LOVE 1971 "Reckless Losers"

50 years ago...

...romance comics were on their last legs.
But DC Comics' wasn't going down without a fight, 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...

Armentano now runs his own graphics design/production company.
Check out his LinkedIn page HERE!

Next Week...

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

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

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

YOUNG ROMANCE "Bonnie Taylor, Airline Stewardess in Never Let Go!" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...before we continue, I gotta ask: "What's a 'flaming love story'?"

A year ago, airline stewardess Bonnie Taylor met a charming Irish fishing boat captain named Johnny Shannon during a layover in Ireland!

The two fell deeply, intensely, passionately in love...

Continuing her penchant for Celtic men with a supernatural bent, the very next issue finds Bonnie falling for a Scotsman from a Brigadoon-like town that appears for a few days every century, then disappears!

(I think I'll save that one for our annual Halloween blogathon in October!)

This never-reprinted tale from DC's Young Romance #135 (1965) was scripted by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by a guy who would jump from DC to Marvel only a few months later...replacing Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko on the flagship title and eventually becoming Marvel's art director for over 20 years....John Romita Sr!

DC's Silver-Age editors believed romance titles needed ongoing strips to keep the readers coming back and every book had one during the mid-1960s.
They ran from traditional-style soap operas (Reach for Happiness and 20 Miles to Heartbreak) to series about unmarried working women seeking love in the Big City or their workplace (Private Diary of Mary Robin RN and 3 Girls -- Their Lives -- Their Loves)!

The Bonnie Taylor, Airline Stewardess series ran from #126 to #139.

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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics

(which features Bonnie Taylor's premiere story!)

YOUNG ROMANCE "Bonnie Taylor, Airline Stewardess in Never Let Go!" Part 1

For St Patrick's Day, we present the only Irish romance comic story I've ever found...

...from a series about a stewardess seeking love...all over the globe!

Actually, Part 2 will appear...tomorrow!

Bonnie Taylor, Airline Stewardess premiered in DC's Young Romance #126 (1963), featuring a character who fell deeply, intensely, seriously, in love with a different guy in every issue as she circled the globe!

Since this tale appeared in DC's Young Romance #135 (1964), less than a year after the strip's premiere, and Bonnie was ostensibly waiting out the year before marrying Johnny, what was she doing with all those other men between #127 and #135???
She wanted to marry a number of them!

Was this a script meant for a stand-alone story, but ended up being shoehorned into the series due to deadline problems?
Did Miss Taylor have Short Attention Span Disorder?

Or was Bonnie a Comics Code-approved nymphomaniac?
BTW, I wasn't intending to run Young Romance stories two weeks in a row, but I thought there'd be more romance stories set in Ireland than this lone tale...

Tomorrow:

The Conclusion...

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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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics

(which features Bonnie Taylor's premiere story!)

YOUNG ROMANCE "Love Me, Love Me Not!"

What do you do when the one you love falls for someone else?

Art by Bill Draut

But, at the same time, something happens to you, as shown in the cover story from Young Romance #168 (1970)...

This titillating tale of heartbreak, horniness, and hypocrisy, was written by Jack Miller, and illustrated by Don Heck, who did a lot of romance work from the 1950s to the late 1970s, penciling or inking in conjunction with others, or doing his own complete art (like this tale)!

 Next Week:

We Don't Yet Know What We'll Present, but...

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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Heart Throbs

Best of DC Romance Comics

DARING CONFESSIONS "My Sister and I"

Two women fighting over a man isn't that unusual...

...but two siblings in conflict can make for serious problems as this story from the aptly-named Daring Confessions #8 (1953) from Youthful Magazines shows...

The art is by Vince Colletta, an inker noted for his amazing speed whose feathery style was one of the hallmarks of romance comics of the 1950s and 60s.

He did very few pencil jobs, and this particular one shows influences, if not outright swipes, from a number of other artists including Alex Toth, Wally Wood, Ross Andru, even Steve Ditko!

Next Week...

Another Tale of Disease, Debilitating Conditions and Desire!

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

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Agonizing Love

The Golden Age of Romance Comics