First and Last Kiss

A few people have asked me what I think about John Lustig's Last Kiss comics.

For those of you who don't know, Last Kiss comics are a grouping of panels that came from Charlton's First Kiss series, with new dialogue. (Lustig acquired the rights to the 40-issue series in 1987.) The art is usually by Vince Colletta (and his assistants) or Dick Giordano, although a few other artists sneak in there from time to time. I've railed on Charlton comics in the past (here and here and I'll likely do some more in the future), but if I've been hard on them, it's not to disrespect the creators in any way. Charlton was notorious for paying the worst page rate in the industry, and many artists and writers have said that when you're getting paid half the rate from what you get elsewhere, you tend to do half the work.

I can't blame them.

Anyway, back to Last Kiss.

I first saw Last Kiss in an issue of the Comics Buyers' Guide, then a weekly newspaper, sometime in the early-90s. I wasn't a fan of romance comics at the time, but I still read the one- or two-panel strips each issue and enjoyed them quite a bit. Things changed, however, once I started collecting romance comics and even moreso once I became a romance comics nutcase.

I've noticed that the more passionate someone gets about something (a cause, a belief, a collectible), the less likely they're willing to joke about it. Say you're friends with a vegan. I suggest not to make too make steak tar-tar comments, even in jest. Your best friend collects beer cans. Try not to joke that you're taking them all to the recycling center. You're dating someone willing to chain themselves to an abortion clinic? I recommend you not forward that RU-486 joke you got from a co-worker. (Okay... that may be a little far fetched, but you get the idea.)

Same goes with me. Since I really enjoy romance comics, I don't really like making fun of them. And, really, they're easy to make fun of. They're dated and silly -- easy targets. And, to me, jokes against easy targets get old really quickly. (To me, "George Bush is stupid" jokes got old right about 3 minutes after I heard my first one. Not because I think a certain way about his intelligence, however, but because that sort of thing gets old real fast. Give me something new, people!)

So while the first couple of Last Kiss comics were witty and humerous, they quickly became repetitive and not very funny. And yes, I realize that I sound like a romance comics snob. And yes, I understand that defending this sort of thing looks pretty silly. But indulge me.

I still get a new comic strip sent to my e-mail Inbox every week, and I always read it, but I try my damnest not to enjoy it (and if I do laugh, I quickly remind myself that romance comics are too important to make fun of).

Don't you think?

Now have you heard the one about the vegan with the beer can collection?