Just Married

Gabby Locke

The evidence of the cheapness of the thin paper can be noted by just touching the copy of “Just Married” from 1972. The cover features a couple at their wedding with a crying woman in the foreground. It is a comic book targeted at young girls, that has been stapled together. It was not meant to last almost 40 years so small tears are present throughout and the fragility of the comic book is anxiety inducing. The actual content within the book is three short comics and lots of ads.

The first story is about a married woman who is bored with her husband. One day, an old flame of hers comes into town and they start flirting. Eventually things escalate and they are about to kiss but then her husband drives up. Her husband does not see anything, but the woman runs to her husband and realizes how stupid she had been and that she really loves her husband.

The second story is about a woman who gets married. She is on vacation and meets a guy; they fall for each other almost instantly and get married very quickly. They spend the rest of their vacation as a honeymoon, but she gets suspicious as he seems to have everything already booked for a couple. Eventually, it comes out that he was supposed to marry someone else, but their engagement was broken off and the trip he was on was supposed to be their honeymoon. The woman gets very upset as she now sees herself as a rebound for this man who she married. It turns out that the man’s former fiancé was actually horrible, and he didn’t love her, but he does love the new woman, so we get a happy ending.

The third story is also about marriage. Our protagonist is at the wedding of her ex-boyfriend. She is miserable as she believes she should be the one marrying the groom. As she is moping, she meets the ex-boyfriend of the bride. They spend the wedding cheering each other up and end up having an unexpected good time. After the wedding, the guy tries to take her on a date, but she freaks out because she doesn’t know if she really loves him or is just using him to get over the groom. Eventually, they realize their love is true and they end up together.

These stories are not exactly subtle. The first one is the closest to a three-dimensional woman that we get. She is married, but even so she is not happy. An opportunity comes her way to fix her unhappiness and she almost takes it, but instead she goes back to her husband. The initial issue of her being bored is never resolved, she goes back to her life as a housewife. She learned that it is better to be bored and unhappy than unmarried while her husband had no character growth, he did not learn to make sure his spouse is content with her life. The second story teaches the girls reading it that men do have good intentions and women are the source of conflict. The man has no negative qualities, the things that seem off about him are actually the fault of another woman. The third story’s moral is very simply that you need a man to be happy. The woman is sad because she isn’t getting married and is only made happy when a man comes into play.

This comic book is very obviously selling marriage to teenage girls. It is all about women who revolve around this concept like it is their only option. These women have to decide between a stable man or being sad and alone, there is no third option. Along with marriage the comic book is also selling actual products and services. The ads in the book are exactly what you would expect. There are products for better hair, better nails, and of course numerous “get thin quick” promises. One of the ads titled “Eat the Foods You Love – And Still Lose Weight” has a testimonial from a 16-year-old who lost 14 pounds in two weeks. The comic book is not only pushing the lifestyle of a docile woman but the look of one as well.

This comic book can be found at Hillman Special collections under the folder Just Married no. 87 – Justice League of America no. 12, Box 159ff3.