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!

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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.

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BARBIE "See You Later, Christmas Gator" Part 2: Special Delivery & Part 3: The Present

When Last We Left the World's Most Famous Fashion Doll...and Santa Claus...

 ...on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus runs into trouble when he's forced down over Florida by a tropical storm!

Luckily, Barbie is nearby...

Normally, we'd run Part 3 next week, but the chapters are so short, we're going to present it now...

Written by Angelo DeCesare, penciled by Mario Capaldi, and inked by John Lucas, this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Barbie #50 (1995) was typical of the kool flights of fancy the series specialized in.

Barbie, and its' sister title Barbie Fashion, were two secret success stories for Marvel in the 1990s.

Because they weren't superhero titles, the hardcore (mostly male) fans never even noticed them, but the two books ran an impressive 63 and 53 issues respectively at a time when many titles lasted 12 issues...or less!

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Which Yultide Tale We'll Present!

But We Do Guarantee...

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

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

BARBIE "See You Later, Christmas Gator" Part 1: the Journey Begins

Ah, a world where Santa Claus is real...

...that's my kind of place!

Written by Angelo DeCesare, penciled by Mario Capaldi, and inked by John Lucas, this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Barbie #50 (1995) was typical of the kool flights of fancy the series specialized in.

Barbie, and its' sister title Barbie Fashion, were two secret success stories for Marvel in the 1990s.

Because they weren't superhero titles, hardcore, mostly male, fans never even noticed them, but the two books ran an impressive 63 and 53 issues respectively at a time when many titles lasted 12 issues or less!

Next Week:

The Poignant Conclusion to this Yuletide Tale!

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

And now a word from our sponsor...

Support True Love Comics Tales!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Lost Love MY LOVE "It Happened at Woodstock!"

Who Would've Believed that the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival...

...would result in never-reprinted, cover-featured romance comics stories, from both Marvel and DC???

First up, Marvel's entry, from My Love #14 (1971), which was actually the later entry~

Written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by Gray Morrow, it's the steamiest Comics Code-approved story I've ever read!

Next Week:

DC's Never-Reprinted Woodstock Story!

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

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Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

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Lost Love OUR LOVE STORY "Model with a Broken Heart"

It's a 1970s story with a 1940s "feel"...

...because the scripter was a child of the Swingin' 60s-70s, and the illustrator was one of the greats of the Golden Age.

The story has a weird feel to it, like a 1940s-50s tales updated for the 60s-70s.

But I'm assured this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #14 (1971) was, in fact, written and illustrated in 1970-71!

Writer Gary Friedrich began scripting Western, military, and superhero comics in the late 1960s, including Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos, the cowboy Ghost Rider, and the Steve Ditko-illustrated Blue Beetle.

But he began his career doing romance comic stories at Charlton!

Later, he would co-create the first Black superheroine, ButterFly and the motorcycling Ghost Rider.

Tarpe Mills was one of few female writer/artists (let alone female writers or artists) in the Golden Age.

Besides working on a number of established series, she created one of the first superheroines; Miss Fury!

Tarpe retired from comics in the early 1950s, returning in the '70s to do this romance story under the pen-name "JT Mills" (short for her full name, June Tarpe Mills) and both a cover... 

...and a limited-edition tip-in plate...

for a Miss Fury reprint trade paperback.

Next Week...

Another Lost Love Story from the 1960s-70s!

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

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Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

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Lost Love MY LOVE "I Was a Girl Who Would Stop at Nothing!"

Our Theme for September is "Lost Love"...

...but it's not about characters who lose their paramours (because that happens all the time), but never-reprinted stories from the Bronze Age such as this cover-featured one from Marvel's My Love #17 (1972) with a kool cover by then up-and-comer Alan Weiss!

Scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by George Tuska and likely-inked (opinions vary) by John Verpoorten.

Speaking of Stan Lee...

Does the unnamed decidedly-young male ingenue of the tale look...familiar?
Stan was, in fact, 50, the year this story was published!
Are we looking at the comic book equivalent of a mid-life crisis?

On a more serious note, in 1968 Marvel revived their long-cancelled romance comics, when they changed distributors and expanded their line from only eight titles a month to over two dozen!
(Before the 1957 implosion, Atlas had numerous romance books, including Western and military love titles, some of which we've run on this blog!)
Almost all Marvel's current creatives (except, ironically, Jack Kirby, who co-created romance comics with Joe Simon) contributed to My Love and Our Love Story, but that wasn't enough to keep them going!
By 1972 they were running new material only in the front of the books with reprints filling the rest.
Interestingly, they were already reprinting earlier (1968-69) stories from Our Love Story and My Love, usually in the other title (My Love stories in Our Love Story, Our Love Story tales in My Love) because using older, 1950s Atlas tales usually required redrawing hairstyles and clothing to bring them "up to date" as we showed HERE).
As a result, almost every story done for the Silver/Bronze Age books has been reprinted at least once...except for four of them, which no one who didn't buy the original books has seen since that era!

But you'll see them here in September!

And You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss Them!

And now a word from out sponsor..

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Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

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