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{{Short description|Comics genre}}
{{Infobox comics genre <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
<!-- |title = Romance comics -->
{{Infobox comics genre
|image = My Story 01a.JPG
|image = Young Romance Issue 1.jpg
|caption = ''[[Young Romance]]'' #1 (Oct. 1947) launched the genre.<br />Cover art by [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]].
|imagesize = <!-- default 250 -->
|caption = A typical Victor Fox title of the 1950s, ''My Story True Romances in Pictures''
|alt =
|alt =
|genre = [[Romance novel|romance]]
|genre = [[Romance novel|romance]]
|pub1 = [[Crestwood Publications]]
|pub1 = [[Crestwood Publications]]
|pub2 = [[Fox Feature Syndicate]]
|pub2 = [[Fox Feature Syndicate]]
|pub3 = [[Timely Comics]]
|pub3 = [[Charlton Comics]]
|pub4 = [[Fawcett Comics]]
|pub4 = [[Fawcett Comics]]
|pub5 = [[DC Comics]]
|pub5 = [[DC Comics]]
|title1 = [[Young Romance]]
|pub6 = [[Timely Comics]]
|title2 = My Romance
|title1 = ''[[Young Romance]]''
|title3 = My Life
|title2 = ''My Romance''
|title4 = Sweethearts
|title3 = ''My Life''
|title5 = [[Young Love]]
|title4 = ''[[Sweethearts (comics)|Sweethearts]]''
|title5 = ''[[Young Love (comics)|Young Love]]''
|person# = <!-- upto 5 -->
|person1 = [[Matt Baker (artist)|Matt Baker]]
|person2 = [[Jay Scott Pike]]
|person3 = [[Alex Toth]]
|person4 = [[Mike Sekowsky]]
|person5 = [[Marie Severin]]
|series# = <!-- upto 5 -->
|series# = <!-- upto 5 -->
|base# = <!-- upto 5 -->
|base# = <!-- upto 5 -->
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|cattop =
|cattop =
}}
}}
'''Romance comics''' are a [[genre]] of [[comic book|comic books]] that were most popular during the [[Golden Age of Comics]]. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of [[World War II]] when military contracts to provide disposable reading matter to servicemen ended. This left many comic creators seeking new markets. In 1947, part of an effort to tap into new adult audiences, the romance comic genre was created by [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]] with the [[Crestwood Publications]] title ''[[Young Romance]]''.
'''Romance comics''' (sometimes '''love comics''') is a [[comics]] genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an [[American comic books]] genre published through the first three decades of the [[Cold War]] ([[1947 in comics|1947]]&ndash;[[1977 in comics|1977]]). Romance comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about the love lives of older high school teens and young adults, with accompanying artwork depicting an urban or rural America contemporaneous with publication.
The origins of romance comics lie in the years immediately following [[World War II]] when adult comics readership increased and [[superheroes]] were dismissed as ''passé''. Influenced by the [[pulps]], radio [[soap opera]]s, newspaper [[comic strip]]s such as ''[[Mary Worth]]'', and adult [[confession magazine]]s, [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]] created the flagship romance comic book ''[[Young Romance]]'' and launched it in [[1947 in comics|1947]] to resounding success. By the early 1950s, dozens of romance titles from major comics publishers were on the newsstands and drug store racks.


== History ==
With the implementation of the [[Comics Code]] in [[1954 in comics|1954]], romance comics publishers self-censored any material that might be interpreted as controversial and opted to play it safe with stories focusing on traditional patriarchial concepts of female behavior, gender roles, love, sex, and marriage. The genre fell into decline and disrepute during the [[sexual revolution]], and the genre's Golden Age came to an end when ''Young Romance'' and its companion Simon and Kirby title ''[[Young Love]]'' ceased publication in [[1975 in comics|1975]] and [[1977 in comics|1977]] respectively.
As World War II ended the popularity of superhero comics diminished, and in an effort to retain readers comic publishers began diversifying more than ever into such genres as [[war comics|war]], [[Western comics|Western]], [[science fiction comics|science fiction]], [[crime comics|crime]], [[horror comics|horror]] and romance comics.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kovacs |editor1-first=George |editor2-first=C. W. |editor2-last=Marshall |year=2011 |title = Classics and Comics | publisher = [[Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press, USA]] | page = 109 | isbn = 978-0199734191}}</ref> The genre took its immediate inspiration from the romance pulps; confession magazines such as ''[[True Story (magazine)|True Story]]''; radio soap operas, and newspaper [[comic strips]] that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache, such as ''[[Rex Morgan, M.D.]]'' and ''[[Mary Worth]]''.<ref name="Goulart">{{cite book |last=Goulart, Ron |year=2001 |title=Great American Comic Books |publisher=Publications International, Ltd. |isbn=0-7853-5590-1 |pages=161,169&ndash;172}}</ref> [[Teen humor comics]] had romantic plots before the invention of romance comics.<ref name=Mitchell/>
In the new millenium, a few publishers flirted with the genre in various ways, including [[manga]]-styled romance comics based on [[Harlequin Enterprises|Harlequin]] novels and Golden Age classics revamped with snarky dialogue.


Simon and Kirby's ''[[Young Romance]]'' debuted in 1947. In the next 30 years, over 200 issues of the flagship romance comic would be produced.<ref name=Mitchell>{{cite book |last=Mitchell, Claudia A. |author2=Jacqueline Reid-Walsh |year=2008 |title=Girl Culture |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=508&ndash;509 |isbn=978-0-313-33908-0}}</ref>
== Origin ==
[[File:Romantic Picture Novelettes 1946.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Historian [[Ron Goulart]] nominates the [[1946 in comics|1946]] [[one-shot (comics)|one-shot]] comic ''Romantic Picture Novelettes'', a collection of ''Mary Worth'' newspaper reprints, as the first romance comic book.<ref name="Goulart">{{cite book |last=Goulart, Ron |date=2001 |title=Great American Comic Books |publisher=Publications International, Ltd. |isbn=0-7853-5590-1 |pages=161,169&ndash;172}}</ref>]]


[[File:My Life True Stories in Pictures 4.jpg|thumb|left|The first issue of [[Fox Feature Syndicate]]'s ''My Life'' (Sept. 1948) was the third romance comic book title on the newsstands following Crestwood's ''Young Romance'' and Timely/Marvel's ''My Romance''.]]
American romance comics had their origin in the years immediately following World War II when hip comics readers found crime-busting superheroes in tights and trunks a thing of the past. Adult comics readership had grown during the war years and returning servicemen wanted sex, violence, and humor in their comics. The genre took its immediate inspiration from the romance pulps, confession magazines such as ''[[True Story (magazine)|True Story]]'', radio soap operas, and newspaper [[comic strips]] that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache, such as ''[[Rex Morgan, M.D.]]'' and ''[[Mary Worth]]''.<ref name="Goulart"/>
By 1950, more than 150 romance titles were on the newsstands from [[Quality Comics]], [[Avon (publishers)|Avon]], [[Lev Gleason Publications]], and National ([[DC Comics]]).


The DC Comics romance line was initially overseen by [[Jack Miller (comics)|Jack Miller]], who also wrote many stories.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Comic Reader]] |number=77 |date=Jan 1970}}</ref> (Later, a number of female editors oversaw DC's romance line, including [[Zena Brody]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=BRODY,+ZENA|title=Brody, Zena|website=Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999}}</ref> and [[Dorothy Woolfolk]].)<ref name=sergi>{{Cite web|url=http://cbldf.org/2013/02/tales-from-the-code-youve-lost-that-loving-feeling-the-rise-and-fall-of-romance-comics/|title=Tales From the Code: You've Lost That Loving Feeling|last=Sergi|first=Joe|website=CBLDF}}</ref> As author Michelle Nolan writes, "National's romance line was remarkably stable and thus must have sold consistently well. Beginning in 1952, ... the company produced ''[[Girls' Love Stories]]'', ''[[Girls' Romances]]'', and ''[[Secret Hearts]]'' on a bi-monthly basis through late 1957, when those three titles along with ''Falling in Love'' began to appear eight times per year.... The company picked up a fifth romance title, ''[[Heart Throbs]]'', ... after Quality Comics left the business in 1956."{{sfn|Nolan|2008}} By 1970, right before the romance market collapsed, DC had seven romance titles.{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=202}}
== Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ==
Aside from the one-time publication of ''Mary Worth'' comic-strip reprints, romance as a comic-book genre was the brainchild of [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]], two comics artists known for their superheroes, such as [[Captain America]], and their kid gangs, such as the [[Young Allies]]. Simon was serving in the [[United States Coast Guard]] when he got the idea for romance comics: "I noticed there were so many adults, the officers and men, the people in the town, reading kid comic books. I felt sure there should be an adult comic book." Simon developed the idea with sample covers and title pages and called his production ''Young Romance'', the "Adult Comic Book". Simon later noted he chose the love genre because "it was about the only thing that hadn't been done."<ref name="Goulart" />


Fox Feature Syndicate published over two dozen love comics with 17 featuring "My" in the title&mdash;''My Desire'', ''My Secret'', ''My Secret Affair'', et al.<ref name="Goulart" />
[[File:Simonkirbyphoto.jpg|thumb|upright|Simon and Kirby (1950)]]


[[Charlton Comics]] published a wide line of romance titles, particularly after 1953 when it acquired the [[Fawcett Comics]] line, which included ''[[Sweethearts (comics)|Sweethearts]]'', ''[[Romantic Secrets]]'', and ''[[Romantic Story]]''. ''Sweethearts'' was the comics world's first monthly romance title{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=30, 210}} (debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973.
After the service, Simon teamed-up with his former partner Jack Kirby, and the two developed a first-issue mock-up of ''Young Romance''.<ref name="joesimon">{{cite book |last=Simon, Joe |coauthors=Jim Simon |title=The Comic Book Makers |publisher=Vanguard Publications |date=2003 |isbn=1887591354 |pages=123–125}}</ref> Bill Draut and other artists participated, with Simon and Kirby producing the scripts because "we couldn't afford writers." Rather than the dramatic comic strips, Simon took his inspiration from the darker-toned confession magazines such as ''True Story'' from [[Macfadden Publications]].<ref name="Goulart" />


Artists known for their work on romance comics during the period included [[Tony Abruzzo]], [[Matt Baker (artist)|Matt Baker]], [[Frank Frazetta]], [[Everett Kinstler]], [[Jay Scott Pike]], [[John Prentice (cartoonist)|John Prentice]], [[John Romita, Sr.]], [[Mike Sekowsky]], [[Leonard Starr]], [[Alex Toth]], and [[Wally Wood]].<ref name="Profiles"/>
The finished book was delivered to [[Crestwood]] general manager Maurice Rosenfeld. Crestwood owners Mike Bleir and Teddy Epstein were enthusiastic and worked out a 50% arrangement with the creators.<ref name="joesimon" /> Profit sharing was unusual at the time, and Kirby later noted he and his partner were, in fact, the first to receive percentages.<ref name="Goulart" />


=== Decline and Golden Age demise ===
The first issue of ''Young Romance'' was [[cover date|cover-dated]] September-October 1947, and beneath the title bore the tagline "Designed For The More ADULT Readers of Comics". The title sold 92% of its print run. With the third issue, Crestwood increased the print run to triple the initial number of copies.<ref name="Howell">{{cite book |last=Howell, Richard |dste=1988 |title=Real Love: The Best of the Simon and Kirby Romance Comics 1940s-1950s |publisher=[[Eclipse Comics|Eclipse Books]] |pages=Introduction}}</ref> Circulation jumped to 1,000,000 copies per title. Initially published bimonthly, ''Young Romance'' quickly became a monthly title and generated the spin-off, ''[[Young Love]]'' — together the two titles sold two million copies per month.<ref name="joesimon" /> Kirby noted the books "made millions."<ref name="Goulart" /> The two titles were later joined by ''Young Brides'' and ''In Love'', the latter "featuring full-length romance stories".<ref name="Howell" />
Following the implementation of the [[Comics Code]] in 1954, publishers of romance comics self-censored the content of their publications, making the stories bland and innocent with an emphasis on traditional patriarchial concepts of women's behavior, gender roles, domesticity, and marriage. When the sexual revolution questioned the values promoted in romance comics, along with the decline in comics in general, romance comics began their slow fade. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and [[Charlton Comics]] carried a few romance titles into the middle 1970s, but the genre never regained the level of popularity it once enjoyed. The heyday of romance comics came to an end with the last issues of ''Young Romance'' and ''Young Love'' in the middle 1970s.{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=30, 210}}<ref name="Profiles">{{cite web |date=January 7, 2001 |department=Profiles|title= Romance Comics |work=The Quarter Bin |url=https://community.fortunecity.ws/tatooine/niven/142/profiles/pro41.html |access-date=March 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416121239/http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/niven/142/profiles/pro41.html|archive-date=Apr 16, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Miller">{{cite web |author=Miller, Jenny |year=2001 |title=A Very Brief History of Romance Comics |url=http://www.jennymiller.com/romancecomics/thegenre.html |access-date=March 25, 2010}}</ref>


Charlton and DC artist and editor [[Dick Giordano]] stated in 2005:
== Subsequent publications ==
"[G]irls simply outgrew romance comics ... [The content was] too tame for the more sophisticated, sexually liberated, women's libbers [who] were able to see nudity, strong sexual content, and life the way it really was in other media. Hand-holding and pining after the cute boy on the football team just didn't do it anymore, and the Comics Code wouldn't pass anything that truly resembled real-life relationships."{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=30, 210}}
[[File:My Life first issue.jpg|thumb|upright|The first issue of [[Fox Feature Syndicate]]'s ''My Life'' (September 1948) was the third romance comic book title on the newsstands following Crestwood's ''Young Romance'' and Timely/Marvel's ''My Romance''.]]


Decades later, romance-themed comics made a modest resurgence with Arrow Publications' "My Romance Stories",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arrowpub.com|title=Arrow Publications Presents: MyRomanceStory |publisher=Arrow Publications LLC |access-date=March 25, 2010}}</ref> [[Dark Horse Comics]]' [[manga]]-style adaptations of [[Harlequin Romance|Harlequin]] novels,<ref>{{cite web |date=May 16, 2005 |title=Press Releases: Harlequin Ginger Blossom Manga |publisher=Dark Horse Comics, Inc. |url=http://www.darkhorse.com/Press-Releases/1208/Harlequin-Ginger-Blossom-manga |access-date=March 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Glazer, Sarah |date=September 18, 2005 |title=Manga for Girls |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/books/review/18glazer.html?_r=1&pagewanted=3&oref=slogin |access-date=March 25, 2010}}</ref> and long-running serials such as ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'' — described by one reviewer as an attempt "to single-handedly update an entire genre with a new, skewed look at relationships and friendships."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coldcut.com/reviews/rev13.html |title=Cold Cut Distribution Reviews 13 - March 1996 |publisher=Coldcut.com |access-date=2010-09-12}}</ref>
[[Timely Comics|Timely]]/[[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] brought the second romance title to newsstands with ''My Romance'' in August [[1948 in comics|1948]], and [[Fox Feature Syndicate]] released the third title, ''My Life'', in September 1948. [[Fawcett Publications]] followed with ''Sweethearts'' (the first monthly title) in October 1948.<ref name="Nolan"/> By [[1950 in comics|1950]], more than 150 romance titles were on the newsstands from [[Quality Comics]], [[Avon (publishers)|Avon]], [[Lev Gleason Publications]], and [[DC Comics]]. Fox Feature Syndicate published over two dozen love comics with 17 featuring "My" in the title&mdash;''My Desire'', ''My Secret'', ''My Secret Affair'', et al.<ref name="Goulart" />


== In popular culture ==
Artists working romance comics during the period included Matt Baker, [[Frank Frazetta]], [[Everett Kinstler]], Jay Scott Pike, [[John Romita]], Sr., [[Leonard Starr]], [[Alex Toth]], and [[Wally Wood]]. [[Marie Severin]] once was given the job at Marvel of updating the clothing from old 1960s romance comic stories for publication in the 1970s.<ref name="Profiles"/>
[[Pop artist]] [[Roy Lichtenstein]] derived many of his best-known works from the panels of romance comics:
* ''[[Crying Girl]]'' (1963) — adapted from "Escape from Loneliness," pencilled by [[Tony Abruzzo]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/17707/|title=Secret Hearts #88|date=June 1963|work=Grand Comics Database|accessdate=September 14, 2020}}</ref> and inked by [[Bernard Sachs (comics)|Bernard Sachs]],<ref>''Secret Hearts'' 88 (DC Comics, June 1963)</ref> in ''[[Secret Hearts]]'' #88 (DC Comics, June 1963)
* ''[[Crying Girl]]'' (1964) — adapted from "Exit Love--Enter Heartbreak!", drawn by [[Werner Roth (comics)|Werner Roth]] and [[John Romita Sr.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rogersmagasin.com/serieskapare-tecknare-och-manusforfattare/roy-lichtenstein/lichtenstein-kopierade-john-romita/|lang=Swedish|title=Lichtenstein kopierade John Romita|work=Rogers Seriemagasin|date=21 September 2024 }}</ref> in ''Secret Hearts'' #88 (DC Comics, June 1963)<ref>{{cite web|title=Secret Hearts #88 (June 1963): DC, 1949 Series|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/17707/|work=Grand Comics Database|access-date=Apr 6, 2024}}</ref>
* ''[[Drowning Girl]]'' (1963) — Lichtenstein adapted the [[splash page (comics)|splash page]] from "Run for Love!", illustrated by [[Tony Abruzzo]] and lettered by [[Ira Schnapp]], in ''[[Secret Hearts]]'' #83 ([[DC Comics]], November 1962)<ref>{{cite comic| artist=Tony Abruzzo|letterer=Ira Schnapp|story=Run for Love!|title=Secret Hearts | issue=83 | publisher =DC Comics|date=November 1963|page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Roy Lichtenstein |last=Waldman |first=Diane |year=1993 |publisher=[[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]] |isbn=0-89207-108-7 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald |pages=118–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Arntson|first=Amy E|title = Graphic Design Basics |year=2006|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=0-495-00693-9|page= 165}}</ref>
* ''[[Hopeless (Roy Lichtenstein)|Hopeless]]'' (1963) — adapted from a panel from the same story, "Run for Love!", artwork by Tony Abruzzo and lettered by Ira Schnapp, in ''Secret Hearts'' #83 (November 1962)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=21212|title=Secret Hearts 83 (a)|accessdate=June 11, 2013 | publisher = Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref>
* ''[[In the Car]]'' (sometimes called ''Driving'') (1963) — adapted from a Tony Abruzzo<ref>{{cite web|last=Barsalou|first=David|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/40835940/|title=In the Car|work=Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein|date=2000|accessdate=September 14, 2020|via=Flickr}}</ref> panel in ''[[Girls' Romances]]'' #78 (DC, September 1961)
* ''[[Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...]]'' (1964) — adapted from a panel by Tony Abruzzo<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/11080299795/in/photostream/|title=DRAWING FOR OH, JEFF... : ... Original Artist: Tony Abruzzo|work=Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein|first=David|last=Barsalou|date=December 4, 2022|orig-date=September 5, 2000|publisher=Flickr}}</ref>
* ''[[Ohhh...Alright...]]'' (1964) — also derived from ''Secret Hearts'' #88 (June 1963)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0213&year=1964&decade=60|title=Ohhh...Alright...|accessdate=May 20, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref>
* ''[[Sleeping Girl (Lichtenstein painting)|Sleeping Girl]]'' (1964) — based on a Tony Abruzzo<ref>{{cite web|last=Barsalou|first=David|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/40542843/in/photostream/|title=Sleeping Girl|work=Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein (2000)|date=5 September 2000 |accessdate=September 14, 2020|via=Flickr}}</ref> panel from ''[[Girls' Romances]]'' #105 (October 1964).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=1043&year=1964&decade=60|title=Sleeping Girl|accessdate=May 5, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref>
* ''[[We Rose Up Slowly]]'' (1964) — based on a panel from ''[[Girls' Romances]]'' #81 (January 1962)


== Notable romance comics ==
Romance comics did impressively well commercially, but negatively impacted the sales of superhero comics and confession magazines. ''True Story'' admitted their sales were being hurt by the upstart romance comics. In the August 22, [[1949 in comics|1949]] issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', a report indicated that love comics were "outselling all others, even the blood and thunder variety [...] For pulp magazines the moral was even clearer: no matter how low their standards for fiction, the comics could find lower ones."<ref name="Goulart" />
{|class="wikitable sortable" width="1100px"
|-
! width=250px| Title
! width=100px| Publisher
! width=50px| Issues
! width=100px| Publ. dates
! width=600px| Notes
|-
| ''[[A Date with Judy]]'' || [[DC Comics|DC]] || 79 || 1947–1960 || Combined romance with humor
|-
| ''Falling in Love'' || DC || 143 || 1955–1973 ||
|-
| ''First Love Illustrated'' || [[Harvey Comics|Harvey]] || 90 || 1949–1963 || Harvey's only notable romance comic
|-
| ''[[Girls' Love Stories]]'' || DC || 180 || 1949–1973 ||
|-
| ''[[Girls' Romances]]'' || DC || 160 || 1950–1971 ||
|-
| ''[[Heart Throbs]]'' || [[Quality Comics|Quality]]/<br />DC || 146 || 1949–1972 || Acquired from Quality in 1957
|-
| ''[[I Love You (comics)|I Love You]]'' || [[Charlton Comics|Charlton]] || 124 || 1955-1980 ||
|-
| ''Just Married'' || Charlton || 114 || 1958-1976 ||
|-
| ''Love Diary'' || Charlton || 102 || 1958-1976 ||
|-
| ''[[Love Romances]]'' || [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] || 101 || 1949-1963 ||
|-
| ''Lovelorn''/<br />''Confessions of the Lovelorn'' || [[American Comics Group|American]] || 114 || 1949-1960 ||
|-
| ''[[Millie the Model]]'' || Marvel || 207 || 1945-1973 || Ostensibly a humor title; only a true romance comic from 1963 to 1967
|-
| ''[[My Date Comics]]'' || [[Hillman Periodicals|Hillman]] || 4 || 1947-1948 || Simon & Kirby; first humor-romance comic
|-
| ''My Life: True Stories in Pictures'' || [[Fox Feature Syndicate|Fox]] || 12 || 1948-1950 || Fox's longest-running romance comic — the only one of the company's 17 romance series with the word "My" in the title to last more than 8 issues
|-
| ''[[Patsy Walker (comic book)|Patsy Walker]]'' || Marvel || 124 || 1945-1965 || Ostensibly a humor title; only a true romance comic in 1964–1965
|-
| ''Romantic Adventures''/<br />''My Romantic Adventures'' || [[American Comics Group|American]] || 138 || 1949–1964 ||
|-
| ''Romantic Secrets'' || [[Fawcett Comics|Fawcett]]/<br />Charlton || 87 || 1949–1964 || Acquired from Fawcett in 1953
|-
| ''Romantic Story'' || Fawcett/<br />Charlton || 130 || 1949–1973 || Acquired from Fawcett in 1954
|-
| ''[[Secret Hearts]]'' || DC || 153 || 1949–1971 || Published at various times by the National (DC) romance imprints Arleigh Publishing Co./Corp. and Beverly Publishing Co.
|-
| ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'' || Abstract Studio || 106 || 1994-2007 ||
|-
| ''[[Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane]]'' || DC || 137 || 1958–1974 || Ditched the romance angle by c. 1970; eventually merged into ''[[The Superman Family]]''
|-
| ''[[Sweethearts (comics)|Sweethearts]]'' || Fawcett/<br />Charlton || 170 || 1948-1973 || First monthly romance comic; acquired from Fawcett in 1954
|-
| ''Teen Confessions'' || Charlton || 97 || 1959-1976 ||
|-
| ''[[Teen-Age Romances]]'' || [[St. John Publications|St. John]] || 45 || 1949-1955 ||
|-
| ''Teen-Age Love'' || Charlton || 93 || 1958-1973 ||
|-
| ''[[Young Love (comics)|Young Love]]'' || [[Crestwood Publications|Crestwood]]/<br />DC || 199 || 1947–1977 || Acquired from Crestwood in 1963
|-
| ''[[Young Romance]]'' || Crestwood/<br />DC || 208 || 1947–1975 || Generally considered the first romance comic, created by Simon & Kirby. Acquired from Crestwood in 1963
|}


===Reprints===
By 1954, parents, school teachers, clergymen, and others taking an interest in the welfare of children, believed comic books were a significant contributor to the epidemic of juvenile deliquency sweeping America. While romance comics did not bear the contempt and scrutiny heaped upon [[crime comics]] and [[horror comics]], the genre did provoke comment from child specialist, Dr. [[Frederic Wertham]]. In his book, ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'', Wertham deplored not only the "mushiness" of the romance comics, but their "social hypocrisy", "false sentiments", "cheapness", and "titillation". He claimed the genre gave female readers a false image of love and feelings of physical inferiority.<ref name="Wright" />
Comics historian John Benson collected and analyzed [[St. John Publications]]' romance comics in ''Romance Without Tears'' ([[Fantagraphics]], 2003), focusing on the elusive comics scripter Dana Dutch, and the companion volume ''Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics'' (Fantagraphics, 2007). To research the 1950s era of romance comics, Benson interviewed [[Ric Estrada]], [[Joe Kubert]] and [[Leonard Starr]], plus several St. John staffers, including editor [[Lancer Books|Irwin Stein]], production artist [[Warren Kremer]] and editorial assistant Nadine King.


In 2011, an anthology ''Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics'', edited by Michael Barson, was published by Harper Design. In 2012, many of Simon and Kirby's romance comics were reprinted by Fantagraphics in a collection entitled ''Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's 1940s-'50s Romance Comics'', edited by [[Michel Gagné]].
== Decline and Golden Age demise ==
Following the implementation of the Comics Code in 1954, publishers of romance comics self-censored the content of their publications, making the stories bland and innocent with the emphasis on traditional patriarchial concepts of women's behavior, gender roles, domesticity, and marriage. When the sexual revolution questioned the values promoted in romance comics, along with the decline in comics in general, romance comics began their slow fade. DC Comics, Marvel Comics and [[Charlton Comics]] carried a few romance titles into the middle 1970s, but the genre never regained the level of popularity it once enjoyed. The heyday of romance comics came to an end with the last issues of ''[[Young Romance]]'' and ''[[Young Love]]'' in the middle 1970s.<ref name="Nolan"/><ref name="Profiles">{{cite web |date=January 7, 2001 |title=Profiles: Romance Comics |publisher=The Quarter Bin |url=http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/niven/142/profiles/pro41.html |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref><ref name=Miller">{{cite web |author=Miller, Jenny |date=2001 |title=A Very Brief History of Romance Comics |url=http://www.jennymiller.com/romancecomics/thegenre.html |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref>


== British romance comics ==
Charlton and DC artist and editor [[Dick Giordano]] stated in 2005: "[G]irls simply outgrew romance comics [...] [The content was] too tame for the more sophisticated, sexually liberated, women's libbers [who] were able to see nudity, strong sexual content, and life the way it really was in other media. Hand holding and pining after the cute boy on the football team just didn't do it anymore, and the Comics Code wouldn't pass anything that truly resembled real-life relationships."<ref name="Nolan">{{cite book |author=Nolan, Michelle |date=2008 |title=Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |pages=30,210 |isbn=978-0-7864-3519-7}}</ref>
Romance comics in the [[United Kingdom]] also flourished in the mid-1950s with such weekly titles as ''[[Mirabelle (comics)|Mirabelle]]'' ([[C. Arthur Pearson Ltd|Pearson]]), ''[[Picture Romances]]'' ([[George Newnes Ltd|Newnes]]/[[IPC Magazines|IPC]]), ''Valentine'' ([[Amalgamated Press]]), and ''Romeo'' ([[DC Thomson]]). All four titles lasted into the 1970s. Other British romance comics included ''Marilyn'' (1955–1965), ''New Glamour'' (1956–1958), ''Roxy'' (1958–1963), ''Marty'' (1960–1963), and ''Serenade'' (1962–1963); all of which eventually merged into ''[[Valentine (comics)|Valentine]]'' and ''Mirabelle'' (''Valentine'' itself merged into ''Mirabelle'' in 1974).{{efn|In contrast to romance comics, which were aimed at older teens and young women, the prevalent form of UK comics marketed to females were [[British girls' comics|girls' comics]], geared toward younger teens, which also flourished during this period. These weekly comics developed more of a romance angle in the 1980s.<ref name=Newson6>{{cite book |last=Newson |first=Kezia |title=How Has The Pre–teen Girls' Magazine Influenced Girls From The 1950s To Present Day? |url=https://issuu.com/excessmagazine/docs/how_has_the_pre-teen_girls__magazin |access-date=2 March 2016 |year=2014 |page=6}}</ref>}}
== Aftermath ==
A few publishers in the [[2000s in comics|2000s]] began again producing romance comics. [[Dark Horse Comics]], in conjunction with [[Harlequin Enterprises]], published a new line of romance [[manga]] comics, with adaptations of previously published romance novels.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 16, 2005 |title=Press Releases: Harlequin Ginger Blossom Manga |publisher=Dark Horse Comics, Inc. |url=http://www.darkhorse.com/Press-Releases/1208/Harlequin-Ginger-Blossom-manga |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref> The influx of manga into North America carried with it an interest in a wider variety of genre, including romance and [[erotica]], aimed at a young female audience. Harlequin hopes that the manga-styled romance comics will reach a younger audience than the audience of [[romance novel]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Glazer, Sarah |date=September 18, 2005 |title=Manga for Girls |publisher=''[[The New York Times]]'' |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/books/review/18glazer.html?_r=1&pagewanted=3&oref=slogin |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref>


In 1956–1957 [[DC Thomson]] launched a line of monthly romance titles: ''Blue Rosette Romances'', ''Golden Heart Love Stories'', ''Love & Life Library'', and ''Silver Moon Romances''. In April 1965, all four titles were merged into the single weekly ''[[Star Love Stories]]'' title, with one issue per month maintaining the cover logo from the original companion titles.<!-- The numbering for the ''Star Love Stories'' series picked up from the last issue of ''Golden Heart Love Stories'' (#97). The merging of the different legacy titles followed this numbering pattern:
In June [[2005 in comics|2005]], Arrow Publications launched a line of romance [[webcomics]], which are similar in form to the comics of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arrowpub.com |title=Arrow Publications Presents: MyRomanceStory |publisher=Arrow Publications LLC |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref> In [[2006 in comics|2006]], [[Adhouse Books]] published ''Project: Romantic'', an anthology of contemporary romance comics. In [[2007 in comics|2007]], [[Marvel Comics]] published several issues of ''Marvel Romance Redux'', an affectionate revamp of their old romance titles, taking pages from them and replacing them with snarky dialogue.
* ''Golden Heart Love Stories'' featured on ''Star Love Stories'' #98, 102, 106, and so on
* ''Love & Life Library'' featured on ''Star Love Stories'' #99, 103, 107, and so on
* ''Blue Rosette Romances'' featured on ''Star Love Stories'' #100, 104, 108, and so on
* ''Silver Moon Romances'' featured on ''Star Love Stories'' #101, 105, 109, and so on


The rotation of the four legacy logos on the covers of ''Star Love Stories'' continued each month until they were finally dropped in 1970.--><ref>[https://www.comics.org/series/71421/ "Star Love Stories,"] Grand Comics Database. Retrieved March 2, 2021.</ref> ''Star Love Stories'', which changed its name to ''Star Love Stories in Pictures'' in 1976, lasted until 1990.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/series/77224/ ''Star Love Stories in Pictures'' entry], Grand Comics Database. Retrieved March 10, 2021.</ref>
== Analysis ==
[[File:Young Romance No 31 1951a.JPG|thumb|upright|Many romance comics covers sported photographs rather than painted or line drawn art. Such covers lent the illusion of verisimilitude to the contents (''Young Romance'', July 1954).]]


The [[photo comic]] romance titles ''Photo Love'' and ''Photo Secret'' debuted in 1979 and 1980 respectively. They both eventually merged into another publication.
Romance comic books upheld the Cold War ideology of the American way of life. Central to this ideology was the middle class American family as the symbol of affluence, consumption, and the spiritual fulfillment the American way of life promised and so, girls of the era were encouraged to grow up early and assume the roles of loving wives, concerned mothers, and happy homemakers. Female promiscuity, career ambition, and independence degraded the American ideal.<ref name="Wright"/>

The basic formula for the romance comic story was established in Simon and Kirby's ''Young Romance'' of 1947. Other scriptwriters, artists, and publishers simply tweaked the formula from time to time for a bit of variety. Stories were overwhelmingly written by men from the male perspective, and were narrated by fictional female protagonists who described the dangers of female independence and touted the virtues of domesticity.<ref name="Wright"/>

Women were depicted as incomplete without a male, but the genre discouraged the aggressive pursuit of men or any behaviors that smacked of promiscuity. In one story, the female protagonist kisses a boy in public and is thereafter labelled a "manchaser" to be avoided by decent boys. An advice page in one issue blamed female public behavior, flirting, and flashy dress for attracting the wrong sort of boys. Female readers were advised to maintain a passive gender role, or dreams of romance, marriage, and happiness could be kissed good-bye.<ref name="Wright">{{cite book |author=Wright, Bradford W. |date=2003 |title=Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America |publisher=[[The Johns Hopkins University Press]] |pages=127-133,160 |isbn=0-80187450-5}}</ref>
The romance comic books made domestic stability obviously preferable to passion and thrills. Those women who sought such exciting outlets in comics stories were depicted as suffering many disappointments before settling down (finally) to quiet home lives. In "Back Door Love", the protagonist learns that the man she is infaturated with is a "rat". She degrades herself to be with him, but comes to her senses and eventually marries an unexciting man who provides her with stability. In "[[I Ran Away with a Truck Driver]]", the small town heroine runs off with a handsome truck driver who promises her thrills but, in the end, robs her and leaves her stranded in Chicago. She returns home, chastened and wiser, to share the company of a decent local boy.<ref name="Wright"/>

Careers were discouraged. Working women were depicted as unhappy and unfulfilled because careers complicated relationships and limited chances for marriage. In one story, a female advertising executive makes it clear to her boyfriend her career comes first. After he leaves her in disgust, she realizes she does love him and drops her career to become a happy wife and mother. Romance comics made it clear that men were not attracted to working women, were bored with intelligent women, and preferred domestic homebodies.<ref name="Wright"/>

Men, on the other hand, were depicted as naturally independent and women were expected to accomodate such men even if things appeared a bit suspicious. In one story, a wife suspects her husband of infidelity and leaves him only to discover later she was wrong (according to him). She returns to her husband and draws the conclusion that "love means faith in the face of any evidence, no matter how overwhelming".<ref name="Wright"/>
As real world young men went off to the [[Korean War]], romance comics emphasized the importance of women waiting patiently, unflinchingly, and chastely for their return. In one war-colored tale, a woman who loves to social dance remains faithful to her boyfriend and marries him even though he loses a leg in the war. The two will never dance together again, but it is clear that her sacrifice is as patriotic as that of her lover.<ref name="Wright"/>

Romance comics plots were typically formulaic with [[Emily Bronte]]'s ''[[Wuthering Heights]]'' a seeming inspiration. Many stories of the genre featured a young heroine torn between two suitors: one, a wild [[Heathcliff]] type who promised thrills and threatened heartbreak, and the other, a stolid but dull [[Edgar Linton]] type who oozed respectability, security, and social acceptance. Adolescent girls could harmlessly indulge their bad boy fantasies in such stories but, in truth, romance comics tried to be democratic in their depiction of bad boys, giving them a softer side and not depicting them as irredeemably bad.<ref name="Hajdu">{{cite book |last=Hajdu, David |date=2008 |title=The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |pages=154&ndash;174 |isbn=978-0-374-18767-5}}</ref>

[[File:Teen Age Sex Club.jpg|thumb|left|upright|"I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club" from ''First Love'' #13]]

Some plots depicted young women challenging social conventions and the patriarchal authority of fathers and boyfriends. Parental concern found expression in romance comics for what were considered dangerous youth cultural artifacts like [[rock and roll]]. In "[[There's No Love in Rock and Roll]]" ([[1956 in comics|1956]]), a defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music&mdash;much to her parents' relief.<ref name="Nolan">{{cite book |author= Nolan, Michelle |date=2008 |title=Love on the Racks |publisher=McFarland |pages=150 |isbn=0-8018-7450-5}}</ref> Teen rebellion stories such as "I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club", "Thrill Seekers' Weekend", and "My Mother was My Rival" were dismissed as "girls' stuff" at a time when crime, horror, and other violent comics were being regarded with suspicion by those concerned with juvenile deliquency and the welfare of the young.<ref name="Hajdu" />

Dating, love triangles, jealousy and other romance-related themes had been a part of teen humor comics before the romance genre swept newsstands. Comics characters such as Archie, Reggie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica and the kids at Riverdale High School being the principal exponents of teen romance. ''Young Romance'', ''Young Love'' and their imitators differed from the teen humor comics in that they aspired to realism, using first person narration to create the illusion of verisimilitude, a changing cast of characters in self-contained stories, and heroines in their late teens or early twenties who were closer to the target audience in age than teen humor characters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell, Claudia A. |coauthors=Jacqueline Reid-Walsh |date=2008 |title=Girl Culture |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=508&ndash;509 |isbn=9780313339080}}</ref>
{{-}}


==See also==
==See also==
*[[List of romance comics]]
*[[List of romance comics]]
* [[British girls' comics]]
*[[Shōjo manga]]
*[[Shōjo manga]]

==References==
==References==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}
{{notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book |last=Nolan |first=Michelle |year=2008 |title=Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |isbn=978-0-7864-3519-7}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/yromance.htm ''Young Romance''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/yromance.htm ''Young Romance''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240525154546/https://www.webcitation.org/6421ncf4D?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/yromance.htm Archived] from the original on December 18, 2011.
* [http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/agoodgirl_romance.html Classic Good Girl and Romance Covers]
*{{cite web|url=http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/agoodgirl_romance.html |title=Classic Good Girl and Romance|publisher= SamuelDesign.com (fan site)|access-date=December 18, 2011|archive-date=July 21, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721215019/http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/agoodgirl_romance.html|url-status=live}}
* [http://sequentialcrush.blogspot.com Sequential Crush], a blog "devoted to preserving the memory of romance comic books and the creative teams that published them throughout the 1960s and 1970s"
* [http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/pages/goodgirl-romance/tasexclub.htm "I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club" (1953), original art and complete story]
* [https://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2009/06/66-panels-why-chicks-cry.html Gallery of images of women crying in classic romance comics]

{{Comics}}


[[Category:Romance comics| ]]
{{Comicnav}}
[[Category:Comics genres]]

Latest revision as of 01:44, 16 October 2024

Romance comics
Young Romance #1 (Oct. 1947) launched the genre.
Cover art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
Authors
Publishers
Publications

Romance comics are a genre of comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military contracts to provide disposable reading matter to servicemen ended. This left many comic creators seeking new markets. In 1947, part of an effort to tap into new adult audiences, the romance comic genre was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby with the Crestwood Publications title Young Romance.

History

[edit]

As World War II ended the popularity of superhero comics diminished, and in an effort to retain readers comic publishers began diversifying more than ever into such genres as war, Western, science fiction, crime, horror and romance comics.[1] The genre took its immediate inspiration from the romance pulps; confession magazines such as True Story; radio soap operas, and newspaper comic strips that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache, such as Rex Morgan, M.D. and Mary Worth.[2] Teen humor comics had romantic plots before the invention of romance comics.[3]

Simon and Kirby's Young Romance debuted in 1947. In the next 30 years, over 200 issues of the flagship romance comic would be produced.[3]

The first issue of Fox Feature Syndicate's My Life (Sept. 1948) was the third romance comic book title on the newsstands following Crestwood's Young Romance and Timely/Marvel's My Romance.

By 1950, more than 150 romance titles were on the newsstands from Quality Comics, Avon, Lev Gleason Publications, and National (DC Comics).

The DC Comics romance line was initially overseen by Jack Miller, who also wrote many stories.[4] (Later, a number of female editors oversaw DC's romance line, including Zena Brody[5] and Dorothy Woolfolk.)[6] As author Michelle Nolan writes, "National's romance line was remarkably stable and thus must have sold consistently well. Beginning in 1952, ... the company produced Girls' Love Stories, Girls' Romances, and Secret Hearts on a bi-monthly basis through late 1957, when those three titles along with Falling in Love began to appear eight times per year.... The company picked up a fifth romance title, Heart Throbs, ... after Quality Comics left the business in 1956."[7] By 1970, right before the romance market collapsed, DC had seven romance titles.[8]

Fox Feature Syndicate published over two dozen love comics with 17 featuring "My" in the title—My Desire, My Secret, My Secret Affair, et al.[2]

Charlton Comics published a wide line of romance titles, particularly after 1953 when it acquired the Fawcett Comics line, which included Sweethearts, Romantic Secrets, and Romantic Story. Sweethearts was the comics world's first monthly romance title[9] (debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973.

Artists known for their work on romance comics during the period included Tony Abruzzo, Matt Baker, Frank Frazetta, Everett Kinstler, Jay Scott Pike, John Prentice, John Romita, Sr., Mike Sekowsky, Leonard Starr, Alex Toth, and Wally Wood.[10]

Decline and Golden Age demise

[edit]

Following the implementation of the Comics Code in 1954, publishers of romance comics self-censored the content of their publications, making the stories bland and innocent with an emphasis on traditional patriarchial concepts of women's behavior, gender roles, domesticity, and marriage. When the sexual revolution questioned the values promoted in romance comics, along with the decline in comics in general, romance comics began their slow fade. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Charlton Comics carried a few romance titles into the middle 1970s, but the genre never regained the level of popularity it once enjoyed. The heyday of romance comics came to an end with the last issues of Young Romance and Young Love in the middle 1970s.[9][10][11]

Charlton and DC artist and editor Dick Giordano stated in 2005: "[G]irls simply outgrew romance comics ... [The content was] too tame for the more sophisticated, sexually liberated, women's libbers [who] were able to see nudity, strong sexual content, and life the way it really was in other media. Hand-holding and pining after the cute boy on the football team just didn't do it anymore, and the Comics Code wouldn't pass anything that truly resembled real-life relationships."[9]

Decades later, romance-themed comics made a modest resurgence with Arrow Publications' "My Romance Stories",[12] Dark Horse Comics' manga-style adaptations of Harlequin novels,[13][14] and long-running serials such as Strangers in Paradise — described by one reviewer as an attempt "to single-handedly update an entire genre with a new, skewed look at relationships and friendships."[15]

[edit]

Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein derived many of his best-known works from the panels of romance comics:

Notable romance comics

[edit]
Title Publisher Issues Publ. dates Notes
A Date with Judy DC 79 1947–1960 Combined romance with humor
Falling in Love DC 143 1955–1973
First Love Illustrated Harvey 90 1949–1963 Harvey's only notable romance comic
Girls' Love Stories DC 180 1949–1973
Girls' Romances DC 160 1950–1971
Heart Throbs Quality/
DC		 146 1949–1972 Acquired from Quality in 1957
I Love You Charlton 124 1955-1980
Just Married Charlton 114 1958-1976
Love Diary Charlton 102 1958-1976
Love Romances Marvel 101 1949-1963
Lovelorn/
Confessions of the Lovelorn		 American 114 1949-1960
Millie the Model Marvel 207 1945-1973 Ostensibly a humor title; only a true romance comic from 1963 to 1967
My Date Comics Hillman 4 1947-1948 Simon & Kirby; first humor-romance comic
My Life: True Stories in Pictures Fox 12 1948-1950 Fox's longest-running romance comic — the only one of the company's 17 romance series with the word "My" in the title to last more than 8 issues
Patsy Walker Marvel 124 1945-1965 Ostensibly a humor title; only a true romance comic in 1964–1965
Romantic Adventures/
My Romantic Adventures		 American 138 1949–1964
Romantic Secrets Fawcett/
Charlton		 87 1949–1964 Acquired from Fawcett in 1953
Romantic Story Fawcett/
Charlton		 130 1949–1973 Acquired from Fawcett in 1954
Secret Hearts DC 153 1949–1971 Published at various times by the National (DC) romance imprints Arleigh Publishing Co./Corp. and Beverly Publishing Co.
Strangers in Paradise Abstract Studio 106 1994-2007
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane DC 137 1958–1974 Ditched the romance angle by c. 1970; eventually merged into The Superman Family
Sweethearts Fawcett/
Charlton		 170 1948-1973 First monthly romance comic; acquired from Fawcett in 1954
Teen Confessions Charlton 97 1959-1976
Teen-Age Romances St. John 45 1949-1955
Teen-Age Love Charlton 93 1958-1973
Young Love Crestwood/
DC		 199 1947–1977 Acquired from Crestwood in 1963
Young Romance Crestwood/
DC		 208 1947–1975 Generally considered the first romance comic, created by Simon & Kirby. Acquired from Crestwood in 1963

Reprints

[edit]

Comics historian John Benson collected and analyzed St. John Publications' romance comics in Romance Without Tears (Fantagraphics, 2003), focusing on the elusive comics scripter Dana Dutch, and the companion volume Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics (Fantagraphics, 2007). To research the 1950s era of romance comics, Benson interviewed Ric Estrada, Joe Kubert and Leonard Starr, plus several St. John staffers, including editor Irwin Stein, production artist Warren Kremer and editorial assistant Nadine King.

In 2011, an anthology Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics, edited by Michael Barson, was published by Harper Design. In 2012, many of Simon and Kirby's romance comics were reprinted by Fantagraphics in a collection entitled Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's 1940s-'50s Romance Comics, edited by Michel Gagné.

British romance comics

[edit]

Romance comics in the United Kingdom also flourished in the mid-1950s with such weekly titles as Mirabelle (Pearson), Picture Romances (Newnes/IPC), Valentine (Amalgamated Press), and Romeo (DC Thomson). All four titles lasted into the 1970s. Other British romance comics included Marilyn (1955–1965), New Glamour (1956–1958), Roxy (1958–1963), Marty (1960–1963), and Serenade (1962–1963); all of which eventually merged into Valentine and Mirabelle (Valentine itself merged into Mirabelle in 1974).[a]

In 1956–1957 DC Thomson launched a line of monthly romance titles: Blue Rosette Romances, Golden Heart Love Stories, Love & Life Library, and Silver Moon Romances. In April 1965, all four titles were merged into the single weekly Star Love Stories title, with one issue per month maintaining the cover logo from the original companion titles.[30] Star Love Stories, which changed its name to Star Love Stories in Pictures in 1976, lasted until 1990.[31]

The photo comic romance titles Photo Love and Photo Secret debuted in 1979 and 1980 respectively. They both eventually merged into another publication.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ In contrast to romance comics, which were aimed at older teens and young women, the prevalent form of UK comics marketed to females were girls' comics, geared toward younger teens, which also flourished during this period. These weekly comics developed more of a romance angle in the 1980s.[29]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ Kovacs, George; Marshall, C. W., eds. (2011). Classics and Comics. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 109. ISBN 978-0199734191.
  2. ^ a b Goulart, Ron (2001). Great American Comic Books. Publications International, Ltd. pp. 161, 169–172. ISBN 0-7853-5590-1.
  3. ^ a b Mitchell, Claudia A.; Jacqueline Reid-Walsh (2008). Girl Culture. Greenwood Press. pp. 508–509. ISBN 978-0-313-33908-0.
  4. ^ The Comic Reader. No. 77. Jan 1970. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ "Brody, Zena". Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999.
  6. ^ Sergi, Joe. "Tales From the Code: You've Lost That Loving Feeling". CBLDF.
  7. ^ Nolan 2008.
  8. ^ Nolan 2008, p. 202.
  9. ^ a b c Nolan 2008, p. 30, 210.
  10. ^ a b "Romance Comics". Profiles. The Quarter Bin. January 7, 2001. Archived from the original on Apr 16, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  11. ^ Miller, Jenny (2001). "A Very Brief History of Romance Comics". Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  12. ^ "Arrow Publications Presents: MyRomanceStory". Arrow Publications LLC. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  13. ^ "Press Releases: Harlequin Ginger Blossom Manga". Dark Horse Comics, Inc. May 16, 2005. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  14. ^ Glazer, Sarah (September 18, 2005). "Manga for Girls". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  15. ^ "Cold Cut Distribution Reviews 13 - March 1996". Coldcut.com. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  16. ^ "Secret Hearts #88". Grand Comics Database. June 1963. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  17. ^ Secret Hearts 88 (DC Comics, June 1963)
  18. ^ "Lichtenstein kopierade John Romita". Rogers Seriemagasin (in Swedish). 21 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Secret Hearts #88 (June 1963): DC, 1949 Series". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Apr 6, 2024.
  20. ^ Tony Abruzzo (a), Ira Schnapp (let). "Run for Love!" Secret Hearts, no. 83, p. 1 (November 1963). DC Comics.
  21. ^ Waldman, Diane (1993). Roy Lichtenstein. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. pp. 118–119. ISBN 0-89207-108-7.
  22. ^ Arntson, Amy E (2006). Graphic Design Basics. Cengage Learning. p. 165. ISBN 0-495-00693-9.
  23. ^ "Secret Hearts 83 (a)". Lichtenstein Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  24. ^ Barsalou, David (2000). "In the Car". Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein. Retrieved September 14, 2020 – via Flickr.
  25. ^ Barsalou, David (December 4, 2022) [September 5, 2000]. "DRAWING FOR OH, JEFF... : ... Original Artist: Tony Abruzzo". Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein. Flickr.
  26. ^ "Ohhh...Alright..." Lichtenstein Foundation. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  27. ^ Barsalou, David (5 September 2000). "Sleeping Girl". Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein (2000). Retrieved September 14, 2020 – via Flickr.
  28. ^ "Sleeping Girl". Lichtenstein Foundation. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
  29. ^ Newson, Kezia (2014). How Has The Pre–teen Girls' Magazine Influenced Girls From The 1950s To Present Day?. p. 6. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Star Love Stories," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  31. ^ Star Love Stories in Pictures entry, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved March 10, 2021.

Sources

[edit]
  • Nolan, Michelle (2008). Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3519-7.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Romance_comics&oldid=1251422455"