''Young Romance'' is a romantic

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by Joe Simon and

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) 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 gre ...

for the

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 fea ...

imprint

Prize Comics A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

in 1947. Generally considered the first

romance comic 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 t ...

,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution'' (Bloomsbury, 2004)''Young Romance''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed May 27, 2008 the series ran for 124 consecutive issues under Prize imprint, and a further 84 (issues #125-208) published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

after Crestwood stopped producing comics.

Background

In his introduction to

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 ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

collection of some of the earliest

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...

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 t ...

Richard Howell Richard Howell (October 25, 1754April 28, 1802) was the third governor of New Jersey from 1794 to 1801. Early life and military career Howell was born in Newark in the Colony of Delaware. He was a lawyer and soldier of the early United States ...

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". Howell, Richard, "Introduction" to ''Real Love - The Best of the Simon and Kirby Romance Comics" 1940s-1950s'' ( Eclipse Books,

) This changed in 1947 with the return from

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

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 Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in ''Detective Comics'' #64 (June 1942) by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — ...

and the

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 (April 1942) to #64 (January 1947). In 1970, ...

. Working for

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-runni ...

, 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". 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", and to receive an unheard of 50% share of profits in return for producing their follow-up for that company.

History

Launched with a September 1947 cover date, the

Prize Comics A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

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

ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years" and selling "millions of copies"Ro, p. 46 and a staggering 92% of its print run. 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). Miller, J. J.,

Thompson, Maggie Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942), is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics. Early life Margaret (nicknam ...

, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, ''The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books'', 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Young Romance", pp. 1599-1601 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" content from its parent-title. 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. Other companies, including

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

Fawcett Publications Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Fawcett, Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940). It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captai ...

, Fox Features Syndicate, and

Timely Comics Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...

, capitalized on the romance boom. 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". 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".

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. 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 Sherrill David Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011), 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 ...

Mort Meskin Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099. 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. Early ...

Bruno Premiani Giordano Bruno Premiani (January 4, 1907 – August 17, 1984)
at the

Bill Draut Bill Draut (August 14, 1921–March 3, 1993) was an American comic book artist best known for his work at Harvey Comics and DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1970s. Biography Bill Draut began his career as an artist in the 1940s by drawing the "S ...

Ann Brewster Ann Brewster (November 20, 1918 – July 9, 2005) 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 (later to bec ...

, John Prentice, and

Leonard Starr Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015) 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''. Early life Born Octob ...

" to work on the title(s). 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". 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 Ben Oda (December 21, 1915 – November 1984) was a Japanese-American letterer for comic books and comic strips. He graduated from Chouinard Art Institute and began his career as an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios.''DC Profiles Number 56: Ben ...

took on "the same herculean task".

Covers

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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

starlet Joy Lansing", which was then reused as the cover for

' 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 A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

feature ''

Mary Perkins, On Stage ''Mary Perkins, On Stage'' (originally titled simply ''On Stage'') is an American newspaper comic strip by Leonard Starr for the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. It ran from February 10, 1957, to September 9, 1979, with the switch to the l ...

''.

Publication history

Launched in September 1947, ''Young Romance'' ran for 124 issues, until June

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. 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

, alongside sister publication '' Young Love''. 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.

DC Comics

Following Crestwood/Prize's ''Young Romance'' #124 (June 1963), the Arleigh Publishing division of

National Periodical Publications National Comics Publications, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...

, commonly known as

, obtained the Crestwood/Prize romance titles ''Young Love'' and ''Young Romance'' in 1963, upon Crestwood Publications "leav ngthe comic book business". Larry Nadle succeeded Phyllis Reed as editor.Superman Artists: Hughes, Bob. "DC Timeline 1960-1965"
/ref> 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. 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). Creators who worked on the DC incarnation included writer

Steve Englehart Steve Englehart (; born April 22, 1947) 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. Early lif ...

. Issues #197 (Jan.-Feb. 1974) to #204 (March–April 1975) of the series were in the ''100 Page Super Spectacular'' format. The series ran through 1975's issue #208 (Nov.-Dec. 1975). In 2013, DC also published a

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 one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

special ''Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine's Day Special'' #1.

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 Greg Allen Theakston (November 21, 1953 – April 22, 2019) 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 impri ...

has also reprinted some Simon & Kirby romance comics and pages in a number of books on Jack Kirby, while John Morrow's

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. List of magaz ...

has also featured occasional artwork from romance titles in issues of ''The Jack Kirby Collector''. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, as part of its '' Millennium Edition'' reprints of key 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.Grand Comics Database: ''Millennium Edition: Young Romance Comics'' #1 (2000 series)
/ref> 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.

Notes

References

''Young Romance''
at the

Big Comic Book DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated feat ...

* * * *

External links

''Young Romance''
at Cover Browser

at Don Markstein's Toonopedia

{{Jack Kirby, state=collapsed Golden Age comics titles Comics by George Kashdan Comics by Jack Kirby Comics by Robert Kanigher Crestwood Publications titles DC Comics titles Romance comics Defunct American comics