Cultural norms change over time, and what's acceptable in one decade may not be acceptable in the next. This is, of course, how time works, and it would be foolish to expect societal behavior to remain frozen in place over the years, as frustrating as change may be to legions of stuffy cranks and reactionary fuddy-duddies. And of course if society didn't get new attitudes, we couldn't make fun of the old ones!


And if you want to examine society's attitudes there's no better place than the mass-market romance comic book, filled with cultural expectations about men and women and how they should behave around each other in all areas of then-modern life, whether it's the workplace, various social situations, or, uh, high school.


What school girl hasn't fallen in love with her young handsome English teacher? Sure, most of you get over it. But for this girl it's the real thing, honest! As we all know, teenagers are reliable, competent judges of their own emotional states, and they always make the best decisions on choices that can affect the rest of their lives.

Said nobody, ever.


Sure, he might turn out to be an old fossil, but you still need to jut those foundation garments out, girls! Maidenform built 'em that way for a reason!


It's feeding time at the zoo as the Hunk Store delivers today's slab of 100% prime beef. Simmer down, ladies!


Don't ignore Chuck, Julia! He's going all out to impress you - he even had a middle-aged man's head implanted into his shoulder, as was the fashion at the time!


The guy version of this finding-out-if-they're-attached tactic is to ask the girl "So, what does your boyfriend think about (whatever she happens to be doing at the moment)?" It's only slightly awkward - but it works!


Witness: the interior thoughts happening inside every teenage brain ever, regardless of the situation. That's right, everybody's laughing at you, you are the center of everyone's attention, you, the special person. So special.


Sorry Chuck, I can't take a ride with you, I need to spend a lot of time dreaming up painfully embarrassing scenarios. Which will give me a headache, so I'm not lying!


Mr. Dryden should spend less time ogling his girl students, and more time asking himself why that obviously middle-aged man with glasses behind Chuck is still in high school.


Solid advice from Dotty - forget about ruining that teacher's career and causing a scandal that will shake this town to its very foundations. Go see a movie with Chuck instead.


"C'mere, you beautiful hunk o' stuff"?? How did this comic book recreate our wedding vows with such precision??


It's a fact, the only way you can know for sure if you love one guy is by kissing another, completely different guy.


What's this? A romantic, potentially career-ending kiss between Mr. Dryden and Julia? But it's not his fault! It was the spell of the music! (they were doing an extended version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by The Police)


As a matter of fact, Mr. Dryden, I think you DO need to explain why this is so wrong. Both to Julia and to whoever wrote this comic.


I think Chuck understands things like forbidden romance and overstepping boundaries perfectly well, Julia.


Well, here come some of the faculty to act as chaperones, and here comes Mr. Dryden, to completely fail at chaperoning.


Look Julia, he's trying to come to grips with abusing his position of power as an educator. Not to compliment you on your smooching technique.


Here's the part that Dryden will be repeating in court to the judge. "Your honor, she told me she was eighteen, I swear!"


Well, take your pick Dryden, you can get fired for assaulting a student, or you can... get fired for assaulting a student. Your choice!


"Please sir, it's all my fault, my overpowering charms and devious feminine ways have rendered these two men incapable of controlling their actions!"


Let's just forget the whole thing, says the principal who won't even bother talking to the person who was actually hit. Just forget it, he said!


Revealing her double deception of both the principal and Chuck, it's obvious to everyone concerned that Julia is both manipulative and immature, unready for any sort of relationship, and now that's she's lost both the men in her life, she'll be forced to take a hard look at herself and do some growing up. Right?


Wrong! Here's Eliot Horace Dryden again, introduced by the student he just assaulted, ready and willing to flout convention and propriety, because he likes 'em barely legal!


Well whaddya know. Looks like this powerfully imbalanced couple is actually going to be a thing that happens, rather than a thing that is nipped in the bud by every responsible person within a fifty mile radius! And who knows, maybe this will be the one-in-a-hundred of these relationships that isn't a hormone-fueled mistake capitalized on by predatory adults who, for whatever reason, are unable to deal with other grownups. Here from the vantage point of our modern world, we may not fully appreciate the widespread acceptance of practices like getting hitched straight out of high school, and/or getting hitched straight out of high school to one of our high school teachers who'd been making goo-goo eyes at us all through English. And this being the modern world, this kinda thing going underappreciated is... perfectly fine.

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