It's 1963, and a newly resurgent Marvel Comics is desperate to turn their characters into popular household names! They say the first rule of success is "fake it 'til you make it," and that's just what Marvel did here with one of their teenage characters, a D-list teen queen who was not then on anyone's radar, and never would be. Why not just PRETEND she's a national obsession?


Here she is, the teen-age tornado herself, Kathy Carter, being fawned over by the biggest pre-Beatles stars in the whole world, in a comic book that seems to have personally experienced every shock and trauma of the past sixty years. Reading copies, gang. They're cheap.


In case you're unfamiliar with the startlingly original teenagers of "Kathy", here they are now. Kathy "Patsy Walker" Carter, her boyfriend Rick Boring-McAverageguy, and Kathy's rival, spoiled rich girl Liz "Great Value Veronica Lodge" Hilton.


"Simple" is how most everyone would describe your bust, Kathy.


I'm pretty sure "getting to second base" isn't going to make Liz jealous, but Rick is willing to give it a shot!


Turns out that day was also Record Store Day, which means Kathy gets to shell out forty dollars for reissues of LPs she already owns! That always cheers ME up, says the guy that owns our local record store.


Huh? Wha - what's happening? Is this "To Catch A Predator?" No, wait, that's forty years away. Is this "Candid Camera?"


Oh my golly, Kathy is Citadel Record's Fan Of The Year - with all the fame that goes with it! Every bit of that well-known fame! Who is Citadel Records, again?


You can tell it's 1963 (or earlier) because a couple who are just hanging out at home while formally dressed is told to "get dressed" EVEN MORE.


Part Two: Kathy Triumphs Over Frank Sinatra, by saying "say, aren't you Joey Bishop?"


I think that's supposed to be Dean Martin, but without seeing a drink in his hand, who knows?


It's a veritable whirlwind of fame as Jack Parr and Ed Sullivan battle over Kathy while Sophia Loren compliments America's teens. Meanwhile Jackie Kennedy, only days away from that tragedy in Dallas, smiles her way through another one of the First Lady's endless series of mandatory public appearances.


Sure, everybody can identify Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. But is your midcentury fame identification game up to naming that bandleader and his lead singer? Why, it's Xavier Cugat and Abbe Lane. Fun fact, Cugat would later marry the famed, ubiquitous "cuchi-cuchi girl" Charo, who, unlike everyone else seen in this comic book, is still alive!


You can tell Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace are pleased by the ever so subtle lifting of one eyebrow and the slight jingle of one of Rainier's medals.


It's fun to hang out with movie stars and everything, but I wouldn't get between Liz Taylor and Richard Burton for a million dollars, and I DEFINITELY wouldn't let Burton anywhere near my teenage daughter. Or my liquor cabinet.


And of course it was all a dream. Now quick, to the record store! Keep buying records until your money runs out! (this last comment sponsored by Record Store Day and the guy that owns the local record store)

And that's what things would be like if Kathy was a celebrity. But fame itself was a part of the Marvel universe. Longstanding character Millie The Model was of course herself a famous person within this fictional world, leading to plenty of cross-promotional situations, like, say, this one here.


You might think crossover events in comics were a desperate ploy dreamed up in the 1980s to try and goose sales, but crossover events have been desperate ploys since the first time the Human Torch battled the Sub-Mariner forty years before. Here we see Millie The Model lending some of her amazing star power to try and rescue some of Marvel's less successful teen and romance titles. Did it work? Well, let's just say you won't be seeing Millie meet "My Girl Pearl" any time soon. Meanwhile, Kathy and her parents are off to New York City, where Kathy plans to stalk her idol!


"I'm gonna find some way to see Millie The Model! Maybe I'll get a clue by reading this comic book that I happen to be appearing in right at this moment!"


New York City, 1963 - just at the brink of that thirty year period in which the idea of letting your teenager wander alone in the city would be an unthinkable nightmare. Hurry Kathy, the urban decay is going to start any minute now!


TWO potted plants outside the entrance? SUCH GLAMOUR!! And obviously this professional doorman isn't going to believe your silly story about being Millie's sister. Even though you and Millie are drawn exactly alike.


Oh look, another celebrity, it's Cary Grant, what's he doing hanging out with comic book characters? Well, he was doing a lot of LSD at the time. Look it up, kids!


Rule one of the Millie The Model Fan Club is that you ALWAYS wear your Fan Club Button to prove your loyalty at the drop of a hat.


And for the rest of the afternoon Kathy tries various hairbrained schemes to get past the doorman, until the doorman just lets this complete obsessed stranger into the building and up to Millie's apartment, which is absolutely not how "doorman" is supposed to work. Don't count on a big tip THIS Xmas, buddy.


Well, if *I* know teen-agers, I'll bet she's telling elaborate lies about the wild, hedonistic parties and motorcycle street gang assaults she barely survived alongside her new boyfriend who's from Canada that none of them have ever met. What a teen-age tornado that Kathy is! Now go buy some records.

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