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Weird Menace: The 1930s rise of the Shudder Pulps followed by the rise of the forces that ended them and transformed horror on the newsstand.
Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Christopher Rule, Romance Comics
Marvel Dives into Comic Book Romance with My Romance, at Auction
Debuting a year after Simon & Kirby's Young Romance, Marvel's My Romance was the second comic book romance title to hit the newsstands.
Article Summary
- Martin Goodman's Marvel introduced My Romance soon after pioneer Young Romance.
- My Romance showcased polished art styles and led to Marvel's 31 romance titles.
- The series later retitled My Own Romance, lasting 76 issues and spawning magazines.
- Historic My Romance #2 reflects Marvel's early genre influence.
Martin Goodman's newsstand publishing empire was already rather sprawling by the mid-1940s, and included a wide range of magazines and comic books. In 1946, he entered the romance magazine field with Life Romances. The next year, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby pioneered the romance genre in comics in partnership with Theodore Epstein and Milton Bleier, the publishers of the comic book line that is today remembered as Prize. Goodman was well known for jumping on new trends quickly, and his My Romance comic book debuted roughly a year after Young Romance, making it the second romance series in comics.
The stories in the My Romance title featured the smooth, polished artwork of the likes of Christopher Rule and Mike Sekowsky among numerous others, and is generally a very charming, sweet look with just a touch of good girl style that fans of Marvel's teen humor and "working girl" humor (think Tessie the Typist, Millie the Model) of this era will find familiar. Generally speaking, the artwork of Marvel's non-superhero titles is very underappreciated.
My Romance was a success, and after a title change to My Own Romance, the series lasted for 76 issues from 1948 to 1960. The title change was prompted by Goodman's decision to use My Romance for a magazine series, which also had a successful run into the 1960s. Meanwhile, Marvel had published 31 different comic book romance titles by 1950, with the entire comic book romance industry experiencing a dramatic contraction a short time later. As with virtually every other comic book trend of the 1940s and beyond, Marvel's contributions in shaping the field cannot be overlooked, and this copy of My Romance #2 is a historic example of where Marvel was taking its comic book romance in the early days of the genre.
My Romance #2 (Marvel, 1948) Condition: FN+. This title was the second romance comic series (after Young Romance) ever produced. Contains an anti-Wertham editorial. Overstreet 2023 FN 6.0 value = $60; VF 8.0 value = $117.
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