Sweethearts (Vol. 2)

    (Charlton, 1954-1973)
™ and ©1969 Charlton Publications, Inc.

Early issues of Sweethearts featured the usual combination of lovelorn melodrama and cheesecake that made love comics such big sellers. In 1955, Fawcett dropped its comic line altogether and Sweethearts fell into the clutches of the notoriously inept and unimaginative publisher Charlton.

Strangely enough, Charlton’s low-end sensibilities meshed perfectly with the cliché-ridden genre that romance comics had become by the mid-50s. Always a reflection of the stultifying insecurity and sexual frustration of American middle class suburbia, love comics like Sweethearts epitomized kitsch culture and became icons of pop art in 1960s. By that time, however, Sweethearts and other romance comics had embraced “hip” 1960s fashions and slang, as well as an embarrassingly shallow take on “radical” social values, providing lots of unintended laughs for modern readers.
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#100

October, 1968
Cover Price: $0.12
1 copy available for $3.00