Happy Halloween!!!

In honor of the holiday, this morning I decided to read my first Gothic romance comic. I bought a couple over the summer, and have been saving reading them for the perfect time. I started with Charlton's Haunted Love #1 (April 1973) simply because the cover by Tom Sutton is really gorgeous.

The two sequential interior stories were alright, one called "Eternal Teacher," and the other, "A Kiss to Save Him from the Grave." The former had an O. Henry ending and the latter was very confusing overall -- in fact, I am not sure it completely made sense!

The genre of Gothic romance comics didn't last long. The first two appeared from DC in 1971, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love and Sinister House of Secret Love. Both ran for four issues each, before undergoing title changes to assimilate more with mainstream horror comics of the '70s. Haunted Love lasted slightly longer, from 1973 to 1975, with eleven issues. For a more in depth discussion on these Gothic tales, check out Irene Vartanoff's blog entry on them. In the meantime, have a happy and safe Halloween!!!