OUR LOVE STORY "Game of Triangles"

Though told from the viewpoint of the male protaganist...

...this story was, allegedly, written by one of the few female writers in Bronze Age comics.

Was it?

Read, and judge for yourself...

This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #20 (1972) was scripted by Joy Hartle and illustrated by George Tuska and Paul Reinman.

Most people believe "Joy Hartle" was a pseudonym for Gary Freidrich.

"Joy" had only two stories to her credit, both romance tales that appeared almost simultaneously in late 1972-early1973.

And, in fact, Gary's sister-in-law is named Joy Hartle!

But Gary was working steadily for Marvel at this point, scripting Captain America and Sgt Fury, as well as co-creating both the motorcycle-riding Ghost Rider and a new version of the Frankenstein Monster (both with Mike Ploog)!

So why the pen-name?

The only thing I can think of is that these stories were done during the brief period in 1971-72 when Gary had left Marvel to work at the short-lived Skywald Publishing, and were "inventory" stories used to fill out what would've been all-reprint issues of the dying romance comics line.

BTW, the cover-featured tale has one of the worst romance comics covers I've ever seen...

Art by Alan Weiss & Frank Giacoia with retouching by Marie Severin and John Romita

Heck, the guy looks more like a stalker than a lover...

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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ACTUAL ROMANCES "I Refused to Share My Husband's Love!"

Incest (potential or otherwise) is a near-taboo subject on soap operas today...

...but the then-brand new genre of romance comics took several cracks at it back in the 1940s.

Note: this never-reprinted tale from Timely Comics' Actual Romances #1 (1949) makes the brother and sister step-siblings, just to be safe.

Though the Grand Comics Database lists Mike Sekowsky as the artist, it looks a lot like a combination of Werner Roth and Bill Everett, both of whom were working for Timely.

The writer is 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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Check out the

True Love Comics Tales™

Comics Collectibles Shop

PEP COMICS "Enter: Veronica!"

Though Betty Cooper had a four-issue head start on Veronica Lodge...

Note: Hedy Lamarr was THE blonde movie bombshell of the era.

...when Ronnie hit town in MLJ's Pep Comics #26, the battle was on!

Note: A "sub-deb" (sub-debutante) was a rich or well-bred young woman who had not yet come out into high society.

Note: Comedian Jack Benny was famous for being incredibly cheap.

The gang seems to have aged several years to 16-17 from their 12-14 year old versions only four issues earlier.

If so, did Betty have Archie all to herself for a couple of years instead of a couple of issues?

Either way, the romantic triangle between Archie, Betty, and Veronica would become perhaps the longest ongoing three-way in popular culture.

Even though the Life with Archie comic offered simultaneous alternate future universe plotlines featuring Archie married to both Betty and Ronnie, the current story featuring his demise seems to take place in a merged reality where we don't know who his final words are spoken to...

Who do you think it is?

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...

Check out the

True Love Comics Tales™

Comics Collectibles Shop

PEP COMICS "Archie: the Way It Began"

With the death* of comics icon Archie Andrews making headlines...

...we're going to look back at how it all began 75 years ago, with the very first appearance of Archie, Jughead, and Betty...

Did writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana know that their creation would not only take over the comic it premiered in (Pep Comics), but eventually the entire comic company which began as MLJ Magazines in 1939 and was renamed Archie Comics in 1946?
Note the gang are presented as being around 12-14 years old instead of the 16-18 range we're familiar with.

And, with Betty shown as moving into Riverdale in this story from Pep Comics #22, you may ask "Where's Veronica?"

Next week:
 
Enter: Veronica!

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

*The Life with Archie series is actually a "What If?" or "Imaginary Story" series about what happens when Archie marries the various girls he's been involved with, and how their adult lives evolve.

So the "real" Archie is still very much alive and appearing in Archie Comics!

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SOUL LOVE "Diary of the Disappointed Doll"

We presented one story from this never-published 1970s title last year...

...and here's another never-seen story,  also scanned and presented from the original art!

Written and penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Tony DeZuniga.
Since the magazine was b/w, the art would be photostatted, then gray wash tones would be added as shown in this printed page from The ButterFly, a strip about the first Black superheroine (predating Storm of the X-Men) that appeared in the 1971 b/w magazine Hell-Rider.
You can read about her HERE.

Soul Love would have been the second romance comic oriented to a Black audience.

The first was the 1950s series Negro Romance, which we covered HERE.

Visit

 Adibah's Funky Pop-Art Stuf

UrbanWear with a "Black is Beautiful" flair!

Stand tall and proud with a Lichtenstein-style comic book image of lovers in a romantic clinch!

A Pop Art classic with a Black twist!