"YOUNG LOVE #74 from way back in June 1969!"
(clap clap clap clap clap)
"With us today is artist Nick Cardy, who drew what is overwhelmingly the most awkward cover scene ever to grace a comic book! It's a real work of art, folks! The nubile, emotionally distraught daughter with her breasts in her Father's lap, the pensive, thousand-yard stare of the father into the distance, legs crossed, arms frozen as if he was too embarrassed to move for fear of the discovery of a terrible, embarrassing secret. A true classic and I'm squirming just looking at it. How ever did you do it, Nick?"
"It wasn't easy. Presenting raw sexual imagery as something innocent and pure is a heck of a balancing act. Like most of my fellow artists in the biz we had a lot of experience sneaking questionable content past the CCA censors but the editor kept rejecting the preliminary sketches I sent him. He'd say: 'Too innocent! Not sexy enough! Too sexy, want to get me fired? Not enough innuendo! Too MUCH innuendo!' The cost of mailing all the artwork was nearly my ruin. We didn't have the internet back then. Human messengers actually risked life and limb running through busy New York streets to deliver the artwork on time! Some died, even, I'm told."
"But it was totally worth it! You had some stiff competition considering you were up against every comic published in the 1990s. All that hard work really paid off!"
"Yeah, I finally nailed the cover but I had to think about baseball a lot."
"Nick Cardy, folks!"
(clap clap clap clap clap)
The Organ Made Out of Cave
5 hours ago
Great post - hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI love those old comics that slid questionable content under the radar. Perhaps even more, I love looking at old comics and laughing Beavis & Butthead style at unintentionally racey covers and panels. I've posted on these a few times at Retrospace (here's one ).
As much as I love romance, that really is a tough cover to look at without feeling dirty.
ReplyDeleteI did a post about another father themed romance book. Though the art isn't as creepy, the text at the top of the cover is just so wrong.
http://sequentialcrush.blogspot.com/2009/06/happy-fathers-day.html
Where did you find those Cardy quotes by the way?
"Quotes"?
ReplyDeleteHaha, oops! I am tired and dense apparently! You were joking! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's the shading between her buttcheeks that makes it art.
ReplyDeleteBwahahahahahaha! Egad.
ReplyDelete