Episode 35

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When last we saw Marge, she was in police custody and investigating a strange disturbance at the old Gummfungus farm...

UNMAIMED LOVE part 8

And there you have it. Just like in life, the story didn't end happily ever after for anyone but Disney.

UNMAIMED LOVE part 7

UNMAIMED LOVE part 6

UNMAIMED LOVE part 5

UNMAIMED LOVE part 4

UNMAIMED LOVE part 3

UNMAIMED LOVE part 2

It should also be pointed out that Frazetta colored his own work on this story, which was an unusual practice for the time. Even with the limited color palette at he disposal, he still did an exceptional job.

UNMAIMED LOVE part 1

The original story appeared in Personal Love #32 in April 1955 as "Untamed Love." Often cited by comic historians as one of the finest drawn stories of the golden age, it is obvious that Frank Frazetta was not interested in telling a typical love story. The romance takes a back seat to adventure in the lush jungle setting. An interesting side note was Frazetta's choice of models for this story. He used his friend Al Williamson as the central character. Williamson was close friend and, like Frank, was a young artist just breaking into the comics field at the time. Al would go on to produce amazing comics, including one of the best versions of Flash Gordon outside the original news paper strip.

As I mentioned the other day, most of these romance comics from the fifties have fallen into the public domain and are fair game for a smartass like me to use them as I see fit. In my rewritten version of the story, the action takes place in Anaheim, California in 1954, just months before the grand opening of Disneyland. In fairness to Walt Disney, who was a difficult boss, by all accounts, there are no stories that paint him as a womanizer. Except this one.

Stop by every day this week for a new page of Unmaimed Love!

Behind the scenes

I thought I’d take a minute to pull back the curtain and discuss some recent events that are affecting the Zombie Marge strip. It’s been busy over the last few weeks, and by busy I mean disruptive. Since I started the Mothman storyline on March 15^th, I  have posted a new strip every Monday like clockwork. But there will not be a Marge strip this Monday. Life has gotten in the way.

Several weeks ago I began serving jury duty, which is proving to be much more intrusive than I would have guessed. I’ve used up my cushion of strips I had built up. I need to draw more as time allows.

Also a few weeks ago I got the news that ComiXpress was closing it’s doors suddenly and unexpectedly. Most of the books listed on this page were printed at ComiXpress, so that meant I had to scramble to find another printer to do the job. After much research, I've decided to print all the books with KaBlam and offer them for sale through Indy Planet and Indy Planet Digital.

But this will take time, the printer files from ComiXpress are not compatible with the specifications for KaBlam. This means that each and every book needs to be remade to the new specs. And that takes time away for the weekly strip. Currently only two links on this page are active. The Little Olden Book is already available from Indy Planet and Zombie Marge #1 is available, as of today. I will continue to place books one at a time until I have them all up. Stay tuned.

So, no Marge for a week or two as I get ahead again. But you don’t have to go empty handed. In its place I will post a very special SHAM Comics story, featuring an amazing artist you might have heard of. Frank Frazetta did a handful of romance stories in the mid-fifties. All have fallen into public domain. One of them appears in SHAM Comics #2. But the most famous by far was “Untamed Love.”  It was more of a lush jungle adventure than a typical love story.

So beginning Monday, and appearing every day next week, stop by to read my take on this fantastic story. See you then.