Romance on the Range WESTERN HEARTS "I Loved an Outlaw"

Welcome to "Western Romance Month" at our blog!

Intro from Standard's Western Hearts #1 (1949).

In the late 1940s-early 50s, a flood of romance comics hit newsstands as the industry looked for the next "hot" genre after superheroes faded out!
Interestingly, a number of Western-themed tales appeared in these anthologies...and received very good reader response.
With Westerns already one of the major genres in comics from Day One, publishers decided to try a mix of the genres, and "Western Romance" comics were born!
Every publisher had at least one, and a couple had several running simultaneously!

Here's a never-reprinted tale, also from Standard's Western Hearts (#4 in 1950) which seems to validate the trope that girls love "bad boys"...

Illustrated by penciler John Severin and inked by Will Elder, this story seems to be set in both the present (Coke and coffee machines in the restaurant, then-current suits and dresses throughout the story in indoor scenes), and the past (no autos/jeeps, telephones, aircraft...which would've been used in a search for the kidnapped girl!).
There was a sub-genre within Western romances of "dude ranch" tales featuring then-contemporary urban dwellers who find True Love while moving to (or just vacationing in) rural environments.
Is that the case here, or did the artists just inadvertently draw the tale that way?

We'll never know!

Next Week:

Another "Romance on the Range"!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

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Visit Amazon and Order...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

ROMANTIC HEARTS "I hated MEN" (That's the way the title reads...)

Continuing January's theme "I Hated Men!"...

...here's another, quite different (and never-reprinted), story from Master Comics' Romantic Hearts V2N6 (1954) with the same title!

Penciled by Bill Savage, inks by Dick Beck and scripted by an unknown writer, this tale, unlike our previous one, features a woman deliberately her sexuality as a weapon against the gender she believes wronged her!
It's not the last time we'll see such a tale!

Next Week:

Another, Radically-Different Story Entitled

"I Hated Men"!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

Happy 100th Birthday Stan Lee...Romance Comics Writer!

Besides tales of the super-powered denizens of the "Marvel Universe"...

...centennial birthday boy Stan (the Man) Lee scripted hundreds of romance comics stories...

...some featuring experimental storytelling techniques...

...some featuring people you didn't usually see in romance comics up to that time...

...and some that featured controversial political and social themes!

You can see all of Stan Lee's work we've re-presented on this blog (including the ones shown above) by clicking HERE!

Next Week:

You'll see the postponed conclusion to our "Hallmark Christmas Movie"-style tale, Sweet Santa!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

Please Visit Amazon and Order...

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.

DEAR LONELY HEART "So This is Love!"

This is not the typical way a 1950s romance comic story begins...

...but this tale from Comic Media's Dear Lonely Heart #1 (1951) does have some predictable, even cliche, twists!

One date and he proposes?

And she accepts?

If she has a concussion, the writer doesn't mention it...

Speaking of which, we don't know the identities of either the writer or artist (except that they worked for the Iger Studio, which "packaged" stories and even ongoing strips for publishers), which may be just as well since I suspect some of our readers would probably want to do them serious harm for their backward (even for 1951) portrayal of male/female relationships!
BTW, this was from the first issue of Dear Lonely Heart.
It was canceled after eight issues, but the publisher must've liked the title, because it launched Dear Lonely Hearts (note the "s") less than a year later.
It also lasted only eight issues.

Next Week...

We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present!

But We Can 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...

Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

GOLDEN WEST LOVE "The Love I Almost Lost"

It's not often we run a real-life love story about a celebrity...

...and, in addition, it's a romance set in the Wild West

Annie Oakley appeared in almost 300 stories in the 1950s and '60, including several strips in anthology comics, numerous guest appearances in other character's strips, and at least two solo comic books.
This story from Golden West Love #2 (1949) was penciled by Tex Blaisdell and inked by John Augustin.
The writer is unknown. 

Next Week:

We're Not Sure Yet Exactly What We'll Present!

But...

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

And now a word from out sponsor...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit the

Western Love

Comics Collectibles Store!

TEEN LOVE STORIES "I'll Be Yours, My Love"

A 1960s romance comic story, but not from a romance comic...

 ...but from a teen romance magazine, published in 1967!

Jim Warren, who built up a publishing business in the early 1960s with titles like Famous Monsters of Filmland, Screen Thrills, Help!, and Monster World, got into comics publishing with a diverse line of b/w magazines (to avoid the restrictions of the Comics Code that controlled editorial content of color comics) including Creepy, Eerie, Blazing Combat, and Teen Love Stories.

To maximize the potential audience for the romance title, it was designed to appear similar to teen mags of the era like Tiger Beat and 16, which it was racked with...

...and, besides comic strips, it included text features, quizzes...

...and even anti-smoking ads!

(illustrated by the legendary Frank Frazetta, no less!)

Of all the Warren Publishing comic magazines, Teen Love Stories was the shortest-lived at only three issues, all of which are very hard-to-find!