Nice work. The language got dialed up to 11 on this one! I went and re-read the whole thing again. One thing I missed: Why doesn’t he answer her facebook?

Excellent question, romance fan. The Stan Lee-type answer: I lost track of the premise and simply forgot.

Since finishing, I’ve read a bunch of Simon & Kirby romance stories of the late ’40s – early ’50s. Like any pioneers, their work has flaws: dated social messages, lots of “love at first sight”, domesticity being women’s primary value, implausible leaps of logic and short-sighted happy endings. That being said, romance comics wouldn’t’ve lasted for generations if they didn’t do something right.

Just this week I stumbled on a much better execution of my story. “Show Off!” appears in a 1949 issue of “Young Love” by Crestwood Publications (“Show Off!” Young Love Aug-Sep. 1949: 27-34. Print.). The female protagonist narrates the story of going out with an arrogant twit. Unlike my story, the Simon & Kirby plot moves logically, characters are clearly defined, loose ends get resolved. Wish I looked at this before writing “School Fight!”. Hopefully I’ll live long enough to apply this lesson to a future story.