My favorite romance comics publisher, by far, is DC, especially those published between 1955-1965.While Alex Toth's Standard stories are what I consider to the best, and Matt Baker's St. John's the sexiest, the DC stories were the most consistent.
DC (publishing under its Signal imprint, most likely to differentiate it from the super-hero, western, and sci-fi titles that made up the majority of its outout) released its first romance comic in late '49 (Girls' Love Stories), and followed-up in the next year with Romance Trail (which had some nice Toth stories), Secret Hearts, and Girls' Romances. What made the DC issues stand apart from the competition was twofold. One, the art was extremely clean and professional. Artists such as Bernard Sachs, Alex Toth, John Romita, Gil Kane, and others graced their pages, and the panels and pages are less crowded. The other is that the dialogue and expositional text is much less than in other publishers' comics. While some (especially the Joe Simon-edited Young Romance family of books) laid it on pretty thick, the DC issues used it much more sparingly.
I think it's effective.
DC titles also had what I like to call the "inner monologue" story, usually about one every issue. In these stories, the girl usually goes on for page after page with tons of self doubt: Is this the right thing to do? Is he the right guy? Am I really in love or is it something else?
In Girls' Romances #42, the final story, "Three Minutes to Heartbreak!" (also on the cover), tells the story of a girl (Denise, although mostly referred to as "darling") who waits with her boyfriend Brian at a bus station (the three minutes refer to the time she spends hugging him before the bus is scheduled to leave). He has to go to "the coast", where all the good jobs are, but she's sure that once he leaves, he's never coming back. In the 8-page story, Brians speaks only a handful of times, and when he does, it's the sappiest, saccharin sweet stuff you'd ever read. While walking along the beach he says, "It's hard to believe that half a world lies on the other side of that ocean!" Watching planes take off (you can tell he's a cheap date), he says, "I wish I were up there in that plane with you, Denise -- going somehwere -- anywhere -- as long as it's with you!"
Denise's dialogue isn't much better.
"I've never seen such dark eyes! They're like dark worlds! Wonderful dark worlds!" or "It's one minute to five... Only one minute before he leaves me... Forever! One minute... just one minute more with him... and then... and then... a lifetime of emptiness!"
Blech.
So, as they hear the last call for the bus, they kiss, and Brian walks away. As the bus pulls away, and Denise nearly has to hold herself back from throwing her body in front of it, she catches a heel in a grate (she first met Brian when she caught her heel in an elevator's stair), and nearly falls.
But no, Brian, who didn't get on that bus after all, is there to catch her.
"I can't go anywhere without you, darling! And as long as you wear those shoes, it looks as if you'll never be able to go anywhere without me, either!"
Double blech.
I guess if you're a woman in the world of DC romance, your mind if full of nothing but doubt and sadness. And tears. Always tears.
While many romance comics feature someone crying on the cover, the tear:cover ratio with DC is staggering. And not only that, but the women, like in the cover to Heart Throbs #90, will often throw themselves on the ground!
Doubt and sadness, indeed. I mean, I'm not a woman, but I know quite a few (the wife included), and I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who's THROWN THEMSELVES ON THE GROUND BECAUSE THEY'RE SO SAD! (If you have, please tell me.)
By the mid-60s, DC and Charlton were really the only games in town romance-wise (ACG had a title or two), and many of the artists that had done work for the now shrunk Atlas had moved over to DC, including John Rosenberger, Mike Sekowsky, Gene Colan, and Jay Scott Pike. DC also continued publishing several titles that other companies had cancelled (such as Young Romance and Young Love from Prize and Heart Throbs from Quality). When everyone else was contracting, DC was expanding.
And even though DC had little or no competition, they still were publishing good titles, with good artists (and sappy writers).
And tears. Lots and lots of tears.
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