In February, TRUE LOVE COMICS TALES Goes MOD...

...with tales from a Never-Reprinted 1960s Comic Magazine...

...not  a Comic Book !

Western's Mod Love (1967) was a magazine-sized 50¢ multi-color publication with all material written by Michael Lutin and illustrated by already-noted graphic artist Michael Quarez who went total "pop art", with one important difference!
Unlike most "pop art" visualizers (including myself) who used exaggerated dot screens to mimic Roy Lichtenstein's pseudo-pop art work...

...Quarez used only solid colors in his work, creating incredibly-vivid visuals, such as this two-page spread about hot, hot hot fashion boutique Tiger Morse's!

We ran the stories over a decade ago with scans we found on the Internet, but since acquiring a copy of this very-hard-to-find publication, we've remastered them from scratch and will present them on three of the four Wednesdays in February!

But, on the second week of February, aka Valentine's Day Week, we're paying tribute to the creators of the romance comics genre, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with a special never-reprinted, cover-featured, Valentine's Day tale from Young Love!
(And yes, that's a very young Robert Redford, during his male model period, on the cover!)

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Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "Great Stone Face!"

Despite the title, Black Cat Mystic was actually a sci-fi anthology...

...featuring the final work of the Simon & Kirby Studio!

NOTE: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

Penciled, inked, and probably scripted by Jack Kirby, this tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #59 (1957) is Jack's first look at what would become known as the "ancient astronauts" theory in the 1970s due to the interest generated by Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods.
At the same time, Kirby himself would expand the concept into The Eternals, (originally-titled Return of the Gods), which is now one of the lynchpins of the Marvel Universe.

Kirby would present a variation of the theme a couple of years after "Great Stone Face" in Race for the Moon's "Face on Mars" as shown HERE.

Note: Kirby and Stan Lee did a variation of the concept at Marvel in the 1960s with The Inhumans, who were created by Kree scientists visiting Earth in prehistoric times and genetically-manipulating humans to draw out dormant abilities.

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Friday Femme Fun MODELING WITH MILLIE "Mille the Marvel"

If you think Marvel and DC are rebooting their characters more frequently than ever...

...you've never followed the many incarnations of Millie the Model from 1945 to the present!

This particular story is from the early Silver Age "romance comic" phase of her career.

This never-reprinted story from Marvel's Modeling with Millie #54 (1967); written by Gary Friedrich, penciled by Odgen Whitney, and inked (uncredited) by Frank Giacoia; was Millie the Marvel's only appearance.

It was also the final issue of this particular title.

Over at her ongoing "sister" title, Millie the Model, the character returned to her previous Archie Comics-influenced format, once more becoming a teen-humor title without ongoing storylines.

Trivia: From 1945 to 1973, there was always at least one Millie title from Atlas/Marvel, for a total of five different series, plus annuals, a couple of one-shots, an ongoing series in Comedy Comics, and a spin-off series for her rival, Chili!
Her main title ran for 207 issues, and was, until Fantastic Four #207 came out in 1979, Marvel's longest-running character-named book!
(Books with longer runs like Mighty Thor, Incredible Hulk, and Captain America had different names [Journey into Mystery, Tales to Astonish, and Tales of Suspense, respectively] before becoming "character" titles.
Millie's flagship title was always Millie the Model!)
Millie was rebooted several times going from a romance/humor hybrid to Archie-style humor to romance/soap opera and finally back to Archie-style humor with changes to the characters' ages, professions, and relationships at each stage.
Millie Collins, despite being shown as outside the Marvel Multiverse in this tale, has appeared as part of the mainstream Marvel Universe in several titles, including the "Wedding of Reed and Sue" in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (along with Marvels #2), Dazzler #34, Sensational She-Hulk #60, and the Models, Inc mini-series.
In the 1980s, a middle-aged Millie appeared in the Star Comics mini-series Misty, about the teen-age daughter of Millie's brother!
(The best thing about this Trina Robbins-produced mini-series was the retro look and use of readers' designs for the characters' clothes.)
Millie was scheduled to be rebooted in 2003 as a teen-age tennis player in a manga-style mini-series called 15-Love.
When the project was finally published in 2011 (yeah, eight years later), the lead character was Millie's teen-age niece (though Millie herself did appear briefly)!
In 2009, Millie and her Silver Age supporting cast were the 20-something title characters in the mini-series Models, Inc.
The series also features Johnny (Human Torch) Storm, Spider-Man, Dr Strange, Patsy (HellCat) Walker, Tigra, Night Nurse, Mary Jane Watson, and real-life fashion expert Tim Gunn, re-establishing the Mille characters in the Marvel Multiverse...but nothing's been done with them since!

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Monday Mecha Madness (Continued) SPACE ADVENTURES "Imitation People" Conclusion

Though it doesn't look like a love story...
...that's what this cover-featured tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V2N4 (1968) most definitely is!
We Have Already Seen...

Scientist Warren Simms' human-looking robots populate Earth II, a planetoid on the edge of the Solar System that serves as a first line of defense against alien incursions.

Simms' robots are programmed to mimic human behavior and emotions...but some of them (his aide Clarissa, particularly) seem to be transcending their programming!

While meeting with Earth's Grand Council to acquire additional funding and resources, Clarissa makes a startling revelation...

Don't you just love a happy ending?

Since the Simms robot is, for all intents and purposes, Simms, we could say that love is eternal and transcends death.

But, what of his soul?

Writer Joe Gill and artist Jim Aparo don't address that matter in this never-reprinted tale.

But that doesn't mean we can't speculate about it, eh?

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Charlton Arrow #4
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Monday Mecha Madness SPACE ADVENTURES "Imitation People" Part 1

Do Robots/Androids Have Souls?

Can they feel "real" (not programmed) emotions?

What does this Don (the Con) Trump wannabe have in mind?

This Joe Gill-scripted, Jim Aparo-illustrated, never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures V2N4 (1968) will be concluded ...tomorrow!

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Friday Fun YAK YAK "TV for All!"

Those of you who grew up with a smart phone in your hand...

...will probably not understand a single thing (either in terms of technology or pop culture) in this feature about living in a household with only one screen and a limited selection of programming!

Ironically, cross-genre programming has become something of a staple in our media-dominated world!

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

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Monday Mecha Madness at Christmas! TALES TO ASTONISH "It Walks Like a Man!"

Sometimes a child becomes too attached to a Christmas present...

...or is it vice versa...as seen in this story (written in 1963 and set in 1973) which has only been reprinted once since its' initial publication in Marvel's Tales to Astonish #45 (1963).

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Robert Bernstein, and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this tale was one of several from Atlas/Marvel in the 1950s and 60s based on the theme of an automaton developing emotion and protecting the human object of its' affection.

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas Tales to Astonish

Volume 4
(with the only reprint of this story in over a half century!)