This is the second “Nolan’s Niche” designed to provide a hint of the fun and information that I hope readers will get from my forthcoming book on romance comics from McFarland (entitled Love on the Racks, it will be available this spring/summer). For those who missed the first installment, I wrote about one-shot romance comics. This time, I’m covering some of my favorite romance comics — collectible short-run series, of which there were several.
Probably the most collectible of the more than 100 romance titles that ran four or fewer issues is Fawcett’s Negro Romance #1-3 (1950), which includes some nifty art by the polished George Evans, who was best known for aerial combat and science fiction scenes in other titles. Not only are these issues scarce, but they’re probably undervalued, considering how many collectors would like to own them as genuine cultural curiosities of the politically incorrect persuasion. If a dealer priced these at the Overstreet values of $l16 for #1 and $88 for #2 and #3 in “good,” he could probably sell several copies of each issue at any major convention. Negro Romance is one of the few titles for which romance collectors must compete with many other fans. The Gerber Photo-Journal calls them sixes in its scarcity index — 50 to 200 copies exist —
and calls the Charlton #4 (a reprint of #2) a seven (20 to 50 copies exist). I don’t own any of these issues, because I have never been able to find them at any convention at the Overstreet price! So, if you see one priced cheaply, grab it — and send it to me.
Photo courtesy of Heritage.
The other noteworthy collectible is In Love #1-4, part of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s self-publishing experiment in 1954-55. These aren’t nearly as valuable as Negro Romance, but they can be a challenge to find. The first three issues of In Love feature romance “novels.” These are, indeed, precursors of graphic novels or their primordial first cousins; although I guess one could make the same claim for Dell’s many full-length stories during the 1950s. My first issue of In Love #1 (Aug-Sept 1954) is similarly notable with the baseball story “Bride of the Star.” This 20-pager is one of the longest sports fiction epics ever to appear in a comic book.
In Love #2 is the weakest of the series, featuring an 18-page soap opera entitled
“Marilyn’s Men” (At the time, Marilyn Monroe was sizzling in the public’s perception following her centerfold appearance in Playboy #1 in 1953.). In Love #3, however, features “Artist Loves Model,” a 20-pager dealing with the frustrations of young cartoonist Inky Wells. (Is that not one of the great parody names ever to appear in a comic book story?) In Love #4 changed format, featuring four short stories, and it’s primarily for S&K completists.
There’s another short-run series that I consider highly collectible — Heart and Soul #1-2 from Mike Ross in 1954. The Mike Ross company, of course, consisted of Mike Esposito and Ross Andru, who went on to produce so many thousands of great pages for DC after their second short-lived independent publishing venture failed. If you can find these two issues, they’re fun not only for the art, but because the stories are darker than those of most romance comics.
In fact, there’s a fabulous story in Heart and Soul #1 (April-May 1954) entitled “Gigolo.” This little epic is a real hoot! This is, indeed, the downbeat tale of a shameless gigolo, who gets what’s coming to him. It would have been fun to see this tale submitted to the Comics Code Authority a year later. In its own way, this story is as bizarre and unsuitable for younger children as any horror story ever published! If you want to own one of the stories that would have outraged the industry’s censors, find Heart and Soul #1.
Not quite as scarce, but still well worth reading, is Fawcett’s Love Mystery #1-3 from 1950, featuring gorgeous art by George Evans. I highly recommend these issues, if only because I love odd genre pairings (the ultimate such oddity, of course, being Charlton’s six-issue run of Space Western Comics #40-45 in 1952-53). The Photo-Journal calls Love Mystery #1 a five and #2 and #3 both fours, but I’m not sure they’re that readily available. It took me a long, long time to find #1, featuring a highly cool story called “The Case of the Missing Buddha.” There’s also a marvelous 15-page horse racing romance by Bob Powell in #3, “Death Take All.”
If you’re into trying to find comics just because they’re scarce, even if they aren’t particularly noteworthy otherwise, you’ll want to try to locate Avon’s Going Steady with Betty #1(Nov-Dec 1949) and Betty and Her Steady #2 (March-April 1950). Though both are a polyglot of romance and teen humor stories, for some reason Avon marketed the first issue with a teen humor cover and the second issue with a sexy romance cover. And who could possibly explain the title change? Why would one title sell better than the other? Talk about unsolvable mysteries!
Photo courtesy of Heritage.
And, of course, if you’re into sensuous poses and titles designed to titillate, Quality’s Forbidden Romances #1-4in 1950and Avon’s Strange Confessions #1-4 in 1952 fully qualify. Even from the pre-Code period, however, these covers promise a whole lot more than they deliver, making these comics considerably overvalued, although the stories in all eight issues do have exploitation titles, such as “Reformatory Girl” in Strange Confessions #3.
If you want something to reflect the 1950s versions of advice gurus Dr. Phil or Dr. Laura, you might try Toby’s Doctor Anthony King, Hollywood Love Doctor #1-4 from 1953-54 or Hillman’s Mr. Anthony’s Love Clinic #1-5 from 1949-50. Ironically, the advice the estimable King and Anthony offer in every issue actually makes darn good common sense! These are fun period pieces, although complete sets will probably prove to be a challenge.
Let’s wrap this up with two of my favorite issues from short-run series: True Love Confessions #9 (Sept. 1955) from Premier (the short-lived company with a nice knockoff cover logo designed to look just like EC’s logo) and Ajax’s True Life Romance #3 (Aug. 1956). True Love Confessions #9 features the bizarre six-pager “Love Hits a Home Run,” for which Kurt Schaffenberger drew an appealing cover. This wild story, detailing the love affair between a baseball player and a fan, has to be read to be believed. The girl catches three home runs by her hero in as many games, which is probably more unlikely than Green Arrow’s “boxing glove arrow” from the pages of Adventure Comics during the same era. True Love Confessions #3 features “There’s No Love in Rock and Roll,” in which the goodie-goodie guy (in a suit!) who doesn’t like rock and roll wins the hand of a girl who realizes classical music is where it’s at. You have to read it to believe it! Don’t pass this one up if you see it.
This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.
