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!

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

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

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

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TEEN CONFESSIONS "Wild Side"

Though the Book has "Teen" in the Title...

...these people are obviously not teenagers!

Young adults, yes!

But not teenagers!

One other note: the same art was used for both the cover and the splash page.
If the art director had left the "Wild Side" lettering in place on the lower right of the splash page (the way it is on the cover), there would've been room for the caption to go across the top of the page without it crashing into the bearded artist's model's head, throwing off the composition of the art!

Argentinian artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez began his American comics career at Charlton in 1967, doing a lot of romance comics work!
This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Teen Confessions #61 (1970) is from the end of his romance genre work as Charlton's editors finally gave him a chance to branch out into the horror genre, which brought him to DC Comics' attention.

Unfortunately, DC had cancelled their remaining romance titles a couple of months before they hired him!
But Garcia-Lopez barely-noticed as he was swamped with work as they used him in many different genres from horror to sci-fi to superheroes!

In the early 1980s, Jose also became their primary licensed-property artist, with work on everything from lunchboxes to t-shirts to toy packaging to food items!
His work, with updated costume modifications, is used to this day!

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

But...

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Modern Masters Volume Five
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

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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!

HI-SCHOOL ROMANCE "Baby-Sitter's Blues"

From the title, you wouldn't think this was a Yuletide story...

...but it most definitely is!

Does this story (by unknown writers, artists, or a writer-artist) from Harvey's Hi-School Romance #3 (1950) give you the "warm and fuzzy" feeling such holiday tales are supposed to provide?
Merry Christmas!!!

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!

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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics
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Amorous Education FIRST LOVE ILLUSTRATED "I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club"

If that title doesn't get your attention, nothing will...

...and it wasn't even the cover-featured story in that issue of Harvey's First Love Illustrated!

Surprisingly,  this story from First Love Illustrated #13 (1951) wasn't one of the tales mentioned in Fredric Wertham's anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent (1954)!

Tales of scandalous "sex clubs" pop up every so often during periods of sexual repression such as the 1950s usually in local media looking for a sensationalistic story.

You'll note the tale is presented from scans of the original artwork, not the printed comic.

Unfortunately, every copy of the comic we could find is "slabbed" (encased in plastic) to increase it's resale value to the owner.

The fact it renders the comic unreadable is, sadly, secondary to most people.

(The concept of "slabbing" was developed for trading cards which don't have interiors.

The "collector mentality" of dealers adapted the idea to comics and magazines which do have readable interiors that, after being encased in plastic, are no longer accessible!

And removing the comic from the casing lowers the resale value!)

Illustrated by noted good-girl artist Bob Powell (who also did a number of heroine strips including Cave Girl), the writer of this torrid tale is unknown.

Next Week:

More High School/College Hi-Jinks!

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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Halloween HeartBreak WORLD OF FANTASY "Strange Wife of Henry Johnson!"

Welcome to our final Countdown to Halloween 2024 tale...

...as we look at the never-reprinted tale behind this incredibly-misleading (but atmospheric), never-reprinted Bill Everett cover!

That means no one has seen this story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #4 (1956)...except you...for almost seven decades!

So she's not a witch...but an alien!

I have the feeling the cover was done before the Comics Code Authority began its' stranglehold on what was left of the comic book industry, but frugal editor Stan Lee didn't want it to go to waste, so he had an unknown writer along with artist John Forte take the basic plot and drop the supernatural element, replacing it with sci-fi!
It's still a nice tale of "love conquers all", eh?

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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Gothic Tales of Haunted Love
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