Swinging '70s Stories YOUNG ROMANCE "The Swinger in 'Rise, Love, Rise!"

Yesterday, We Met...

..an advocate of the "free love" movement, who an engaged woman thought was trying to steal her fiancee!

(She wasn't!)

At the end of that story, Lily was seen riding off in someone's car...

Sadly, there was no "next chapter"!

After this two-story premiere in DC's Young Romance #170 (1971), Lily Martin never graced the pages of another comic book...not even in reprint!

Since editor Dick Giordano left the book after this issue, replaced by Dorothy Woolfolk, I suspect she was responsible for not continuing a series that didn't fit her editorial vision.
Usually, DC's editors would find a way to reuse already-purchased material, but a cursory examination of Woolfolk's run doesn't show any stories that could've been reworked versions of already-written/illustrated tales!

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We Revisit One of Our Previous Topics with All-New Material!

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

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Best of DC Romance Comics

Swinging '70s Stories YOUNG ROMANCE "Michelle: Love is a Swinger!"

This Month's Final Example of 1970s Romance Comics...

...is actually both a finale to a multi-part series we ran last year and the premiere of a new series!

As you might have guessed, this never-reprinted story from DC's Young Romance #170 (1971) just introduced DC's new example of "free love", Lily Martin...

...whose first solo adventure followed (after a couple of reprinted stories) in this very same oversized (64-page) issue!

And, that (also never-reprinted) tale will follow...tomorrow!

Swinging '70s Stories TENDER LOVE STORIES "My Kind of Music!"

Motorcycle, guitar, long hair, fringed jacket...

...yep, this Don Heck/Joe Sinnott cover superbly-portrays a 1970's version of a "bad boy"!

Long-time pros Jack Katz, Werner Roth, and John Tartaglone illustrated this never-reprinted tale from Skywald's Tender Love Stories #1 (1971).

Next Week:

Our Final Swinging 70s Story!

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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Swinging '70s Stories OUR LOVE STORY "Game of Triangles"

Though told from the viewpoint of the male protaganist...

...this story was, allegedly, written by one of the few female writers in Bronze Age comics.

Was it?

Read, and judge for yourself...

This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #20 (1972) was scripted by Joy Hartle and illustrated by George Tuska and Paul Reinman.

Most people believe "Joy Hartle" was a pseudonym for Gary Freidrich.

"Joy" had only two stories to her credit, both romance tales that appeared almost simultaneously in late 1972-early 1973.

And, in fact, Gary's sister-in-law was named Joy Hartle!

But Gary was working steadily for Marvel at this point, scripting Captain America and Sgt Fury, as well as co-creating the motorcycle-riding Ghost Rider and a new version of the Frankenstein Monster (both with Mike Ploog)!

So why the pen-name?

The only thing I can think of is that these stories were done during the brief period in 1971-72 when Gary had left Marvel to work at the short-lived Skywald Publishing, and were "inventory" stories used to fill out what would've been all-reprint issues of the dying romance comics line.

BTW, the cover-featured tale has one of the worst romance comics covers I've ever seen...

Art by Alan Weiss & Frank Giacoia with retouching by Marie Severin and John Romita

Heck, the guy looks more like a stalker than a lover...

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Yet Exactly Which 1970s Story We'll Present!

But...

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

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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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Swinging '70s Stories JUST MARRIED "Why am I Here?"

This Month, We're Taking Romance Stories from Different Publishers...

...with one unifying aspect: the fact they're from the 1970s, the twilight of the genre!

This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Just Married #74 (1970), written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, takes the "misunderstanding the situation because of lack of information" trope to a new level.
Only the superb artwork makes the silly plotline tolerable!

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Yet Exactly Which 1970s Story We'll Present!

But...

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...

Modern Masters Volume Five

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

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