Short Lived Comic Series #25 - Soap Opera Love (Charlton Comics)

As a kid, I remember my Mom watching General Hospital every afternoon when I would come home from school.  I also remember during the summers, when my grandparents would babysit my brothers and I, my grandmother would watch As the World Turns.  When I started to get near my teen years, I got hooked on General Hospital (the whole Cassadine weather-machine / Ice Princess story had me hooked!) and All My Children (I fell in love with Jenny Gardner!).  I started watching Loving when it premiered (the idea of watching a soap opera from the first episode thrilled me!), but the show was not overly exciting, and I gave up shortly after it started.  Later, my Mom and I watched the soap Santa Barbara from beginning to end (and I was ever-so-fortunate to get the opportunity to meet the cast on a cruise down to the Bahamas a few years back - such a treat - just wish my Mom could have shared that adventure with me), and not long after that ended, I watched Passions from beginning to end (which show had some elements that reminded me of Dark Shadows, a show that I LOVE and have also seen from beginning to end, but that I do not label a soap opera, even though technically it was - for me, the show was a Gothic suspense drama).  So, it's easy to see that I do enjoy a good soap opera.

Thus, when I was at a comic convention some years back and stumbled across an old Charlton comic in a back issue $1 bin called Soap Opera Love, my interest was piqued.  I picked it up (issue 3, I believe), and started my hunt for the other issues.  A search online revealed that there were only three issues to this series, so I figured they would not be too hard to find.  Well, color me surprised!  It took my a lot longer to find those first two issues than I thought, particularly at a reasonable price I was willing to pay.  It's unbelievable what old romance comics are selling for these days.  But, find them I did, and I was recently able to sit down and read all three issues of Soap Opera Love.

Now, a little backstory is probably warranted.  This series was published in 1983 (with cover dates of February, March, and June, respectively), and was one of Charlton's last titles published before it suspended publication in 1984.  The same year this series was published was the year DC Comics bought the line of super hero characters from Charlton (including Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judo Master, Nightshade, the Question, Peacemaker, and others), so with their super hero line gone, I think Charlton lost some of its standing in the comic world.  Which is sad, because I have been learning in recent years, the company actually put out some pretty good comics - it's a shame that I didn't realize it back in the day (because I always viewed them as a second-rate company with inferior product - which, looking back, was silly of me, since I never picked up any of their comics back then, so how would I have known?).  

Soap Opera Love only lasted three issues, and the covers of all three issues promoted the love story of David and Eileen, which, as it turns out, was the only continuing story among the issues.  The other stories in each issue were single stories that appear to be reprints (based upon the story material, the clothes worn by the characters in them, and the vernacular used by the characters).  And it's funny, because when I saw the names "David" and "Eileen," my mind immediately went to Eileen Davidson, an actress who has starred on many soaps over the years, from Young and the Restless to Santa Barbara to Days of Our Lives, and others.  I have to wonder if the names of the characters happened to be a nod to this actress.  (Of course, they could not be for reasons mentioned later on in this post.)

In any event, the ongoing story of David and Eileen centers around the fact that David is Jewish and Eileen is Irish, and much like the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, their families do not want the two of them together - they only want them to date someone of their own heritage.  Needless to say, David and Eileen fall in love and despite their families' outrage, they race off to get married and start their life together.  The stories vary in length - from 12 pages (issue 1) to 10 pages (issue 2) to 9 pages (issue 3) - and each issue builds upon the story from the previous one.  In the first issue, David and Eileen meet, fall in love, and run away to elope in order to avoid their parents' disapproval.  The second issue finds the couple facing the decision of what kind of marriage ceremony to attend - one in a synagogue or one in a church?  The third issue features the couple's first argument, as they try and decide where they should go on vacation - Eileen wants to appease David's parents, while he wants to appease her parents - and ultimately, David wises up and decides to take his bride on the honeymoon they never got - to Honolulu!  

The third issue ends with the text box of Eileen thinking ... "Our troubles are over ... after all, what can go wrong on a honeymoon in Honolulu?  To find out ... buy the next issue at your favorite store!"  But, as we now know, that "next issue" never came out, and readers never did find out whether anything went wrong in Honolulu or if David and Eileen finally got their happily ever after.  Of course, this being a "soap opera," there is no doubt that the couple would have faced trouble in paradise!

Now, I found it strange that these stories did not give credit to any of the creators, although the artists were identified in some of the panels as A. Martinez and J. Zuniga - which is a funny coincidence, as "A. Martinez" also happens to be the name of the actor who played Cruz Castillo on the NBC soap, Santa Barbara!  Funny coincidence.  So, I started digging around online, and I discovered that all of the stories in Soap Opera Love were reprints - they were stories that were pulled from other romance comics previously published by Charlton years prior.  While it was evidence that the single issue stories were reprints, other than the whole Jewish-Irish conflict between the families, I did not realize that the David and Eileen serial was also a reprint.  It seems these stories were originally published in a Charlton book called Just Married, and that the serial ran for nine issues (93-101) - meaning that readers actually DID find out what happened to the young couple when they went off to Honolulu (which means if I want to know, I need to go track down those issues!).  I also found that A. Martinez was a rather popular artist at Charlton, having provided art not just for the romance titles, but also some of the war titles as well.

 

***NOTE - yes, I did see the blurb under the indicia on the first page of each issue that read, "ALL EDITORIAL MATERIAL HEREIN CONTAINED WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN, AND IS REPRINTED FROM, PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT 1970, 1973 BY CHARLTON PUBLICATIONS, INC."  However, I did not make the connection that "Editorial Material" meant all of the stories.  Guess I know better now!

The single issue stories were rather hit or miss, and they were definitely a product of the time.  From the slang used by the characters, to the domination of men over women in each tale, it was evident the stories were not from the '80s.  "I Know The Man I Want to Love" in the first issue features a young woman who wants to marry someone rich and business-oriented; but when she falls for a man who seems to have nothing, she has to fight her feelings for him - only to finally give in and run into his arms, only to discover he was not the poor man she had thought he was!  "A Quiet Place to Cry" in the second issue finds a young woman running away after the mean she loves marries another woman.  In the big city, she is befriended by her neighbor, who goes out of his way to be kind to her.  He is an artist, reluctant to see himself as a successful one - but she convinces him to try, and she even manages to take his art to a whole new level, right along with their budding relationship!  "Another Point of View" in the final issue is probably one of the most degrading stories when it comes to the view people take of women.  A happily married woman is thrilled at how men look at her when she goes out, especially at the pool.  As she begins to gain weight, she finds her husband's attention diverting to another woman, whose own husband is no catch.  She eventually starts dieting and exercising, slims down, and regains her husband's attention and love, which is all she wants.  I found this story to be distasteful, insomuch as it promotes solely outward beauty as the only thing needed to keep a husband's attention - for me, if that's the only thing that keeps him at home, then you need to get rid of him and find someone who loves you for you, not your outward appearance!  "Till Death Do Us Part," the second story in the final issue, was a bit more unique.  It deals with a woman who becomes so overcome with fear that her husband may have a heart attack and die like his father that she tries to prevent him from doing anything that might exert his heart, to the point it is an obsession.  She must learn to overcome the fear and live life to its fullest without worrying every second about what could happen.  (Side note - there is a character in this story called Dr. Timmons - which is the last name of Keith Timmons, yet another character from the NBC soap Santa Barbara.  Interesting the connections to that one soap from just three issues of this comic!)

Ah, well.  Reprints or not, the saga of David and Eileen, while a bit contrived by today's standards, was actually beautifully drawn and well-written (for its time), and definitely fit the right kind of theme for a soap opera, and as such, was the perfect fit for a title called Soap Opera Love.  And with my appetite properly whetted by these first three parts, I am desperate to go out there and find those nine issues of Just Married so I can get their complete story!  Because, let's face it - what's worse than having a soap opera start a story, and then just leave you hanging right in the middle without ever resolving the tale!

RATING:  8 servings of potato pancakes with apple sauce out of 10 for taking a chance on a different soap opera format and serving up a couple who you can't help but fall in love with!