Showing posts with label Black History Month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black History Month. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

GIRLS' LOVE STORIES "Revenge!" & YOUNG ROMANCE "Take Me Back!"

We wind up February with this story...
...which, like the previous entries, didn't originally feature Black protagonists, as you'll see!
In our entry about Fawcett's 1950s title Negro Romance (HERE), we mentioned that the actual stories were rather generic, with the characters being illustrated as Black rather than White being the only difference.
This John Rosenberger-penciled and Win Mortimer-inked tale from DC's Girls' Love Stories #170 (1972) proves that point, since it's actually a visually-modified version of this story...
...from DC's Young Romance #151 (1967-68)!
BTW, the original tale was the cover feature!
While the fashions, hairstyles, and the leads' facial features were modified, the script stayed almost exactly the same!
Even the characters' names (Terry and Rich) were unchanged!
(Credit where credit is due: amazing romance comics historian Jacque Nodell pointed out the link between these two stories HERE!)
But the saga doesn't end there!
The story was re-presented one more time, in DC's Young Love #111 (1974)...
...this time with the usual "updating" of hairstyles and fashions...but very little modification of the original script and Terry and Rich stayed Caucasian!
Next Week:
We don't yet know what we'll present!
(But if you read last week's post, you'll see what we might run!)
No matter what, we can guarantee that...
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...

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

HEART THROBS "Give Him Back" & YOUNG ROMANCE "Love is a Lie!"

Our (post) Valentine's Day piece has a classic romance story theme...
..and a unique setting!
What more could you want?
Cowboy/Western romances were. briefly, a hot comic sub-genre in the 1950s, with everyone doing one (or more) titles (Hey, I think I've just discovered March's theme!), but they were all but extinct by the 1970s, with this being the very last tale (chronologically) I've been able to find!
Penciled by Tony Abruzzo and inked by Arthur Peddy, this never-reprinted story from DC's Heart Throbs #141 (1972) is the only Black Western romance comic story I've ever seen.
Would it surprise you to see it is, in fact, another reworked reprint?
Here's the original version from DC's Young Romances #134 (1965)...
One technical note: Besides reworking hair and clothing, the reprint art retouchers also had to modify the height of the panels when they removed the "Young Romance" header at the top of each page, resulting in several oddly-composed panels!
Next week:
Another Example of the Fascinating Attempt by DC to be More Inclusive...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And now a word from out sponsor...

featuring the cover art from all four HTF issues 

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

GIRLS' LOVE STORIES "We Can Never Marry!" & "A Marriage Without Love!"

A bride getting cold feet at her wedding is as universal a concept as can be imagined...
...transcending ethnicity, religion, or societal upbringing!

A happy ending for this tale from DC's Girls' Love Stories #172 (1972).
But, if you're a regular reader of this blog, it might seem a bit...familiar!
That's because we already ran it last year...sort of...as part of our "Wedding Bliss" series!
This version appeared six years earlier, also in DC's Girls' Love Stories, but in #121 (1966).
(Altered reprints didn't usually appear in the same series the original version was published in!)
Curiously, the Grand Comics DataBase doesn't make mention of the reuse of the story in either of its' Girls' Love Stories listings for #121 or #172!
And, they can't make up their minds as to who illustrated it.
I lean towards a combination of John Rosenberger and Win Mortimer.
Next week:
Another Example of the Fascinating Attempt by DC to be More Inclusive...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And now a word from out sponsor...

featuring the cover art from all four HTF issues on kool kollectibles!