Randy Robots
Look out! Robots are stealing our women and forcing them to tighten their nuts and bolts!
The Night is Young
“I don’t care if it’s 3 a.m. Put another nickle in the jukebox. The night is young.”
More beautiful romance art by the great Matt Baker. (Cinderella Love #25, 1955)
A Torrid Tale of Trailer Trash Love
Welcome to Torrid Tales of Trailer Trash Love. Our motto? If you haven’t had a baby by 16, you’re sleeping with the wrong football team.
Another beautiful cover by the amazing Matt Baker. (Published in 1952.) Click image to enlarge.
Birthday Celebration
Preparations for my birthday party proceed. B.Y.O.B. (Bring your own babe.) Art by Matt Baker.
Cosplay Comics (TM) with Brieanna Brock
Today’s Last Kiss is the first of seven photo comics that I’ll be showcasing over the next few weeks. (Wednesdays and some Sundays.)
All feature the lovely and incredibly industrious Brieanna Brock—cosplay model extraordinaire, actress, fashion designer, emcee, writer and—for all I know—future president of the world.
My one and only meeting with Brie came a couple of years ago at a San Diego comic con when we were both doing appearances at the World’s Famous Comics booth.
I was there signing comics and Brie was there modeling—the living embodiment of a painting by WFC’s owner/artist Justin Chung.
Now, Brie does a lot of cosplay at conventions and comic stores. I mean—a lot. So she has ton of photos of herself posing as different super heroines and pop culture characters.
And it suddenly hit me—if I added dialog to those photos, it’d be just like what I do with old comic art.
So I asked myself, wouldn’t that be fun? And I answered myself—you betcha!
Worst Date Ever?
When I posted this on my Facebook page, it elicited some lively comments. The one that made me laugh hardest was this suggested dialog from Jim Guida:
CAPTION: (Girl in background) “Well, at least I still have my yacht.”
Thanks, Jim!
Art from Hi-School Romance #10 (1951) published by Harvey Comics.
Daring Love? No Kidding!
I dare you NOT to think of something dirty when you look at this 1953 comic cover.
No, I can’t do it either.
Sexy for President
One of these heartthrobs became the President of the United States.
Alas, it wasn’t June Allyson…
From the cover of School-Day Romances of Teen-Agers #1
Nun Love?
I have the same problem. Nuns dig me…
The End of Comics Buyer’s Guide
A black and white version of this appeared in CBG in 2002.
Last Kiss was born in the pages of Comics Buyer’s Guide way back in 1996.
A few months before at the San Diego Comic Con, I’d showed CBG Editor Maggie Thompson a handful of black and white photocopies of old romance covers. At the bottom of each page, I’d typed a gag.
They were not incredibly funny gags, but Maggie saw enough potential to give me a green light. After that all I had to do was figure out how to remove the old dialog and replace it with my own.
I literally had no idea how to do it. I didn’t know anything about lettering or scanning. And Photoshop? What’s that?
I fumbled through a couple of years of doing Last Kiss. Then I came back and relaunched the series in 2000—with the encouragement of Maggie and fellow CBG editors John Jackson Miller and Brent Frankenhoff.
Last Kiss has appeared in every issue since then right up through the final one—#1699
It was probably inevitable that Comics Buyer’s Guide wouldn’t survive.
I first started reading it in the 1970’s when it was known as The Buyer’s Guide and was a weekly black-and-white adzine with a handful of articles.
It went on to become a fan favorite as well as a vital news pipeline for the comics industry.
The rise of the Internet made that news function obsolete. The switch to a color monthly magazine format gave CBG a few more years. But not enough.
Two days ago, the magazine folded.
Thank you, Maggie, Brent and John. Without you, there would be no Last Kiss. And the last 23 years would’ve been a lot less interesting.
