about to get her tush butted by that angry goat seems to be a common method of slapstick in the Golden Age of comics. Attached here is a similar cover I like where Jeanie is blindly riding down a railing and is totally oblivious to the spear that is about to rudely greet her bottom.

[web-ed]

It's interesting that you should post the cover of Jeanie #17, because as it happens that's one of the few Golden-Age books in my personal collection. You're right, of course, about that tendency during the Golden Age to do slapstick routines centered on the derriere for humorous effect. Amusing as they may have been at times, I'm sure we wish they had chosen to use M/F spankings for that purpose instead. They did use M/M spanking that way, but that hardly helps us.

Now let's take a quick look at Blue Beetle #11. When a young lady "accidentally" falls over your knee, it means she wants you to spank her. Unfortunately, no one seems to have advised Blue Beetle of that fact, so he does nothing - a classic wasted opportunity. She would have had better luck with The Phantom, whose design seems to have inspired Blue Beetle.

Joan falls over Blue Beetle's knee.

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[web-ed]

There's no reason why our old ratio of 1200 pages per spanking has to hold up, but going through 5000 pages of Fox publications without encountering even one spanking is rather disappointing. You see, Fox was notorious for their Good Girl Art (GGA), delighting adolescents and infuriating feminists with their rather gratuitous displays of the female form.

This isn't the place to discuss eroticism in art, or why some drawing styles are more erotic than others, but as we think you'll agree from the examples below, Fox's comics laid decidedly more emphasis on this aspect of the visual arts than, say, Fawcett's. And as a matter of personal taste, I like my comics spankees on the sexy side. That's why Fox's girls would have been excellent for this purpose. For example, compare Tangi (below) with Nyoka, whom we wrote about three posts back:

Tangi, no spankee.

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As it happens, all of Fox's Jungle Girls wore very little (it must have been that jungle heat). Let's look at JoJo's girlfriend:

Cover of JoJo #25. Bondage, yes; spanking, no.

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In fact, the bondage element was often present in Fox, so we have to wonder why they couldn't take that one extra step and give us some spankings, too. (Compare this bondage cover to the infamous Phantom Lady #17).

And speaking of Phantom Lady, I think I've exhausted all my sources of her stories. Here's what she looked like in Phantom Lady #15:

Phantom Lady #15. Notice her belt-buckle emblem? We thought not.

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Phantom Lady had a "PL" insignia on her belt buckle to help people recognize her, but she might as well have had the Gettsyburg Address printed there for all the good it did, at least with males - we'd guess no one ever saw it!

I'm not done with Fox yet, and there are many unavailable titles, so there just might be a 2nd Fox spanking somewhere (Crimes by Women is the 1st) - let's hope.

[Ripley]

Now let's take a quick look at Blue Beetle #11. When a young lady "accidentally" falls over your knee, it means she wants you to spank her. Unfortunately, no one seems to have advised Blue Beetle of that fact, so he does nothing - a classic wasted opportunity.

Just saw your post now Web, and it's was perfectly stated. Maybe he's called The Blue Beetle because he doesn't know what to do when the opportunity arises, then scampers away with a bad case of Blue Balls? It is rather hilarious to think that such a cutie should fall from the heavens right over your lap, and not knowing what to do with that! Isn't that like a Honey Bee landing on a Venus Flytrap while it's hibernating, and then flying away laughing with all the pollen. Great observations Web-Ed! You have a knack of finding the right words for all occasions.

[web-ed]

Great observations Web-Ed! You have a knack of finding the right words for all occasions.

Thanks, Ripley - I worked hard on my writing for many years, and it's nice to have someone take notice.

Now let's take a look at some missed opportunities from Lev Gleason Publications. First, pirate queens were a recurring theme in comics, yet I don't know of a single case in which one was spanked. Here's one from Fight Comics #55:

Fight Comics #55 - bad pirate queens should be spanked!

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Next, there were a lot of comics with Tiger Girl, but no spankings. Of course, much has been said about Jungle Girl spanking before, and even though I know it isn't likely that a female protagonist will get spanked in her own book, I'd still like to see it.
As we see here, Tiger Girl was quite spankable - in fact, those tiger stripes across her seat would make perfect guidelines for strokes with the cane (I know it's perverse, but that's how I think!).

Fight Comics #78 - The spankable Tiger Girl.

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[web-ed]

I'm still in the middle of searching through Fiction House's Golden Age line, which featured many Jungle Girl adventures, and the final results will be posted under "New Finds" as always, but I ran into something that required special treatment. That something was called "Skygirl," a strip I had seen years ago but forgotten about. She was never spanked in any of the stories I found, alas, but she was in so many spankable positions she deserves more notice than the standard Good Girl Art (GGA) strip.

Here we see a typical example, taken from Jumbo Comics #89:

Skygirl bends over, as she often did, for no particularly good reason.

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Because I have compiled seventeen other images, I can't do this topic justice here, so I have created a special Skygirl webpage,
currently not accessible from the main galleries, with large images that have to be seen to be believed, and of course my own interminable commentary.

[web-ed]

Having been introduced to Skygirl, let's take a look at some of the other Fiction House girls. Fiction House had few super-heroes, but it did have a lot of Jungle characters and Good Girl Art (GGA). Now generally, I'm not the fan or collector of GGA that Riley over at SpankingPanels.com is, but when it comes to spanking panels, I do prefer the art be in an erotic (i.e. GGA) style, simply because I'm looking for eroticism rather than more abstract qualities. Neal Adams and Alex Toth are better artists than Matt Baker, in my opinion, but I'd rather see a spanking rendered by Baker any day (Adams and Toth drew no spankings as far as I know, while Baker did one). Baker's erotic treatment would be more interesting to me than Adams' photo-realistic style or Toth's abstract design. 'Nuff said on this topic for now - any more would require an essay.

On to the pretty pictures. First, let's see three of the Fiction House Jungle Girls:

Sheena, Tiger Girl, and Ann

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From left to right, we have Sheena, the original Jungle Girl; Tiger Girl, who was, shall we say, extremely similar except that her outfit had a Tiger pattern instead of a Leopard one like Sheena's; and Ann, Kaanga's mate, displaying her shapely derriere beneath panties that also resembled Sheena's.

Much as I would have liked to see Sheena spanked, I think Riley's observation that she's the tough type you could more easily imagine spanking some other girl is basically correct. I wouldn't be surprised to see her defeat both the girl with the spear and the eight hyenas on the cover above! So perhaps we may forgive the publisher for never providing us with a Sheena-spanking.

Tiger Girl on the other hand had a more submissive look to her, and would have made a fine spankee.

Kaanga and Ann were Fiction House's version of Tarzan and Jane. Almost every cover of Jungle Comics looked like the one above, with Kaanga trying to rescue Ann from whatever trouble she'd gotten herself into. She should have been spanked many times, and in fact she was once - the only one of the FH Jungle Girls who wound up OTK. This particular episode, which also featured a second girl getting spanked (!) will of course be posted in Comics Gallery 2. Alas, the spanking panel did not display her bottom in as attractive a fashion as the cover above. Still, it's the only true Jungle Girl spanking that we know of at this time, "true" meaning that an actual Jungle Girl is spanked, rather than just a girl spanked in the jungle (of which there are more examples).

Firehair and Camilla

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On the left is Firehair, not to be confused with the later DC Western character, while on the right we see Camilla.

Firehair was one of those fiery redheads who really needed taming. This is the most spankable cover pose I could find. No spankings are known, although I still have a few of her stories to go over.

Something about Camilla made me really want to see her get the OTK treatment. Maybe it was her Nordic blonde hair and blue eyes, or maybe it was her zebra-skin outfit, unique among Jungle Girls (I believe), or maybe it was just the way she filled out the seat area of said outfit. Below we see two spankable poses:

Camilla from Jungle Comics #43, looking just as she would OTK.

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Camilla taking a high-dive, but it sure looks just like she's touching her toes to receive swats!

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Alas, Camilla was never spanked OTK nor bent over for swats, so we'll just have to use our imaginations (if we're the spanking-minded type!).

[web-ed]

Searching through Fiction House has been an interesting and, in many ways fruitful, experience. Yet despite the fine M/F spankings I've discovered, I can't help wishing for more and wondering what might have been if some of the opportunities to spank these sexy young things had not been squandered. Let's take a look:

Out-of-control Amazon women who needed to be taken in hand. From Planet Comics #39.

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First up: a planet in which undernourished men have become so puny that they're ruled by women! Star and his gang give the guys a mineral supplement which makes them big and strong - strong enough to spank! - yet they subdue their women largely by diving into alligator-infested waters and proving their courage that way. Strong, out-of-control women - no more perfect set-up for some serious spanking could have been devised, yet we get - nothing!

Lots of whip-wielding women who should have been caned - never happened, though.

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Lost World may not have had too many bad girls, but it sure had some spankable ones.

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More GGA and even a girl tied to a whipping post on a cover! Should have been bent over a caning bench.

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Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron. Any further description would be superfluous.

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Gale Allen shows us her potential as a spankee, but the fool carrying her couldn't see it!

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To be continued in Part 3.

[web-ed]

Though none of the Fiction House girls could quite match their sister Skygirl, they certainly assumed the position on a regular basis. Let's go see!

More girls bending over for no particularly convincing reason, but we're in a forgiving mood and won't complain.

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Where can I get a pair of boots like these for my spankees?

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Next, let's take a look at the opening panel from Mysta of the Moon in Planet Comics #45:

From Planet Comics #45, Mysta nearly moons a robot.

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Something's wrong with Mysta's neck, and her hand looks like it belongs a man twice her size, but the most striking thing about this panel is that the robot appears to be staring at Mysta's behind! When I saw this, it made me think of all those old Benny Hill sketches where the sight of a girl bending over would lead to some kind of mishap, like corks popping or sawed-through boards collapsing. This tempted me unwisely to try my hand at altering the scene with Microsoft Paint (my only graphics tool) so it would look like the robot's head was exploding when Mysta unwittingly bends over right in front of him. Yowza!

The sight of Mysta mooning on the moon is too much for the poor robot, whose head explodes.

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Obviously, I don't have much talent for this sort of thing, so next I simply added a thought balloon in which the robot bemoans the fact he didn't bring his paddle after Mysta of the Moon moons him:

There comes a time in every robot's life when he wonders, "Why didn't I bring my paddle?"

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Lost opportunities for paddlings galore!

[web-ed]

The searches of Dell, DS Publications, and Eastern Color Printing are now complete. Only Dell had any missed opportunities, and they were nothing compared with Fiction House's, but let's see two of them.

Standard Bending Over the Files gag - would have been enlivened with a good whack!

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First, we have this pretty standard "bend over to get the file" gag. From Burlesque to Benny Hill, this was a longtime standard (here is a Kirk Stiles version in the Humor Gallery, just before a swat lands on target). Unlike the Stiles cartoon, however, there's no spanking here.

Next, we have a fine opportunity that was totally missed:

She fights and bites and wears a jungle girl costume - this was a truly grand opportunity wasted.

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A wild woman in a Jungle Girl costume stubbornly fights to keep a man from saving her life, even biting him! He warns her to knock it off or he'll "wallop the living daylights out of you" which we interpret as a spanking threat, but there's no follow-through - boo-hoo.

[web-ed]

With the Harvey search recently completed, it's time once again to reflect on what might have been if the editorial staff (or the writers) were more alert to spanking possibilities.

First up is Hi-School Romances #5, "The Taming of a Tomboy":

The Taming of a Tomboy - not! From Hi-School Romance #5.

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And how do you tame a tomboy? (All together now). "Spank her, spank her, spank her!" Yet it never happened!

Next we have Hi-School Romances #22. The cover blurb breathlessly informs us, "She knew how to play with fire ... just how to lure and run away ... just how to TEASE!"

A Shameless Tease on the cover of Hi-School Romance #22

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What she didn't know, but needed to be taught, is that bad girls who flirt (that is, who toy with other people's feelings) deserve a good spanking! Either the guy she's playing with on the cover or the two slack-jawed yokels gossiping in the background should have taught her a lesson - good and hard!

Harvey had some super-heroes before the genre collapsed. Foremost among them was The Black Cat, who somewhat resembles the 70's version of DC's Catwoman but of course came much earlier (in terms of costume design, that is - I think in terms of the characters, Catwoman must have been first). She would have made a fine spankee, even though as we've observed before it's unlikely that a female protagonist would be spanked in her own book.

This story was called, "Water-skis Whipping" - but while it does have water skis, there's no whipping, flogging, birching, strapping, caning, paddling, or spanking. How could they do this to us? We feel cheated!

Water-skis Whipping - I see the water skis, but ...

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Finally, Black Cat celebrates her birthday. Actually, it's only the sixth anniversary of her book (she herself had first appeared years earlier in other titles) so the birthday cake is only symbolic, but jeez - what an opportunity wasted. Of course, it was only six, but even so ...

Black Cat got a birthday without a spanking.

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[web-ed]

I'm in the middle of my search through Hillman Periodicals, and while I did find a good spanking in Airboy (their best-known title), I also found this ideal set-up which they foolishly wasted. Yet another spoiled heiress has
driven her father to despair: "She's so hopelessly spoiled I can't do a single thing with her!"

Airboy Volume 5 No. 9 - "She's so hopelessly spoiled I can't do a single thing with her!"

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The handsome young Airboy replies, "What does that have to do with me, sir?"

The father should have said, "She needs a good sound spanking and I want you to give it to her!" But there was no spanking in this issue, and predictably the daughter comes to a bad end. It would have been far better for her to get spanked, which might have helped her turn her life around.

[hugob00m]

Because I have compiled seventeen other images, I can't do this topic justice here, so I have created a special Skygirl webpage currently not accessible from the main galleries, with large images that have to be seen to be believed, and of course my own interminable commentary.

Wow! I recently clicked on this link, and your Skygirl page is fantastic! It is a real shame that Skygirl, with such a nicely-rounded backside and a hard-to-explain penchant for bending over all the time, never got a spanking, or even a friendly little pat!! I guess the artist had a love of feminine posteriors, but no interest in spanking... which is almost as bad as someone who draws a spanking cartoon and gives the lady a flat, uninteresting rear! Thank God for cartonists like Dan, who just posted another one of his Spanky Sal strips!

BTW, i never read any of the Skygirl stories. Did she have a boyfriend or some male friend who could have done the honors?

[web-ed]

Thanks, b00m - I'm glad you liked the Skygirl page. I had a lot of fun putting it together (for those who haven't seen it yet, I'll be adding a link to it from Comics Gallery 2 as part of the New Year's Eve update).

I don't remember seeing any steady boy friend or male friend for Ginger who could have administered the spanking, but I suppose a guest character could have been brought on for the purpose. And she did get bawled out by her boss at the restaurant a few times, I think, so he could have done the job. Matt Baker, who did at least some of the art, is one of the best-known Good Girl Art (GGA) artists of all time, but as far as I know he didn't do any spanking panels (of course there could still be one lurking out there someplace). What I wouldn't give to see a spanking of Sky Girl or Phantom Lady as rendered by Baker! But sadly, he must not have been into it. [06/15/2011 update: although I had known about a spanking panel in Teen-age Romances #3 when I wrote this, I did not know that the artist was in fact Baker because I hadn't seen it. It was recently posted on the SpankingPanels Forum, and it's definitely fine work by Baker. Still no Phantom Lady or Sky Girl spankings, though.]

It would have been especially easy in Sky Girl's case because she was always getting into some kind of trouble (Phantom Lady would have been fun, too, but as I've pointed out before, it would be unusual for a female protagonist to get spanked in her own book). She could have been punished for work-related violations, or for losing her clothes. If I had been her boyfriend, I'd have had something to say about all the times she bent over right in front of other guys. And the punishment would fit the crime: "Bend over, Ginger, since you seem to be so good at it...!"

I agree with you about flat rears - and the two things that Dan does (and so do you, of course!) that we can always count on are (1) get the OTK positioning right; (2) give the spankee a nice, round, spankable bottom! One of the things I'm looking forward to in the upcoming Humorama series is posting a cartoon of Homer's which features the roundest rear he ever did - and the camera angle is pointing almost directly at it so we have a good view!

[web-ed]

With two known spankings of Hedy Wolfe, it makes sense to look for more. However, Patsy Walker was such a popular character for Atlas/Marvel from the 40's to the 60's that I can't imagine how I'm ever going to be able to search through all her appearances. These titles are not in the public domain, so there are presumably very few available scans, and I have neither the time nor the money (I'm flat broke because of the recession) to begin collecting these titles. Frankly, even if I had the cash, I'd feel pretty silly spending, say, $2000.00 just to unearth one or two spankings. This is a question I will take up again once my current Golden Age Comic Spanking Search has been completed.

However, I did get myself a Christmas present this year in the form of a group of low-priced Atlas romance titles, which brings us at long last to the point: while I didn't expect to stumble onto a spanking in these five issues, I did want to understand these romance/humor books a little better to perhaps narrow any future search. Kathy doesn't seem to hold much promise, but Hedy (in the Patsy Walker books) sure does! Her scheming ways and angry Dad seem likely to have led to more spankings than just the two we know about. Let's see two missed opportunities (out of three books!):

First, Hedy buys lots of cereal to enter a contest and (of course) beat out her rival Patsy. (Contests and giveaways requiring the entrant to mail in box tops used to be commonplace, but I think they're no longer allowed by the FTC).

Mr. Wolfe hits the roof - why didn't he spank Hedy? From Patsy and Hedy #80.

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Mr. Wolfe is justifiably upset - why didn't he turn Hedy over his knee? I think this is after the two known spankings, so there was precedent.

Next, Hedy does something much worse: she frames Patsy for a misdeed that she herself committed, when all Patsy had been trying to do was lead an effort to buy a present for the teacher, Miss Whiplash. In fact, Miss Whiplash is ready to punish Patsy and asks Hedy for advice on how to do it! Hedy suggests going to Patsy's parents, who will ground her, thus leaving Patsy's boyfriend Buzz for Hedy. If you're having as much trouble following this as I am, it probably means you're not a teen-aged girl, either!

Hedy's schemes are exposed, but where's the spanking? From Miss America, Sept. 1952.

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Hedy's rotten scheme is exposed as Miss Whiplash realizes she had taken the nice umbrella Patsy had intended to give to her. Busted! Miss Whiplash is ready to go see Hedy's parents, but unfortunately we don't get to see their reactions, or find out what punishment they imposed on Hedy. So many spanking possibilities gone to waste! Miss Whiplash could have paddled poor Patsy, only to give Hedy twice as many swats when she learned the truth (something like Tom and Flashman in Tom Brown's School Days). Or we could simply have witnessed Mr. Wolfe taking the hairbrush to Hedy OTK - he's spanked her for less, after all. To make the scene even better, he could have apologized to Patsy and allowed her to witness her scheming rival get her just desserts!

[web-ed]

This isn't exactly a missed opportunity, but it's startling enough to post anyway. It's from Miracle Comics #2 (March 1940), and features another Sheena imitator called Blanda. For the most part, Blanda was pretty unexceptional - we might even say bland - but then I came upon this scene of her stark naked in the jungle! This seems quite unusual given the time (1940) even though the Comics Code Authority (which prohibited nudity, among other things) was still years away.

Blanda refreshes herself

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No hint of spanking, though.

[web-ed]

Westerns featured mostly male heroes - cowboys and sheriffs and such - so The Black Phantom was an unusual heroine. As we see here, it was difficult for a woman to get the respect of the various tough guys who populated western towns, even if she wore a gun and a mask. The way she was drawn, she'd have been a natural for the spankee role.

The Black Phantom, a natural spankee, from Black Phantom #1 (Magazine Enterprises).

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01/18/2011 Update: Here's a few more panels from Tim Holt in which there really was a good reason for Black Phantom to get spanked - almost. You see, Tim (as The Red Mask) occasionally teamed up with BP, and in this case, BP's twin sister is trying to fill in for her, but without Tim's knowing about it. She should have warned him, because when it came time for her to fire a gun, here's what happened:

From Tim Holt #41

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Duck, Tim! Then spank her for reckless endangerment...

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The art isn't bad, and as we mentioned, Black Phantom is quite attractive and spankable. In fact, we really wish that Lee Falk had done this strip - with two double-spankings (including two sisters!) under his belt, he could certainly have managed one more, namely BP and her twin sister! The sister for almost killing him, and BP herself for - well, we're not sure why she deserves to get spanked, but we're sure Falk could have thought of a good reason.

[web-ed]

The Archie line-up was pretty solid back in the Golden Age (the company was known as MLJ in the years before Archie's first appearance), and I did find 18 spankings there. Four more are known (two of Katy Keene's sister, whom we'll mention again below, and one each of Betty and Veronica) with another of Veronica suspected (with tennis racquet!), and I would not be surprised if there were still some more undiscovered from the Golden or Silver Ages. On top of that, there were numerous implied spankings (usually X/M, but there are two known with Veronica). Therefore, it seems churlish to complain about the missed opportunities. On the other hand, I have my duty, so let's take a look at how this good publishing house could have been even better...

First, Archie did have some Romance titles, and here we see the first issue of Darling Romance:

Darling Romance #1. "I stole my sister's man." That was very bad of you, my dear - you deserve a good spanking...

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"I Stole My Sister's Man" - any girl who does that deserves a good spanking - in fact, this sounds like the plot of "I Was A Flirt" in A Moon, A Girl, Romance, which did indeed have a spanking in it. Unfortunately, there was none here.

Next, there was Katy Keene. This title was popular because it had a unique gimmick: girls could send in their fashion designs and artists would draw Katy wearing them. Katy sometimes spanked her younger sister, a relationship that reminds us a little of Fritzi Ritz spanking her niece Nancy. Because this is child spanking, we will not show it here, but this spanking threat will give you the idea:

Katy threatens the hairbrush in Ginger #10.

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One can't help feeling sorry for the young spankees in these situations, and the thought of seeing the spanker spanked herself has a considerable appeal (see the interview I did with SP Anka for more on this idea). It would have been great if her younger sister could have witnessed Katy Keene being spanked by, say, their father, but as far as I know it never happened.

#3. The previous example came from Ginger, which was another teen humor book. The cover of that issue had a blurb which seems unintentionally humorous by today's standards:

The cover of Ginger #10. "Where There's a Willy There's A Way!"

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"Where There's a Willy There's A Way!" Uh, maybe you guys should rephrase that just a little bit...
Of course, that's not exactly Ginger's fault, so you might think she hasn't done anything to deserve getting spanked, but your conclusion would be premature. Let's take a look at this scene from Zip #40:

Zip #40. Ginger makes Dr. Piddle's Pants Dissolve!

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Here, Ginger sprays her teacher, Dr. Piddle (what a name) with a chemical that makes his pants dissolve. It seems almost like something out of Burlesque, but really, for dissolving his pants, Ginger should have to bend over for Dr. Piddle's paddle!

#4. If that weren't enough, in the very next issue, Ginger bops her principal on the head with a book! I hate to sound like a broken record, but it was time to break out the principal's paddle.

Ginger Bops the Principal on the Head, from Zip #41.

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Bopping the principal on the head - that's a paddlin'!

#5. Back to Zip #40 for a minute: there was a super-hero in the book known as Steel Sterling. With art by Irv Novick, I consider this the best-drawn feature in the book. Unfortunately, whoever was writing the strip really blew it in this story where Steel goes to rescue some men from a tribe of Amazons. To the learned and discerning readers of this forum, I need hardly point out that there's only one way to really tame a wild Amazon. Let's see just how agonizingly close we came:

Steel Sterling in the Land of the Amazons.

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Steel finds himself fighting the Amazon Queen herself, and some guy tells him, "You've got to teach Miverna a lesson!"

"You've got to teach Miverna a lesson!"

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Steel seems convinced: "Maybe you're right."

"This will hurt me more than it will you." Yes, oh yes, spank her!

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Steel rolls up his sleeve and says, "This will hurt me more than it will you." Surely a spanking must follow! And then - he hauls off and belts her! ARGHHH! Was he taking lessons from Bulletman or Captain Marvel Jr., neither of whom ever seemed to understand the basics of girl-spanking, no matter how called-for it was?

#6. Several times in the comics, attempted murder of a hero has led to a villainess getting spanked (Spirit / Diana, Saint / El Kara, etc.). Here a bad girl tries to stab our hero (I've forgotten his name), but does she get spanked?

From PEP #60.

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No - he just takes her knife away. The next time this happens to me, I'm going to give my female assailant a spanking!

#7. O.K., you want to talk about bad girls? Here's Madame Satan, from PEP Comics #18:

Madame Satan, from PEP #18, a very bad girl!

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Some outfit, by the way! Would it have been asking too much to have a Heaven-sent angel appear long enough to take Madame Satan over his knee? Maybe if she had received corporal punishment, her series would have been more popular (it sure as hell - if you'll pardon the expression - would have been with us!). As it was, she was shortly replaced in PEP by a new character, a teenager with red hair named Archie Andrews.

#8. Finally, there was Suzie. Suzie got into trouble seemingly every episode of her strip, which appeared in various places. Following in the footsteps of Bill Ward's Torchy, Suzie got fired from her job in almost every episode - couldn't some of these employers have just given her a spanking instead? Here's a few examples:

Topnotch #31 - Suzie the Governess is punched out instead of being spanked.

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Why the kid punches her instead of spanking her (as happened the other time she tried being a governess in PEP #59) is beyond me.

Back to school - the kids put a thumbtack on Suzie's chair. Nice bunch. Somebody should have gotten spanked here for sure.

Topnotch #41. Suzie goes back to school. Did I ever mention they use paddles there?

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Topnotch #41 again - a boy shoots Suzie in the rear with his slingshot. "Boy, what a target!"

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Although we would have preferred to see her get spanked, we have to agree with the boy who shoots her in the fanny with his slingshot: "Boy, what a target!"

Larger panels. The closest we came to a spanking.

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Indeed, and of course Suzie did get spanked that one time. A number of issues of her own book, Suzie, are still unavailable, so perhaps she got spanked a second time. At least we can hope. I should also mention that she seemed to imitate Skygirl on occasion, repeatedly bending over for no good reason. I will prepare a page of these amusing panels just as I did with Skygirl.