A Month of Matt Baker COWGIRL ROMANCES "Stars Fell on Arizona" / MOVIE COMICS "Mitzi in Hollywood Meets Sonny Sagebrush"

We've shown you reprints where fashions and hairstyles were updated...

but this story from Fiction House's CowGirl Romances #10 (1952) doesn't do that!

OK, pretty straightforward tale of a starry-eyed girl living near a movie location, getting to appear in the movie, meeting her screen idol, and not finding true love, right?

But, that's not how it started out!

This is actually a re-use of lovely Matt Baker art for an earlier ongoing series, Mitzi in Hollywood, about a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood!

This particular episode from Fiction House's Movie Comics #4 (1947) was about working as an extra on a Western movie set...and the original script was quite different...

Sadly, this was the final issue of Movie Comics, so no more Mitzi adventures ever appeared...except as heavily-modified reprints like our lead story!
Though Matt Baker is best-known as a cheesecake/glamour girl artist, he was, in fact, quite proficient in other genres, such as Westerns (as shown above), sci-fi, war, adventure, and even horror!
And yes, he did a lot of romance stories and covers, as you'll see all this month!

Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know Which Matt Baker Story We'll Present, But We Guarantee that...

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

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

DARLING ROMANCE "I Stole My Sister's Man"

Did a woman write this tale...

...a story about a sleazy, sordid, and slutty sibling trying to steal her sister's guy!

(and it's from Archie Comics, no less!)?
Read it, and tell us what you think!

The success of Simon & Kirby's Young Romance unleashed a horde of romance comic imitators  including this decidedly non-Archie title from Archie Comics.

These pre-Comics Code series featured stories that rivaled the true confessions-style magazines for naughtiness and radio soap operas for ridiculous plot twists, as this tale from Darling Romance #1 (1949) demonstrates.

The unknown writer (who must've believed they were being paid by the word) went under the pen-name "Mary Woods"!
But does it "read" like a man or woman wrote it?
What's your opinion???
OTOH, the art of Bill Fix (who did only romance stories during his short career in comics) is very distinctive...and he conveniently signed it!

Next Week:

We Have No Idea What We're Going to Run...Yet!

But We Guarantee...

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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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!

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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
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SUGAR BOWL COMICS "Ginny in 'I Hate Men!' "

Why can't hating men be fun?

This never-reprinted entry in the teen humor genre from Eastern Color's Sugar Bowl Comics #2 (1948) answers the question!

Ginny Lambert was the comic's lead character, and disappeared when the book was cancelled after only five issues!
None of the title's stories have ever been reprinted, and we intend to correct that oversight in the future.
Illustrated by Gerald "Jerry" Fasano, who worked in the business from 1949 to 1959, then disappeared.

Whether he passed away or simply switched to another profession is unknown, as is the scripter of this tale.

Next Week:

Our Final "I Hated Men" Tale is Fatal for One of the Characters!

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

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Laugh at Love on Valentine's Day MARGIE COMICS "Elusive Valentine!"

Here's a never-reprinted Valentine's Day treat...

...from almost 80 years ago years ago, featuring a teen humor character from the company that later became Marvel Comics!

Until the mid 1970s when Archie Comics became the sole "teen humor" publisher, every company had several titles with wacky teenage protagonists.
Margie, created/written/illustrated by Morris Weiss was typical of the genre...

• Irresponsible, impulsive teen (of either gender)!
• Usually-clueless object of affection!
• Constantly-irritated parents!
• An annoying younger sibling (usually of the opposite gender to the protagonist)!
• Various eccentric friends!

Initially a backup strip that floated to whatever humor comic needed a 5-6 page filler, she finally got her own title by taking over Timely's Comedy Comics in 1946 as of #35 and holding on to it until #50 in 1950, when the book became Reno Browne: Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
Margie went back to being a floating backup strip for another year before disappearing completely, never to be seen again!
This particular tale (one of the few comic tales I could find with "Valentine's Day" in the title that didn't deal with the famous gang-war massacre!) is from Timely's Margie Comics #37 (1946).

Happy Valentine's Day!

John Buscema Tales COWBOY ROMANCES "Cowgirls Don't Cry!"

Then-fledgling (now-legendary) artist John Buscema entered the comics field in 1949...

...and this tale, combining romance with a contemporary Western setting, was among the stories he illustrated that year!

This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Cowboy Romances #1(1949) was one of nine romance tales John illustrated that year.

Six of them were for Western romance comics!

(It was a very popular sub-genre at that point!)
BTW, John followed the established format for Atlas Comics' romance stories.
No full-page "splash" pages!
Six-panels to a page (except for the first page).
Lots of medium (from the waist up) and close-up panels.
When Buscema began working for other publishers, those restrictions no longer applied, and the artist we've come to know and admire burst forth...

Next Week, a 1950s story from John Buscema!

Witness his artistic evolution decade by decade!

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!