Valentine’s Day means something different to everyone. Most would agree that it has something to do with romance. For some of our readers it means a great dinner, a box of candy and a nice bunch of flowers. For others it may mean a couple of movies from Netflix and eventually fingertips stained with Cheetos and Dr. Pepper. Either way, February 14th is the primary day of romance as designated by the advertisers of America.
How do comics celebrate the holiday? Just like everyone else, with love, candy, a bunch of flowers, a smooch and in some cases, mayhem and battles. Our sole criterion for this brief showcase of romance was that the cover must reference the holiday directly. As you will see below, there is one notable, and very slight, exception to this rule.
While looking for some particularly romantic covers to showcase we stumbled across some real winners. Take the image of Goofy on the cover of Walt Disney Comics and Stories #5 from February 1945. He may a dumb talking dog (who by the fifties has somehow morphed in a suburban everyman), but he sure knows how to package himself for his sweetheart. As “goofy” as that cover is, how can you not love those adorable little tykes Sugar and Spike? Over the years the title had a good half dozen Valentine images, each one more cute than the last. Thank you Mr. Sheldon Mayer.
What was the exception to our rule? Headline Comics #23 March April 1943. While not a romantic cover, the text does mention one of the most memorable events of this celebration of Cupid’s arrow, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. On a similar note, Static #10 pays tribute to the same event in its own, graphitti-styled way.
Yes, there are some covers and titles we have left off of the list. But we did manage to squeeze in something from the decade 1940 forward. At first we thought that the romance titles would be too easy but, surprisingly enough, we found very few direct mentions of the holiday on their covers. But there certainly were a lot of heart-shaped silhouette on many of the issues, regardless of the title.
We also looked at some of the "girl" comics of the forties and fifties such as Pasty Walker and even into the sixties with Lois Lane. But since romance was usually the dominate theme of the books (usually with a sailor, a dumb college boyfriend in a stupid hat or a superhero), they too seemed to avoid Valentine’s Day as the main subject.
Archie titles were too obvious. So was issue #5 of Batman: The Long Halloween. But no one can ignore the greatness of that story and it's art. So that one was a given.
Our last cover is a title that ninety-nine percent of comic collectors forget existed. The Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact was a comic put out by the Catholic Church which ran from 1946 to 1972. Published weekly during the school year and given to millions subscribers at Parochial Schools around America, many young Catholics found it to be a welcome relief from Catechism.
The title is most famous for an early sixties anti-Communist cover as well as the story, "This Godless Communism." At the other end of the spectrum, and also published in 1964, the book also featured what many believe is the very first fictional story line to feature an African-American running for President. Titled Pettigrew for President the story ran ten issues. Content aside, the book also featured artwork from notables such as Reed Crandall and Joe Sinnott. The issue below features a cover story on the man himself, St. Valentine.
Enjoy!
