iFanboy - Episode #108 - Romance Comics
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and how better to celebrate your love than to curl up with a good comic book about l'amour! We've got comics that cater to the love, be it Strangers in Paradise to Blankets to Preacher to Green Arrow/Black Canary, where there are comics, there's usually love!
Usually when people think of comic books, they think of capes and tights and violence, but love has always played a role in the world of comic books. Dating back to the 1940s, in the comics Golden Age where genre books were all the rage, titles like Young Romance by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby told tales of love and romance in comic book form. Romance comics faded in the 1950s, but saw a resurgence in the Silver Age with books like Millie the Model by Marvel Comics
In today's day and age of comics, there are many books that tell the tales of love, relationships, hardships and happiness. Books like Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore, Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston, Empowered by Adam Warren, Love Fights by Andi Watson, 12 Reasons Why I Love Her and Love The Way You Love by Jamie S. Rich and various artists, Blankets by Craig Thompson and even Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon all touch on the concept of love in comics.
But romance doesn't just have to be limited to comics about love. Even super hero books get touched with the love bug as they depict the romantic relationships such as Superman and Lois Lane, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Cyclops and Jean Grey, Hawkeye and Mockingbird...the list goes on and on.
So find that special someone, get comfortable and prepare to be overwhelmed with butterflies and happy thoughts as we stroll through the world of Romance Comics!
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Comments
Watch the credits...
Posted by josh on 02/11/09 at 03:51 PM
Oh snap! Ron burn!!!
Posted by drakedangerz on 02/11/09 at 04:07 PM
I'll add one to the list: Y The Last Man. Yes there is great social commentary and polticial intrigue,but, at its core, Y is about a man growing up by learning to love. After all what is the human condition if not the struggle to achieve love which is by virtue of mortality, fiinite? Is there more crtical experience to maturation than the recognition of love and the struggle to cope with its abscence?
I won't give away anymore chracter details, but read the story! I promise it's good!
Posted by DaveCarr on 02/11/09 at 04:36 PM
haha...bromance :-)
P.S. Doom will have you killed for questioning his sexuality!!
Posted by drakedangerz on 02/11/09 at 04:39 PM
I just want to know where connor got the Tshirt.
Posted by voodoomama on 02/11/09 at 06:58 PM
Who's Connor?
(makes me laugh every time.)
Posted by josh on 02/11/09 at 07:30 PM
@Drake-- Doom has Valeria and Morgan Le Fay! He's totally straight.
Beards!
Posted by josh on 02/11/09 at 08:06 PM
*sigh* Conor alright Im a newbie gimme a break
Posted by voodoomama on 02/11/09 at 08:14 PM
Ah, love. Hehehehehe, isn't there a Monty Python skit with Grahm Chapman repeditadly saying *Shambles.*
Ah, speaking of love, it's really no wonder why I'm not getting laid.
Posted by Gabe on 02/11/09 at 08:37 PM
What about Runaways? Plenty of romance in there, more than superheroing i'd say.
Posted by mrfoo101 on 02/11/09 at 08:40 PM
"Batman didn't sleep with Wolverine.." Maybe the quote of the show right there.
Posted by Kimbo on 02/11/09 at 08:48 PM
@josh-- They are not! Doom and Le Fay were totally doing it!
Posted by Tork on 02/11/09 at 08:53 PM
Superhero comics make a lot more sense if you assume that most of them are bisexual.
I'm just saying.
Posted by ohcaroline on 02/11/09 at 09:24 PM
Beastiality in a video show? Jurassic Park - the unrated edition? Interesting.
Did you censor a curse word in a scanned page of the comic?
Posted by chlop on 02/11/09 at 09:27 PM
Just opened today's issue of Scalped, and thought about how much the book is about the complicated relationships between Red Crow and Gina and Dash and Carol. Actually, it's more about the complicated non-romantic relationship between Dash and Gina (or about modern Native Americans and their heritage), but I digress.
Without the romance, Scalped isn't half the fantastic book that it is.
Posted by BigE on 02/11/09 at 10:16 PM
I'm not sure if "romance" is the word I'd use as much as "entanglements". I mean, it's not "romantic" perse. But other than that, your statement is true.
Posted by josh on 02/11/09 at 11:03 PM
@chlop-what the hell are you talking about?
Posted by drakedangerz on 02/11/09 at 11:21 PM
There was an issue in Brian Wood's DEMO where there was not any dialogue, only the lyrics of a song that I found extremely affecting, romantic and touching. (Or maybe it was it a poem)?
P.S. I actually like that Pam and Jim are together, avoiding the trappings of the formulistic will they/won't they; there's enough of that in other shows, and that is already touched upon with Dwight and Angela.
Posted by UncleBob on 02/12/09 at 03:24 AM
@unclebob - I'm pretty sure that issue of demo was 'em killing themselves together. i guess that's kinda romantic in a twisted sort of way.
Posted by mulletpeep on 02/12/09 at 05:16 AM
Oh yeah and this episode totally reminded me that i had the first two volumes of empowered lying around unread. I blazed through that first one and enjoyed the shit outta that. DAMN YOU RON NOW I HAVE TO BUY THE OTHER TWO!
Posted by mulletpeep on 02/12/09 at 07:14 AM
Confession: I like romance in my comics.
Posted by s1lentslayer on 02/12/09 at 08:12 AM
10:29 in the video show - seems a word is censored, in the part about Empowered.
Posted by chlop on 02/12/09 at 08:57 AM
i think the lex/superman relationship and the joker/batman relationship etc. are more obsession than love. i would say there is a difference between the two.
although the love/fighting thing can work and is interesting, more often than not id say the fighting is filled with hate.
i went into this episode thinking 'i aint falling for this smoochy crap'. but i must confess, im swithering over a few of the ones you listed.
Posted by s30 on 02/12/09 at 11:27 AM
What???...Just Straight Romance?
Posted by jjcolin on 02/12/09 at 11:31 AM
How does Strangers in Paradise not count?
Posted by josh on 02/12/09 at 12:38 PM
I figured the Apollo/Midnighter relationship would've atleast garner a mention
Posted by Heroville on 02/12/09 at 09:21 PM
What about Hulk and Caiera the oldstrong? When they killed , I was like so pissed off.
Posted by muddi900 on 02/13/09 at 02:42 AM
Deadpool and Syrin... he DID show her his face. What's more romantic than that?
Posted by chlop on 02/13/09 at 07:44 AM
Sorry Josh, i haven't read Strangers in Paradise.
I would also recomend Tim Barela's "Leonard & Larry" ( http://leonardandlarry.com/ )
Posted by jjcolin on 02/13/09 at 11:32 AM
My favorite love story in comics is that of Thanos and Death.
Posted by PaulMontgomery on 02/13/09 at 11:55 AM
@s30: The Joker is totally in love with Batman!
Posted by WinTheWonderboy on 02/13/09 at 12:05 PM
ye ye. not romantically, thats for sure.
eew! i have a horrible picture in my head!!!!
Posted by s30 on 02/13/09 at 02:27 PM
Oh, come on, Joker & Batman are at least as functional as Edward & Whazzrname in Twilight.
Posted by ohcaroline on 02/13/09 at 08:08 PM
So Batman is a furry and the Joker is transsexual? What does that turn Harley Quinn into?
Posted by chlop on 02/13/09 at 08:23 PM
.....you live in your own little world chlop? I wish I could be in it with you somethings :)
Posted by TheNextChampion on 02/14/09 at 12:05 AM
@Paul: Yeah, the Thanos and Death relationship was quite great. Really shows the lengths one would go to for their love.
I just wanna say a big thank you for this show. I actually went and bought my wife 12 Reasons Why I Love Her for Valentine's Day.
Posted by DMaggot on 02/14/09 at 02:13 AM
@TheNextChampion - as long as you don't step on the dead hookers...
Posted by chlop on 02/14/09 at 08:11 AM
OMG you have a 2nd generation New Zealand singer, song writer on an American Internet Show, YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU!!!! He rocks! (at the end of the survey)
Posted by LukeB on 02/15/09 at 03:29 AM
@LukeB-what? Confused am I
Posted by drakedangerz on 02/15/09 at 12:46 PM
@drakedangerz - In the break where Ron asks you to fill out the ifanboy survey, he says to goto http://www.revision3.com/ifanboysurvey/ , and at the end they show off something they're working on (not sure if it's ifanboy or rev3, think rev3), but the person being interviewed is Liam Finn, he also plays his song live "Second Chance", really good song, anyway, he is a 2nd Generation NZ Singer/ Song Writer, and as I am from NZ and don't hear our stuff outside NZ that often, I was hugely surprised and had a sense of pride seeing and hearing that, hence the thanks :)
Posted by LukeB on 02/15/09 at 02:55 PM
That's Rev3, not us. But I'm glad you dug it.
Posted by josh on 02/15/09 at 03:54 PM
Just thought of a Great one. SCUD: THE DISPOSABLE ASSASSIN collected by Image. Rob Svhrab's delightful tale robot killer (purchasable through a vending machine) who turns his back in the programming and finds love. Image comics has released the full series in trade.. But don't just take my word for it
I got the softocover for $20. Worth every penny.
Posted by DaveCarr on 02/16/09 at 01:08 PM
I know, this comment is way late, but I wanted you guys to know that this podcast got my wife to read "True Story, Swear to God." This only the third comic she's ever read, after "Y: The Last Man" and "Fables." Thanks for helping me find another comic to present my wife with!
Posted by JeffR on 04/01/09 at 07:37 PM
Wow, way to gang up on ron at the beginning guys. I feel bad for him! :(
Posted by TheNextChampion on 02/11/09 at 03:21 PM