This blog was originally published in 2022 and has been updated by the author.
The Beginning
After World War II, Americans were tired of the conflict-heavy storylines of superhero comics. Previous wartime mainstays like Captain America just weren't selling well. So publishers turned to a new (for comics) genre: Romance.
In 1947 Jack Kirby (Doctor Doom, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Magneto, Uatu the Watcher, the original X-Men, the Inhumans, the Black Panther, Ego the Living Planet, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer) and Joe Simon (Bucky Barnes, Captain America, Red Skull, Betsy Ross, Vision, original Sandman) made a comedic romance comic called My Date in the style of Archie comics. It was a success, and they went on to make the wildly popular series Young Romance: Designed For The More Adult Readers Of Comics. While it was not the first romance comic — Calling All Girls ;included romance comics and came out in 1941, for example — Young Romance sold almost a million copies. Simon and Kirby (who received 50% of the profits) made a lot of money along with kick starting the romance genre for comics.
Competitors like Marvel and DC quickly arrived on the romance comic scene. The shelves were filled with Marvel titles like My Romance, Love Romances, Love Adventures, Love Tales, Love Drama, My Love, Our Love, and more. DC also joined in with Girls’ Love Stories, Secret Hearts, Girls’ Romances, Falling in Love, Heart Throbs, and purchased Young Romance from Prize Comics. All in all, there were almost 150 different romance titles from over 20 publishers in the time between 1947 and 1970, with most of the titles having been published by the mid 50’s.
Before romance comics, women were rarely seen creating comics or holding important positions in the companies. The rush to make romance comics was when more women were hired, and started to be included in creative or leadership roles in comics. Some of these include Zena Brody, Ruth Brandt, Phyllis Reed, and Dorothy Woolfolk. Unfortunately, the representation of women remained low and remains around 20% to this day.
Comics Code Authority Appears
In 1954, the infamous Comics Code was implemented. This code dictated what could be published and included guidelines such as: people in positions of authority could not be disrespected or portrayed in a negative light, crimes cannot be portrayed in any way that creates sympathy for the criminal, and banned the words 'horror' and 'terror' from comics titles. It also banned a whole slew of things found in comics like gore, nudity, adultery, and anything they considered “sexual perversion”. Romance comics were obviously affected, the code helped kill off a lot of comic genres at this time. For romance comics, reprints of old issues included changes to titles, dialogue, and plot. The new romance comics were much tamer now that “salacious,” “seductive,” and “indecent” content was verboten. A saturated market helped the decline of romance comics in the 1950s, but the Comics Code made it impossible for comics to compete with non-censored mediums. Romance novels rose in popularity, along with soap operas on television, and romance comics declined. Most titles were discontinued by the 1960’s.
By 1970 only a few romance comics remained, such as Young Romance. With the Comics Code Authority weakening, these titles were more free to explore things previously forbidden: social upheaval, interracial relationships, and women’s rights. Other comics borrowed the style and tropes from romances to create love triangles (Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Cyclops in X-Men), teenage struggles with love (Spider Man), or soap opera storylines (Avengers).
Today
Modern romance comics include: Strangers in Paradise, Bingo Love, Alex + Ada, Blankets, and many more. There's even a graphic novel guide to help explain consent! Modern romance protagonists are free to keep their jobs, value their career, ignore traditional gender roles, show no interest in marriage, and be LGBTQ+. There are not many comics that are solely romance, but readers can find plenty of great (and terrible) love stories in all sorts of issues. What are some of your favorite ones?
Some comic book couples that have transcended the medium include: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (Joker is a toxic nightmare, fight me), Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Peter Parker and Mary Jane, Jean Grey and Scott Summers, Vision and Scarlet Witch, and one day soon perhaps, Hulkling and Wiccan. Below you will find a list of comics and related materials available at San Jose Public Library.
Sources
- Tales From the Code: You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling by Joe Sergi
- Not All Heroes Wear Capes: America’s postwar fling with romance comics – and the massive collection of those comics that was recently donated to the university of South Carolina by Michael C. Weisenburg.
- A Brief History of Romance Comics
Romance Comic Books at SJPL
Persephone has been raised as a human by her mother Demeter. She goes out to a party with her roommate Artemis and encounters the enigmatic Hades.
Fans of Pumpkinheads, Heartstopper and Check, Please will enjoy this romance graphic novel. Alix loves playing hockey but her team captain never misses a chance to verbally abuse Alix. Seeking to control her own anger Alix seeks out help from Ezra, who always seems so poised when he is bullied for being queer.
In this queer graphic novel that's equal parts romance, softball, and magical girl drama, Mickey Monsoon is the hotshot pitcher for the Belle City Broads, and their team is poised to sweep the league this season. But Mickey is thrown off their game when Astra Maxima shows up to catch for the Gaiety Gals, the Broads' fiercest rival. Years ago Mickey and Astra were best friends... and maybe more. That was, until Astra unceremoniously dumped Mickey to become a softball wunderkind at a private girl's school in Switzerland. Now, Astra is flirty, arrogant, and reckless on the field--everything the rule-abiding Mickey hates. Mickey's rapidly getting in too deep, but are they just in trouble or are they actually in love?
Two friends discover their feelings for each other and find a space in their world for their love and identity.
In a cross-cultural collision, a New Yorker discovers love among the locals! When Halina Mitchell makes her first trip to Manila, the eye-opening immersion in her homeland turns all her assumptions on their head. With the film critic Cris as her guide, she's given a vivid glimpse of a teeming city few others get to see. Will her growing affections include the irreverent writer?
The Color of Always is a collection of personal stories, testimonies, heirlooms, evocations, and evangelisms for queer creators and readers that celebrates feeling good about who you are, and coming into your own at last.
During the final years of the Weimar Republic, Sam meets Philip in Berlin and they fall in love. Their romance is hit with an unspeakable reality as the Nazis come to power and fascism makes them a target.
Romance Manga at SJPL
Hina Arukado is a modern vampire who drinks blood from bags instead of from humans. But she's also a complete shut-in who hasn't left the house in 30 years. Her next door neighbor looks like a celebrity she is obsessed with. It would be perfect if he was her best friend, but how to get him to go along with that...
Gwendolyn, the youngest of the King's three daughters, is living proof that princesses don't always have it all. She isn't like a typical fairy-tale princess, or other princesses in the Pastel Kingdom. Gwendolyn, with her big heart and love of baking, isn't particularly attractive. Unlike her sisters who have woodland creatures do their hair and makeup, or have flowers blossom wherever they sleep, Gwendolyn is a bit...different. So when her father proposes marriage for her and her sisters to make an alliance with the Plaid Kingdom, it breaks Gwendolyn's heart to hear that Prince Fredrick thinks she's "really ugly." Overwhelmed and ashamed, she runs away into the forest and encounters the twisted world of the Cursed Princess Club, where her life will never be the same...
Jean Valjean, a starving man who commits an act that will haunt him for the rest of his life; Cosette, a young orphan girl; Javert, an obsessed policeman; Marius, a revolutionary who inspires the working classes. These unforgettable characters and more make up the cast of Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Miserables, renowned as one of the greatest works of Western literature.
I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents up
Morimoto, a young professional woman in Japan, wishes her parents would stop trying to get her to marry a man and settle down. In an unexpected move, her friend from high school offers to be her wife in a sham marriage, to make Morimoto's parents back off. But this "fake" marriage could unearth something very real.
In her quest to make a name for herself in the fashion world, Mikako enters Yazawa Arts Academy, a prestigious art school, alongsideher strictly platonic childhood friend Tsutomu. But there's one problem--Tsutomu's uncanny resemblance to a rock star skyrockets him to popularity and leads him to date the prettiest girl in school. Now Mikako can't help but wonder if what she feels is jealousy.
Anyway, I'm Falling in Love With You
It's 2020, and Mizuha's seventeenth birthday is the pits. Her dad forgot, the sempai she likes isn't interested, and her social calendar is getting cleared out by a mysterious virus. But when her longtime childhood friend asks her out, Mizuha has to sort out what this change could mean. And her feelings may not be the only ones changing.
Kimi Ni Todoke : From Me to You Soulmate
In college, Kurumi thinks she's found her soulmate in Sawako, her rival-turned-best-friend from high school. But Kurumi can't help wondering if maybe there's someone else out there for her, despite her troubling track record with dating. When the opportunity to attend a mixer crops up, Kurumi drags Sawako along, setting in motion a dangerous love story...
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