Tales Twice Told 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 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 in yesterday's story, the art in the reprint version 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 Re-Present Our Annual Summertime "Beach Read" Book-Length Gothic Romance Novel...

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

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And Now a Woed From Out Sponsor (Us)...

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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics
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It's the Season for Lovin' 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...

We re-present this silent story for your perusal from DC's Girls' Love Stories #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!

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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics
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Business Before Love? TENDER LOVE STORIES "I Wanted the World" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover Art by Don Heck and Frank Giacoia
Scheming, manipulative Crystal Larson has been bed-hopping (in a PG-13 manner) to move herself up the social and financial ladder...

This never-reprinted tale from Skywald's Tender Love Stories #2 (1971) shows that what's good for the goose is equally-good for the gander!

Next Week:
We're Not Sure What We'll Present, But We Guarantee That...
Youll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!

And now a word from our sponsor...

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Heart Throbs

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Business Before Love? TENDER LOVE STORIES "I Wanted the World" Part 1

When most women describe themselves as "hard-working"...

...I don't think this is quite what they mean!

But then, Crystal Larson isn't planning to go though the whole "nose to the grindstone" routine...

Looks like Crystal's planning to move up in the corporate structure...as we shall see...

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

Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Jack Katz (with some redrawing by Skywald's art director Ross Andru along with inking by Mike Esposito and Frank Giacoia), this never-reprinted tale from Skywald's Tender Love Stories #2 (1971) shows a more 1940s-50s mindset than a tale written at the dawn of the Womens' Lib movement should!

BTW, our sincere thanks to the amazing Kracalactaka for the scans from this incredibly-hard to find comic!

And now a word from our sponsor...

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One Book Stand MY LOVE / OUR LOVE STORY "Look of Love!"

On One of the Social Media Sites Where We Post Links to This Blog...

...fellow comics pro Steve Hogan aka Acid Keg Comics posted the original art of this romance comics cover attributed to John Romita Sr, which Romita himself notes "Done in the French Romance style"

I wondered why it would be referred to that way, so I dug up the story the cover promotes...

The illustrator, Enrique Montserratt, was actually a Spanish artist whose work appeared, thanks to multi-lingual syndication services, in most European countries...including France and England!
No doubt Romita (or someone else at Marvel) saw his French or British work and offered him an assignment of a Stan Lee script.
Sadly, whether it was due to distance, language difficulties, time constraints, or who-knows-what, this tale from Marvel's My Love #12 (1971) was Montserratt's only work for Marvel (or any American publisher!)

Getting back to the cover, here's the printed version...

Note the second circular caption on the right ("I Need Him--") and the surprinted text "Don't Dare Miss--" have apparently fallen-off the original art! 

When the tale and cover were reprinted a couple of years later in Marvel's Our Love Story #26 (1973), they were reprinted without the usual "updating" of hair and fashions!
In fact, the interior art wasn't even re-colored...which was even rarer!

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Yet Exactly Which Story We'll Present!

But, We Guarantee...

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

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Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

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

"It Happened at Woodstock," "My Heart Broke in Hollywood," "Love on the Rebound!"

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.

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Romance on the Range LOVE DIARY "Big City Girl"

It's Culture Shock ...and More...When a Woman Raised in the Frenetic Urban Jungle...

...gets literally thrown, against her will, into the pastoral countryside!

Written by Dorothy Woolfolk and illustratd by Mort Leav, this never-reprinted story from Orbit's Love Diary #12 (1951) presented the point of view that dwellers of the crowded canyons of concrete were somehow "less" than the "salt of the earth" types who lived out among farm animals and miles of vegetation!

Next Week:

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

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...

Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

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