Showing posts with label John Buscema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Buscema. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Tales Twice Told MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX "President Stripper" / MY LOVE "I Do My Thing...No Matter Who It Hurts!"

We Dug Far and Wide to Find an Appropriate Romance Comic Story for the 4th of July...

...and what we came up with was...this!
Written (technically re-written) by Jeff Parker, this story appeared in Marvel Romance Redux: But I Thought He Loved Me (2006), which utilized art by penciler John Buscema and inker John Romita Sr for a cover-featured story that originally appeared in Marvel's My Love #2 (1969)...
Note that while the art is clearly Buscema and Romita Sr, it's unknown who wrote the tale!
Most believe it was original Editor Stan Lee.
Happy 4th of July
&
250th Anniversary of America

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Advice d'Amour LOVE DIARY & LOVE JOURNAL "Prescription for Happiness" & "SOS for Love"

You'll Note We're Combining Two Romance Counseling Features into One Post!

It's because of legendary artist John Buscema!
Though most of his romance comics stories were one-shots...
...along with one two-parter (as shown HERE and HERE), he did do two series of 2-3 page shorts!

Entitled "Prescription for Happiness" and "S.O.S. for Love", the shorts featured distressed lovers asking a counselor for advice, much like the licensed (and unlicensed) advisors we've been presenting in our Advice d'Amour tales!
Appearing in Orbit's Love Diary and Love Journal comics, the strips initially-featured rotating artists, but once Buscema took over, he stayed on both of them for the remainder of their runs, doing almost a dozen tales of woe!

Yes, the title on this one is "S.O.S. Love in Distress".
To be fair, this was the final strip in the final issue of Love Journal, so the editor can be forgiven for letting the incorrect header slip by!
After all, what were they going to do...fire him?
In a couple of cases, as Orbit was winding down operations just before cancellation, they took an "S.O.S. for Love" strip from the previous year like this one...
...and re-ran it as "Prescription for Happiness", just changing the logo and re-naming the counselor...without even redrawing him to match the other strip's host!
I guess they thought "PfH's" Ray Mann and "S.O.S.'s" Mark Ford were interchangeable!
Next Week
It's Time for the Annual Gothic Romance Beach Read, Running Monday Thru Friday!
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...

A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

John Buscema Tales "Prescription for Happiness" & "S.O.S. for Love"

Though most of John Busecema's romance comics stories were one-shots...
...along with one two-parter (as shown HERE and HERE), he did do two series of 2-3 page shorts!
Entitled "Prescription for Happiness" and "S.O.S. for Love", the shorts featured distressed lovers asking a counselor for advice, much like the licensed (and unlicensed) advisors we presented last year in our Advice d'Amour tales!
Appearing in Orbit's Love Diary and Love Journal comics, the strips initially-featured rotating artists, but once Buscema took over, he stayed on both of them for the remainder of their runs, doing almost a dozen tales of woe!
Yes, the title on this one is "S.O.S. Love in Distress".
To be fair, this was the final strip in the final issue of Love Journal, so the editor can be forgiven for letting the incorrect header slip by!
After all, what were they going to do...fire him?
In a couple of cases, as Orbit was winding down operations just before cancellation, they took an "S.O.S. for Love" strip from the previous year like this one...
...and re-ran it as "Prescription for Happiness", just changing the logo and re-naming the counselor...without even redrawing him to match the other strip's host!
I guess they thought "PfH's" Ray Mann and "S.O.S.'s" Mark Ford were interchangeable!

Next Week...
What Will February Bring?
At This Point, We Haven't Decided Yet!
But We Can Assure You...
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 Buy...

A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

John Buscema Tales OUR LOVE STORY "Boy Who Can't be Mine!"

Though Marvel continued publishing romance comics until 1976...
...they stopped running new material in 1973.
This tale from Our Love Story #16 (1972) was John Buscema's final romance comic assignment.
Written by Stan Lee and inked by Joe Sinnott (who inked more issues of Fantastic Four than anybody else in history, including almost all of Buscema's stories), the story demonstrates Buscema's almost effortless mastery of graphic storytelling, going from plot point to plot point with a variety of angles and perspectives that a TV or movie cinematographer would be proud of!

Next Week...
Well, We Ran a Tale Each from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s
What Will We Close Out the Month With?
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 Buy...
A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

John Buscema Tales OUR LOVE STORY "Only One Can Win!"

Though Don Heck is better-remembered by today's fans as a penciler...

...he actually was a rather elegant (though slow) inker, as his rendering of John Buscema's pencils on this Stan Lee-scripted torrid tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #3 (1969) amply-demonstrates!

Because, like John Buscema, he was such a fast penciler, both Marvel and DC used Heck in that capacity, only rarely letting him ink even his own work!
To be fair, Buscema was a faster inker...and John eventually talked Marvel's editors into letting him ocasionally ink his own rough layouts (not full pencils).
Next Week, John Buscema's final romance comic tale, from 1972!
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 Buy...
A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!