Customer Reviews

Marvel Romance

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read thousands of Marvel super-hero comics over the years and wasn't sure if I had much interest in their other genres, especially those that pre-date the introduction of The X-Men, Daredevil, etc. But I picked up Marvel Romance on a lark and cannot believe how much I loved this book.

The stories themselves are incredibly campy and fun. In a weird way, they remind me of reading modern day Grant Morrison stuff. All the characters are slightly 'off', their speech is incredibly formal and the situations totally absurd. Story #1 alone (there are 24 in total) involves the lily-white Diane who states "In the summer Manhattan is a bore...it's too hot, there are few cocktail parties, and the most eligible men are gone!". At a summer resort she meets the also lily-white Jim Scott who authors under the name Norman Taylor. Following a trend soon to be obvious, the story ends with them kissing as she declares to us in voice-over, "His lips sealed our true and lasting love with a kiss!"

Rich, educated and white seems to sum up all the characters in the book. With names like David Hunter, Leslie Mitchell, Scott Bentley and Pete Carter the objects of affection for these women seem to step right out of the young, handsome, rich East Coast mens club. I don't know who read these things originally back in the early 60's but I have a hard time picturing my teenage Mom on a farm in Indiana identifying with these books at all. But maybe that was the point?

All I know is I couldn't stop grinning while I read stories like 'Please Don't Let Me Be a Spinster' which opens with the line "I used to date too, laughing and loving like other girls! But now I walk alone, my yearning embracing only groceries."

This entire book seems like a Roy Lichtenstein exhibition. Ever changing outfits and hair-dos make for a fascinating study of the era. Some of Marvels biggest names in art contribute to this book: Gene Colan, Jack Kirby and John Buscema handle the bulk of the stories. But the absolute highlight is a seven page piece by Jim Steranko. Bringing his pop-art sensibility from Nick Fury over to a romance story set in Hollywood casting this 1970 story written by Stan Lee is simply fantastic.

If you're only into comics for the Biff, Bam, Pow spandex factor this book isn't for you. But if you are interested in a little slice of comic history that's well off the super-hero path (stories like this are the logical precursor to 'real-life' books like Box Office Poison, Jinx and Ghost World a lot more than Batman or The Avengers could ever be) do yourself a big favor and pick this up.

The overall art restoration and book quality are solid. The book comes in at 170 pages of stories and art with the length of each story ranging anywhere from 4 pages to 18, with a norm of about 7. The actual cover art isn't the 'Love Story' reproduction shown by Amazon - it's actually a panel close up of a crying woman from the story entitled "Jilted!" making the Lichtenstein comparison even more obvious. The 'Love Story' cover must have been Marvel's pre-release art for the collection as it's the only cover to actually make it into the book.

For $19.99 I would have expected some or all of the following, none of which are present: an introduction, book covers and a page count closer to 200.

Marvel can get away with this kind of price point for a 175 page collection of 70's Iron Man or Captain America owing to the base of current day readers. But I've got to think that this kind of subject matter is a tough-sell to the fan-boy crowd and without any sort of extras over their other trade collections I can't help but feel that it will be sorely overlooked. Don't miss out.

I have long been a fan of the clean artwork of John Romita Sr, especially his expert delineation of the female form (Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson being standouts during his legendary Spider-man run), so I was interested enough to flip through this recent Marvel reissue of old romance comics from the 60s and 70s. Boy, am I glad I did! This 176 page volume contains wonderful artwork by Romita in the form of his clean, bold inking to the excellent penciling of the great John Buscema and the underrated Don Heck. Any fan of lovely Romita girls will enjoy Marvel Romance as it contains 4 stories with Romita inking some of the most beautiful woman ever to grace the pages of comics. Another highlight is the Steranko art on "My Heart Broke in Hollywood". This story appears in the Steranko collection, Marvel Visionaries: Steranko, as well. It is a true masterwork of psychedelic design. The hairdos and sexy outfits of the stories from the late 60s and early 70s are great and the more adventurous design and layout styles that had become predominant in comic's Bronze Age adds extra flair to these stories. I can't say I'm as big of a fan of the first half of the book, as these tales come from earlier Marvel romance comics (1960-1964). Although the artwork for these stories is mostly provided by two comics legends that I love, Jack Kirby and Dick Giordano, I prefer their more accomplished later work in the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s. Having said this, the whole book has a fun, campy feel to it that will appeal to anyone who enjoys overwrought melodrama (i.e. Douglas Sirk films). I am now hopelessly hooked on Bronze Age romance comics, I have been tracking down some of the original comics that these stories are reprinted from and I can confirm that the line art and the recoloring found in "Marvel Romance" is excellent. The coloring is bright and vibrant, and very suitable to the fun, campy tone of the stories. And the printing and paper quality is, as expected, much better than what is found in the original comics. I highly recommend this book to any fan of pretty girl art, campy stories, 60s outfits (mini-skirts, headbands and boots!), and Silver and Bronze Age artwork. Groovy!

Robert J. Petersen's review captured the gist of this book perfectly - no others really need to be written. I will say that this book is certainly not a joke, as romance comics made up a significant amount of sales in the period immediately following the arrival of the comics code authority, so Marvel deserves a pat on the back for bringing an overview of the genre into print. Where Marvel really stumbled is in not providing an introduction to the book, but instead launching straight into the stories. An introduction would have helped put these comics into their proper historical perspective and maybe warranted a 5-star review. Anyway, MARVEL ROMANCE provides the reader with a decent selection of tales that span the years 1960 - 1972. Most are written by smilin' Stan Lee, with great art by Dick Giordano, Jack Kirby, Sol Brodsky, John Buscema, Jim Starlin, Jim Steranko, and Gene Colan. Two very important things can be learned from these stories:

1. Stan Lee's overwrought dialogue for his heroines Sue Storm (Invisible Girl), Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), and Janet van Dyne (the Wasp) was developed in stories such as these - see any Marvel Essential!

2. The artists of Marvel's Silver Age had solid artistic skills and were professionals in the truest sense of the word. All of these guys could easily switch gears and fit right in drawing stories featuring not a single cape or flexed bicep. Picture a modern artist like Ed McGuiness or Rob Liefeld trying to do something like this... pretty ridiculous, eh?

So again, thumbs up to Marvel. If nothing else, give this book a shot to strengthen your comics education. Maybe it's corny, maybe the fellas will laugh at you - but you'll know better!

First off, the stories are a little silly. You probably knew that already, but if you're going to read this book, take the silliness as a given.

For me, the main appeal of the book is seeing how well-known Marvel super-hero artists like Jack Kirby, John Buscema, and Gene Colan approach non-action-oriented material. It's kind of a mixed bag - I wasn't particularly impressed with Kirby's work in this book, but Buscema's was solid as usual, and Gene Colan's was top-notch. But the real gem of this volume is the short story illustrated by Jim Steranko. The Steranko story literally jumps out from the rest of the book - the page design, linework, and colors all stand out. I'm not going to get into hyperbole and say it's worth the entire value of the book, but it's definitely the highlight (and the rest is filled out largely by quality artists).

For those of us women who were teenagers in the late sixties and early seventies this is a great vintage reproduction of all the "True Confessions" and "True Romance" comics we grew up reading and our mothers would tell us to quit reading "that trash".

I never really had a use for romance comics. I just saw them as the industry's excuse for writing soaps. Now as an adult, I can see how the genre is missed. In this day and time it would be redundant to reienvent it, but it's all good that Marvel is collecting the best of its romance line of the 60s and 70s.

I do consider myself a romantic at heart, even though I consider myself a real dude. Yet it was interesting to see classic sudsers scripted by Stan Lee and classic artwork from Jack Kirby, John Romita, John Buscema, Gene Colan and Dick Giordano on the art of finding and keeping love. I can't even forget not mentioning the art deco style of STERANKO on one story, even though Stan did have some hokey dialogue.

There are some teachable moments, here. On a beach-themed story, a debutante learns the hard way about snobbery when she starts mistreating, then later on crushing on, a handsome lifeguard, only to find out he's engaged to another debutante. Another fable involves a exotic dancer/gold digger who learns the hard way what happens when you "do your own thing": there are consequences involved, and in the end, ladies need to learn that getting what you want is not as important as having what you need.

For me, there were too many whitebread characters involved. Yet all in all, a good catch for those fans of the Silver Age Marvel method.