A crowded day for posts as we try to fit in a couple of Valentine’s Day-themed posts in before the big day. Tomorrow I’ll post my regular Time to Collect article.
Our pal Alex Sorensen just can’t leave well enough alone, the comments for his last post got him thinking so he went back to the drawing boards and re-jigged the thing for our pleasure. See his “Director’s Cut” version below.
The Most Valuable non-Matt Baker Romance Comics
Once More With Feeling. So, here it is and something jumped out at me. The oldest Romance Comic is Classic Comics 32 – Lorna Doone (A Romance of Exmoor), and I am placing it on this list due to its historical significance despite the Matt Baker cover. It is dated December 1946, while Young Romance 1 is nine months later.
Similar to the first Horror-Suspense comics, which are also Classic Comics, this is a point of debate as many collectors tend to dismiss CCs and it is sometimes easier to follow the Legends than the truth. Simply put it is a comic and the story and cover are romance.
The #3 comic Teen-Age Diary Secrets 6 contains Matt Baker art but the photo cover of Marilyn Monroe in a sweater gives it position.
Covers now fall to LB Cole with 16, Al Feldstein 12, Unknown 8, Photos 6, Ogden Whitney 2 and 6 others with 1 each.
| Rank | Year | Month | Publisher | Title | Iss | 2023 |
| 1 | 1955 | 5 | Charlton | Negro Romances | 4 | 17,000 |
| 2 | 1950 | 6 | Fawcett | Negro Romance | 1 | 15,600 |
| 3 | 1949 | 10 | St. John | Teen-Age Diary Secrets | 6 | 14,100 |
| 4 | 1953 | 9.5 | Gilmor | Daring Love | 1 | 13,800 |
| 5 | 1950 | 3.5 | EC | A Moon A Girl…Romance | 12 | 12,100 |
| 6 | 1951 | 10 | Orbit-Wanted | Love Journal | 10 | 12,100 |
| 7 | 1954 | 9.5 | ACG | Lovelorn | 53 | 8,900 |
| 8 | 1949 | 6.5 | EC | Modern Love | 1 | 7,100 |
| 9 | 1954 | 1 | Fawcett | Sweethearts | 119 | 6,800 |
| 10 | 1954 | 10.5 | ACG | Romantic Adventures | 50 | 6,100 |
| 11 | 1950 | 7 | Comic Media | Confessions of Love | 2 | 6,000 |
| 12 | 1949 | 1.5 | EC | A Moon A Girl…Romance | 11 | 6,000 |
| 13 | 1950 | 3.5 | EC | Saddle Romances | 11 | 6,000 |
| 14 | 1952 | 7 | Star | Confessions of Love | 11 | 5,400 |
| 15 | 1950 | 10 | Fawcett | Negro Romance | 3 | 5,200 |
| 16 | 1953 | 3 | Star | Popular Teen-Agers | 15 | 4,700 |
| 17 | 1949 | 9.5 | EC | A Moon A Girl…Romance | 9 | 4,700 |
| 18 | 1950 | 4.5 | EC | Modern Love | 6 | 4,700 |
| 19 | 1953 | 7 | Lev Gleason | Lovers’ Lane | 35 | 4,600 |
| 20 | 1950 | 8.5 | EC | Modern Love | 8 | 4,500 |
| 21 | 1950 | nn | Fiction House | Cowgirl Romances | 1 | 4,400 |
| 22 | 1951 | 10 | Star | Popular Teen-Agers | 9 | 4,400 |
| 23 | 1952 | 4 | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 11 | 4,300 |
| 24 | 1950 | 7 | Comic Media | Honeymoon Romance | 2 | 4,300 |
| 25 | 1954 | 5 | Star | Confessions of Romance | 9 | 4,200 |
| 26 | 1953 | 3 | Star | Confessions of Love | 4 | 4,200 |
| 27 | 1954 | 10 | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 23 | 4,200 |
| 28 | 1954 | 8 | ACG | Lovelorn | 52 | 4,000 |
| 29 | 1952 | 11 | St. John | All-Picture All-True Love Story | 2 | 4,000 |
| 30 | 1950 | 9 | Superior | Modern Love (Canadian) | 8 | 3,900 |
| 31 | 1947 | 9.5 | Prize/Headline | Young Romance | 1 | 3,900 |
| 32 | 1953 | ? | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 19 | 3,900 |
| 33 | 1952 | 7 | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 12 | 3,500 |
| 34 | 1950 | 8 | Fawcett | Negro Romance | 2 | 3,500 |
| 35 | 1946 | 12 | Gilberton | Classic Comics | 32 | 3,400 |
| 36 | 1949 | 12.5 | EC | Modern Love | 4 | 3,400 |
| 37 | 1950 | 11.5 | EC | A Moon A Girl…Romance | 10 | 3,400 |
| 38 | 1953 | 7 | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 18 | 3,300 |
| 39 | 1952 | 9 | Star | Popular Teen-Agers | 13 | 3,300 |
| 40 | 1950 | 2 | Atlas | Venus | 8 | 3,200 |
| 41 | 1950 | 2 | Superior | Saddle Romances (Canadian) | 10 | 3,200 |
| 42 | 1954 | 10 | Star | Popular Teen-Agers | 23 | 3,200 |
| 43 | 1957 | Fall | Charlton | Giant Comics | 2 | 3,200 |
| 44 | 1950 | nn | Fox | Strange Love | nn | 3,200 |
| 45 | 1952 | 9 | Star | True-To-Life Romances | 13 | 3,100 |
| 46 | 1951 | 11 | Star | Top Love Stories | 5 | 3,100 |
| 47 | 1952 | 4 | Star | Popular Teen-Agers | 11 | 3,100 |
| 48 | 1949 | 10.5 | EC | Modern Love | 3 | 3,100 |
| 49 | 1950 | 3 | Superior | My Life | 13 | 3,000 |
| 50 | 1954 | 11 | Star | Top Love Stories | 19 | 2,900 |
An absolutely brilliant idea to put this list together, hats off to whoever posted the piercing and thought-provoking comment that led to this list.
“Unknown 8” – can you imagine this for superhero comics? Tells you something about the state of development of romance collecting.
IF comic collecting continues, I think this and related genres are going to see a lot of issues pop. These books were throw-aways for decades. They are so hard to find in VF and above. I know Walt is sitting on a gold mine.
one nit – Confessions of Love #7 is Star
sorry – retract – I was reading the “month” column
As with all of Alex’s posts/comments, this one is rattling around in my mind.
“Simply put it is a comic and the story and cover are romance.” Not buying this.
These days we have a zillion GGA covers that could be classified as “Romance” – Campbell’s ASM #601 springs to mind. I don’t think this is what people are talking about when they talk about “Romance” comics. They are talking about YOUNG ROMANCE (first and foremost!), Girls’ Love, etc. & etc. They are not talking about some issue of Classics that happened to cover a classic romance novel.
At most, CC #32 is a PROTOTYPE Romance comic – I know how much Walt likes prototypes – but if “The Hulk!” is not really The Hulk, then I think it makes perfect sense to say that Lorna Doone is not Romance. (Also inferior to Walker’s, I might add.)
I am going to stick to my blue-chip approach and for ex-Baker, it has to have “Love” or “Romance” in the title to be considered for my Romance bucket. Sorry Giant Comics #2.
My definition from the last post for a Romance comic was “……the comic must have a Romance cover without other obvious genres appearing” and I cited a few non-romance comics. My more recent “….it is a comic and the story and cover are romance” was more to support Lorna.
So, ASM 601 is Super-hero. And I own Giant Comics 2 and that smooch cover with roses is romance.
The thing with Classic Comics 32 is that if it is not romance then it is, well…Romance. I often place Literature as a description by the Classic Comics, but that is more a place mark for future when it is Sherlock Holmes or War of the Worlds which have obvious genres. But I will say Young Romance 1 started the anthology romance series with complete original stories and that is something.
Unknown artists. As I go through almost all of Fox Publishing`s “My…..Love, Secret, Past, Thrill, Confession……(various titles)“ the covers are fantastic but there are no artists. If this ever gets figured out I think they would go for a lot more. I own My Life 10 and I wish I knew who.