Number 2062: Karen's bitter love

Trouble brewing. Karen meets Brad, a handsome guy who falls for her. So far so good. But Karen has a boyfriend-stealing sister, Enid, to whom she introduces Brad. Uh-oh. Karen even tells Enid she is bringing Brad home because, “I want him to meet you.” Why is Karen playing with fire, knowing her sister will make a play for Brad? Is she testing Brad’s love and devotion? Is she purposely sabotaging her relationship with Brad so she will be able to grow into an old, bitter women (hence, the title of the story), blaming her sister for ruining her life?

That’s all the amateur psychiatry I can muster for a six-page love story. The main selling feature for me with “Bitter Love” is Reed Crandall’s artwork. He draws Karen as pretty but demure, and Enid as gorgeous and sexy (the red hair and the plunging decolletage are clues). Beyond the artwork, the story follows the predictable patterns of comic book love, with Karen’s demureness and dignity winning out over hot sister’s hotness.

Illustrator Norman Saunders did the cover. From Cinderella Love #11 (actual #2, 1951):

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