Beach Read CURSE OF THE MacINTYRES "Chapter II: Twisted Love"

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

...after her elderly father passed away with his last words being a cryptic "hide the journal" and "MacIntyre Curse", Rachel MacIntyre is offered a new home at the family's ancestral castle in Scotland by her handsome, rich, widower cousin Blair.

When she arrives in Scotland from London, Rachel is warned by local townspeople that MacIntyre Castle is dangerous and only by paying double the usual fee can she find someone willing to take her and her luggage there.
She meets Blair's extremely-bright son Jamie and another cousin, Alfie, an eccentric dwarf as well as a surly, elderly couple who serve as housekeeper and handyman.
That night, she falls into an uneasy sleep, where she dreams of Blair kissing her!
But the kiss is intense, cutting off her breathing and she jolts awake to find someone trying to smother her with a pillow...

Cousin Blair is extremely...mercurial!

Is it possible he was the one who assulted Rachel...but doesn't remember doing so?
Is that the "MacIntyre Curse"?

To Be Continued...Tomorrow!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Showcase Presents

Secrets of Sinister House

...which reprints the four issues of Sinister House of Secret Love (including this one), but in black and white!

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Beach Read CURSE OF THE MacINTYRES "Chapter I: The Secret of the Castle"

Stretch out on your beach blanket under the umbrella, get a cool drink, and dive into...

...the premiere issue of DC's second gothic romance comic, The Sinister House of Secret Love #1 (1971)





To Be Continued...Tomorrow!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
This terrifying tale was written by Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Don Heck.

As we mentioned earlier, it was preceded the month before by another gothic romance comic, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love.
The two books were published on alternate months, providing eight monthly doses in a row of Gothic romance.
Sadly, sales on both were poor, and the books became standard horror titles with their fifth issues, though both included Gothic romances in those #5 issues since they had already been created and paid for before the decision to change format was made!

Bonus: The original art for the first page of the story.

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Showcase Presents

Secrets of Sinister House

...which reprints the four issues of Sinister House of Secret Love (including this one), but in black and white!

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Advice d'Amour LOVE DIARY & LOVE JOURNAL "Prescription for Happiness" & "SOS for Love"

You'll Note We're Combining Two Romance Counseling Features into One Post!

It's because of legendary artist John Buscema!

Though most of his romance comics stories were one-shots...

...along with one two-parter (as shown HERE and HERE), he did do two series of 2-3 page shorts!

Entitled "Prescription for Happiness" and "S.O.S. for Love", the shorts featured distressed lovers asking a counselor for advice, much like the licensed (and unlicensed) advisors we've been presenting in our Advice d'Amour tales!
Appearing in Orbit's Love Diary and Love Journal comics, the strips initially-featured rotating artists, but once Buscema took over, he stayed on both of them for the remainder of their runs, doing almost a dozen tales of woe!

Yes, the title on this one is "S.O.S. Love in Distress".

To be fair, this was the final strip in the final issue of Love Journal, so the editor can be forgiven for letting the incorrect header slip by!
After all, what were they going to do...fire him?
In a couple of cases, as Orbit was winding down operations just before cancellation, they took an "S.O.S. for Love" strip from the previous year like this one...

...and re-ran it as "Prescription for Happiness", just changing the logo and re-naming the counselor...without even redrawing him to match the other strip's host!

I guess they thought "PfH's" Ray Mann and "S.O.S.'s" Mark Ford were interchangeable!

Next Week

It's Time for the Annual Gothic Romance Beach Read, Running Monday Thru Friday!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Big John Buscema

Comics and Drawings

A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!

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Advice d'Amour MARY WORTH featuring TOM KANE

Comics' Best-Known Little Old Lady/Busybody Returns...

...with a never-reprinted compilation from her still-ongoing newspaper comic strip!

Appearing in the Standard Comics one-shot Major Hoople Comics (1943), this 1942 tale by "Dale Allen" (Co-creators writer Allen Saunders and artist Dale Connor) introduced Connie Barclay, who ends up marrying ongoing character Tom Kane, and the two then fade from the series.

Ironically, Dale Connor left the strip shortly after this.
Ken Ernst, the longest-running illustrator on the strip began his run, which would continue until he passed away in 1985.
As we mentioned, the series continues to this day, one of the few to survive from the 1930s to the present without a break!
Check out the current Mary Worth strip HERE! and a cool article about the series (with timeline) HERE!

Next Week:
Another Annoying Busybody Offers Love Advice!
And We Can Say...

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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True-to-Life Adventures of

MARY WORTH
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Advice d'Amour MR ANTHONY'S LOVE CLINIC "I Thought You Were Single"

We've Met This Real-Life Romance Know-It-All Before...

...as seen HERE, but you won't see him this time until near the end of this sorrowful tale, when he'll dispense his "Advice d'Amour"!

This never-reprinted tale from Hillman's Mr Anthony's Love Clinic #3 (1950) showed the title's namesake knew his stuff...at least when it came to matters of the heart!

Next Week...

Another Busybody Who Believes He/She Knows What's Best for Our Love Lives!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

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