Advice d'Amour LOVE DIARY & LOVE JOURNAL "Prescription for Happiness" & "SOS for Love"

You'll Note We're Combining Two Romance Counseling Features into One Post!

It's because of legendary artist John Buscema!

Though most of his romance comics stories were one-shots...

...along with one two-parter (as shown HERE and HERE), he did do two series of 2-3 page shorts!

Entitled "Prescription for Happiness" and "S.O.S. for Love", the shorts featured distressed lovers asking a counselor for advice, much like the licensed (and unlicensed) advisors we've been presenting in our Advice d'Amour tales!
Appearing in Orbit's Love Diary and Love Journal comics, the strips initially-featured rotating artists, but once Buscema took over, he stayed on both of them for the remainder of their runs, doing almost a dozen tales of woe!

Yes, the title on this one is "S.O.S. Love in Distress".

To be fair, this was the final strip in the final issue of Love Journal, so the editor can be forgiven for letting the incorrect header slip by!
After all, what were they going to do...fire him?
In a couple of cases, as Orbit was winding down operations just before cancellation, they took an "S.O.S. for Love" strip from the previous year like this one...

...and re-ran it as "Prescription for Happiness", just changing the logo and re-naming the counselor...without even redrawing him to match the other strip's host!

I guess they thought "PfH's" Ray Mann and "S.O.S.'s" Mark Ford were interchangeable!

Next Week

It's Time for the Annual Gothic Romance Beach Read, Running Monday Thru Friday!

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...

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!

Paid Link

Advice d'Amour MARY WORTH featuring TOM KANE

Comics' Best-Known Little Old Lady/Busybody Returns...

...with a never-reprinted compilation from her still-ongoing newspaper comic strip!

Appearing in the Standard Comics one-shot Major Hoople Comics (1943), this 1942 tale by "Dale Allen" (Co-creators writer Allen Saunders and artist Dale Connor) introduced Connie Barclay, who ends up marrying ongoing character Tom Kane, and the two then fade from the series.

Ironically, Dale Connor left the strip shortly after this.
Ken Ernst, the longest-running illustrator on the strip began his run, which would continue until he passed away in 1985.
As we mentioned, the series continues to this day, one of the few to survive from the 1930s to the present without a break!
Check out the current Mary Worth strip HERE! and a cool article about the series (with timeline) HERE!

Next Week:
Another Annoying Busybody Offers Love Advice!
And We Can Say...

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...

True-to-Life Adventures of

MARY WORTH
Paid Link

Advice d'Amour MR ANTHONY'S LOVE CLINIC "I Thought You Were Single"

We've Met This Real-Life Romance Know-It-All Before...

...as seen HERE, but you won't see him this time until near the end of this sorrowful tale, when he'll dispense his "Advice d'Amour"!

This never-reprinted tale from Hillman's Mr Anthony's Love Clinic #3 (1950) showed the title's namesake knew his stuff...at least when it came to matters of the heart!

Next Week...

Another Busybody Who Believes He/She Knows What's Best for Our Love Lives!

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

And now a word from our sponsor...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales

Visit Amazon and Order...

Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

Paid Link

Advice d'Amour DR ANTHONY KING: HOLLYWOOD LOVE DOCTOR "Dr. Anthony King, Hollywood Psychiatrist"

This Month, We Return to a Previous Topic...

...busybodies who, solicited (as in this case) or unsolicited, will offer their advice to set your off-the-rails love life back on-course!
(Is it just me or is that grin in the splash panel somewhat...disturbing?)

This premiere tale from the good doctor's first issue of Toby's Dr Anthony King: Hollywood Love Doctor (1951) can't make up it's mind if it's a detective tale or a romance story.

And while the first issue emphasized an entertainment industry connection, the second issue dropped "Hollywood" from the title and he started treating the miserable love lives of everyday people!
The artist is Myron Fass.
But, sadly, the writer is unknown.

Next Week:

Another Story Hosted by Someone Who Believes He/She is Qualified to Solve Other People's Problems!
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...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
Paid Link

Advice d'Amour LOVE STORIES OF MARY WORTH "Her Selfish Love!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

War hero Ian McLane and actress Seline Adair seemed like the ideal couple.

But Seline's teen sister Binnie lusted after Ian!

When, in a misunderstnding, Seline apparently dumped Ian, Binnie (whom Ian doesn't know is Seline's younger sibling) made her move...

So Binnie was Seline's daughter...who married Ian, who Binnie said was too old for Seline!

This actually isn't unusual for radio/tv soap operas, which have gone to far more outrageous lengths to surprise the audience!

BTW, though nosy Mary Worth never had an actual newspaper advice column, the comic introduced one (albeit totally-scripted)...

Love Stories of Mary Worth continued for another four issues before cancellation and she hasn't had a steady comic book since then.

The Mary Worth newspaper strip continues to this day and you can find the latest "three-Kleenex tale HERE!

Next Week:

We're Not Yet Sure What Theme We'll Present, But We Can Say...

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...

True-to-Life Adventures of

MARY WORTH
Paid Link