Last Kiss creator John Lustig and wife/romance muse Shelagh Lustig gave a wide-ranging presentation about romance comics at the Nov. 21 Cartoonist Northwest meeting in Seattle.
The first romance comics—Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Young Romance #1, 1947.
I wasn’t sure what to expect on Nov. 21 when I gave a multi-media presentation on romance comics. Would anyone be interested in such an offbeat subject?
But—I was surprised! We ended up with one of the largest crowds I’ve seen at Cartoonists Northwest in a long time!
Now I can be a little shy. So I’m grateful that my wife (and personal romance goddess) Shelagh Lustig acted as a co-presenter. I should’ve kissed her at the end—the perfect end to an evening about romance comics.
In addition to lots of beautiful romance art, I also showed off some oddball and funny romance panels and covers. I covered the beginning of the romance comic genre and theorized about why romance comics died. Then I talked about current attempts to re-introduce romance as a genre in comics.
Based on the number of audience questions, general enthusiasm and laughs, it seemed to go pretty well. Frankly, I’d love to polish it up a bit and give this talk again sometime. Maybe to another comics group. Or maybe even some romance novel fans!
It was a great meeting, John, especially with your adorable wife as your able bodied assistant. You two are the dynamic duo of romance, and the next time you and Shelagh give your presentation to Cartoonists Northwest, you two can end the presentation with a big smooch for your “Last Kiss”. …ahhh Sweet romance!
Thanks, Mo. It was fun and I’ll definitely give Shelagh a kiss at the end if when we do it again. (Or maybe even sooner!!!)
Hi John, How wonderful you included your lovely wife in your talk. I’m sure it was a very interesting talk. And you certainly talked about one of my favorite subjects. 🙂
I have to admit that I did it for somewhat selfish reasons, Christine. About half the presentation was taken from an article I wrote about romance comics and I decided to quote large passages of that verbatim. But I hate reading aloud and Shelagh’s great at that. (She was a community theater actress for awhile.) It was a joy to share the stage (so to speak) with her.
So glad to hear it went well, John!
Thanks, Jacque. And thanks for letting me use some images from your great romance comics blog: http://www.sequentialcrush.com/
Not only did I credit you in the talk, I even showed a slide of your site, plus a pic of you with your comics grandparents: Martin and Carrie Nodell.