Marvel Romance!

Many years ago now, 1996 John Lustig, a writer known for his work at Disney, began Last Kiss, a comic spoof of romance comics using material he had purchased outright from the carcass of Charlton Comics. Lustig bought the artwork for the issues of First Kiss comics and then proceeded to take that artwork and apply brand new and highly ironic dialogue and captions to the often overwrought imagery. It was a hoot. I've taken a look at it here before. Last Kiss has now been an ongoing internet project for many years.

In 2006 Lustig and others were invited by Marvel to take some of their vintage romance stories and pull off the same gimmick. The result was Marvel Romance Redux, a limited series of one-shot comics which poked fun at the genre and its overripe tropes. Dandy satire. At the same time Marvel decided it was only fair to reprint Marvel Romance, a collection of the same stories before they had been altered. It was really the best of both worlds, a nice collection of stories with modern ironic twists and vintage comic yarns featuring some really tasty and little seen comic art by the likes of  John Romita, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, John Buscema, Dick Giordano, and others. For giggles the editors also tossed into the book the single Steranko love story which had not undergone the Last Kiss treatment.

Here is a cover gallery of the comics from which stories were pulled. Some had several stories taken, some only one.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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