I’ll be honest here, romance comics have never been my thing. I’m a superhero science fiction kind of guy. To me, romance is a collecting genre that survives mostly on ‘those were the good old days’ nostalgia. So when a neighbor reached out to tell me about an old romance comic she wanted to sell, I probably wasn’t too enthusiastic.
The old romance comic she’d treasured for years was a copy of Brenda Starr #12. It’s not high grade by any measure. The cover has a piece missing and there’s a split along the spine. But damn, this comic is 76 years old!
I can’t say I knew much about Brenda Starr beyond being the titular character in a 1940’s newspaper comic strip. The comic followed the exploits of a glamorous reporter with a knack for finding adventure. She was created by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate in 1940, and the comic was continued by others until 2011.
Yes, I probably overpaid, but I couldn’t pass this one up. There’s something to be said for the good old days nostalgia of a 76-year-old romance comic.
