JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE’S DAY, HERITAGE PRESENTS A HEAD-TURNING SELECTION OF VINTAGE ROMANCE COMICS FEATURING ARTWORK BY THE LIKES OF MATT BAKER, L.B. COLE AND ALICE KIRKPATRICK
By Rhonda Reinhart
If Euripides is to be believed and love really is the greatest pleasure of life, it should come as no surprise that stories about love continue to captivate humankind. From music to movies to television, matters of the heart keep us coming back for more. It also helps explain why romance comics – with their tales of passion, flirtation, infidelity and heartbreak – once dominated newsstands. According to Love on the Racks, author Michelle Nolan’s encyclopedic 2008 book about the genre, there were close to 6,000 romance comics published between 1947 and 1977. And at one point during the 1950s, out of all the comic books sold in America, 1 in 5 was a romance comic.
‘Confessions of Love’ No. 11, featuring cover art by L.B. Cole, hit spinner racks in 1952 during the golden era of romance comics. This copy, graded CGC VF 8.0 and available in Heritage’s February 13 Valentine’s Day Romance and Good Girl Art Showcase Auction, is the highest-graded copy Heritage has ever offered.
“They were the first genre of comic books to deal with ‘real-life’ situations,” Nolan writes, “instead of flying men and women, impossibly inaccurate gunfighters, glamorous gangsters, space explorers, jungle heroes and heroines, vampires and zombies, anthropomorphic animals, and the like.” She puts quotation marks around “real-life” because, like so many popular tales of romance, most of the stories weren’t exactly realistic. “But that,” she notes, “was part of what made them fun.”
Bearing titles such as Daring Love, Confessions of Love, Heart Throbs and True-to-Life Romances, these books promised “Thrilling Adventures of Young Romance,” “Exciting Tales of Emotion” and “Intimate Secrets of Daring Romance.” Whether or not the stories delivered could be debated, but either way, their mostly female readership couldn’t resist the temptation.
1953’s ‘Daring Love’ No. 1, which sits at No. 2 on Overstreet’s ‘Top Ten Romance Comics’ list, features the first published artwork by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko.
“Themes of love and sex predate superheroes and have a universal appeal that can reach a more diverse fan base than the men in tights,” says Rick Akers, Vice President of Comics at Heritage Auctions. “Readers kept picking up these titles for the same reasons people read romance novels or watch romantic dramas today.”
But it wasn’t just the storylines that attracted three decades’ worth of comics fans to the romance genre. Equally seductive was the artwork, including the brightly colored covers depicting dramatic love triangles, steamy embraces and the anticipatory moments just before two lovers’ lips touch. Among the most influential artists to lend his talents to romance comics was Matt Baker, a trailblazing Black artist renowned for his striking and expressive illustrations. His work, particularly in Phantom Lady and romance titles for publishers like St. John, epitomized the “good-girl art” style that became a hallmark of the genre.
Artist Matt Baker, who was well known for his skill in capturing the female form, created the cover for ‘Blue Ribbon Comics’ No. 4 in 1949.
Baker’s skill as an artist is on full display in Heritage’s February 13 Valentine’s Day Romance and Good Girl Art Showcase Auction, which includes gems such as a CGC 6.5 copy of Blue Ribbon Comics No. 4. The 1949 St. John comic features cover art by Baker, who paints a vivid picture of a two-timing man and the women vying for his affection. Baker’s romance cover work can also be seen in this CGC 6.5 copy of 1952’s Wartime Romances No. 11, which also focuses on a jealousy-fueled romantic entanglement, and this CGC 5.5 copy of Diary Secrets No. 12, also from 1952.
‘True-to-Life Romances’ No. 10 from 1952 features another cover by L.B. Cole.
L.B. Cole was another prominent artist who brought his distinctive, vibrant cover designs to love-themed comics, most notably through Star Publications, a smaller publisher in the romance market. “This auction features a number of highest-graded comics, including some of L.B. Cole’s greatest romance covers,” Akers says. Among them is a CGC 8.0 copy of 1952’s Confessions of Love No. 11. Here, two raven-haired lovers share a passionate kiss hidden among tree limbs dotted with bluebirds and magnolia blossoms. Below them blares the tease “Intimate Secrets of Daring Romance!!” Cole’s cover for Popular Teen-Agers No. 12 is a little more modest, with the soft caress of a cheek as racy as it gets. But on the cover of his True-to-Life Romances No. 10, another cheating man tromps all over the heart of a teary-eyed young woman as he locks lips with four other female companions.
Alice Kirkpatrick, who created the cover for ‘Glamorous Romances’ No. 51, was one of the few female artists in the comic book industry.
Artists like Alice Kirkpatrick, one of the few female creators in the industry, also helped shape the romance genre in the late 1940s and early 1950s, often appealing directly to the sensibilities of the girls and young women who scooped up the books every chance they got. The subject matter of Kirkpatrick’s covers tended to be less fraught than some of her contemporaries’, appearing on sentimental titles such as Real Love, Love at First Sight and Glamorous Romances, all of which were published by Ace Magazines.
DC Comics got into the romance game with titles such as ‘Girls’ Love Stories.’ This copy of Issue No. 31 from 1954, graded CGC VG/FN 5.0, is the highest graded of the three copies currently certified by CGC.
Major publishers including DC Comics, which entered the romance market in the late 1940s with titles such as Girls’ Love Stories and Young Romance (which they co-opted from creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby), also took note of the genre’s popularity. By the 1960s, DC solidified its position in the genre, even as interest began to wane elsewhere. They continued producing romance titles, emphasizing melodramatic and often wholesome tales. Artists like Murphy Anderson played a pivotal role during this era, lending his clean, graceful style to the genre and elevating the emotional resonance of the stories.
Like Simon and Kirby, whose partnership resulted in the creation of Captain America as well as Young Romance, Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko also toiled in the romance genre. In fact, his first professional comic artwork can be found in 1953’s Daring Love No. 1, a copy of which is available in Heritage’s February 13 auction.
1951’s ‘Archie Comics’ No. 50 features cover art by Bob Montana.
The auction also includes several good-girl art examples from other comics genres, including teen humor, crime and action/adventure. Highlights include a CGC 7.0 copy of 1951’s Archie Comics No. 50, featuring a classic Betty Cooper cover by Bob Montana, and a CGC 7.0 copy of 1947’s Wonder Comics No. 14, featuring the type of airbrushed bondage cover for which artist Alex Schomburg was well known.
“While romance comics eventually faded in prominence, there’s no denying they left an indelible mark on the medium,” Akers says. “The contributions of these artists and publishers served as a vital chapter in comic book history, and the fact that collectors are still devoted to the genre today is a testament to its enduring appeal.”
RHONDA REINHART is editor of Intelligent Collector.