Showing posts with label Bronze Age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bronze Age. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Prom Night: Dream or Nightmare? YOUNG ROMANCE "Price i$ Right!"

We started the month with Young Romance in the Golden Age (1940s)...

...and we end with it in the Bronze Age (1970s)!



Written by Irene Vartanoff and illustrated by Jack Abel, this never-reprinted story from DC's Young Romance #182 (1972) is a morality tale more than a romance, but it's told sincerely and effectively.
Next Week:
Normally, We'd Do Wedding Stories in June...
But Not This Year!
It's Gonna be Different!
And 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...
...the Temporary SuperHeroine
Romance Trilogy
by Irene Vartanoff
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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

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!
And now a word from our sponsor...
Support True Love Comics Tales
Visit Amazon and Order...
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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

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!
And now a word from out sponsor..
Visit Amazon and Buy...
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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Wednesday, January 22, 2025

TENDER LOVE STORIES "Spark of My Heart!"

What Does a Girl Whom Nobody Thinks of as a Girl Do...
...when the guy she's interested in doesn't even know she's alive?
That's what this never-reprinted tale about a guy, a girl, and gearshifts asks!
Written by May Sterling, penciled by Kurt Schaffenberger, and inked by John Celardo, this tale from Skywald's Tender Love Stories #4 (1971) was the final original story from the short-lived company's longest-running title!
While Schaffenberger and Celardo were both long-time pros who began their careers back in the Golden Age of comics, this is May Sterling's only writing credit!
Schaffenberger, in the 1950s and 60s, was DC's "go to" artist for female characters with long stints on Lois LaneSupergirl, and Mary Marvel as well as occasional assignments on Wonder Woman and Mighty Isis!
Oddly, he had very few actual romance comic assignments over his long career...
Is "May Sterling" a pseudonym, or was she a comics neophyte who went on to other things after this one script?
Sadly, we'll never know...
Next Week:
We don't know yet what we'll present, but we can guarantee...
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

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Do You Love O Henry's Yuletide Classic "Gift of the Magi" as Much as We Do?

...we've presented three of them, each with its' own particular charms!
and
O Henry's classic Christmas story of True Love has been adapted into every media format imaginable, sometimes as a period piece, sometimes updated to the present, and, in a couple of cases, projected into the future!
 Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!
We'll be back on January 8, 2025
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

WE Hated Men! SAVAGE TALES "Fury of the Femizons"

You'd think nothing says "I Hated Men!" like a woman running a sword through a man's heart...
...except in the case presented in this Women's Lib-era story from the b/w magazine Savage Tales #1 (1971)!
(Was it really over a half-century ago?
Lord, I feel so old...)

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by John Romita, Sr,  this tale had an unusual genesis, as detailed on the editorial page by editor Roy Thomas...

Women's liberation.
It's all around us, be we male or female.
marches, intellectual treatises, picketing, bra-burning, some four-letter forensics, and more burnings–not always of bras.
"Women are the equals of men every day, in every way!'
Men are beginning to believe it.
Women always knew it.
So what happens if maybe we come the full circle in, say the next hundred years or so?
What if women turn the rascals out–and we do mean out!
What would we have then?
A better world? Perhaps.
A gentler world? Could be.
different world? Believe it.
Stan Lee got to wondering-and, by and by, he set imaginative artist Johnny Romita to wondering along with him.
The result is, perhaps, something just a wee bit new under the sun.
Not quite sword-and-sorcery–certainly not science-fiction–and not exactly a political polemic.
Robin Morgan clobbers Buck Rogers in the 25th century!
Kate Millett zaps both Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless–then takes over Mongo for good measure!
The hand that rocks the cradle really rules the world!
Next Week:
In June, We Return to Our Original Format of Posting Whatever Catches Our Fancy!
And We Can Guarantee...
...You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!