Beach Read KISS OF DEATH "Chapter Four: Mystery of the Locket"

We Have Already Seen...

Anne Mason lying in a coffin after being attacked by strange beings...

...and now, the astounding conclusion to this tale from DC's Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3 by Jack Oleck and Don Heck!

Ah, a happy ending...

But not for Gothic Romances in comic book form!

This title, DC Comics' Dark Mansions of Forbidden Love, only lasted four issues before becoming Forbidden Tales of the Dark Mansion, a standard horror comic that ran ten more issues.

Its sister title, Sinister House of Secret Love suffered a similar fate, turning into Secrets of Sinister House, also after four issues.

Marvel Comics' attempt at a similar title was not a comic, but a b/w magazine with prose stories and spot illustrations called Gothic Tales of Love.

It died after three issues.

Charlton Comics' Haunted Love was the second-longest running series with ten titanic issues of weird love. 
We've presented a couple of stories from it HERE and HERE.

But the longest-lasting gothic romance comic book was based on a daytime tv soap opera...Gold Key's Dark Shadows, which ran thirty-five issues and lasted four years longer than the TV show!
Then, in 1991, Innovation Comics did three mini-series (one cancelled after only a single issue) based on the short-lived primetime revival of the show, adding nine issues to the count.
Finally, in 2011, Dynamite Entertainment resurrected (as it were) the original TV show with a twenty-three issue run as well as a five-issue crossover mini-series with Vampirella!

Next Week: Well, We're Not Sure What We'll Present...Yet!

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

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Beach Read KISS OF DEATH Chapter Three: The Body in the Coffin

We Have Already Seen

Anne Mason attacked by a caped figure who might be a vampire, and now...

Is the caped figure a vampire?

Why did the wolf (or werewolf) attack Anne?

What other as-yet undiscovered secrets lurk in Castle Dravko?

..or is she...undead?

Be here tomorrow for the astounding conclusion...

Mystery of the Locket!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

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Beach Read KISS OF DEATH Chapter Two: The Secret of Baron Dravko!

We have already seen...

Something stalks Anne Mason through the somber halls of Castle Dravko...

...but, what?

Werewolf?

There, wolf!

Be here tomorrow for...

The Body in the Coffin!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

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Gothic Tales of Haunted Love

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Beach Read KISS OF DEATH Chapter One: It Walks by Night!

Vampires!

Werewolves!

A stormy night!

A spooky old castle!

A beautiful woman in a nightgown!

It's August!

Perfect time for a "Beach Read" Gothic romance to chill your bones and cool your sweaty brow!

Who (or what) is the "dark and ominous figure"?

Vampire?

Werewolf?

What is the secret of the Baron's son?

Be here tomorrow for...

The Secret of Baron Dravko!

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

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

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Your Next Kool Gothic Beach Read is Coming...

Behind this kool Jeffrey Catherine Jones cover lurk...
Vampires!

Werewolves!

A stormy night!

A spooky old castle!

A beautiful woman in a nightgown!

This never-reprinted book-length tale from DC's Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3 (1972) begins tomorrow, and continues for the rest of the week, chilling your blood as you read it under an umbrella on a blanket or extra-large towel on a hot beach!

(Don't forget an iced beverage!)

Note: if you think the cover above is eye-grabbing (which it is), here's the ink-and-wash original art...

...which was mezzotint-screened, then flat-colored, unfortunately losing a lot of detail in the process.

DC's production budget didn't allow for doing full-color photographic separations from color art, but that didn't stop innovative Production Manager Jack Adler from trying to get paperback cover-style imagery on the Gothic romance books as we showed HERE and HERE,

Tales Twice Told HEART THROBS "I Know My Love!"

The story we presented yesterday, "Summer Love", had previously-appeared under this cover...

..in DC's Heart Throbs #63 (1960).

When it was reprinted in 1970, the title was changed.

(DC tended to do this more than Marvel.

It drives comics historians nuts trying to match up different printings of stories!)

John Romita Sr was doing a lot of romance comics work for DC during this period, before leaving to go to Marvel in early 1965.

You'll note that, besides the usual "updating" of hair and clothing in yesterday's story, the art in the reprint version is "extended" on each page because the original pages had a printed header across the top of the art area.

The reprints eliminated the headers, and the art was extended either along the top or bottom of the page, depending on which way would be easier and/or faster to do.

As we showed HERE, this "updated reprinting" became a common practice on romance comics until the genre all-but died out in the late 1970s.

Publishers would do a new 6-12 page lead story and use retouched reprints to fill out the book.

Editors felt that:

a) the plots were relatively timeless.

b) updating the art was cheaper than totally-redrawing the story. 

c) the artists were better-utilized doing stuff that sold better (like superheroes).
d) the audience for romance comics, unlike superhero comics, totally-changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the "old" plots.

Next week:

We Re-Present Our Annual Summertime "Beach Read" Book-Length Gothic Romance Novel...

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

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