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Young Romance

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Young Romance
Young Romance Issue 1.jpg
Young Romance #1 (Sept. 1947), art by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.
Publication information
PublisherCrestwood/Prize
DC Comics
ScheduleMonthly/Bimonthly
Publication date(vol. 1): 1947 - 1963
(vol. 2) (DC): 1963 - 1975
No. of issues(vol. 1): 124 (#1-#124)
(vol. 2) (DC): 84 (#125-#208)
Creative team
Created byJoe Simon & Jack Kirby
Written byvarious, including Joe Simon
Artist(s)various, including Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Jerry Robinson, Mort Meskin, Bruno Premiani, Bill Draut, Ann Brewster, John Prentice and Leonard Starr

Young Romance is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics[1][2] in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,[3][4] the series ran for 124 consecutive issues under Prize imprint, and a further 84 (issues #125-208) published by DC Comics after Crestwood stopped producing comics.

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Comic book

Comic book

A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialogue contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form.

Joe Simon

Joe Simon

Joseph Henry Simon was 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.

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.

Crestwood Publications

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". Crestwood is best known for its Prize Group imprint, published in the late 1940s to mid-1950s through packagers Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who created such historically prominent titles as the horror comic Black Magic, the creator-owned superhero satire Fighting American, and the first romance comic title, Young Romance.

Imprint (trade name)

Imprint (trade name)

An imprint of a publisher is a trade name under which it publishes a work. A single publishing company may have multiple imprints, often using the different names as brands to market works to various demographic consumer segments.

1947 in comics

1947 in comics

Notable events of 1947 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Background

In his introduction to Eclipse Comics' 1988 collection of some of the earliest Simon & Kirby romance comics, Richard Howell writes that "romance has always been a major component in entertainment, be it novels, plays, or movies, but for over ten years after the first appearance of comic books, romance only had a token presence in their four-color pages".[5] This changed in 1947 with the return from war of one of comics' earliest and best-known creative partnerships, that of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who had already created Captain America, the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion.[5]

Working for Hillman Periodicals, the two created a "teen-humor comic book called My Date", cover-dated March 1947, which contained within its pages "ground-breaking" stories concerned with "comparatively faithful depictions of teen-age life, centering especially on romantic experiences and aspirations".[5] Arguably itself the first "romance comic", positive reaction to My Date allowed Simon to negotiate a deal with Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Paul Blyer (or "Bleier") "before the four-issue run of My Date had run more than half its course",[5] and to receive an unheard of 50% share of profits in return for producing their follow-up for that company.[3]

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Romance comics

Romance comics

Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close 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.

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and creator ownership of rights.

1988 in comics

1988 in comics

Notable events of 1988 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

Joe Simon

Joe Simon

Joseph Henry Simon was 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.

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.

Richard Howell (comics)

Richard Howell (comics)

Richard Howell is an American comics artist best known as the co-founder and editor of Claypool Comics.

1947 in comics

1947 in comics

Notable events of 1947 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

Captain America

Captain America

Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 from Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who often fought the Axis powers of World War II and was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. The popularity of superheroes waned following the war, and the Captain America comic book was discontinued in 1950, with a short-lived revival in 1953. Since Marvel Comics revived the character in 1964, Captain America has remained in publication.

Boy Commandos

Boy Commandos

Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in Detective Comics #64 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — or in their own parlance, "the Ratzies".

Newsboy Legion

Newsboy Legion

The Newsboy Legion is a teenage vigilante group in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, they appeared in their own self-titled feature which ran from Star-Spangled Comics #7 to #64. In 1970, Jack Kirby introduced a new Newsboy Legion, made up of the sons of the original Golden Age characters.

Hillman Periodicals

Hillman Periodicals

Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-running general-interest magazine Pageant; and for comic books including Air Fighters Comics and its successor Airboy Comics, which launched the popular characters Airboy and The Heap.

History

Launched with a September 1947 cover date, the Prize Comics title Young Romance signaled its distinction from traditional superhero and genre comics with a cover banner stating the series was "designed for the more adult readers of comics". Told from a first person perspective, underlining its claim to be recounting "true" stories, the title was an instant success, "bec[oming] Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years" and selling "millions of copies"[6] and a staggering 92% of its print run.[5] Crestwood increased the print run by the third issue to triple the initial numbers, and well as upgrade the title from bimonthly to monthly through issues #13-72 (Sept. 1949 - Aug. 1954).[5][6][7]

Young Romance #15 (Nov. 1949), with photographic cover.
Young Romance #15 (Nov. 1949), with photographic cover.

Within a year and a half, Simon & Kirby were launching companion titles for Crestwood to capitalize on the success of this new genre. The first issue of Young Love (Feb. 1949) also sold well with "indistinguishable"[5] content from its parent-title.[3][4] Further spin-off titles Young Brides (married couples' stories) and In Love ("book-length" stories) also followed from Crestwood/Prize, and were produced by the Simon & Kirby stable of artists and writers.[5] Other companies, including Quality Comics, Fawcett Publications, Fox Features Syndicate, and Timely Comics, capitalized on the romance boom.[3][4] Despite the glut of titles, the Simon and Kirby romance titles "continued to sell five million" a month, allowing the pair "to earn more than enough to buy their own homes".[3]

The slew of imitators caused Crestwood to adopt the "Prize Group" seal on the covers of the Simon & Kirby produced titles as "the easiest means for readers to tell the S&K-produced love comics from the legions of imitators".[5]

Creators

"For the first five years", Simon and Kirby produced "at least one story (usually a lengthy lead feature) per issue", but the increased output of the Crestwood/Prize romance titles meant that in many cases they merely oversaw production.[5] They remained "involved with every story", despite not writing or drawing them all, and "maintained a high standard of quality" by employing artists including "Jerry Robinson, Mort Meskin, Bruno Premiani, Bill Draut, Ann Brewster, John Prentice, and Leonard Starr" to work on the title(s).[5] Many of the other artists' output, according to Howell "show the distinctive S&K layout style, and it was not uncommon for a newer artist's work to show signs of S&K retouching".[5]

Lettering duties were initially handled almost entirely by Howard Fergeson, while Bill Draut occasionally lettered his own work. After the death of Fergeson, Ben Oda took on "the same herculean task".[5]

Covers

Young Romance #67 (March 1954), featuring the "Prize Group" seal; cover art by Jack Kirby and John Prentice.
Young Romance #67 (March 1954), featuring the "Prize Group" seal; cover art by Jack Kirby and John Prentice.

As with most contemporary romance comics, and the pulps before them, the covers of Young Romance (and all the Simon & Kirby romance output) varied between photographic covers (see above) and regular artwork (typically produced by Simon & Kirby themselves). The photographic covers often depicted film starlets; Young Love Vol. 1, issue #4 for example, featured a cover picture of "then MGM starlet Joy Lansing", which was then reused as the cover for Eclipse Comics' 1988 "Real Love" collection, which reprinted in black and white a number of the Simon & Kirby romance stories, including early work by Leonard Starr, who went on to create the newspaper strip feature Mary Perkins, On Stage.[5]

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1947 in comics

1947 in comics

Notable events of 1947 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

First-person narrative

First-person narrative

A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person such as "I", "us", "our" and "ourselves". It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist, first-person re-teller, first-person witness, or first-person peripheral. A classic example of a first-person protagonist narrator is Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), in which the title character is also the narrator telling her own story, "I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me".

Fawcett Publications

Fawcett Publications

Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).

Jerry Robinson

Jerry Robinson

Sherrill David Robinson, known as Jerry Robinson, was an American comic book artist known for his work on DC Comics' Batman line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and for his work on behalf of creators' rights.

Mort Meskin

Mort Meskin

Morton Meskin was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age.

Bruno Premiani

Bruno Premiani

Giordano Bruno Premiani was an Italian illustrator known for his work for several American comic book publishers, particularly DC Comics. With writer Arnold Drake, he co-created DC's superhero team the Doom Patrol, then with writer Bob Haney, he co-created DC's superhero team the Teen Titans.

Bill Draut

Bill Draut

Bill Draut was an American comic book artist best known for his work at Harvey Comics and DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Ann Brewster

Ann Brewster

Ann Brewster was an American cartoonist and illustrator during the Golden Age of comics. She provided art for many different publishers, including Ace Magazines, Fiction House, and Atlas Comics. Brewster is most notable for illustrating romance comics. After a career as penciller and inker for comics, she transitioned to illustrating novels and children's magazines before retiring in 1980.

John Prentice (cartoonist)

John Prentice (cartoonist)

John Franklin Prentice, Jr. was an American cartoonist most known for taking over the comic strip Rip Kirby upon the death of the strip's creator, Alex Raymond.

Leonard Starr

Leonard Starr

Leonard Starr was an American cartoonist, comic book artist, and advertising artist, best known for creating the newspaper comic strip On Stage and reviving Little Orphan Annie.

Ben Oda

Ben Oda

Ben Oda was a Japanese-American letterer for comic books and comic strips.

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.

Publication history

Launched in September 1947, Young Romance ran for 124 issues, until June 1967.[7] Initially bimonthly, strong sales and demand inspired an increased production schedule, and from issue #13 (Sept. 1949) the title became monthly. Continuing to be released monthly for the next five years, the title reverted to bimonthly with status issue #73 (Oct. 1954), and continuing on this schedule for 17 years, missing only one month (August 1963) – when the title switched publishers from Crestwood/Prize to DC Comics, alongside sister publication Young Love.[7] With issue #172 (Aug. 1971), the title returned to monthly release for 20 issues, and between issue #192 (March 1973) and the final issue, #208 (Dec. 1975), the title was again bimonthly.[7]

DC Comics

Young Romance #125 (Aug. 1963), DC Comics' first issue; cover artist(s) uncredited.
Young Romance #125 (Aug. 1963), DC Comics' first issue; cover artist(s) uncredited.

Following Crestwood/Prize's Young Romance #124 (June 1963), the Arleigh Publishing division of National Periodical Publications, commonly known as DC Comics, obtained the Crestwood/Prize romance titles Young Love and Young Romance in 1963, upon Crestwood Publications "leav[ing] the comic book business".[8] Larry Nadle succeeded Phyllis Reed as editor.[8] Premiering with Young Romance #125 (Aug. 1963), the pair of titles became "part of a reasonably popular romance line aimed at young girls" for a further 12 years.[4] By DC's 15th issue of Young Romance, the published circulation statement listed sales of 204,613; this gradually dwindled throughout the early 1970s to a published circulation figure of 119,583 by issue #196 (Nov. 1973).[7] Creators who worked on the DC incarnation included writer Steve Englehart.[7] Issues #197 (Jan.-Feb. 1974) to #204 (March–April 1975) of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format.[9] The series ran through 1975's issue #208 (Nov.-Dec. 1975).[10][11] In 2013, DC also published a Valentine's Day special Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine's Day Special #1.[12]

Reprints

Some Simon & Kirby romance-comics stories, predominantly from Young Romance were reprinted in 1988 by Eclipse Books under the title Real Love (edited, and with an introduction by Richard Howell).

Kirby biographer Greg Theakston has also reprinted some Simon & Kirby romance comics and pages in a number of books on Jack Kirby, while John Morrow's TwoMorrows Publishing has also featured occasional artwork from romance titles in issues of The Jack Kirby Collector.

In 2000, as part of its Millennium Edition reprints of key DC comics, DC Comics reprinted the first issue of Young Romance, even though it (as well as the first issue of MAD magazine) was not originally published by DC.[13]

Fantagraphics Books released Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics in 2012, and Young Romance 2: The Early Simon & Kirby Romance Comics in 2014.

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1947 in comics

1947 in comics

Notable events of 1947 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

1963 in comics

1963 in comics

Notable events of 1963 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Larry Nadle

Larry Nadle

Lawrence Malcolm Nadle was a comic book editor and writer who was known for his work for DC Comics' romance comics, celebrity comics, and other humor-centric titles. Todd Klein has noted that Nadle's career in comics began "around 1943-44", as an editor for All-American Publications.

Steve Englehart

Steve Englehart

Steve Englehart is an American writer of comic books and novels. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s. His pseudonyms have included John Harkness and Cliff Garnett.

DC 100 Page Super Spectacular

DC 100 Page Super Spectacular

DC 100 Page Super Spectacular was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1971 through 1973, featuring only reprints initially and later including new stories. The "100 Page" count included both sides of the front and back covers as pages. Each numbered issue appearing under this title featured a wrap-around cover with all editorial content and no advertisements. Versions after late 1973 included advertisements.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine and through later folk traditions, it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and creator ownership of rights.

Greg Theakston

Greg Theakston

Greg Allen Theakston was an American comics artist and illustrator who worked for numerous publishers. He is known for his independent publications as a comics historian under his Pure Imagination imprint, as well as for developing the Theakstonizing process used in comics restoration. He used the pseudonym Earl P. Wooten.

TwoMorrows Publishing

TwoMorrows Publishing

TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs.

2000 in comics

2000 in comics

Notable events of 2000 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

Millennium Edition (DC Comics)

Millennium Edition (DC Comics)

Millennium Edition was the umbrella title of 62 one-shot comic books published by DC Comics in 2000 and 2001. It reprinted key issues from the history of the company such as the first appearance of notable characters, the relaunch of existing characters, or the start of major storylines. The oldest issue reprinted was Detective Comics #1 and the most recent was JLA #1. Each issue of Millennium Edition had a gold foil logo stamped onto the front cover and a brief essay on the inside covers detailing the significance of the issue reprinted.

Source: "Young Romance", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, August 12th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Romance.

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Notes
  1. ^ Grand Comics Database: Young Romance
  2. ^ Grand Comics Database: Young Romance #1 (Sept. 1947)
  3. ^ a b c d e Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  4. ^ a b c d Young Romance, at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed May 27, 2008
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Howell, Richard, "Introduction" to Real Love - The Best of the Simon and Kirby Romance Comics" 1940s-1950s (Eclipse Books, 1988)
  6. ^ a b Ro, p. 46
  7. ^ a b c d e f Miller, J. J., Thompson, Maggie, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books, 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Young Romance", pp. 1599-1601
  8. ^ a b Superman Artists: Hughes, Bob. "DC Timeline 1960-1965"
  9. ^ Eury, Michael (July 2015). "A Look at DC's Super Specs". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (81): 31.
  10. ^ "Young Romance". Mike's Amazing World of Comics. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  11. ^ Grand Comics Database: Young Romance (1963 series)
  12. ^ Grey, Melissa (February 6, 2013). "Looking for love in almost all the wrong places". uk.ign.com. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  13. ^ Grand Comics Database: Millennium Edition: Young Romance Comics #1 (2000 series)
References
External links

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