ACTUAL CONFESSIONS "Summer Romance"

It's summertime, so when better to present a tale about  summer romance?

But, I have to ask, was "Heartbreak Harry" a nickname for a "love 'em and leave 'em cad?

The "bad boy's" name in the story is "Jim"!

Jim would be seeking "friends with benefits" rather than "happily married" status if this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Actual Confessions #14 (1952) was created today!

As was common in comics "back in the day", the cover (by penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Gil Kane) and story (by artist Jay Scott Pike) were likely created weeks if not months apart,

Editor Stan Lee would sometimes come up with an idea, have a cover done based on it, then he (or another writer) would flesh out the concept for the story's illustrator (usually someone other than the cover artist) weeks or even months later, resulting in inadvertently changing story elements between the two!

Next Week:

We don't know what we'll present..yet,

but we can guarantee that...

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

And now a word from our sponsor...

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

MY LOVE "Only Myself to Blame!"

When Last We Left Our Heartbroken Heroine...

...well, who can tell us better than Stan (the Man) Lee, himself?

And now, on with the only two-part tale in Marvel romance comic history...

Sal Buscema took over on inking from John Romita Sr, but otherwise the creative lineup stayed the same for this sequel tale from Marvel's My Love #4 (1969).

Oddly though both this and it's lead-in story were reprinted a couple of times, they were never reprinted either in the same issue or back-to-back issues!

BTW, the cover above says "My Love #38".

It's actually the cover from the previous story, reversed.

This chapter of the two-parter wasn't given the cover, so we decided to run the rather nice John Romita Sr piece as our header.

BTW, when reprinted, this tale didn't appear in My Love #38 or #39!

It appeared in Our Love Story #22 (1973), three years before the first part of the story was reprinted in My Love #38 (1976)!

Next Week...

We don't yet know what we'll present!

But, we can guarantee that...

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

(Yeah, we say that a lot...but it's true!)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

Marvel picked some of the best love comics from the 60s and 70s.

Collects Love Romance #89 and #101-104; My Love #2, #14, #16 and #18-20; Teen-Age Romance #77 and #84, Our Love Story #5; and Patsy Walker #119.

MY LOVE "Man I Must Not Love!"

Besides featuring the work of three of Silver Age Marvel's artistic legends...

...this is the opener of the only two-part tale Marvel's romance line ever published!
(DC did numerous soap opera-style serialized romance strips, but Marvel never did!)

Scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by John Buscema, and inked by John Romita (Sr), the cover-featured tale from Marvel's My Love #3 (1970) has been reprinted a couple of times...but, oddly without the sequel story being reprinted either in the same issue, or even the next issue!
Weird, eh!

Next Week...

The "Soul-Stirring Sequel"!

We can guarantee that...

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

(Yeah, we say that a lot...but it's true!)

And now a word from out sponsor...
Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

Marvel's picked some of the best love comics from the 60s and 70s.

Collects Love Romance #89 and #101-104; My Love #2, #14, #16 and #18-20; Teen-Age Romance #77 and #84, Our Love Story #5; and Patsy Walker #119.

LOVE STORIES "Dumb Doll"

Usually, "dumb doll" refers to a scatterbrained ditz, but not in this story...

If anything, this lady is one of the smartest people in any room!

Though now politically-incorrect, "dumb" was commonly-used to mean "mute" or "unable to speak", whether from a birth defect, accident, or in some cases, deliberate mutilation.

The phrase "deaf and dumb" (a condition which was far more common) indicated being unable to hear and speak!

When this never-reprinted tale was published in DC's Love Stories #151 (1973), we didn't have technology to assist in regaining speaking communication like THIS.

Writer Robert Kanigher, was a social justice warrior before they were identified as such.

His intentions were noble and he tried his best, but was a little too heavy-handed.

We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present Next Week!

But We Can Guarantee That...

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

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

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DUMB

Living Without a Voice

HEART THROBS "I Know My Love!"

The story we presented yesterday, "Summer Love", had previously-appeared under this cover...

..in DC's Heart Throbs #63 (1960).

When it was reprinted in 1970, the title was also changed.

(DC tended to do this more than Marvel.)

It drives comics historians nuts trying to match up different printings of stories!

John Romita Sr was doing a lot of romance comics work for DC during this period, before leaving to go to Marvel in early 1965.

You'll note that, besides the usual "updating" of hair and clothing, the art in the reprint version shown yesterday is "extended" on each page because the original pages had a printed header across the top of the art area.

The reprints eliminated the headers, and the art was extended either along the top or bottom of the page, depending on which way would be easier and/or faster to do.

As we showed HERE, this "updated reprinting" became a common practice on romance comics until the genre all-but died out in the late 1970s.

Publishers would do a new 6-12 page lead story and use retouched reprints to fill out the book.

Editors felt that:

a) the plots were relatively timeless.

b) updating the art was cheaper than totally-redrawing the story. 

c) the artists were better-utilized doing stuff that sold better (like superheroes).
d) the audience for romance comics, unlike superhero comics, totally-changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the "old" plots.

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

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

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Check out the

True Love Comics Tales™

Comics Collectibles Shop

GIRLS LOVE STORIES "Summer Love"

Here's some light beach reading now that summer's under way...

...in fact, it's so light, there's no dialogue or captions!

Not a single, solitary word, except the title...

This silent story was re-presented from DC's Girls' Love Story #155 (1970).
The writer is unknown, but the art is by penciler John Romita Sr and inker Bernard Sachs!
You may wonder how and why the artist who was then drawing Spider-Man for Marvel would do a romance comic story for rival DC?

If you come back
Tomorrow
I'll explain!

And now a word from out sponsor...

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True Love Comics Tales™

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