I’ve been reading a lot of old timey romance comics lately thanks to the wonderful site Comic Book Plus, and previously shared three stories that dealt with the issue of weight—1950’s “Too Fat for Love,” 1949’s “Was I Too Fat to Be Loved?,” and 1952’s “Too Fat For Love” —only one of which didn’t demand that its heroine slim down in order to be seen as worthy of a happy ending. But I’ve now come across a fourth weight-themed story, this one so mean and nasty and insulting that it makes the flaws of those other stories seem minor by comparison.

“I Was a Fat Girl” appeared in Love Diary #13 (February 1951), and starred 18-year-old Nancy, who as drawn when the story begins, didn’t seem to have weight issues yet … well, except for on the splash page, which made sure to show her at her heaviest.

No, Nancy’s main problem at first seemed to be her sister Pat, who stole every boyfriend Nancy ever brought home. After Nancy’s latest boyfriend is snatched, she figures, oh, what’s the point, and spends the night with a good book and box of candy.

In despair over the loss of that latest boyfriend, Nancy swears off dating and instead hangs out with her girlfriends for after-work dinners. When they’re not available, she’ll head out alone to catch a movie and enjoy a late-night treat.

Well, all this leads to her gaining weight, which doesn’t bother her, as she’ve given up caring about men, until the day Clyde Morgan goes to work in her office, and one of Nancy’s girlfriends tells her that the guy has been talking about her, saying that “you’d be a beauty if you lost some weight.”

Which gets Nancy thinking …

… and then more than just thinking. She resolves to diet for three months to try to get her man.

Her beau-stealing sister Pat is having none of it, though, tempting Nancy with pancakes, while one of her coworkers tells her that “some people don’t look well thin.”

And when Nancy gets invited to join Clyde at the Harvest Festival, that coworker continues with the sabotage, telling her that she’d better “eat a couple of square meals for a change.”

After dancing with Clyde, Nancy determines that “now I know it was worth it, going on that diet and sticking to it.” But the next night, with Clyde coming over to the house, Pat continues her undermining ways, telling Nancy of a movie star who died because of her diet!

And Nancy’s mother is no better, telling her to “stop this diet nonsense” and eat more mashed potatoes.

All this pressure sends Nancy to her room in tears, which gives Pat an opportunity to wander off with Clyde once he arrives, sending Nancy straight to the food, which Mom happily enables.

After this slip, and after Clyde sees Nancy the following day at the office and lets her know he wants to get together with her alone that night, her resolve returns.

And when Clyde does get Nancy alone, she get the happy ending she’d been hoping for all along—Clyde proposes.

But here’s where the story gets uglier. Because this proposal means she “knew at last the glorious feeling of being loved because I was attractive.”

That’s right! Who would want to be loved for being smart, or witty, or kind, when you can be loved because you’re attractive? Why, that’s the most glorious love of all!

Now that Nancy’s found her man, sister Pat immediately changes her tune, explaining that she’d been resentful because she was losing “my funny, fat sister.” She declares, “Mom and I are going to help you all we can from here on out.”

Yeah, right. Like that instant change of heart, in the third panel from the end, is believable.

And then comes the most demeaning panel of all, the final one, in which Nancy admonishes other overweight gals to take off the pounds. And why? “Because you’ll find that life can be truly wonderful, once you’ve licked the problem of being a lonely, unwanted … fat girl!”

That’s right, fat girls—for you, life can never be truly wonderful. If you don’t shed the pounds, you’re destined to be lonely and unwanted.

This was definitely the worst finale of any romance comic I’ve encountered on this theme so far. What a terrible story! What a horrible message to send!