HOLLYWOOD ROMANCES "Bikini"

It's the 4th of July, and many of us are at the beach!

Empowering or condescending?

Interpret this short from Charlton's Hollywood Romances #50 (1969) as you will!

BTW, we have no idea who either the writer or artist are.

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You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
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Love on the Racks

A History of American Romance Comics

MY LOVE "He Doesn't Know I Love Him!"

When most people think of "romance comics", this is the type of tale they think of...

...with cliches aplenty, and a plethora of pretty people posing and pouting!

Did I mention the totally-unlikely ending?

Written by Stan Lee, illustrated by John Romita Sr, this rarely-seen tale from Marvel's My Love #2 (1969) is a textbook example of well-crafted "fluff" enhanced by pop culture references (like "Fillmore East", a famous late-60s music venue on 2nd Avenue and E 6th Street!) and kool retro fashions.

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But...

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Marvel Romance: the Trade Paperback!

Marvel's picked some of the best love comics from the 60s and 70s!

"It Happened at Woodstock," "My Heart Broke in Hollywood," "Love on the Rebound!"

Collects Love Romance #89 and #101-104; My Love #2, #14, #16 and #18-20; Teen-Age Romance #77 and #84, Our Love Story #5; and Patsy Walker #119.

COWGIRL ROMANCES "Stars Fell on Arizona" / MOVIE COMICS "Mitzi in Hollywood Meets Sonny Sagebrush"

We've shown you reprints where fashions and hairstyles were updated...

but this story from Fiction House's CowGirl Romances #10 (1952) doesn't do that!

OK, pretty straightforward tale of a starry-eyed girl living near a movie location, getting to appear in the movie, meeting her screen idol, and not finding true love, right?

But, that's not how it started out!

This is actually a re-use of lovely Matt Baker art for an earlier ongoing series, Mitzi in Hollywood, about a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood!

This particular episode from Fiction House's Movie Comics #4 (1947) was about working on a Western, and the original script was quite different...

Sadly, this was the final issue of Movie Comics, so no more Mitzi adventures ever appeared...except as heavily-modified reprints!

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

LOVELORN "Come Back My Love!" in TrueVision!

You won't need red/blue 3-D glasses to read the 3-D comic story...

...behind this Ogden Whitney cover, because it's not red/blue 3-D, but an idea to simulate 3-D called...

While other companies were doing actual 3-D, ACG decided to save a few bucks and also tout the fact their "3-D" was still FULL color!
And now, on with the story...

It's a clever concept, but I can see how it would become irritating on an ongoing basis.

The big problem is that the cheap "newsprint" paper was never meant to have so much solid black ink on the pages, resulting in blotchy backgrounds!

Art on this never-reprinted story from ACG's Lovelorn #51 (1954) was by Edmond Good, who worked in various genres for DC, Fox, Nedor/Standard, Fawcett, and ACG, among others.

He left comics to become the Art Director for Tupperware from the mid-1950s until his retirement in the mid-1970s!

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

JON JUAN "World's Greatest Lover"

As promised, here's Jerry Siegel's concept of a romantic leading man...

...as illustrated by Alex Schomburg for Toby's Jon Juan #1 (1950)

Is it just me, or does anyone else need a shower to help themselves feel clean after reading this?
"I'll give her Smile Number Three...the one I reserve for emergencies! It never fails!"
"Can I help it if their neglected women cast lovelorn glances in my direction? Can I be blamed if my nimble tongue sought out the proper words to solace thwarted femininity?"
Women are foolish and easily manipulated, according to this story.
"Like a thousand women before her...and a thousands yet to come...she surrendered!"
Note that in the origin tale, Jon wears Superman's color scheme!
Do you want to see the rest of Jon's extemely-brief run?
Post your response in the comments...

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...
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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics