Real Love #31
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeReal Love #31 is a representative specimen of Ace Magazines' early-1950s romance publishing strategy — the moment when the company had fully pivoted away from its superhero and humor roots and committed its output almost entirely to romance anthologies. The issue's contents were judged strong enough by Ace's own editorial team that every story in it, plus its advice column, was recycled across at least five other titles in the Ace line over the following five years, making it a small but telling index of how Ace cross-pollinated its romance catalog. It also features interior art attributed to Mike Sekowsky — who would later become one of the defining pencilers of DC's Silver Age — during the busy freelance phase of his early career, when he was supplying romance art to multiple publishers simultaneously.
This is an anthology of romance stories. "In Love with a Wonderful Guy" follows Sally, an office worker who dreams of romance but repeatedly fails to attract the man she wants; when Ted Cranston finally shows interest, she agrees to an office picnic date, but later sabotages the opportunity by making herself seem unavailable, ultimately realizing her own insecurity has cost her a genuine chance at love. "Heart on Ice" depicts a woman named Moira caught between two suitors—Rex, whom she loves, and Phil, whom her family prefers—ultimately choosing Rex despite family opposition, leading to conflict at a garden party where Rex and Phil nearly fight before Moira convinces Rex to elope with her the following day.
Karen has carefully guarded her heart ever since her best friend's tragic suicide shattered her faith in love, choosing instead to accept an engagement to the steadfast Craig—but when she meets Dean, Jemmy's charismatic cousin from the West Coast, her carefully constructed emotional walls begin to crack. As Karen struggles to maintain her detachment and loyalty to Craig, she discovers that some feelings refuse to stay buried.
A young woman determined to hold out for her dream man finally catches the eye of dashing Ted Cranston at the office—but when his attentions prove uncertain and his loyalty questionable, she impulsively books a trip to California to shake things up. There she meets Doug Stevens, a charming stranger with unexpected connections, and discovers that the wonderful life she'd been waiting for might look entirely different than she imagined.
Persis has always felt like an outsider at Wendeline University—a girl raised traveling the world with her scientist father, now struggling to fit in with her peers who mock her unusual name and background. When her well-meaning father tries to arrange a date for the campus radio broadcast and dance, Persis is mortified, but a kind faculty wife steps in with a plan: new clothes, a makeover, and a chance to go with real friends. Now Persis must learn to be less like the bookish, serious girl she's always been and discover whether she can find her place among the very people who've made her feel so alone.
Rex, still reeling from finding his fiancée Moira in another man’s arms, impulsively marries Libby in a bid to move on. But as the wedding bells fade, Libby begins to wonder if Rex’s heart is truly hers—or still lingering with Moira.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Real Love launched in June 1949 as a direct title conversion: it picked up the numbering of Ace's humor comic Hap Hazard Comics at #25, inheriting the slot but replacing that book's teen-comedy content with romance anthology stories. By issue #31 (April 1950), the series was fully settled into Ace's standard romance format — 36 full-color pages at a ten-cent cover price, a painted or illustrated cover, four comic stories, and a recurring advice-column text feature called 'The Charm Corner.' Ace Magazines, owned by A. A. Wyn, had by 1949 made the unusual editorial decision among dual pulp-and-comics publishers to lean heavily into comics romance titles, and Real Love was one of the four flagship series — alongside Glamorous Romances, Love at First Sight, and Love Experiences — that anchored that strategy through 1956.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1950 by Ace Periodicals (Ace Magazines), as part of the Real Love series that ran from 1949 to 1956 (issues #25–#76).
- The series numbering continued directly from Hap Hazard Comics #24, making Real Love a title conversion rather than a new launch.
- Issue contains four romance stories: 'Reckless for Once,' 'The Man From My Past,' 'Deceitful Kisses,' and 'Gratitude Marriage,' plus the recurring text feature 'The Charm Corner: How Not to Lose Him…'
- Art on at least one story ('Deceitful Kisses') is credited to Alice Kirkpatrick, one of the few identified artists in the Ace romance line, per Grand Comics Database.
- A story in the issue is attributed by GCD to penciler Mike Sekowsky and inker Vince Alascia — Sekowsky being the artist later known for penciling Justice League of America throughout the 1960s.
- Every comic story in the issue was reprinted at least once within the Ace line: 'Reckless for Once' in Love at First Sight #34; 'The Man From My Past' in Complete Love Magazine Vol. 31 #2; 'Deceitful Kisses' in Love Experiences #31; and 'Gratitude Marriage' in Ten Story Love Vol. 35 #4.
- The 'Charm Corner' text piece from this issue was reprinted under retitled versions in at least five other Ace titles, including Glamorous Romances #57, Love at First Sight #32, and Real Love #56 and #73.
- Standard Ace format: 36 pages, full color, ten-cent cover price.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Glamorous Romances #81 (1955), Love at First Sight #34 (1955), Ten-Story Love #3 / 201 (1955)
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