My social enterprise romance, or, Another wild New York night

. . . with groceries. From Entertainment Weekly's homage to the fiftieth anniversary of romance comics:

What do romance comics have to do with social enterprise? A lot, mon frere and frerettes! For these books weren't just about tawdry lust; they were morality tales square in a tradition that went back through the Puritan era to medieval mystery plays and even sacred texts. Sure, the people making these comics were peddling kitsch and hustling for dollars, but they did so by creating stories, letter columns and Q&As that reinforced community values.

The genre was even a way in which commercial business worked to integrate African Americans into the economic & cultural mainstream. Below: the cover of Negro Romance #2, an early 1950s comic that was one of several of the genre I was fortunate to find when I collected comics as a kid:

For more on the early history of African American comics, check out this article by Tom Christopher, which includes the following ad announcing how one early entrepreneur planned to use his comic book publishing company to promote racial progress, historical awareness and social enlightenment. These are the unsung heroes of our time--the countless men and women who tried in small but significant ways to create a world others would not dare to imagine.