Number 2220: Daddy was a con man

As a child Frances Wells traveled around with her dad to foreign lands and also around America. Daddy was a card sharp and confidence man, and so he’d get caught, leave Frances with a relative, or even in boarding school doing time in prison. You would think young Fran would have had daddy issues with a father like that. And apparently she does: as an adult she still loves the old crook!

Before you get to thinking, as I did, that they had some sort of unhealthy relationship, Fran becomes interested in Cary, the biggest catch in town. Of course, being a love comic, there has to be conflict, and besides Dad being in the background, the conflict is with Doris, who also has her eye on Cary. Cary’s family hire a private detective to check up on Fran’s old man. Do two negatives make a positive? Cary’s family has its own problems, which cancel out the problems with Mr Wells. It is a lot to take in, especially for a love comic with a limited number of pages to get to the nitty-gritty. It appeared in Quality’s Love Scandals #1 (1950), a provocative title for a love comic. Despite the purity of Frances, there is an undercurrent of criminality running throughout the story. Of course, it is conquered in the quest for true love. Sigh. If only true life could be so easy!

Grand Comics Database doesn’t give any credits for writing or artwork, but my eyeballs tell me Bill Ward had something to do with it. Those females are Ward’s, either in the penciling or inking stage. The image of Doris, from the teaser panel on top of this page, is pure Ward.

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