Sunday, February 15, 2026

First And Last Kisses!
























When the late great Charlton Comics company was going under, one man who was able to see a future for the hapless publisher, or at least some of their vintage material. John Lustig saw gold where most men saw only trash and purchased outright the material related to First Kiss comics and some other romance material from Charlton. He has been successfully mining that material to offer up hilarious satires of American society ever since.
























Taking the artwork of Dick Giordano and other great talents, Lustig replaces the sometimes vapid dialogue with biting sarcastic lines which put the images into brand new contexts, always funny.
























Last Kiss is a website now mostly, but it's rarely updated. And you can check it out here. But it was also for a brief time a comic book, and the four issues are troves of outstanding artwork and biting comedy. From time to time, Lustig was able to get new material from some great talents to include in these issues. The late Dick Giordano supplied a brand-new story, as well as the outstanding comics man Ernie Colon.
























So, if you've never sampled Last Kiss, I highly recommend it this Valentine's Day weekend. You'll love what you find, if you can find them that is. 

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Saturday, February 14, 2026

Teen-Age Love Confessions - Volume Two!


Teen-Age Love Confessions Volume Two is the second of two tomes from Charlton Neo showcasing cover art from Charlton's wide array of romance comics. Most all of these are from the early 1960's and offer up a pageant of emotions, including jealousy, resentment, anger, frustration, but most of all love, both true and otherwise. There was a time when comics like this were wildly popular.  Most of these covers are by Dick Giordano or Vince Colletta, two men closely associated with the genre. Other art is supplied by Charles Nicholas, Sal Gentile, and Joe Sinnott. The covers are presented in black and white in the Charlton Neo volume but below is the whole kaboodle in glorious color. In addition to the covers the volume contains small essays about the genre at Charlton.  Enjoy again! 
 




























































Happy Valentine's Day! Even more romance coming your way tomorrow. 

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