Amourous Education HI-SCHOOL ROMANCE "A Kiss to Remember"

We Conclude Amourous Education for 2024 with...

...a tale which practically defines "wholesome"!
Not like that "Teen-Age Sex Club" tale we ran a couple of weeks ago!

With the names of both the writers and illustrators lost to the mists of time, this story from Harvey's Hi-School Romance #4 (1950) seems like a "new direction" during a period when romance comics were more oriented to older teens and even young women who followed romance magazines and radio soap operas!

Next Week:

We Haven't Decided What We'll Present...Yet!

But We Can Guarantee...

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

And now a word from our sponsor..

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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
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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
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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
Paid Link

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
Paid Link

Amourous Education CANDY "Try-Out for Love!"

Remember this story about students crushing on a faculty member?

It's actually a reworking of an earlier tale by the same writer!

Jack Mendelsohn, the scripter of this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Candy #37 (1953) reused almost all of the plot in Tower's Tippy Teen #2 (1966)!
(Even the one-shot gym teacher's name is the same in both stories!)

Next Week:

We're Doing Another
Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie-Type Tale That'll Run through December...

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

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Amorous Education OUR LOVE STORY "Joe Howard's Chick!"

Not sure if this is set in college or senior year of high school...
...but the situation in the story behind this never-reprinted cover by John Romita Sr was applicable in either venue!

Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Don Heck and inked by Jim Mooney, this tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #4 (1970) feels like a high school romance, but everybody's drawn more like college students!

Opinion?

Next Week:

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

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Please Visit Amazon and Order...

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.

Amorous Education TEEN CONFESSIONS "Fast Cars and Faster Women"

In the mid-1970s, the TV series Happy Days was a smash hit!

So it's not surprising that some comics tried to "go retro" with 1950s-style nostalgia!

In the case of Charlton, which had a huuuuge amount of actual 1950s material it could've reprinted, they decided to do some new "period piece" stories!
Note: the cover is by Frank Bolle, who was working in comics during the 1950s doing everything...including romance comics, as shown HERE and HERE! and was active in the field 
But the story from Charlton's Teen Confessions #93 (1976) is illustrated by Demetrio Sanchez Gomez, a much younger artist.
Did Gomez capture the "feel" of the 1950s?

Judge for yourself...

IMHO, unlike the two previous stories he illustrated (HERE and HERE) which were set in the "present" (mid-1970s) and truly embody the visual aesthetic of the period, this one doesn't really fulfill it's intent, despite his obvious extensive research into the cars, fashions, and even hairstyles, of the 1950s!

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