HARVEY "Beauty and the Beach"

When summer vacation begins, comic book teens run for, where else...

...the beach!

This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Harvey #5 (1972) was the penultimate issue of their last attempt at "teen" humor.
Written and penciled by Stu Schwartzberg and inked by Henry Scarpelli, clearly imitating Dan DeCarlo's art style which became the "look" of Archie Comics, this book and several Millie the Model titles ended in 1972-73, leaving Archie standing alone in the teen humor genre to this day.

Next Week

Our Annual Summer RetroBlog Blogathon Begins HERE with a special re-presentation of the first Graphic Novel!

A Tale of Love, Lust, Politics, Crime, and a Man Romancing a Successful Businesswoman...and Her Daughter!

It Rhymes with LUST

by Arnold Drake, Leslie Waller, Matt Baker, and Ray Osrin

A Saga So Big...So HOT...No Single Blog Can Contain It!

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

Now a word from our sponsor!

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Best of Archie Comics

75 Years - 75 Stories

STILL STAR-CROSSED aka Romeo and Juliet: the Next Generation

You have to give Shonda Rhimes credit for chutzpah...

..it isn't many people who would try to do a live-action sequel to Romeo and Juliet!

A re-imagining, yes!

An update, yes!

Lord knows they've been done to death!

But a sequel???

Now that's chutzpah!

(BTW, Romeo and Juliet are dead!

None of that "look, we were wrong, they're still alive" BS!)
 To be fair, the series is based on a kool, popular YA book by Melinda Taub, and Shonda decided to carry the fact that R&J was the prototype for the soap operas of today to its' logical conclusion, making a soap opera out of it, using Taub's book as the launching pad!

But does it work?

As Dynasty-style soap opera, definitely!

As a sequel to the original story, sort of!

As a historically-accurate period piece, it's on the level of Hercules: the Legendary Journeys!

It is enjoyable, campy fun!

But, hopefully, it'll inspire teens and 'tweens to search out the original R&J in any of the many formats it's available in...like this comics adaptation...

Part 1

Part 2

Conclusion

Sadly, ABC has moved Still Star-Crossed from Monday to the "death slot" of Saturday nights beginning July 8, so it looks like they'll "burn it off" and let the show fade into obscurity.

Watch or DVR it before it disappears!

Next Week:

We don't know yet what we'll present, but we can guarantee...

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

And now a word from our sponsor...

Please Support True Love Comics Tales

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Still Star-Crossed

by Melinda Taub

IDEAL LOVE AND ROMANCE "Unfaithful!"

Sometimes the opening caption says it all...

...as this never-reprinted tale from Timely's Ideal Love and Romances #5 (1949) demonstrates.

Artist Pete Tumlinson was extremely versatile,

Besides romance books, he did war, horror, crime, and Western stories with equal aploomb!

Rendering over 150 stories (and some covers) from 1948 to 1955, he moved into commercial art (mostly book illustration) after the big comic book implosion caused by the "Seduction of the Innocent" witchhunt put many writers and artists out of work.

The writer is unknown.

BTW, though this issue was #5, it was actually the one and only issue of Ideal Love and Romance!

Before that, it was Ideal: a Classical Comic,  

With #6 it became simply Love Romances, and survived for one hundred issues until #106 (1963)!

Next Week:

We don't know yet what we'll present, but we can guarantee...

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

LOVE DIARY "Love Slave!"

Handsome guy snuggling beautiful gal.

Looks like True Love, doesn't it?

Well, looks can be deceiving...

Typical story of the era..woman must be taught her self-destructive desires are wrong by an assertive man who knows what's best for her!

Illustrated by Marvel Comics mainstay John Buscema, this cover-featured tale from Orbit's Love Diary #47 (1954) was a reprint from just a year earlier in Orbit's Love Journal #20 (1953).

(The extremely-sexist writer is, perhaps mercifully, unknown.)

If you're wondering why it was reprinted so quickly, it was because Orbit was shutting down and simply fulfilling it's contracted obligation to the distributor to supply a specific number of issues.

It didn't matter if the books were original material or reprints.

And, at that point in comics history, creatives didn't get reprint royalties, so...

The next issue of Love Diary, also all-reprint, was the last Orbit comic ever published.

Next Week:

We don't know yet what we'll present, but we can guarantee...

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

LOVE 1971 "Reckless Losers"

We were gone for a month while we moved into a new home...

...but now we're back with a slew of stories for your summer reading pleasure starting with the torrid tale under this psychedelic Charlie Armentano cover!

Written/pencilled by Ric Estrada and inked by Tony DeZuniga, this cover-featured, never-reprinted story from DC's Super DC Giant #21 was the only new tale in the 64-page book.

The rest were reprints with hairstyles and clothing "updated" to the then-current styles!

Note: Charlie Armentano did only two comic pages that were ever published; this cover and the back cover of DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #5 Love Stories (1971)!

The art was apparently submitted with coloring done on the original art itself, unheard-of at the time...

I've been unable to find anything else about him on the Net.

If anyone has anything to share, please do so!

Next Week...

We Don't Know What We're Presenting...Yet!

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

And now a word from our sponsor!

Support True Love Comics Tales
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Love Stories 1971 100-Page Super-Spectacular
Replica Edition
...which features Charlie Armentaro's only other comic book art on the back cover!