Romance comics
Encyclopedia
Romance 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
–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 magazines, Joe Simon
and Jack Kirby
created the flagship romance comic book Young Romance
and launched it in 1947
to resounding success. By the early 1950s, dozens of romance titles from major comics publishers were on the newsstands and drug store racks.
With the implementation of the Comics Code in 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
and 1977
respectively.
In the new millennium, a few publishers flirted with the genre in various ways, including manga
-styled romance comics based on Harlequin novels and Golden Age classics revamped with snarky dialogue.
, radio soap operas, and newspaper comic strips that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache, such as Rex Morgan, M.D.
and Mary Worth.
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."
After the service, Simon teamed-up with his former partner Jack Kirby, and the two developed a first-issue mock-up of Young Romance. 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
.
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. Profit sharing was unusual at the time, and Kirby later noted he and his partner were, in fact, the first to receive percentages.
The first issue of Young Romance was 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. Circulation jumped to 1,000,000 copies s month. Initially published bimonthly, Young Romance quickly became a monthly and generated the spin-off, Young Love — together the two sold two million copies a month. Kirby noted the books "made millions." The two titles were later joined by Young Brides and In Love, the latter "featuring full-length romance stories".
/Marvel
brought the second romance title to newsstands with My Romance in August 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. By 1950
, more than 150 romance titles were on the newsstands from Quality Comics
, Avon
, Lev Gleason Publications
, and DC Comics
. 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.
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.
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
issue of 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."
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 delinquency 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.
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.
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."
Decades later, romance-themed comics made a modest resurgence with Arrow Publications' "My Romance Stories", Dark Horse Comics
' manga
-style adaptations of Harlequin novels, 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."
The basic formula for the romance comic story was established in Simon and Kirby's Young Romance of 1947. Other scriptwriters, artists, and publishers 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.
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 romance, marriage, and happiness could be kissed good-bye.
In romance comics, domestic stability was made obviously preferable to passion and thrills. Women who sought exciting outlets were depicted as suffering many disappointments before settling down (finally) to quiet home lives. In "Back Door Love", the heroine learns that the man she is infatuated 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 tale's small town heroine runs off with a handsome truck driver who promises her thrills. After being robbed and abandoned in Chicago, she returns home, chastened and wiser, to share the company of a decent local boy.
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.
Men, on the other hand, were depicted as naturally independent and women were expected to accommodate 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".
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.
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.
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
), a defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music—much to her parents' relief. 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 delinquency and the welfare of the young.
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.
' 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.
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
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
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
(1947
1947 in comics
-January:* All-Winners Comics #21 - Timely Comics* Captain America Comics #60 - Timely Comics* Marvel Mystery Comics #80 - Timely Comics-March:* Captain America Comics #61 - Timely Comics...
–1977
1977 in comics
- Year overall :* Wendy and Richard Pini establish WaRP Graphics.* Jan and Dean Mullaney establish Eclipse Comics.* The United Kingdom's Eagle Awards are established.* Bob Brown dies at age 62.* Ciao magazine is launched.-January:...
). 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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when adult comics readership increased and superheroes were dismissed as passé. Influenced by the pulps
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
, radio soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s, newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s such as Mary Worth, and adult confession magazines, Joe Simon
Joe Simon
Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...
and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
created the flagship romance comic book Young Romance
Young Romance
Young Romance is a comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic, the series ran for 124 consecutive issues under Prize imprint, and a further 84 published by DC Comics after Crestwood...
and launched it in 1947
1947 in comics
-January:* All-Winners Comics #21 - Timely Comics* Captain America Comics #60 - Timely Comics* Marvel Mystery Comics #80 - Timely Comics-March:* Captain America Comics #61 - Timely Comics...
to resounding success. By the early 1950s, dozens of romance titles from major comics publishers were on the newsstands and drug store racks.
With the implementation of the Comics Code in 1954
1954 in comics
-Events and publications:* Publication of Seduction of the Innocent, by American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. The book warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency...
, 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
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
, 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
1975 in comics
This is a list of comics-related events in 1975.- Year overall :* Following up their various Giant-Size series from 1974, Marvel publishes a number of one-shot Giant-Size annuals featuring reprints of "classic" Captain America, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Hulk, Invaders, Iron Man,...
and 1977
1977 in comics
- Year overall :* Wendy and Richard Pini establish WaRP Graphics.* Jan and Dean Mullaney establish Eclipse Comics.* The United Kingdom's Eagle Awards are established.* Bob Brown dies at age 62.* Ciao magazine is launched.-January:...
respectively.
In the new millennium, a few publishers flirted with the genre in various ways, including manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
-styled romance comics based on Harlequin novels and Golden Age classics revamped with snarky dialogue.
Origin
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 StoryTrue Story (magazine)
True Story was an American magazine published by Dorchester Publishing. It was the first of the confessions magazines genre, having launched in 1919...
, radio soap operas, and newspaper comic strips that focused on love, domestic strife, and heartache, such as Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D. is an American soap-opera comic strip, created in 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. It maintained a readership well over a half-century, and in 2006 it was published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers and 14 foreign countries, according to...
and Mary Worth.
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 SimonJoe Simon
Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...
and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
, two comics artists known for their superheroes, such as Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
, and their kid gangs, such as the Young Allies
Young Allies
Young Allies is the name of three superhero teams in the .-Golden Age:The Golden Age's Young Allies were a gang of kids who fought the Axis...
. Simon was serving in the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
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."
After the service, Simon teamed-up with his former partner Jack Kirby, and the two developed a first-issue mock-up of Young Romance. 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
Macfadden Publications
Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century.-Macfadden Publications:...
.
The finished book was delivered to Crestwood
Crestwood Publications
Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title Prize Comics contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book feature, Dick Briefer's "Frankenstein"...
general manager Maurice Rosenfeld. Crestwood owners Mike Bleir and Teddy Epstein were enthusiastic and worked out a 50% arrangement with the creators. Profit sharing was unusual at the time, and Kirby later noted he and his partner were, in fact, the first to receive percentages.
The first issue of Young Romance was 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. Circulation jumped to 1,000,000 copies s month. Initially published bimonthly, Young Romance quickly became a monthly and generated the spin-off, Young Love — together the two sold two million copies a month. Kirby noted the books "made millions." The two titles were later joined by Young Brides and In Love, the latter "featuring full-length romance stories".
Subsequent publications
TimelyTimely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
/Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
brought the second romance title to newsstands with My Romance in August 1948
1948 in comics
-European :*Spirou et l'aventure by Jijé, Dupuis *Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin, Dupuis -January:* Captain America Comics #65 - Timely Comics*Frankie and Lana issue #13 - Timely Comics...
, and Fox Feature Syndicate
Fox Feature Syndicate
Fox Feature Syndicate was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S...
released the third title, My Life, in September 1948. Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett . At the age of 16, Fawcett ran away from home to join the Army, and the Spanish-American War took him to the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he became a...
followed with Sweethearts
Sweethearts (comics)
Sweethearts was a romance comic book series published by Fawcett Publications from October 1948 to 1953, and continued by Charlton Comics from 1954 to 1973. It was the first monthly romance comic book, and a great commercial success...
(the first monthly title) in October 1948. By 1950
1950 in comics
-European publications:* Quatre aventures de Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin, Dupuis * Eagle launched on April 14 of this year and ran until 1994.-U.S. publications:In 1950 the U.S. comics industry came to a turning point...
, more than 150 romance titles were on the newsstands from Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
, Avon
Avon (publishers)
Avon Publications was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. As of 2010, it is an imprint of HarperCollins, publishing primarily romance novels.-History:...
, Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
, and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. 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.
Artists working romance comics during the period included Matt Baker
Matt Baker
Matthew James Baker is an English television presenter who co-hosts the Monday-Thursday editions of BBC One's The One Show and co-presents Countryfile on the same channel.-Early life:...
, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Everett Kinstler
Everett Kinstler
Everett Raymond Kinstler is an American portrait artist, whose official portraits include Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.-Life and work:...
, Jay Scott Pike, John Romita, Sr.
John Romita, Sr.
John V. Romita, Sr. is an Italian-American comic-book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man...
, Leonard Starr
Leonard Starr
Leonard Starr is a Golden Age comic book artist, an advertising artist and award-winning cartoonist, notable for creating the newspaper strip On Stage and reviving Little Orphan Annie.-Early life:...
, Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
, and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
. Marie Severin
Marie Severin
Marie Severin is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics....
once was given the job at Marvel of updating the clothing from old 1960s romance comic stories for publication in the 1970s.
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
1949 in comics
-Events and publications:Publishers Star Publications, Toby Press, and Youthful make their debuts; conversely, Columbia Comics, Novelty Press, and Street & Smith Comics all fold.-January:* Captain America Comics #70 - Timely Comics...
issue of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, 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."
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 delinquency sweeping America. While romance comics did not bear the contempt and scrutiny heaped upon crime comics
Crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does...
and horror comics
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
, the genre did provoke comment from child specialist, Dr. Frederic Wertham. In his book, Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent is a book by German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized...
, 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.
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 ComicsCharlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
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.
Charlton and DC artist and editor Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
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."
Decades later, romance-themed comics made a modest resurgence with Arrow Publications' "My Romance Stories", Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
' manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
-style adaptations of Harlequin novels, and long-running serials such as Strangers in Paradise
Strangers in Paradise
Strangers in Paradise is a long-running, mostly self-published black-and-white comic book, written and drawn by Terry Moore. The series has reached its planned conclusion, finishing off in 2007 with issue #90 of volume 3....
— described by one reviewer as an attempt "to single-handedly update an entire genre with a new, skewed look at relationships and friendships."
Analysis
Romance comics were a product of the postwar years in America and bolstered the Cold War era's ideology regarding the American way of life. Central to this ideology was the perception of the American middle class family as the symbol of affluence, consumption, and the spiritual fulfillment promised by the American way of life. Girls of the Cold War 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 and were vilified.The basic formula for the romance comic story was established in Simon and Kirby's Young Romance of 1947. Other scriptwriters, artists, and publishers 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.
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 romance, marriage, and happiness could be kissed good-bye.
In romance comics, domestic stability was made obviously preferable to passion and thrills. Women who sought exciting outlets were depicted as suffering many disappointments before settling down (finally) to quiet home lives. In "Back Door Love", the heroine learns that the man she is infatuated 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
I Ran Away with a Truck Driver
"I Ran Away with a Truck Driver" is a 9-page romance comics story published in Teen-Age Romances, No. 23 by St. John Publishing in August 1952 with art by Matt Baker. The story tells of a small town girl rebelling against parents who want to send her to a girls' college. She would rather attend...
", the tale's small town heroine runs off with a handsome truck driver who promises her thrills. After being robbed and abandoned in Chicago, she returns home, chastened and wiser, to share the company of a decent local boy.
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.
Men, on the other hand, were depicted as naturally independent and women were expected to accommodate 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".
As real world young men went off to the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, 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.
Romance comics plots were typically formulaic with Emily Bronte
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
's Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
a seeming inspiration. Many stories of the genre featured a young heroine torn between two suitors: one, a wild Heathcliff
Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
Heathcliff is a fictional character in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured Romantic hero whose all-consuming passions destroy both himself and those around him.Legend has stereotyped...
type who promised thrills and threatened heartbreak, and the other, a stolid but dull Edgar Linton
Edgar Linton
Edgar Linton is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. His role in the story is that of Catherine Earnshaw's husband. He resides at Thrushcross Grange and falls prey to Heathcliff's schemes for revenge against his family....
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.
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
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. In "There's No Love in Rock and Roll
There's No Love in Rock and Roll
"There's No Love in Rock and Roll" is a 6-page comic book story from True Life Romance, No. 3 published by Ajax in August 1956. The plot concerns defiant teenager Shirley and the irritation she causes her parents by dating a boy who loves rock and roll...
" (1956
1956 in comics
- Year overall :* Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings continue to negatively affect the comics marketplace...
), a defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music—much to her parents' relief. 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 delinquency and the welfare of the young.
Dating, love triangles, jealousy and other romance-related themes had been a part of teen humor comics
Teen humor comics
Teen humor comics is a genre of comics that humorously depicts contemporary American teenagers. When teen culture and buying power emerged in the early 1940s, comics publishers were quick to glut the newsstands with light-hearted, innocuous comic books about funny teens, cars, dating, high school,...
before the romance genre swept newsstands. Comics characters such as Archie
Archie Andrews (comics)
Archie Andrews, created in 1941 by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana, is a fictional character in an American comic book series published by Archie Comics, as well as the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, and Archie's Weird Mysteries.-Character and...
, Reggie
Reggie Mantle
Reggie Mantle is a fictional character in the Archie Comics book. His full name is given as Reginald Mantle, but he is usually called by his nickname Reggie, and sometimes refers to himself as "Mantle, The Magnificent." The character was introduced in 1942...
, Jughead
Jughead Jones
Jughead Jones is a fictional character in Archie Comics who first appeared in the comic in December 1941. He is the son of Forsythe II; although in one of the early Archie newspaper comic strips, he himself is identified as Forsythe Van Jones II...
, Betty
Betty Cooper
Betty Cooper is a fictional character of Archie Comics, the blonde-haired daughter of Hal and Alice Cooper. Betty likes sports, and is also a cheerleader. Betty was created in December 1941. Her older brother Chic Cooper and older sister Polly Cooper have both moved out of Riverdale, their hometown...
, and Veronica
Veronica Lodge
Veronica Lodge is a fictional character in the Archie Comics books series.-Fictional history and character:She is called both by her name Veronica and her nickname Ronnie...
, and the kids at Riverdale High School
Riverdale (Archie Comics)
Riverdale is a fictional town somewhere in the United States that is the setting for most of the various characters that appear in Archie Comics...
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.
Reprints
Comics historian John Benson collected and analyzed St. John PublicationsSt. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
' 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
Joe Kubert
Joe Kubert is an American comic book artist who went on to found The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman...
and Leonard Starr
Leonard Starr
Leonard Starr is a Golden Age comic book artist, an advertising artist and award-winning cartoonist, notable for creating the newspaper strip On Stage and reviving Little Orphan Annie.-Early life:...
, plus several St. John staffers, including editor Irwin Stein
Lancer Books
Lancer Books was a series of paperback books published from 1961 through 1973 by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the...
, production artist Warren Kremer
Warren Kremer
Warren Kremer was an American comics writer and artist best known for his creation of the Harvey Comics characters Richie Rich, Hot Stuff the Little Devil and Stumbo the Giant. His style is known for big, bold compositions, and a keen sense of contrast and color.- Childhood and early career...
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.
External links
- Young Romance at Don Markstein's ToonopediaDon Markstein's ToonopediaDon Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
- Classic Good Girl and Romance Covers
- "I Joined a Teen-Age Sex Club" (1953), original art and complete story