At this point in the 70's, i'm pretty sure that even DC had wound up their Romance line, which gives Charlton yet another dubious distinction... that of the longest running publisher of romance comics in America. As we look back, i'm really starting to see more and more how this oddball and much maligned imprint outperformed and out-did their "Big Two" competitors.
As for these two books, the stories are more than a little weird, but at this point who knows who wrote what (and how quickly) ...maybe Joe Gill and Nick Cuti, Mike Pellowski....? Who can guess.
"Knapsack Casanova" is unusual for a romance story in that it was written by a woman, Deborah S. McDonald, allthough with the abundance of pseudonyms at Charlton (my faves - Tom Tuna, Jack Daniels and the best of the lot.... Norm DiPluhm, and NO, i'm NOT making this up) this could be Joe Gill. The story goes that Joe had SO many pen names (and was getting checks under all these different names) that one day when he knocked on Mr Santangelo's office door on payday, Mr S said "Who is it?", Joe sez "Joe Gill".... and Mr S says...."Come in boys". As George Wildman (Editor from the early 70's to the end) once said, "He had a hot typwriter". The other stories are fun, and the art on a goofy one pager by Mike Vosburg is really nice. The trucker romance "Two Kisses a Month" is a relic of the CB era i guess....10-4 good buddy.
My Only Love #8
The guy in "Good Neighbor's Policy" has more than a touch of the stalker about him if you think about it.... crude but servicable art gets the job done. This one does read like Joe Gill.
Oh by the way, you guys do know that there was a lot of conjecture in the 1950's that Mickey Spillane based Mike Hammer (at least partially) on his old pal Joe Gill.... you knew that right? Now i start to think about it... who else is Joe Gill? Hmmmm?
My Only Love #9In other news, some people have also inquired as to why some stories don't make into the pdf.
Two reasons.
#1 - A lot of books don't have the staples mounted on the book squarely on the spine, and as scanning is hard enough on them as it is, folding and creasing brittle pages and significantly reducing the value of the book does not appeal to me.
#2 - The stories are cr*p.
Fair enuff?
Up next - HAUNTED LOVE #4.... an all Joe Gill issue!?! (N'yuk n'yuk n'yuk)
So sorry about my recent lack of activity but apart from being busy with real-world stuff and fighting off a lingering cold, the death of guitar-god Link Wray (not to mention the passing of the great Don Adams) has had a sobering effect on the usually light-hearted datajunkie chappie. Or to put it another way... it's repost time again (ouch!)... but what the hey, it's a goodie from my early days that some of you haven't seen. More stuff comin' soonest..... (and all the romance books are still up too...not too shabby i guess....)
