Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: American Comics Group, ogden whitney, Richard E. Hughes, Romance Comics

1954's "I Sold My Baby" in Confessions of the Lovelorn, Up for Auction

Seemingly part of a final act of Pre-Code defiance on the part of ACG, Confessions of the Lovelorn #52 hit newsstands right before the CMAA was announced.

"ACG's brief flirtation with grim, sensationalistic stories remains one of the great mysteries of comic book history," noted Michelle Nolan in her indispensable Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics.  We've already covered two of the issues from that "brief flirtation", Romantic Adventures #49 and #50, and Confessions of the Lovelorn #52 is another of these from precisely the same period.

Few publishers were better at navigating the moral panic era of the mid-1950s than Richard E. Hughes' American Comics Group, so this brief mid-1954 flirtation is indeed unusual.  A look at the timeline indicates that these changes were, oddly enough, also a part of a line-wide rebranding effort that actually began with Confessions of the Lovelorn #52, which hit newsstands in late June 1954. In the romance titles, these stories correspond with title changes from Lovelorn to Confessions of the Lovelorn, and from Romantic Adventures to My Romantic Adventures.

At the same time, Adventures into the Unknown got a branding facelift to feature "The Unknown" in the logo, and leaned away from horror and into science fiction.  Similarly, Forbidden Worlds lost its "Exploring the Supernatural" tagline in August 1954 and reemerged ten months later with the tagline "Stories of Strange Adventure" with the Comics Code era underway.

Overall, the timeline indicates that Hughes understood the sorts of changes that would be necessary to survive this year well in advance of the September 1954 announcement of the formation of the Comics Magazine Association of America.  Likely around the time of the April 1954 public Senate hearings that focused on comic books, Hughes began to make his survival plans.

Notably, the timeline also indicates that he had made all his moves in advance of the September 1954 CMAA announcement.  The title rebrands were done, and the last issue of the supernatural horror title Out of the Night hit newsstands in August.  The "brief flirtation with grim, sensationalistic stories" in the romance titles also concluded with the issues on the newsstands in August.  It seems relatively clear that Hughes wanted to clear his decks before that CMAA announcement, and in that context this final burst of sensationalistic romance stories seems like an uncharacteristic last act of defiance before what Hughes knew was coming.

It's also possible that Hughes used the stark visual contrast in the look and nature of his line pre- and post-CMAA announcement to assure industry partners that he had prepared his line for survival into the future.  Admittedly, it's still a mystery, but there's a copy of part of this ACG mystery up for auction in the 2024 February 29 – March 1 Golden Age Romance Featuring Fox Comics & Comic Art Showcase Auction #40258.

Confessions of the Lovelorn #52 (ACG, 1954) Condition: VG-. First issue of the title, formerly Lovelorn. Drawn with a 3-D effect. Ogden Whitney "I Sold My Baby" cover. The staples are popped from the back cover, and there is some staining. Overstreet 2023 VG 4.0 value = $130.

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