Agonizing Love

There is no other anthology on the subject on the market that is at once this colourful, large in format, or lengthy - or provides a pop-culture perspective by an authority. This is a big, thick book with more than 250 illustrations comprised of great vintage covers, a selection of juicy stories reproduced in full, advice columns, and advertising. Its graphic, eye-catching package - which will include a heavy red card stock bellyband with a die-cut heart-shaped frame - will emphasize the book's collectibility as well as its irresistible gift appropriateness. This book is a valentine to the era. It will be of interest to comics and graphic novel fans, those with an interest in nostalgia, and the chick-lit audience, too. This book is also a real standout in the genre. There are a couple collections that use the original strips from the era, replacing the old dialogue with contemporary dialogue that mocks the original scenarios ("Truer than True Romance"; "Romance Without Tears"); a thin collection issued by Marvel that reprints a select number of strips without any commentary at all ("Marvel Romance"); a collection of romance novel covers ("The Look of Love"); and a book dedicated to a specific romance comic ("Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics"). Chronicle also published "From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Female Comics From Teens to Zines", but this is a history of girl comics.