The history of one company's romance comics and their publisher Archer St. John. It includes a short biography and interviews with the company's editors and artists. St. John's good reputation as a publisher attracted many of the top artists of the day, including Joe Kubert, Leonard Starr, and George Tuska. Benson provides an engaging account of Archer St. John, (once kidnapped by Al Capone) and his distinctive comics. Confessions is lavishly illustrated with examples of the comics and includes rare visuals from the period.

For the better part of three decades romance comics were an American institution. Nearly 6000 titles were published between 1947 and 1977, and for a time one in five comics sold in the U.S. was a romance comic. This first full-length study examines the several types of romance comics, their creators and publishing history. The author explores significant periods in the development of the genre, including the origins of Archie Comics and other teen publications, the romance comic "boom and bust" of the 1950s, and their sudden disappearance when fantasy and superhero comics began to dominate in the late 1970s.

In the late 1940s, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ― creators of Captain America ― set the comics world on fire with the creation of a new genre that resulted in some of the best-selling American comic books of all time: the romance comics. The stories they created were exciting, innovative, and beautifully drawn, and remain a high point in both artists’ careers, even as Kirby went on to become the unrivaled King of Comics and co-creator (along with Stan Lee) of many of the most iconic characters in American history.

Bolt I've lived my life exactly like you imagine a rockstar would. The booze, the drugs, and so, so many women. I had it all and did it all. Until I walked into a tattoo shop and met her. Peyton didn't see me as Bolt, my stage persona. She saw me for me. There was something between us. Something invisible, electric and undeniable. It pushed us together and pulled us apart... again and again. Despite it all, I knew Peyton had to be mine. Until she was brutally taken from me. And my seemingly perfect world came crashing down.

This book proposes a new history of the graphic novel by examining how it recirculates older comics in the present.

The best and funniest material from the bandwagon-jumping MAD imitators, with work by Jack Davis, Will Elder, Dick Ayers, Bill Everett, Jack Kirby and many more, plus expert commentary. Casual comics readers are probably familiar with the later satirical magazines that continued to be published in the '60s and '70s, such as Cracked and Sick, but the comics collected in this volume were imitations of the MAD comic book, not the magazine, and virtually unknown among all but the most die-hard collectors. For the first time, Fantagraphics is collecting the best of these comics in an unprecedented collection!

As the first encyclopedia solely devoted to the popular romance fiction genre, this resource provides a wealth of information on all aspects of the subject. Romance fiction accounts for a large share of book sales each year, and contrary to popular belief, not all of its readers are women: roughly 16 percent are men. This enormously popular genre continues to captivate people reading for pleasure, and it also commands a growing amount of academic interest. Included are alphabetically arranged reference entries on significant authors along with works, themes, and other topics. The articles are written by scholars, librarians, and industry professionals with a deep knowledge of the genre and so provide a thorough understanding of the subject. An index provides easy access to information within the entries, and bibliographies at the end of each entry, a general bibliography, and a suggested romance reading list allow for further study of the genre.