Confessions, Romances, Secrets, & Temp

by John Benson

A tour through the best of the romance genre of comics in the 1950s. Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations is the companion volume to John Benson's popular anthology of romance comics, Romance Without Tears . Published in the 1950s by Archer St. John, the stories in that volume were decidedly different from the typical romance comics, just as St. John was decidedly different from the typical comics publisher. This new book explores the background of these comics and their publisher, including a short biography, interviews with the editors and artists who worked for the company, and critical commentary.

In his research for Romance Without Tears , the author was left with a rich body of material about one of the few quality-driven 1950s comics publishers. St. John's reputation as a fair and honest publisher attracted many of the top artists of the day, including Matt Baker, Ric Estrada, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Joe Kubert, Bob Powell, Leonard Starr, and George Tuska. In addition to interviewing Estrada, Kubert, and Starr, Benson talks with several St. John staffers, including editor Irwin Stein, production man Warren Kremer, and editorial assistant Nadine King. Together they provide an engaging account of Archer St. John and the atmosphere he nourished to create these distinctive comics.

Confessions contains a time chart of every title published by St. John (all genres), showing issue number and date, and a complete, detailed checklist of all the company's romance comics, giving story titles, artist credits, and cross-indexing the extensive reprints. The book is lavishly illustrated with examples of the comics, and includes rare photos and other visuals from the period.

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2007

Reviews

[Nathan]

My girlfriend bought me this book for my birthday just a couple days ago, largely because I've been interested in the St. John Publishing Company for the past couple of months and needed to know a little more about some of the creators who worked there; specifically Dana Dutch. Conveniently enough, Dutch was one of the primary focuses of this book! Unfortunately, the man is still a bit of an enigma. If you're someone who is also interested in learning about Mr. Dutch, you won't find a whole lot of information here about what work he did exactly, or even how much of the uncredited St. John library was done by him.

However, the book does provide some insight into Archer St. John, the company's founder, and his star artist Matt Baker, both individuals who have been somewhat shrouded in mystery for a very long time. While there certainly are still more questions than answers, through the interviews conducted by Mr. Benson I was given a fairly solid characterization of both Archer and Baker, and even got a better feel for the kind of person Dutch was despite there being very little known about him.

The book brings some attention to a few of the company's non-comic forays, such as magazines and a line of novels, but these were never truly the focus and are somewhat grazed over. Which is a shame, because the more they were mentioned the more I wanted to know about them, and so little information exists about the St. John Publishing Company that I feel like there's a lot of stuff that will simply go unrecorded and ultimately be lost as the interviewees reach the end of their age.

Benson and his interviewees have a habit of coming off topic for long stretches of time, with a number of the creators being more interested in discussing aspects of their history outside of St. John Publications or pushing their current endeavors. This is to be expected, but so is the editing process that typically keeps the transcription of these interviews on track. There didn't seem to be enough of that.

Despite its tendency to lose focus, and a few sections in the end that drag for much too long, Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics is an invaluable resource for Golden Age historians and fans of St. John's publications.

[mr.fantasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitive- chocked full of insight and history on St. John and highlighting the company's distinguishing factor and importance in comics history. An essential comics history reference well-worth a saw buck. Also some great Chicago-related history and 'easter egg' map inside.

Considering the research category and genre (and the fact that most people associated are or will be dead and gone), it is unlikely that more information will ever surface. Therefore, in light of the above, the amount of information and story it offers in its 96 pages, and being a Golden Age comics fan and historian to some fair degree myself, Benson's book to my grading scale easily equals a 9.2 and necessary companion to St. John's romance offerings.

[John Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent bit of publishing history focussed on the romance comics published by St John publishing company. Interviews with editors & artists, a bio of the founder, etc, all nicely done. This is the company that also started Manhunt and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Mag and the discussion touches on them, sadly all too briefly. But what makes me ding this book a star is the way the author treats hackwork aimed at 12-year olds like great art. This attitude seems to be peculiar to comic book fans; I rarely come across it in pulp or mystery fandom. But what do you expect from people who move their lips when they read?

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. Two thirds of it was of interviews of those who worked at that company in the early fifties. It became an almost rashomon like story of what people remembered. The book peters out at the end with a some unconnected essays about the romance comics St John published. I liked it, it told me of a small niche in comics history I had no idea existed.