INTIMATE LOVE "I Hated Men"

Sometimes there are valid reasons for women to be cautious about men...

...but rarely are there situations that require not just distrust, but hatred of the other gender!

We don't know who scripted or illustrated this never-reprinted story from Standard's Intimate Love #13 (1951), but this tale is a classic example of unrealistic plotting and scripting, even by comic book standards!

Next Week...

Another Story About a Woman Who Proclaims...

"I HATED MEN!!!"

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

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The Golden Age of Romance Comics

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John Buscema Tales "Prescription for Happiness" & "S.O.S. for Love"

Though most of John Busecema's romance comics stories were one-shots...

...along with one two-parter (as shown HERE and HERE), he did do two series of 2-3 page shorts!

Entitled "Prescription for Happiness" and "S.O.S. for Love", the shorts featured distressed lovers asking a counselor for advice, much like the licensed (and unlicensed) advisors we presented last year in our Advice d'Amour tales!
Appearing in Orbit's Love Diary and Love Journal comics, the strips initially-featured rotating artists, but once Buscema took over, he stayed on both of them for the remainder of their runs, doing almost a dozen tales of woe!

Yes, the title on this one is "S.O.S. Love in Distress".

To be fair, this was the final strip in the final issue of Love Journal, so the editor can be forgiven for letting the incorrect header slip by!
After all, what were they going to do...fire him?
In a couple of cases, as Orbit was winding down operations just before cancellation, they took an "S.O.S. for Love" strip from the previous year like this one...

...and re-ran it as "Prescription for Happiness", just changing the logo and re-naming the counselor...without even redrawing him to match the other strip's host!

I guess they thought "PfH's" Ray Mann and "S.O.S.'s" Mark Ford were interchangeable!

Next Week...

What Will February Bring?

At This Point, We Haven't Decided Yet!

But We Can Assure You...

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

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Big John Buscema

Comics and Drawings

A combination of complete checklist of Buscema's comic and magazine work and a heavily-illustrated catalog of a 2009 Italian museum exhibition of his work!

Amorous Education WARTIME ROMANCE "I Tried to Burn the Candle at Both Ends!"

Though it appeared in Wartime Romances...

...this story has nothing to do with anything even vaguely-military related!

Written by Dana Dutch and illustrated by Matt Baker, this story from St John's Wartime Romances #1 (1951), like all the tales in the issue, was a reprint (but all were retitled from their original publication)!
In fact, this one was originally called "I Should Have Played Hard-to-Get!" when it ran in St John's Blue Ribbon Comics: Teen-Age Diary Secrets #4 (1949)...where it was the cover feature!

With the Korean War under way, the editors thought a romance title based on how war affects male-female relationships might be a hot seller!

But they could only find two military-themed stories in their inventory, so they lead with those tales and used other, non military-related tales to fill out the issue!
With #2, they started running new material commissioned specifically for the book, which ran 18 issues through 1953, outlasting the war!

Next Week:
We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present, But We Guarantee that...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
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Matt Baker
Art of Glamour

WARTIME ROMANCES "Some Sergeants are Sweethearts"

This never-reprinted tale from 1953 may not look like a tale about romance...

...but trust us...it is!

So what did you expect?

This story's from 1953, not 2022!

Note that this is the sort of story that could only work as a prose or graphic narrative, since if it were a movie or tv presentation, the sergeant's voice would give away the twist ending!
Except for inker Bernard Sachs, the other creative credits for this tale from St John's WarTime Romances #15 are unknown.

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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(and remember, Valentine's Day is coming!)

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Halloween HeartBreak TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS "Rocky the Stone Man"

Remember those Charles Atlas ads in comic books?

Let's see what happens when someone literally resculpts himself to win a girl!

While the artist of this tale from Archie's Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #6 (1962) is unknown, the writer is George Gladir.

Archie Comics kept at least one MAD-style humor anthology going from the late 1950s (after MAD switched from four-color comic to black-and-white magazine) through the 1960s.

Though Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats! expired after only seven issues, it's sister title, Archie's Mad House (which initially-featured various Archie characters as hosts of the stories), survived to 1981!

Next week:

Another Tale of ♥True Love♥...with a Halloween Twist!

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

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

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Best of Archie's Mad House!

Amorous Education CAMPUS ROMANCES "One Way Romance"

If you thought last week's story about a girl falling for a guy who looked like a younger version of her father was weird...

...wait until you see this little tale!

Yeah, waiting until she graduates to marry won't get any tongues wagging!

I can see the first faculty get-together after the wedding...

"Hi, Professor Banner!

Congratulations on your nuptials!

Odd, your lovely bride looks so...familiar?"

"Oh, she was in your European Classical Literature class last semester, Professor Warren!"
Illustrated by Jerry Grandenetti, and scripted by an unknown author, this never-reprinted story from Avon's Campus Romances #2 (1950) is an interesting insight as to what was "polticially-correct" back then!

Next Week:
We Begin Our Annual Octoberfest of Fantasy/Sci-Fi Romances!
And Yes, You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Volume 1: Super Crush

ACTUAL CONFESSIONS "Summer Romance"

It's summertime, so when better to present a tale about  summer romance?

But, I have to ask, was "Heartbreak Harry" a nickname for a "love 'em and leave 'em cad?

The "bad boy's" name in the story is "Jim"!

Jim would be seeking "friends with benefits" rather than "happily married" status if this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Actual Confessions #14 (1952) was created today!

As was common in comics "back in the day", the cover (by penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Gil Kane) and story (by artist Jay Scott Pike) were likely created weeks if not months apart,

Editor Stan Lee would sometimes come up with an idea, have a cover done based on it, then he (or another writer) would flesh out the concept for the story's illustrator (usually someone other than the cover artist) weeks or even months later, resulting in inadvertently changing story elements between the two!

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...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales

Visit Amazon and Order...

Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics