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Heart Throbs: The Best of DC Romance Comics
Introductions and background information throughout.
Issues includes:
Girls' Romances #19
Secret Hearts #26
Girls' Love Stories #16
Girls' Love Stories #15
Girls' Romances #21
Heart Throbs #49
Girls' Love Stories #66
Girls' Love Stories #24
Secret Hearts #22
Girls' Romances #13
Young Romance #128
Heart Throbs #130
Falling in Love #131
Heart Throbs #52
Falling in Love #9
Heart Throbs #128
Young Romance #194
Young Romance #197
Young Love #41
Young Love #39
Heart Throbs #108
Young Romance #126
Falling in Love #11
Young Love #40
Young Romance #175
Issues includes:
Girls' Romances #19
Secret Hearts #26
Girls' Love Stories #16
Girls' Love Stories #15
Girls' Romances #21
Heart Throbs #49
Girls' Love Stories #66
Girls' Love Stories #24
Secret Hearts #22
Girls' Romances #13
Young Romance #128
Heart Throbs #130
Falling in Love #131
Heart Throbs #52
Falling in Love #9
Heart Throbs #128
Young Romance #194
Young Romance #197
Young Love #41
Young Love #39
Heart Throbs #108
Young Romance #126
Falling in Love #11
Young Love #40
Young Romance #175
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 2, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 14, 2021
Wow! These comics are awful. AND, awfully hard to resist.
Romance comics came onto the scene in the late forties and early fifties. They featured wholesome tales of love that appealed to a wide variety of age groups. A happy ending was usually guaranteed, complete with a starry-eyed couple discussing their wedding plans. And, big surprise here . . . they were written by men! Even the advice columns!
The stories reflected the times; a time when a woman's main goal was to find a husband. And, oh, the lengths she went to to catch that man!
One story involved a woman desperate to land a new job. The prospective employer tells her, "It's been my experience that women are usually failures in business! They all quit to get married!"
She assures the man that she will not. "My career is too important to me! It's my whole life!" she cries. Of course, she immediately falls for a co-worker, who informs her, "Say young lady, do you realize it's eight p.m. already? That's why you women belong in the kitchen! As career girls you take yourselves too seriously!" It gets even better when he tells her that "...failing as a woman is worse than failing in a career!" After a few convoluted pages where she sees how miserable her life will be without that man in it, she tearfully sobs to him, "You were right! So right! The real failure is losing you! All I want is you! Will you ever forgive me for being such a stubborn fool?"
(People seemed to use a lot more exclamation marks in those days.)
The writers of romance comics employed a truly "dicks before chicks" philosophy and EVERY WOMAN was a POTENTIAL RIVAL, including Dear Old Mom. In My Mother, The Mantrap, a fretful daughter fumes, "If you had a man of your own, maybe you'd STOP STEALING MINE!"
Interest in romance comics began to wane during the late sixties, and an effort was made to make the stories more hip and contemporary. This book includes an interracial romance - one of the few unhappy endings to be found, AND a tale that hints the main character may be too much of a tomboy and have unnatural tendencies - but don't worry . . . she just hadn't found the right guy yet. Guess the writers weren't quite THAT with-it when it came to dealing with controversial topics.
The romance comics gave up the ghost right around the time of the Bicentennial. Their brand of unrealistic, sentimental and syrupy love didn't seem to belong in a world of peace demonstrations, free love, and Watergate.
I have a small collection of original romance comics from the late sixties and I read them all every few years. I know they're hokey and schmaltzy, but they're also fun, and they push all the right nostalgia buttons. And, now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find a man of my own!
Romance comics came onto the scene in the late forties and early fifties. They featured wholesome tales of love that appealed to a wide variety of age groups. A happy ending was usually guaranteed, complete with a starry-eyed couple discussing their wedding plans. And, big surprise here . . . they were written by men! Even the advice columns!
The stories reflected the times; a time when a woman's main goal was to find a husband. And, oh, the lengths she went to to catch that man!
One story involved a woman desperate to land a new job. The prospective employer tells her, "It's been my experience that women are usually failures in business! They all quit to get married!"
She assures the man that she will not. "My career is too important to me! It's my whole life!" she cries. Of course, she immediately falls for a co-worker, who informs her, "Say young lady, do you realize it's eight p.m. already? That's why you women belong in the kitchen! As career girls you take yourselves too seriously!" It gets even better when he tells her that "...failing as a woman is worse than failing in a career!" After a few convoluted pages where she sees how miserable her life will be without that man in it, she tearfully sobs to him, "You were right! So right! The real failure is losing you! All I want is you! Will you ever forgive me for being such a stubborn fool?"
(People seemed to use a lot more exclamation marks in those days.)
The writers of romance comics employed a truly "dicks before chicks" philosophy and EVERY WOMAN was a POTENTIAL RIVAL, including Dear Old Mom. In My Mother, The Mantrap, a fretful daughter fumes, "If you had a man of your own, maybe you'd STOP STEALING MINE!"
Interest in romance comics began to wane during the late sixties, and an effort was made to make the stories more hip and contemporary. This book includes an interracial romance - one of the few unhappy endings to be found, AND a tale that hints the main character may be too much of a tomboy and have unnatural tendencies - but don't worry . . . she just hadn't found the right guy yet. Guess the writers weren't quite THAT with-it when it came to dealing with controversial topics.
The romance comics gave up the ghost right around the time of the Bicentennial. Their brand of unrealistic, sentimental and syrupy love didn't seem to belong in a world of peace demonstrations, free love, and Watergate.
I have a small collection of original romance comics from the late sixties and I read them all every few years. I know they're hokey and schmaltzy, but they're also fun, and they push all the right nostalgia buttons. And, now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find a man of my own!
February 2, 2024
I enjoyed this collection of DC Romance Comics from the 1950s to 1970s. It certainly was a different time. There was a brief introduction to each section followed by representative comics. The sections covered were true love, contemporary romance, serials, and man’s point of view. I thought they were arranged nicely. What fun to read!
January 12, 2020
Great collection.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews