Laugh at Love on Valentine's Day MARGIE COMICS "Elusive Valentine!"

Here's a never-reprinted Valentine's Day treat...

...from almost 80 years ago years ago, featuring a teen humor character from the company that later became Marvel Comics!

Until the mid 1970s when Archie Comics became the sole "teen humor" publisher, every company had several titles with wacky teenage protagonists.
Margie, created/written/illustrated by Morris Weiss was typical of the genre...

• Irresponsible, impulsive teen (of either gender)!
• Usually-clueless object of affection!
• Constantly-irritated parents!
• An annoying younger sibling (usually of the opposite gender to the protagonist)!
• Various eccentric friends!

Initially a backup strip that floated to whatever humor comic needed a 5-6 page filler, she finally got her own title by taking over Timely's Comedy Comics in 1946 as of #35 and holding on to it until #50 in 1950, when the book became Reno Browne: Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
Margie went back to being a floating backup strip for another year before disappearing completely, never to be seen again!
This particular tale (one of the few comic tales I could find with "Valentine's Day" in the title that didn't deal with the famous gang-war massacre!) is from Timely's Margie Comics #37 (1946).

Happy Valentine's Day!

HEART THROBS "Give Him Back" & YOUNG ROMANCE "Love is a Lie!"

Our (post) Valentine's Day piece has a classic romance story theme...

..and a unique setting!

What more could you want?

Cowboy/Western romances were. briefly, a hot comic sub-genre in the 1950s, with everyone doing one (or more) titles (Hey, I think I've just discovered March's theme!), but they were all but extinct by the 1970s, with this being the very last tale (chronologically) I've been able to find!

Penciled by Tony Abruzzo and inked by Arthur Peddy, this never-reprinted story from DC's Heart Throbs #141 (1972) is the only Black Western romance comic story I've ever seen.
Would it surprise you to see it is, in fact, another reworked reprint?
Here's the original version from DC's Young Romances #134 (1965)...

One technical note: Besides reworking hair and clothing, the reprint art retouchers also had to modify the height of the panels when they removed the "Young Romance" header at the top of each page, resulting in several oddly-composed panels!

Next week:

Another Example of the Fascinating Attempt by DC to be More Inclusive...

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

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

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JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Man Who Changed!"

Here's a decidedly-different (and very sweet) take on Valentine's Day...

...with an ending you won't see coming!

Illustrated by Penciler Jay Scott Pike and inker Christopher Rule, this story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #27 (1955) isn't a typical romance.

But sometimes we need to be reminded that "love" takes many forms from passionately-romantic to simply caring about someone else...and that everybody deserves to be loved!

Since we're posting today, there won't be a post on Wednesday, February 16th, but we will be back on February 23rd!

💕Happy Valentine's Day!💘

YOUNG ROMANCE "Without a Doubt"

A never-reprinted one-pager from DC's Young Romance #203 (1975)...

...writer and artist unknown.

The kool thing is that it presents a universal concept in visual form that just happens to feature Black characters.

In fact, odds are the artist(s) made the choice for reasons only he/she/they will ever know...💖

Happy Valentine's Day!

SOUL LOVE "Teacher"

From one of the two creatives who invented romance comics...

...comes this, sadly, never-published tale which would've appeared in a magazine entitled Soul Love, if DC had the guts to publish it!

(Note: this post uses scans of photocopies of the original art, so the images are not as crisp as we usually run.

But we felt the historical significance of the story warranted running what was available!)

Written and penciled by Kirby, inked by Vince Colletta
You can read other Soul Love tales we've presented HERE , HERE, and HERE.
Soul Love would have been the second romance comic oriented to a Black audience.

The first was the 1950s series Negro Romance, which we covered HERE.

Next Week:

We don't know what we'll present..yet,
but we can guarantee that...

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
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Dingbat Love
(covering Jack Kirby's unique and unpublished projects, including Soul Love and True-Life Divorce!)

DEBBI'S DATES "Buddy in 'Ah--Sweet Valentine's Day!' "

Until the 1970s, there were numerous competitors with Archie Comics for the teen humor comics market...

...and here's a Valentine's Day story from one of the last titles to appear!

Written by Steve Skeates, and illustrated by Henry Scarpelli with assists by Win Mortimer and Bob Oksner, this never-reprinted tale from DC's Debbi's Dates #1 (1969) is, oddly one of the few romantic (albeit humorous) comics tales I could find with "Valentine" in the title!

Most of them involve the famous St Valentine's Day Massacre!

Both Debbi's Dates and the "sister" title Date with Debbi disappeared from the newsstands by late 1972, along with almost all DC's romance titles!

Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present, but...

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

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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics

Valentines Day Special MY ROMANTIC ADVENTURES "Comic Valentine!" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

...struggling artist Peg Manton couldn't find a profitable venue for her talent.

Broke and starving, she encountered George Jessup, an average guy who recognized her artistic ability, and suggested she try her hand at doing a comic strip!

With his guidance, she created "The Loves of Lorna Lee", basing Lorna on herself!

The innovative strip was snapped up in record time by a newspaper syndicate!

While Peg revelled in her new-found professional success, George professed his love for her.

But Peg didn't feel the same way, and George accepted his fate as a close friend, continuing to offer suggestions about the strip...which had started losing readers due to a lack of a compelling male co-star to match the female lead.

With George's help, Peg created an extremely-manly character..Greg Gallant...who proved so popular that he stole the stip's title as well as his creator's heart as she began having erotic fantasies about her own creation!

A major studio bought the rights to the strip and came up with the idea to cast an unknown actor to play the part...with Peg making the final decision!

Wow!

All that in a 13-page story!

These days, it'd be a full-length Graphic Novel!

Writer/editor Richard E Hughes and illustrator Ogden Whitney presented an extremely idealized version of what goes into creating and marketing syndicated comic strips, as well as offering a beautiful and talented woman who looked past the physical to choose a guy who, though less handsome than his rival for her affections, possessed intellectual and emotional attributes she wanted in a "significant other"!

A most appropriate tale for Valentine's Day, eh?

Next Week:

We don't know what we'll present..yet,
but we can guarantee that...

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

And now a word from our sponsor...
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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics