Wednesday, September 21, 2011

OUR LOVE STORY "My Heart Broke in Hollywood"

It's the end of an era this week as All My Children broadcasts their final episode Friday...
...so I wanted to present a show business-themed tale to cushion the blow.
This tale from 1970's Our Love Story #5 was written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jim Steranko.
With less than 100 comic stories to his credit, Steranko was still one of the most influential comic illustrators of the 1960s-70s, bringing a deliberately-cinematic storytelling style to the page.
UPDATE: The kool blog Sequential Crush  (which also covers romance comics) has a new entry called "My Chat With Jim Steranko on His Only Romance Comic Book Story - 'My Heart Broke in Hollywood!'" 
Guess what it's about?
Great minds DO think alike!

I'll be watching (and crying) Friday with the rest of you as we bid farewell to Pine Valley.
But, at least Angie Hubbard's getting her sight back! Yay!
(And truth be told, I've always had a serious crush on Debbi Morgan!)

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!
(And we mentioned that October will be loaded with Gothic/spooky romance tales.
So here's two words that'll get your pulse racing...
Dark Shadows!)

And now a word from out sponsor...
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

"Masher!"

Riding the NYC subway can be an adventure...
...like this atypical tale of lechery, love, and the law!
This tale of female empowerment from 1954 is from the short-lived Police Trap #1, illustrated (and probably written) by Bill Draut, who also did a lot of romance comics work in the 1950s-1970s, primarily for Harvey, Toby, and DC.
He continued working until the mid-1980s, ending up (like many other comic artists) working on animated tv series, where he was one of the primary designers for the original GI Joe cartoon.
And, please remember to be observant and careful when you ride public transportation!

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!
(But, we will tell you that October will be a month of spooky Gothic and horror-themed tales, most of them multi-parters!)
And now a word from out sponsor...
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "What a Specimen"

To help ease your return to school or work after Labor Day...MORE fun with Dan DeCarlo's Jetta!
2011 ain't what they thought it would be in 1953...
"Leaping Electrodes!"
"Now we're cookin' with uranium!"
"Go atomize yourself!"
"This is simply electronic!"
Why aren't we all talking like this?
This tale from Jetta #6 (which was actually the second issue) was written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo, but it may not have been inked by him.

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!
(I know we say that every week...but it's true!)

And now a word from out sponsor...
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

ADVENTURES IN ROMANCE "Heels Over Head in Love"

With Labor Day coming up, it's time to ease into Autumn...
...as we did into summer, with another story from the short-lived (and never reprinted) Adventures in Romance!
Written by the prolific Dana Dutch, about whom very little is known, except his extensive list of  comic scripts.
Interestingly, out of 206 identified scripts, over 200 were romance stories, with a smattering of superhero and high adventure!
Illustrated by the versatile Frank Bolle, who's still active in the field today!
Here's his website!
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!
(You will! Really!)
And now a word from our sponsor...
You can own a kool komic collectible
(t-shirt, mug, tote bag, etc.)
 embellished with the cover art from the comic that featured this week's torrid tale...
 ...by clicking HERE!
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

OUR LOVE STORY "Summer Must End"

It's not Labor Day weekend...yet...
...but this tale by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta still seemed appropriate.
Jack Kirby/George Klein
PSST!
Wanna know a secret?
This story, which we're re-presenting from 1970's Our Love Story #9, originally-appeared in 1961's Teen-Age Romances #84!
It was even the cover story in T-AR!
The art in Our Love Stories was retouched by art director John Romita to "update" the hairstyles and some of the fashions.
"Why did they do it?" you may ask...
With sales falling on most non-superhero genres in the late 1960s (including Western and war as well as romance), this "updated reprinting" became a common practice on romance comics until the genre all-but died out in the late 1970s.
Publishers would do a new 8-12 page lead story and use retouched reprints to fill out the book.
Editors felt that:
a) the plots were relatively timeless.
b) updating the art was cheaper than totally-redrawing the story. 
c) the artists were better-utilized doing stuff that sold better (like superheroes).
d) the audience for romance comics, unlike superhero comics, changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the old plots.
BTW, here's the original version of page 1...
Compare and contrast!

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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...
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