by Blogbot

Agonizing Love is a beautifully put together compendium of strips culled from the lost genre of romance comics. According to the volume’s curator and author, Michael Barson, an avid fan of retro-pop culture and a collector of all manner of flotsam and jetsam from days past, the first examples of the form were published in 1947. At the genre’s height, there were close to 150 different romance comics in print, with titles such as Lovelorn, Romantic Marriage, Lovers’ Lane, Bride’s Secrets, Boy Meets Girl, Heart Throbs, and Love Confessions. However, as the romance of the 1950s gave way to the pervasive climate of free love in the ’60s and ’70s, their popularity waned. The end of an era came with the final 126th edition of Young Love in 1977.

Below is a typical strip from Vol 2, #2 of Young Love (originally published in April 1950), which offers female readers – who were ever fearful of being left on the shelf – tips on how to up their popularity quotient in order to increase their dateability.

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Charley, Fabrizia, and Morgan

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I met a wonderful woman and love her very much. But, at the time of our meeting and for the first few years of our relationship, I was dealing with feelings of worthlessness, which led to a type of sexual addiction. I realize now because of all the sex addiction reality shows. I basically kept seeking sexual conquests to prove my own self worth. Never really realizing sex didn’t make you valuable to anyone. I wasn’t loyal. And she caught me in video chat mutual masturbation with an ex-girl friend during her pregnancy.

Our son is almost 3 now, and I don’t want him to be the silent victim of his messed up parents.

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Smythe and Aadie

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I’m 18 and a female. I’m lesbian and I’m extremely shy. In the town I live there aren’t many lesbians or anything like that. My problem is, I don’t know how to find out whether a girl I like is lesbian, or even how to find lesbians anywhere around here. How can you tell (without making a complete ass out of myself) whether a girl is lesbian? And if I finally work up the courage to go to a lesbian bar in a different city, how do you approach other lesbians?

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By SG’s Team Agony feat. Noir

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I have been married for almost four years now. I love my wife very much, but there is very little excitement in our marriage. At first I thought it was me, but no matter how much I try it doesn’t seem to change. Divorce seems to be the last thing on my mind. There are strip clubs that I think about going to, but have yet to make the trip.

I don’t know if she’s just clueless and has moved on, or if she’s flirting with me. I sometimes want to ask her, but then think if she moved on it could cause a big stink. Should I take a chance at excitement? And, if do, should it be a one time thing, or every so often? Or should I count my blessings and thank god we didn’t get caught in the past and move on?

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Squee

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I’m in a bind. I’ve been with this girl for about 3 years now, living together for around half of that, and we’re in our mid-twenties. The only thing unusual about that part is she moved across the country after graduating college to live with me.

Thanks,
Wasting Time in Denver

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Rydell and Atlea

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I’m 18, going to be 19 in a few months. I have been in relationships were there was a lot of controlling. My ex didn’t want me talking to certain people and especially had a problem when I would talk to my brother. Me and my brother are very close, and my ex felt my brother was going take me away from him. Now that me and him broke up it’s like I don’t have the same confidence and self-esteem I had before I was with him.

I find myself finding guys like him. Why is it hard for me to find a good guy? Sometimes I don’t know if I am straight. Sometimes I think I’m bi. Because of everything I have been through I find myself drinking a lot. Right now, I have a drinking problem but it’s so hard for me to stop. I drink my problems away, or so I think. I feel I’m in a place where no one would know or care where I’m at.

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Smythe, Leandra, and Casca

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I have a hell of an issue. I am engaged to be married in June of next year. I love my fiancé and he’s my best friend, but I have some internal conflicts that are itching at me.

Second, I do not consider myself straight. I am sexually attracted to women too, but I am not interested in looking for relationships with women. I’ve had urges to go to gay clubs and enjoy myself and meet some females. My fiancé knows this and wants me to do what makes me happy, but to me this is cheating, even when this is approved by him. Is it bad to want to want to drift to the opposite sex for a fun time and then return back home for comfort and love? How do I satisfy him and myself?

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