Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Love in the Time of Covid-19 BEWARE "Black Death" & TALES FROM THE TOMB "Devil's Plague"

Here's a story that was so not nice, they presented it twice!
Illustrator Henry Kiefer and an unknown writer crafted this tale for Trojan Magazine's Beware #7 (1954), during the height of the horror comics boom!
Because of the content, it was never reprinted after the Comics Code came into effect!
(And, to this day, still hasn't been reprinted!)
But that doesn't mean the story itself hasn't reappeared...
...as the editor of Eerie Publications' b/w magazine line (which was not regulated by the Comics Code) had artist Oscar Fraga re-do the tale verbatim from the original script in Tales From the Tomb V2N3 (1970)!
This version has been reprinted several times throughout the Eerie Publications line from 1971 to 1980, when they went out of business!
Next Week...
Another Tale of Debilitating Conditions and Desire!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
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Weird Love

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Love in the Time of Covid-19 DIARY LOVES "I Was For Sale"

Sometimes disease affecting a loved one causes us to do the wrong thing...
...but for the right reason, as this never-reprinted story from Quality's Diary Loves #4 (1950) proves!
Talk about your potential "fate worse than death"!
Luckily, nobility and selfless sacrifice win out in the end!
Artist Reed Crandall was no slouch when it came to rendering beautiful women as his work on the heroic Blackhawk (who was constantly being pusued by glamorous female spies and other villainesses) book proved on a monthly basis!
Reed didn't often do  romance, but when he did, it was a beautifully-illustrated treat! 
However, the writer of this somewhat tawdry tale is unknown!
Note: the disease Laurie's brother Jimmy suffers from is called "glanders"...which only horses suffer from!
Next Week...
Another Tale of Debilitating Conditions and Desire!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
And now a word from our sponsor...
Marvel's picked some of the best love comics from the 60s and 70s...including "My Heart Broke in Hollywood,"
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.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Love in the Time of Covid-19 TALES TO ASTONISH "Scheme!"

Most romance comics tales about disease involve nobility and sacrifice...
...but not this one (which, technically, isn't a romance comic tale)!
BTW, since numerous others (including her servants) were in close physical contact with Anne and didn't catch the disease, the only way it could be transmitted was via (ahem) "marital relations"!
(Fine, no more euphemisms...sexual intercourse!)
Pretty kinky for a Silver Age Comics Code-approved tale, eh?
Plotter Stan Lee, writer Larry Lieber, penciler Gene Colan, and inker Dick Ayers all had experience in romance genre comics, but this particular story appeared in Atlas' Tales to Astonish #28 (1962)...a sci-fi anthology...just as Atlas was transitioning into Marvel Comics!
(Trivia: the previous issue of Astonish featured the first appearance of Hank (Ant-Man) Pym!)
I can't help but wonder what the target audience of 8-to-15 year old boys thought of this particular tale...
Next Week...
Another Tale of Debilitating Conditions and Desire!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
And now a word from our sponsor...
Marvel's picked some of the best love comics from the 60s and 70s...including "My Heart Broke in Hollywood,"
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.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Love in the Time of Covid-19 UNTAMED LOVE "Man Trap"

Oddly, romance and disease seem to go hand-in-hand...
...and this particular tale adds industrial espionage into the mix!
This never-reprinted story from Quality's Untamed Love #2 (1950) shows us idealism, nobility and true love winning out!
Unfortunately, in our cynical times, such a tale couldn't be told with a straight face.
Think about that...

Next Week...
Another Tale of Debilitating Conditions and Desire!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
And now a word from our sponsor...
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True Love Comics Tales!
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Night Nurse

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

IT'S LOVE, LOVE, LOVE "Unwanted"

Talk about a title that screams the book's subject matter...
...but the story's title and content and title seem to reflect just the opposite!
The only creative credit we have for this tale from the second (and last) issue of this short-lived St John comic from 1958 is penciler Bill Molno, who drew the entire issue except the cover.
However, editor Al Fago moved to Charlton when St John folded a couple of months after this book was published. bringing many of his creatives (including Molno) with him!
Molno continued to work steadily in numerous genres besides romance until Charlton went all-reprint in the late 1970s.
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...
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