And Now for Something Not Completely Different…

by John | Aug 24, 2023 | Blog

Welcome to something different—and yet the same.

A few weeks ago, I ran a Last Kiss written by Tony Isabella that promoted support for the writers and actors on strike.It was intended as a one-off. But then…I received an e-mail from my pal Andy Mangels.

Andy’s the author of a flabbergasting number of comics, graphic novels and pop culture books. He is an idea factory. And his latest idea was that it’d be fun to see Tony’s dialogue used again—this time coming from a man instead of a woman.

Idea for today’s comic sent to John by Andy Mangels.

Andy even mocked up a carefully cropped romance comic panel with that dialogue. (See at left.)

Now the idea of running a Last Kiss with the same dialogue in a short period of time concerned me. How would readers react? 

But I did like the idea of shifting genders as an experiment and novelty. And I loved the idea of supporting writers and actors again. Indeed it inspired me to write a writers strike gag of my own. (See last Friday’s Last Kiss.)

So here here’s Andy’s version of the gag. I know the art used in comic can have a big affect on how readers perceive the comic. Does it make a difference here? I’ll be interested to see how readers react.    —John Lustig

Original Vintage Art & Text

Art by Charles Nicholas & Vince Alascia from the story “Coffee and… a Kiss, Darling!” in First Kiss #8, April 1959. Published by Charlton.

Curious to see more? Click the link above to read the entire vintage comic book for free on ComicBookPlus.com’s presentation of the comic. The story begins on Page 28.