Love Is Where You Find It

Ahh, Valentines Day. Where love is (allegedly) in the air.
I originally was going to run with an Archie comic (preferably one with Betty), but I decided to post this somewhat strange kind of romance comic. And when I say strange, believe it. Just wait until the end and you'll see what I mean.
And no, this ain't a horror story.

by Art Saaf
from FALLING IN LOVE #115, May 1970













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And if that don't creep out your Valentines Day, then I don't know what will. Seriously, what were they thinking? Switching from the daughter to the mother? What kind of ideas did those guys have in the 70s?
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The Town vs. Patsy Walker

They sometimes say that 'you can never go home again', and, for the most part, that statement rings true; you can't get stuck living in the past, but is it so bad to revisit it once in a while?
That's the overall theme of this little story right here. Our favorite girl, Patsy Walker (just who were you thinking of?), tries to reconcile her past with her present when she goes back to Centreville for a visit. It's no walk in the garden, but I think you all will be satisfied with the ending and the lessons that're learned here. They definitely fall right in line with the themes of her silver aged stories.


by Richard Howell and Al Milgrom
from MARVEL FANFARE #59, October 1991









*I hope I'm not the only one who was thinking of the old WHITE ZOMBIE song when that guy said 'Devil Man'.....and speaking of, that would make a good fight theme...





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Heartstrings

Here's one of those weird little one-off stories that turn up from time to time. It's not as if the PATSY WALKER series had any shortage of extra characters that they could've used for a filler story, but for some reason they used this story to fill up space here. It's definitely interesting in it's own right, but
I'm at a loss to figure out why it even exists.
Maybe one of you guys might know a little trivia behind it.

by Al Hartley
from PATSY WALKER #72, September 1957





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PATSY WALKER: ALL GROWN UP

I'm not exactly sure why, or who thought it was a good idea, but when Atlas Comics officially became Marvel Comics, Patsy changed from a teen humor to soap opera styled romance series. The result of this is just about what you'd expect; after twenty years running as a popular series, it ended up getting cancelled. It just proves the point that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Just speculating here, but if they had stuck to the formula, you'd see Patsy comics at the grocery store checkout instead of Betty and Veronica.
This melodrama is by Stan Lee and Sol Brodsky.

from PATSY AND HEDY #99, April 1965



TIP: just click on the first page, then use the "next" button to read the whole story
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ALEX TOTH GETS ROMANTIC

Alex Toth will probably always be remembered for his animation career but his work in the comics medium is nothing to be lightly dismissed. Working in almost every genre imaginable, he could elevate even the most forgettable stories into a worthwhile experience. Just pay attention to the pacing and overall flow, as well as the body language and facial expressions here in this story

from BURIED TREASURE #2, 1986




I really get impressed here on page three in the first panel. By just barely shifting from true realism into caricature, he totally nails the emotion that's needed to be shown.




In a complete reversal of what he did earlier, he captures the necessary emotion in the last panel of page four with just slightly curved eyebrows and two wavy lines on the forehead of our protagonist.





I love the little added touches he uses here with the swashbuckler, the musical notes, and roulette wheel. Besides his impressive linework with character's faces, Toth was no slouch at using visual metaphors, either.




Once again, with Lydia's expression as she walks away. He maximizes the emotions by minimizing the actual lines drawn. This, and the eyeball close-up on the last page really knock me out.



I'm not even sure how he worked the eyeball panel. Even without the teardrops, you could still see the sadness in the eye. A lot of artists should be really jealous right now.

To learn more about Alex Toth, visit the official website.
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