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...

Visit our

Negro Romance

Comic Collectibles Store

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

Happy 100th Birthday Stan Lee...Romance Comics Writer!

Besides tales of the super-powered denizens of the "Marvel Universe"...

...centennial birthday boy Stan (the Man) Lee scripted hundreds of romance comics stories...

...some featuring experimental storytelling techniques...

...some featuring people you didn't usually see in romance comics up to that time...

...and some that featured controversial political and social themes!

You can see all of Stan Lee's work we've re-presented on this blog (including the ones shown above) by clicking HERE!

Next Week:

You'll see the postponed conclusion to our "Hallmark Christmas Movie"-style tale, Sweet Santa!

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.

FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Frankie in 'What -- Me Worry' "

"Sadie Hawkins Dances" were popular in the pre-Women's Lib days...

...when the concept of girls asking boys out was still considered a novelty!

Illustrated by Gus Lemoine, the script for this never-reprinted tale from Fitzgerald's Fast Willie Jackson #6 (1977) was either by him or publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald.

Previously, Gus pencilled shorts and a couple of covers at Archie Comics from 1967 to the mid-1970s.

The Fast Willie books were his final credited work.

(There is a theory that Gus was really Henry Scarpelli, a versatile humor artist who did work for Archie as well as Archie-clone books for both Marvel and DC.

The period when "Gus" was active at Archie was before Scarpelli's credited work appeared there and disappeared after Scarpelli began receiving credit for his work on Archie titles.

So...it's like "Gee, Clark, we never see you when Superman's around! Why's that?"

Lois Lane couldn't prove it, either.

For the record, noted art identifier Martin O'Hearn believes Lemoine and Scarpelli are not the same person.)

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

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

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit the

Fast Willie Jackson

Comic Collectibles Store

featuring the cover art from the first, never-reprinted issue!

SOUL LOVE "Teacher"

From one of the two creatives who invented romance comics...

...comes this, sadly, never-published tale which would've appeared in a magazine entitled Soul Love, if DC had the guts to publish it!

(Note: this post uses scans of photocopies of the original art, so the images are not as crisp as we usually run.

But we felt the historical significance of the story warranted running what was available!)

Written and penciled by Kirby, inked by Vince Colletta
You can read other Soul Love tales we've presented HERE , HERE, and HERE.
Soul Love would have been the second romance comic oriented to a Black audience.

The first was the 1950s series Negro Romance, which we covered HERE.

Next Week:

We don't know what we'll present..yet,
but 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...

Dingbat Love
(covering Jack Kirby's unique and unpublished projects, including Soul Love and True-Life Divorce!)

NEGRO ROMANCES "My Heart's Dilemma"

Though the fact the book itself ever existed was ground-breaking...

...the stories themselves weren't as this never-reprinted tale from Fawcett's Negro Romance #1 (1950) shows!

The tale, though well-written, is generic.

There's nothing distinctive about it, though some comics of the era (especially EC), were willing to tackle topics affecting Black people on a daily basis!

Fawcett's romance series editor Roy Ald was the writer of this piece, as he was for all this particular book's stories!

However, the illustrator, who hewed closely to the Fawcett "house style", is unknown.

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

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

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit our

Negro Romance
Comic Collectibles Store

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