Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Lost Love OUR LOVE STORY "Model with a Broken Heart"

It's a 1970s story with a 1940s "feel"...
...because the scripter was a child of the Swingin' 60s-70s, and the illustrator was one of the greats of the Golden Age.
The story has a weird feel to it, like a 1940s-50s tales updated for the 60s-70s.
But I'm assured this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Our Love Story #14 (1971) was, in fact, written and illustrated in 1970-71!
Writer Gary Friedrich began scripting Western, military, and superhero comics in the late 1960s, including Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos, the cowboy Ghost Rider, and the Steve Ditko-illustrated Blue Beetle.
But he began his career doing romance comic stories at Charlton!
Later, he would co-create the first Black superheroine, ButterFly and the motorcycling Ghost Rider.
Tarpe Mills was one of few female writer/artists (let alone female writers or artists) in the Golden Age.
Besides working on a number of established series, she created one of the first superheroines; Miss Fury!
Tarpe retired from comics in the early 1950s, returning in the '70s to do this romance story under the pen-name "JT Mills" (short for her full name, June Tarpe Mills) and both a cover... 
...and a limited-edition tip-in plate...
for a Miss Fury reprint trade paperback.
Next Week...
Another Lost Love Story from the 1960s-70s!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Lost Love MY LOVE "I Was a Girl Who Would Stop at Nothing!"

Our Theme for September is "Lost Love"...
...but it's not about characters who lose their paramours (because that happens all the time), but never-reprinted stories from the Bronze Age such as this cover-featured one from Marvel's My Love #17 (1972) with a kool cover by then up-and-comer Alan Weiss!
Scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by George Tuska and likely-inked (opinions vary) by John Verpoorten.
Speaking of Stan Lee...
Does the unnamed decidedly-young male ingenue of the tale look...familiar?
Stan was, in fact, 50, the year this story was published!
Are we looking at the comic book equivalent of a mid-life crisis?
On a more serious note, in 1968 Marvel revived their long-cancelled romance comics, when they changed distributors and expanded their line from only eight titles a month to over two dozen!
(Before the 1957 implosion, Atlas had numerous romance books, including Western and military love titles, some of which we've run on this blog!)
Almost all Marvel's current creatives (except, ironically, Jack Kirby, who co-created romance comics with Joe Simon) contributed to My Love and Our Love Story, but that wasn't enough to keep them going!
By 1972 they were running new material only in the front of the books with reprints filling the rest.
Interestingly, they were already reprinting earlier (1968-69) stories from Our Love Story and My Love, usually in the other title (My Love stories in Our Love Story, Our Love Story tales in My Love) because using older, 1950s Atlas tales usually required redrawing hairstyles and clothing to bring them "up to date" as we showed HERE).
As a result, almost every story done for the Silver/Bronze Age books has been reprinted at least once...except for four of them, which no one who didn't buy the original books has seen since that era!

But you'll see them here in September!
And You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss Them!

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Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Super-Love MAN OF STEEL, WOMAN OF KLEENEX

You know you've wondered about it...
Normally, we'd post the rest of this fascinating (and scientifically-accurate) four-page article right here, but this version from Penthouse Comix #5 (1995), while illustrated by 1960s-80s primary Superman artist Curt Swan, has nudity, so you'll have to go to our "brother" RetroBlog...
to read the rest!
It's worth the effort, but don't go there if you're on your office or school computer!
Wait until you get home!
If you're already home...go for it!

Thursday, August 22, 2024

Super-Love LOVE AND CAPES "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" Part 1A

We Have Already Seen...

Mild-mannered, slightly-klutzy, glasses-wearing accountant Mark is romantically-involved with bookstore owner Abby. whom he met when he did her financials!
A typical, perhaps even unremarkable, love story...except that Mark is also the multi-powered super-hero known as...The Crusader!
He has just revealed his secret identity to Abby, who after the initial shock wore off, seems to be taking it in stride...until she discovers he was previously-involved with his glamorous, scantily-clad super-teammate...whom he still works with!
It looks like we're off to a good start!

Next Week:
We End This Chapter of Super-Love with the Most Controversial Story about Clark Kent and Lois Lane Ever Published!
(And, It's by a Famous Sci-Fi Author!)
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
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Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Super-Love LOVE AND CAPES "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" Part 1

While Young Heroes in Love was a super-soap opera...
...this popular series is a super-sitcom, playing off decades-old concepts from both DC and Marvel...but mostly DC!
And on that light-hearted note, we take our leave until
TOMORROW
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
Created, written and illustrated by Thom (My Little Pony) Zahler, the series has continued, on and off, from 2006 to the present, detailing Mark and Abby's relationship from dating to...well...what dating and getting serious often leads to...no, not divorce!
Think of the culture clashes of Bob ❤︎ Abishola, but with superbeings!
In fact, reading this tale. with all the major superheroing being "off-camera", I wonder if it was meant to be a TV sitcom!
(Note: I hoped to do a link to a DVD or Blu-Ray collection of 
Bob ❤︎ Abishola, but there ain't none!
Why???)
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
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