The story we presented yesterday, "Summer Love", had previously-appeared under this cover...
..in DC's Heart Throbs #63 (1960).
When it was reprinted in 1970, the title was also changed.
(DC tended to do this more than Marvel.)
It drives comics historians nuts trying to match up different printings of stories!
John Romita Sr was doing a lot of romance comics work for DC during this period, before leaving to go to Marvel in early 1965.
You'll note that, besides the usual "updating" of hair and clothing, the art in the reprint version shown yesterday is "extended" on each page because the original pages had a printed header across the top of the art area.
The reprints eliminated the headers, and the art was extended either along the top or bottom of the page, depending on which way would be easier and/or faster to do.
As we showed HERE, this "updated reprinting" became a common practice on romance comics until the genre all-but died out in the late 1970s.
Publishers would do a new 6-12 page lead story and use retouched reprints to fill out the book.
Editors felt that:
a) the plots were relatively timeless.
b) updating the art was cheaper than totally-redrawing the story.
c) the artists were better-utilized doing stuff that sold better (like superheroes).
d) the audience for romance comics, unlike superhero comics, totally-changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the "old" plots.
d) the audience for romance comics, unlike superhero comics, totally-changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the "old" plots.
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...
