Wednesday, November 23, 2011

DARING LOVE "Paper Romance"

This week we're presenting a tale from Daring Love (1953), a one-shot comic featuring a one-time combination of two of the most famous artists in comic book history!
The artists are:
1) Matt Baker, whom we've shown here several times, doing layouts.
2) And, in his very first published story, Steve Ditko, who would later co-create Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, on finished pencils and inks.

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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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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!

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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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

CINDERELLA LOVE "Record-Breaking Affair"

Though technology changes, the human heart remains the same...
...as this tale, set long before iPods and digital music, demonstrates!
 
This story of workplace romance in a (then) high-tech setting was published in Cinderella Love #27 (1955).
If you don't know what "lp records" or "mimeographing" or "filing cards" are, ask your parents.

Trivia: There had been a previous series named Cinderella Love, which was canceled at #15.
At the same time as Cinderella Love, another comic from the same company, called Romantic Marriage, began publishing, continued to #24, then changed it's name to Cinderella Love, ending it's run with #29.
Thus, collectors of romance comics should note that Cinderella Love ran #1-15, 25-29, with no issues 16-24!
Neither Cinderella Love or Romantic Marriages has been used as the title of a comic book since!

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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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

TIPPY TEEN "Chemical Warfare"

We've done "dark and gloomy" for a month with Gothic and romance comic stories...
...so let's lighten the mood with a tale from Tippy Teen #1 (1965)!
Tower's character, Tippy Teen, was not an Archie clone.
She didn't have two boys fighting over her, as Betty and Veronica did over Archie, but a number of her supporting characters seemed like close relatives to some of Archie's pals and gals.
It's not surprising, since a number of Archie Comics writers and artists were also doing work for Tower, including Dan DeCarlo, Sam Schwartz, Harry Lucey (who penciled this story) and Bob White!
Tippy also had several spin-off comics including Tippy's Friends Go-Go & Animal and Teen-In, which serves as the basis of our Tippy line of kool kollectibles!
Trivia: The story is reputed to be a reworking of a story from Ginger #1, a short-lived title published by Archie Comics that reversed sexes for the characters.
(The lead was a red-headed girl pursued by blond and brunette boys.)
Since I don't have the issue, I can't verify it.
But the cover sorta speaks for itself...
Art by Geo Feese (signed)
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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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Death Came Dancing"

As a Halloween treat (no trick), here's a tale about true love from beyond the grave...
...from a classic 1950s horror comic!
This tale appeared in the 1952 one-shot comic anthology Phantom Witch Doctor by Avon Comics.
Both the writer and artist are unknown and the story has never been reprinted.
 Happy Halloween, everyone!
Next week:
We haven't decided yet which tale 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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