Number 1853: The Heart’s Trophy

Reading through this story drawn by Joe Kubert for Pictorial Confessions #3 (1949), I am struck by the dialogue. In my youth, as horny romantic as I might have been, no words spoken would have been my choice rather than speak the breathless dialogue contained herein. Judy and Mike are a couple, but only in a sappy romance would you encounter such things as Judy’s “I’m here to watch you grind your heel into my heart!” and Mike’s response, “A man can’t be preserved under glass because he’s scratched a finger...and I can’t grovel in grease!” (That last bit because Mike had been in a serious car-racing accident, and was working his way back.)

Not only that, in some of the panels the captions (faux diary entries by Judy) and dialogue balloons nearly crowd out the artwork.

Okay, if I haven’t turned you off by now (a trait of mine, for which I apologize), Kubert does an excellent job with what space he has available. And, of course, it all ends well. Love triumphs, even as Mike triumphs at the finish line.

Oh...and Happy Valentine’s Day in a couple of days, lovers.

Posted in: Pappy Comics