Showing posts with label John Romita Sr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Romita Sr. Show all posts

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!

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Laugh at Love MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX "Love Me, Love My Clones!" / MY LOVE "Jilted!"

It's possible to interpret "symbolic" splash panels literally...

...as RE-writer Paul Di Fillipo does in this story...which is not originally by writer Jean Thomas, penciler Gene Colan, and inker Bill Everett as these credits list!
Before we proceed to the original tale, we'd like to point out that the art here is so iconically "romance comic", that a panel from page 3 was used for the cover of the trade paperback reprint Marvel Romance (2006)...
So, who did the art?
All will be revealed at the end...
For the record, the art is by penciler Don Heck and inker John Romita Sr!
The writer is unknown, but suspected to be Stan Lee!
I did a little research on-line at the Grand Comics Database (an amazing resource) and discovered...
1) There are a couple of dozen romance comics tales spread over several different publishers titled "Jilted" or "Jilted!" (Note the exclamation point!)
2) None of the stories with that title had credits for Jean Thomas. Gene Colan, or Bill Everett!
3) The Marvel Romance Redux reworking's credits list John Romita as penciler and Jim Mooney as inker...with question marks, and states..."Art is credited to Gene Colan, pencils, and Bill Everett, inks, but this is clearly in error."
Sloppy reference work on Marvel Romance Redux by the editor and/or assistant editor, eh?

Next Week:
Our Final Humorous Romance Story (for now) and We Guarantee That, Even Though It Is Funny...
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, November 16, 2022

Amorous Education OUR LOVE STORY "Joe Howard's Chick!"

Not sure if this is set in college or senior year of high school...
...but the situation in the story behind this never-reprinted cover by John Romita Sr was applicable in either venue!

Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Don Heck and inked by Jim Mooney, this tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #4 (1970) feels like a high school romance, but everybody's drawn more like college students!
Opinion?
Next Week:
We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present, But...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
And now a word from out sponsor..

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.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Halloween HeartBreak YOUNG ROMANCE "Bonnie Taylor: Airline Stewardess in One Kiss Forever" Part 2

...depressed airline stewardess Bonnie Taylor, on layover in Scotland, drives into the Highlands, just in time for a local festival celebrating the mythical "Rising of Wee Kirk"!
But Wee Kirk actually appears, and she meets an incredibly-handsome resident of the time-lost town!

BTW, he's gone by the next issue, where Bonnie is implied to be a reincarnated Egyptian princess by a man seeming to be a lover who's followed her though the ages to the present day!
We'll save that one for next Halloween...
Next week:
Another Tale of True Love...with a Halloween Twist!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And now a word from out sponsor...
Please Support True Love Comics Tales
Visit Amazon and Order...

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Halloween HeartBreak YOUNG ROMANCE "Bonnie Taylor: Airline Stewardess in One Kiss Forever!" Part 1

Ever hear of Brigadoon?
It was a long-running Broadway musical, adapted into a major motion picture, about a mysterious Scottish village that appears in our dimension for a couple of days once a century, then disappears again, taking anybody within it's boundaries with it!
There was a recent AppleTV mini-series musical parodying it...Schmigadoon...
...which was equally-good, if not better (but somewhat snarky)!
Anyway, that concept is the basis for this haunted tale about the eternally-searching for love Bonnie Taylor: Airline Stewardess...

Just thought we'd mention it, for historical context...





They just don't write (or draw) 'em like that anymore!
You just know this moment of passionate pleasure is going to be followed by tragedy...as you'll see...
(You didn't think we'd make you wait a week...did you!)
You'd Cry Your Eyes Out if We Did That!
And now a word from out sponsor...
Please Support True Love Comics Tales
Visit Amazon and Order...