A few years ago I was speaking to a friend of mine regarding one of my five passions...comic books--superhero comics in particular.
She indicated that she thought that there was an awful lot of violence and fighting on the covers of comic books.
I of course defended comic books as both our present day heroic mythologies, and as an often intelligent and thought provoking art form.
However, what she said nagged at me a little.
As I thought more about her comment, I looked through a stack of recent issues, and indeed most of them depicted (though often magnificently) people bashing on each other.
Then I found a cover with two people kissing on it.
There...proof that not all members of the spandex-sporting-superhero-set were fighters (at least not all the time); they did not always advocate violence...they could, and did, extol love, as well.
Which fed back into another one of my passions...romance.
So ever since that fateful day I have been steadily amassing a large collection of comic book KISSING covers.
This has expanded in scope somewhat to also include WEDDING covers, as the ceremony implies a kiss ("You may now kiss the bride").
Now, mind you, I don't collect actual Romance Comics; there would not be much of a challenge finding kisses or weddings portrayed on those...no, it is the Superhero Comic that I am hunting.
And since the marvel of the Internet Web allows people to share their interests, no matter how off-beat, I have scanned in a few of my favorite covers for your perusal.
HEY...
It's the new exciting companion page to this one...so awesome it needed its own URL. Now, with exciting animation...
KISS OF...
It's the even newer exciting companion page to this one...so awesome that it too needed its own URL. Just in time for your holiday comicbook needs...
ACTION COMICS 388
MARRIAGE: LOIS LANE and SUPERMAN
While it may not be an April Fool's story, it is an April Fool's issue. I have added "hot spots" to the image that indicate the "errors" I could find. If you notice others, please email them to me, so I can be complete.
SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL 6
KISSING: LOLA-LA and SUPERMAN (sans memory) and
This is one of my favorite covers, mainly because of the excellent inking job on...oh, let's face it, it's primarily because of Lola-La, "daughter of a king and priestess of the mysteries." Rwowr! But the inks are very nice, too. In this story arc, Superman is suffering from amnesia, hence that big BLACKOUT banner at the cover's top (actaully it is a double meaning since Metroplois (Superman's home city) is suffering from a major power outage). This issue finds Superman thrust into a primeval world where he ends up saving Lola-La from a charging dinosaur, well not really saving: unbeknowest to Superman (as many things are when you have amnesia) the dinosaur is Lola-La's domesticated pet triceratops, Fluffy. Lola-La deduces Superman's heroic intention in pummeling Fluffy, before any real harm is done (Rwowr! brains and beauty!). Lola-La quickly falls in love with Superman as do most females with the intials L.L. And even with an almost complete language and culture barrier between them, Lola-La make plans to marry Superman, which is about where this issue leaves off.
BATMAN 122 (Pizza Hut Reprint)
MARRIAGE: BATMAN and BATWOMAN
Well, this is a reprint of Batman 122, from of all places Pizza Hut (fine dining and fine literature all under one roof). The original comic is from 1959, and this reproduction is from 1977. In this story Bruce Wayne weds Kathy Keene. However, Bruce does not tell Kathy his big secret...the one about him being Batman (oops! guess, I let the bat out of the bag), while all the time he knows that Kathy is Batwoman. After Batwoman assists the dynamic duo (Batman and his sidekick Robin) in stopping some hoodlums from robbing the safe at an airport terminal, Batman realizes that marriage alone won't stop Kathy from assuming the guise of Batwoman. Batman reveals his dual identity. Kathy is thrilled to be "Mrs. Batman," even though Batman forbids her from crime-fighting. However, Kathy cannot resist the lure of costumed adventuring for long (less than a page). As the trio are busy thwarting the theft of silver from a film studio, Batwoman's mask is blown off. The thugs recognize Kathy, and they quickly deduce that Batman must be Bruce Wayne, effectively destroying Batman's costumed identity. Luckily, it was only Robin's dream...
MAISON IKKOKU (Part 9 Number 6)
KISSING: KYOKO and GODAI
Ok...it's the first internaitional comic book cover up here. This is not a super-hero comic, it is a slice of life manga (comic) from Japan. In Japan manga are read by almost everyone (catering to many levels and types of readers); manga generally come out on a weekly basis. Maison Ikkoku is written/illusrated by Rumiko Takahashi, the same woman who does Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura (which you may have been more likely to have heard of). This is an English translation; there are a few American companies which are currently doing that with Japanese and Korean work. I am assuming that is GODAI on the cover with KYOKO, it is hard to say since the interior of the book is black and white (as is the majority of manga).
STRANGERS in PARADISE 26MARRIAGE: FRANCINE and HER DREAM MAN
If you actually read Strangers in Paradise, then I hope I haven't given too much away with that reference. Anyhow the marriage happens fairly quickly, and then we get back to the heart of this exceptional slice of life comic book series...the relationships between Francine, Katchoo, (the person on the left holding the candlestick), and David, (the person on the left, holding the person on the left holding the candlestick). It is a series well worth searching out and devouring. And while none of the characters in the series are super-heroes, they did appear with super-heroes on one cover...
JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA 121 (First Series)MARRIAGE: ADAM STRANGE and ALANNA of RANAGAR
This was not the first cover that I acquired for my kissing collection, in fact it is not actually a kissing cover, but a wedding cover, and I did not even start to add those till a year or so into this project; however, it is actually the first new comic I ever bought. I purchased it at a FOODLAND store in Anaheim, CA when I was seven.Perhaps I somehow sensed what was to come...
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL 2 (First Series)KISSING/MARRIAGE: PRINCESS PROJECTRA and KARATE KID
And on the day mentioned above I also purchased issue 218 of "Superboy and the Legend of Super-Heroes." Except it wasn't Legend... it was Legion, but I was, as mentioned, only seven. Karate Kid, one of the characters getting married on this cover (the male) was in a back-up story in that very issue.Unfortunately the love affair between him and Princess Projectra ended rather tragically: he was killed a few years later, defending his adopted world from invasion.My love affair with the Legion, however, has never ended, but that's a story for another web page.
CYBERFORCE 22KISSING: STRYKER and BALLISTIC
This was the first comic I remember buying specifically for my collection.He really has his hands all over her...except for the one holding his gun. Hmm...
THUNDER AGENTS 3 (Deluxe Comics Series)KISSING: DYNAMO and THE IRON MAIDEN
I love this cover! I had it mounted, and kept it hanging on my wall for a goodly while; this JPEG does not do justice to the beautiful George Perez artwork. Oh, well.The characters is much along the "in-love-with-the-enemy ." kind, typified by Batman and Catwoman; hence the Iron Maiden's attempt at backstabbing the heroic Dynamo.
L.E.G.I.O.N. 94 69KISSING: GREEN DRAGON (aka Ultra-Boy) and PHASE
Green Dragon, Jo Nah, has travelled back in time to the present from the 30th century, where the Legion of Super-Heroes lives. He is seeking his fiancee, Tinya, a fellow Legionnaire known as Phantom Girl, who has been missing for several months; Tinya was displaced in the time stream, just as she was going to buy her wedding dress. Tinya happened to be shopping with her cousin, Enya, who resembles Tinya a great deal. It is Enya, and not Tinya, who was thrown backwards in time to 1994, the time period in which Jo Nah has been searching for Tinya. When Jo Nah sees Enya (who by the way is suffering from amnesia and has atoned for her criminal past by becoming the super-heroine, Phase), he kisses her, thinking she is her cousin, Tinya.And you thought your love life was complicated.
LEGIONNAIRES 26KISSING: ULTRA-BOY (aka Green Dragon) and APPARITION (aka Phantom Girl)
OK, here's where things start getting even stranger for the Jo Nah and Tinya Wazzo romance. See after a major chronal disaster called ZERO HOUR, things started over from the beginning for the Legion of Super-Heroes. In this new timeline, the stuff that I mentioned before about the Legion--Karate Kid and Princess Projectra's wedding, and Jo travelling back in time to look for Tinya--well, it never happens/happened. However, Jo and Tinya (the new Jo and Tinya (kind of like New Coke)) are still an item. And even though the new Karate Kid is not romantically linked to the new Princess Projectra, (at least not yet), he is still on this cover (that's him in the forefront).
AQUAMAN 60 (Third Series)KISSING/MARRIAGE: TEMPEST (Formerly Aqualad) and DOLPHIN
Many of you may remember Tempest as Aqualad, sidekick to Aquaman. Which means you probably do not realize that the bearded man in the background is Aquaman. The King of the Atlantis has undergone some radical changes in the past five years, and so has the former Aqualad. The red-haired woman to the right is Mera, who was Aquaman's wife until recently (she was also presumed dead until recently). The woman that Tempest is marrying is Dolphin, who was Aquaman's consort until recently (but that's a rather long story).
AQUAMAN 18 (First Series)MARRIAGE: AQUAMAN and MERA
This is a companion piece to the Tempest/Dolphin cover above. This comes from the first series of Aquaman way back in 1964. The boy in the red and blue costume is Aqualad, Tempest when he was younger. Dig the air bubbles coming out of the Justice Leaguers' underwater helmets!
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