Amourous Education SPARKLING LOVE "Written in the Stars"

Normally, Our Amourous Education Stories Involve Students or Teachers...

...but in this case, it's a school office worker who hangs with students in her spare time!

Illustrated by Sid Lazarus and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Avon's Sparkling Love #1 (1950) appeared elsewhere that same month!

The contents for the entire comic were also bound in Avon's newest romance pulp magazine...

...Sparkling Love Stories as "32 pages of romance stories illustrated in full color" to go with the prose love tales with spot illustrations in black and white.

(Luckily for them, pulp magazines and comic books were the same size!)

Next Week:

More High School/College Hi-Jinks!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

Amorous Education FIRST LOVE ILLUSTRATED "I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club"

If that title doesn't get your attention, nothing will...

...and it wasn't even the cover-featured story in that issue of Harvey's First Love Illustrated!

Surprisingly,  this story from First Love Illustrated #13 (1951) wasn't one of the tales mentioned in Fredric Wertham's anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent (1954)!

Tales of scandalous "sex clubs" pop up every so often during periods of sexual repression such as the 1950s usually in local media looking for a sensationalistic story.

You'll note the tale is presented from scans of the original artwork, not the printed comic.

Unfortunately, every copy of the comic we could find is "slabbed" (encased in plastic) to increase it's resale value to the owner.

The fact it renders the comic unreadable is, sadly, secondary to most people.

(The concept of "slabbing" was developed for trading cards which don't have interiors.

The "collector mentality" of dealers adapted the idea to comics and magazines which do have readable interiors that, after being encased in plastic, are no longer accessible!

And removing the comic from the casing lowers the resale value!)

Illustrated by noted good-girl artist Bob Powell (who also did a number of heroine strips including Cave Girl), the writer of this torrid tale is unknown.

Next Week:

More High School/College Hi-Jinks!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

Amorous Education CAMPUS ROMANCES "What College Failed to Teach Me"

The Older Man/Younger Woman Trope Gets an Added Boost...

...with a never-reprinted story that involves (potentially) incest!

Can you tell this is a pre-Comics Code Authority story?

Illustrated by Ed Waldman and scripted by an unknown writer, this tale from Avon's Campus Romances #2 (1949) is meant for an older audience (late teen/early adult) audience than romance comics from the mid-1950s onward!

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Yet Exactly What We'll Present!

But...

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

Halloween HeartBreak WORLD OF FANTASY "Strange Wife of Henry Johnson!"

Welcome to our final Countdown to Halloween 2024 tale...

...as we look at the never-reprinted tale behind this incredibly-misleading (but atmospheric), never-reprinted Bill Everett cover!

That means no one has seen this story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #4 (1956)...except you...for almost seven decades!

So she's not a witch...but an alien!

I have the feeling the cover was done before the Comics Code Authority began its' stranglehold on what was left of the comic book industry, but frugal editor Stan Lee didn't want it to go to waste, so he had an unknown writer along with artist John Forte take the basic plot and drop the supernatural element, replacing it with sci-fi!
It's still a nice tale of "love conquers all", eh?

Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present, But We Guarantee That...

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

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

Support True Love Comics Tales

Visit Amazon and Order...

Gothic Tales of Haunted Love
Paid Link

Halloween HeartBreak THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED! "Bridegroom, Come Back!"

" 'Til Death Do Us Part..." Takes on a Whole New Meaning...

...during the Halloween season, when the barriers between this life and the next one blur!

Steve (SpiderMan/Doctor Strange) Ditko did very few romance-themed stories during his half-century in comics.

So whenever one pops up, we take note of it, such as this tale from Charlton's This Magazine is Haunted #18 (1954).
As for who wrote it, the author is likely Charlton's go-to scripter Joe Gill, but we can't confirm it.

Next Week:

Our Final Countdown to Halloween 2024 Contribution

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

And Now...a Word from Our Sponsor...

Support True Love Comics Tales

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Steve Ditko Archives Vol 1

Strange Suspense

(Which reprints this story)

Paid Link

Halloween HeartBreak GOTHIC TALES OF HAUNTED LOVE "Crush"

Just When You Believe American Romance Comics in General...

...and Gothic Romance Comics in Particular, Died Out, Along Comes a Kool Anthology of Them!

Scripted by Janet Hetherington, rendered by Ronn Sutton, and colored by Bekka Kinzie, this tale from Bedside Press' Gothic Tales of Haunted Love is a wild variation on the "handsome widowed sea captain and the beautiful virginal governess" plot that was a classic Victorian romance trope which still has a happy ending, even without the sea captain...or perhaps due to not having the sea captain!

Next Week:

Another Tale of Out-of-This-World-Love!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Gothic Tales of Haunted Love

Halloween HeartBreak WEB OF EVIL "Face from Hell"

This is one time you really can't judge a book by it's cover!

...and only True Love will provide the ability to those whose eyes will not see to discern the Truth!

Illustrated by Golden Age/Silver Age workhorse Charles Nicholas and scripted by an unknown writer, this sordid story from Quality's Web of Evil #11 (1954) could've benefited with an extra page to really show the demise of the demon!
After all, it was published in a horror comic, not a romance comic!

Next week:

We Don't Know Which Terrifying Tale We'll Run...Yet!

But We Do Know...

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

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

And now a word from out sponsor...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales

Visit Amazon and Order...

Gothic Tales of Haunted Love
Paid Link