Like Romance? Read These Comics!

If you go gaga for romance novels, you might want to check out these comics about people who fall in love and stay that way.

Jessica Pryde May 11, 2017

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Jessica Pryde

Contributing Editor

Jessica Pryde is a member of that (some might call) rare breed that grew up in Washington, DC, but is happily enjoying the warmer weather of the desert Southwest. While she is still working on what she wants to be when she grows up, she’s enjoying dabbling in librarianship and writing all the things. She can be found drowning in her ever-growing TBR and exclaiming about romance in the Book Riot podcast (When in Romance), as well as on social media. Find her exclamations about books and pho on twitter (JessIsReading) and instagram (jess_is_reading).

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Anyone who knows me knows I’m a romance superfan. I might not make it to all the greats, but I do my best to touch as many as possible.

And this isn’t limited to prose!

Romance comics are a thing and they go back almost as far as Superman! Some time ago, I was curious about the history of romance comics, thanks to the book Superheroes, which is a great history of comics and comics-adjacent media. Via the Digital Comic Museum, I came across a great collection of romance comics from the 1940s and 50s, which range from Archie-style wholesomeness to telenovela-style melodrama.

We’ve come a long way, and many creators have used the comics medium to tell some great love stories with happy endings.

Nowadays, we can experience romantic stories in longer formats, instead of the quick stories that came in the same style as Superman serials. They can be multiple-arc stories of courtship and love, or they can be one story, all with a single ending in mind. They can be simple graphic novels or ongoing that tell further stories after the loving relationship has been established.

The comics medium can allow for certain liberties that aren’t always taken in prose romance, but the purpose is the same: tell us a good story about interesting people who fall in love and stay that way.

Here are a few you might want to start with: