Romance on the Range ADVENTURES IN ROMANCE "Stopgap: the Saga of Coby Nash"

Though not strictly a "Western romance" title......St John's anthology Adventures in Romance was an attempt to mix several genres with romance...including contemporary high adventure, swashbuckling pirates, and, as you'll see, Westerns...to attract both male and female readers!

Despite running romance strips in almost every genre (except horror and sci-fi), the book only lasted two issues.

Illustrator Leonard Starr spent a decade in comics before moving on to newspaper comic strips, first as an assistant on Flash Gordon, then as the creator/writer/artist of the long-running Mary Perkins: On Stage!
He's best known to contemporary audiences as the creator/writer/designer of the animated TV series ThunderCats!

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Cowgirl Bride

Romance on the Range ROMANCES OF THE WEST "Cowboy or the Playboy?"

Did she want a man...or a real man?

This "modern" Western tale (set in the then-present day of 1949) has the answer!

This never-reprinted tale from Timely's Romances of the West #1 (1949) was one of Marvel mainstay John Buscema's earliest assignments, and only his second romance tale!

Romance on the Range COWGIRL ROMANCES "Men Died for My Kisses!"

It's been a while since we've run a romance comic...

...and it's almost Valentine's Day, so we looked through the archives for the most sensational story title we could find!

This 1950 one-shot from Atlas Comics is either #1 (if you go by the cover numbering) or #28 (if you go by the indicia on the inside cover).

The #28 indicates it's a continuation of Jeanie Comics, a teen humor title which ended two months earlier with #27.

As for why it's a one-shot, it seems rival Fiction House released their own Cowgirl Romances simultaneously...or just before...Atlas.

Fiction House's title continued for 11 more issues while Atlas' book disappeared after this one appearance.

Neither the writer or artist(s) are known.

Fun fact: Atlas released six different Western romance titles in the early 50s, more than any other comics company...

Cowgirl Romances (1 issue)

Cowboy Romances (3 issues)

Love Trails (1 issue)

Rangeland Love (2 issues)

Romances of the West (3 issues)

Western Life Romances (3 issues)

You gotta give them credit.

When Atlas saw a hot trend, they jumped on it whole-heartedly!

STAR RANGER "Trouble Shooters in Dude Ranch Dramatics"

What do cowboys do on Valentine's Day?

Apparently, they dress in women's clothing!

From Chester's Star Ranger #2 (1937), this never-reprinted short, written by George Nagle and illustrated by an unknown artist, is the only one of the series to feature cross-dressing.

Oddly, the strip started as "Trouble Hunters" in the previous issue, and continued after this tale with the name restored!

Why this one tale was labeled "Trouble Shooters" is unknown!

Two trivia notes:

There was no character named "Star Ranger" in Star Ranger!

This book, along with Comics Magazine Company's Western Picture Stories were the first Western comic books, coming out the same month in 1937!