Love in the Office YOUNG ROMANCE "I Love You, Frank Gerard"

 You think "mansplaining" is a new phenomenon?

Hardly.

It was happening at least as far back as 1948, when this tale appeared!

This never-reprinted story of business, love, and the business of love is from Prize's Young Romance #4 (1948).

Layouts by Jack Kirby, pencils by Jerry Robinson & Mort Meskin, inks by Joe Simon.

The writer is unknown, but believed to be Simon and/or Kirby.

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Young Romance

Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics

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WOMEN IN LOVE "I Was a Greenwich Village Character"

For over a century, NYC's Greenwich Village has been considered a creative utopia...

...and the unknown writer of this tale seems very familiar with the workings of both the commercial art and fine art communities that mingled in The Village!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' 100-page one-shot Women in Love (1952) is incredibly-overwritten, as if it was a prose story that just happened to have illustrations!

Artist Gerald McCann had the unenviable task of trying to actually illustrate panels that are overflowing with captions and text!

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We're Not Sure Exactly What We'll Present!
But...

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

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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
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Anything BUT Archie! HOMER HOOPER "Twelve-Dollar Conundrum"

How Close Can You Come to Being an Archie Clone...without  Being Sued?

Atlas Comics sure gave it a shot with this series!

This typical tale from Atlas' Homer Hooper #3 (1953) was scripted by Stan Lee and illustrated by Hy Rosen.

Besides the blonde (who was well-off but not rich), the red-headed lead and the nasty frenemy, the series also featured a brunette, Homer's skinny best friend with a big nose, an athlete, brainy nerd, annoyed teachers and principal, etc.

Hy Rosen, who did a credible job as a Dan DeCarlo clone was one of the few artists working in the style who didn't end up at Archie Comics.

In the mid-1940s he added newspaper editorial cartooning to his already-busy schedule.

When comics almost died in the mid-1950s, Hy took on advertising storyboard work to take up the slack, creating the "White Tornado" ad campaign for Ajax Cleanser!

Hy's last work was for Harvey Comics in the early 1990s...on New Kids on the Block and Saved by the Bell comics!

Interestingly, his eulogy at his "home" newspaper, The Albany Times-Union, makes no mention of his comic book work!

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

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

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History
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Yuletide Tidings PEP COMICS "Archie in 'Christmas Cheers' "

It's comics' all-American boy...as most of you don't know him...

...a buck-toothed, layabout, closer to Reggie (who doesn't appear in this tale), than the wholesome teen of today!
(BTW, for an explanation of War Bonds, and why Archie's dad invested part of his son's $50 check, go HERE!)

Written by Harry Sahle and Ed Goggin, penciled by Sahle and inked by "Ginger" (Virginia Drury), this story from MLJ's Pep Comics #46 (1944) is notable for the debut of two characters; Pop Tate, owner of "Pop's Chocklit Shop" (Called "Tate's" in this tale), and Gabby, a short-lived character who screwed-up other people's lives by continually blabbing things others were not meant to know!

As you can see, the original Bob Montana character designs (which Sahle and Drury matched almost exactly) had not yet been updated to the streamlined Dan DeCarlo versions, which serve as the primary templates of the characters from the 1950s to this day!

Next Week:

We don't know what we'll publish...yet!

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Archie and Friends All-Stars Christmas Stocking
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DARK SHADOWS "Touchy Situation" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

It's almost Christmas at Collinswood and with most of the Collins family away, Victoria Winters visits Barnabas Collins at his home in the original mansion tucked away at the edge of the property.

But there are others around Collinswood...others who don't belong!

One is an itinerant wanderer who, desperate for food, enters thru an unlocked window.

And, the empty mansion proves to be a tempting target for two recently-released convicts who plan to take everything they can carry.

Victoria encounters the criminals, who chase her to the edge of the cliff, where she now hangs precariously...

That's a story for another time...

This was #1 of the second four-issue miniseries based on the 1991 revival.

There was one more mini-series in the works, but it ended after only one issue was printed as the publisher abruptly went out of business.

Next week is Thanksgiving, so we'll present a Turkey Day tale!
You''ll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Dark Shadows: the Revival
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DARK SHADOWS "Touchy Situation" Part 1

Remember the gothic tv soap opera Dark Shadows?

This is it...but it's not it!

Confused?

Read on, and all will be explained...

 This is why we call these chapter endings "cliffhangers".
Story by Maggie Thompson, art by Jose Pimentel.

This never-reprinted comic series from 1993 presented new stories based on the prime-time revival that ran for half a season in 1991.
(Despite excellent ratings for the first couple of episodes, later eps were constantly pre-empted by news coverage of the first Gulf War, and the show never regained the audience.)

The tv series revival adapted the original soap opera's storyline from the point where Barnabas Collins was freed from his coffin in the present to the first time-travel story featuring newly-arrived nanny Victoria Winters witnessing how Barnabas became a vampire in 1795 Collinsport.

The comic presented sequel stories that went in a different direction than later tales in the original tv series, creating a new continuity, much like the 2009 Star Trek movie did.

Before we forget, be here tomorrow for the conclusion to this tale!
You''ll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Dark Shadows: the Revival
Complete Series
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