Blog 2

I recently came into contact with an item contained with the University of Pittsburgh’s Special Collections. It’s an old comic in the “Just Married” series. I believe the specific edition is known as Rebound. In short, it’s about a newly flourishing couple with a number of strange coincidences occurring along the way. The man, Jordan, was due to marry another woman and the engagement was called off. He had the honeymoon previous booked, so his new love interest was taken instead. The small coincidences were things like people expecting them at a certain hotel or a car waiting for them. While it may seem small, like he made a reservation or something similar, Miriam— the new woman— began to see a pattern and it made her question things. He began to make excuses, saying that he planned the vacation previously for himself and now he had someone to bring along with him. Another excuse was that he phoned the hotel from Paris, so they knew he’d be arriving with his wife, but it was just previous plans with another woman.

I think this is a certain style of comic gained popularity mostly with women, as it was about romance and that’s what everyone just assumed women wanted to read about. Instead of women reading normal comics, as some wanted to, publishers believed that all women cared about was finding love and reading about something that would make them swoon. I thought the plot was interesting, as Jordan is basically replacing his old fiancé with someone new. He tried to get away with it like nothing had gone awry, but his dishonestly came back to bite him. While this is mainly about the development of a new relationship, I believe that a deeper meaning concerning honestly is the main topic. His dishonesty led to an awkward encounter with his previous fiancé, Helen. There was a striking similarity between the two, as they looked just like each other. Jordan had not only replaced Helen with another woman nine days before their wedding, but he had replaced her with Miriam— who looked exactly like her.

This is just another thing to keep the reader entertained, and also meant to market the comics to women. The romantic and dramatic nature seems like it was written directly for women, which seems a bit rude to me. I don’t like how the author assumes that women only want to read about relationships and drama. Helen eventually starts a confrontation with Miriam in her new home with Jordan. She talks about how she took her place, and how Jordan only wanted her because they looked similar. She later goes on to talk about how Miriam is living in the house meant for her. This establishes a certain sort of jealousy while also painting Miriam as the villain when in reality this is Jordan’s fault.

I don’t like that the woman is painted as the villain in this situation, but I believe that’s how it happens even today. Men in relationships make mistakes such as cheating and women tend to blame the other woman for it. I think this was the norm back then and it’s seen as the norm now. I tend to think about it in terms of love, as you don’t want to blame the one you love so you blame the other party. While it may make sense in retrospect, it takes two people to cheat.

This comic, along with many many others in the same time period were marketed towards women. Branching out from just superhero comics came with the need for a new demographic, so writers started writing short little romantic comics to keep women entertained and also to provide that ‘mystery man’ that they’re all searching for. It’s just a story about a coincidence that could happen to anyone, but also something that people think could only happen in movies, books, or television shows. I believe it fits in with Representing Adolescence as a whole because a main focal point is the audience in which something is made for and also why it was made that way. It was made, marketed, and pushed towards women in an effort to expand their market. Maybe the women that they made these comics for would start to search for another type of comic or something else to read while waiting for the next issue of their favorite comic.

– Collin Bierley