Teen-Age Romance #79

Teen-Age Romance #79 captures the emotional pull of young love in full early-1960s style, with cover art by Dick Giordano and Vince Colletta showing a young woman in a red swimsuit pleading with a blond boy named Steve — her speech bubble crying out, "A Teen-Ager's Heart Can Also Break!" — while a smaller inset panel teases the romantic story "I Love Johnny Carter" with a close couple leaning in for a kiss. The contrast between heartbreak and tenderness on a single cover does a wonderful job of conveying the bittersweet stakes that made romance comics so compelling to readers of the era. At just ten cents, this January 1961 issue delivered the kind of genuine emotional drama that kept the genre going strong.