Swinging '70s Stories JUST MARRIED "Why am I Here?"

This Month, We're Taking Romance Stories from Different Publishers...

...with one unifying aspect: the fact they're from the 1970s, the twilight of the genre!

This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Just Married #74 (1970), written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, takes the "misunderstanding the situation because of lack of information" trope to a new level.
Only the superb artwork makes the silly plotline tolerable!

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!

And now a word from our sponsor..

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Modern Masters Volume Five

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

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A Month of Matt Baker WARTIME ROMANCES "Road to Disgrace"

Before 1973, serving in the military, whether voluntary or conscripted (the Draft)...

...used to be a part of almost every American man's life.

So, it seemed logical that there would be romance comics based around something that affected almost all young (18-25), eligible males, and the women who loved them!

The penciler of this never-reprinted story from St John's WarTime Romances #4 (1952) is legendary good-girl artist Matt Baker, aided by long-time inker Ray Osrin, but the writer is unknown.

Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know Which Matt Baker Story We'll Present, But We Guarantee that...

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

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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A Month of Matt Baker COWGIRL ROMANCES "Stars Fell on Arizona" / MOVIE COMICS "Mitzi in Hollywood Meets Sonny Sagebrush"

We've shown you reprints where fashions and hairstyles were updated...

but this story from Fiction House's CowGirl Romances #10 (1952) doesn't do that!

OK, pretty straightforward tale of a starry-eyed girl living near a movie location, getting to appear in the movie, meeting her screen idol, and not finding true love, right?

But, that's not how it started out!

This is actually a re-use of lovely Matt Baker art for an earlier ongoing series, Mitzi in Hollywood, about a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood!

This particular episode from Fiction House's Movie Comics #4 (1947) was about working as an extra on a Western movie set...and the original script was quite different...

Sadly, this was the final issue of Movie Comics, so no more Mitzi adventures ever appeared...except as heavily-modified reprints like our lead story!
Though Matt Baker is best-known as a cheesecake/glamour girl artist, he was, in fact, quite proficient in other genres, such as Westerns (as shown above), sci-fi, war, adventure, and even horror!
And yes, he did a lot of romance stories and covers, as you'll see all this month!

Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know Which Matt Baker Story We'll Present, But We Guarantee that...

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...

Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

DARLING ROMANCE "I Stole My Sister's Man"

Did a woman write this tale...

...a story about a sleazy, sordid, and slutty sibling trying to steal her sister's guy!

(and it's from Archie Comics, no less!)?
Read it, and tell us what you think!

The success of Simon & Kirby's Young Romance unleashed a horde of romance comic imitators  including this decidedly non-Archie title from Archie Comics.

These pre-Comics Code series featured stories that rivaled the true confessions-style magazines for naughtiness and radio soap operas for ridiculous plot twists, as this tale from Darling Romance #1 (1949) demonstrates.

The unknown writer (who must've believed they were being paid by the word) went under the pen-name "Mary Woods"!
But does it "read" like a man or woman wrote it?
What's your opinion???
OTOH, the art of Bill Fix (who did only romance stories during his short career in comics) is very distinctive...and he conveniently signed it!

Next Week:

We Have No Idea What We're Going to Run...Yet!

But We Guarantee...

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 Order...

Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

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Do You Love O Henry's Yuletide Classic "Gift of the Magi" as Much as We Do?

...we've presented three of them, each with its' own particular charms!

by John Fago & Anton Caravanna

and

by Gary Gianni

and

by P. Craig Russell

O Henry's classic Christmas story of True Love has been adapted into every media format imaginable, sometimes as a period piece, sometimes updated to the present, and, in a couple of cases, projected into the future!

 Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

We'll be back on January 8, 2025

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

Amourous Education SPARKLING LOVE "Written in the Stars"

Normally, Our Amourous Education Stories Involve Students or Teachers...

...but in this case, it's a school office worker who hangs with students in her spare time!

Illustrated by Sid Lazarus and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Avon's Sparkling Love #1 (1950) appeared elsewhere that same month!

The contents for the entire comic were also bound in Avon's newest romance pulp magazine...

...Sparkling Love Stories as "32 pages of romance stories illustrated in full color" to go with the prose love tales with spot illustrations in black and white.

(Luckily for them, pulp magazines and comic books were the same size!)

Next Week:

More High School/College Hi-Jinks!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Support True Love Comics Tales!

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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
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