{{Short description|Defunct romance comics series}} {{Infobox comic book title <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image = |caption = |schedule = Bi-monthly, 8x per year |format = Ongoing |publisher = DC Comics |startmo = Sept.–Oct. |startyr = 1949 |endmo = July |endyr = 1971 |date = | genre = Romance |issues = 153 |main_char_team = |writers = Gerry Conway, Natalie Krigstein,<ref>{{cite web|title=Creative Change: The First Women to Write For DC |first=Alex |last=Jaffe |date=March 12, 2024|url=https://www.dc.com/blog/2024/03/12/creative-change-the-first-women-to-write-for-dc|work=DC.com}}</ref> Ann Martin, Jack Oleck, Len Wein |artists = Tony Abruzzo, Liz Berube, Nick Cardy, John Celardo, Gene Colan, Vince Colletta, Tony DeZuniga, Bill Draut, Lee Elias, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Sid Greene, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Bob Oksner, Arthur Peddy, Carl Pfeufer, Jay Scott Pike, John Romita Sr., John Rosenberger, Joe Rosen, Werner Roth, Mike Sekowsky, Alex Toth, Win Mortimer |pencillers = |inkers = |letterers = Ira Schnapp |colorists = |editors = Jack Miller, Zena Brody ({{circa}} 1952–{{circa}} 1957),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=BRODY,+ZENA|title=Brody, Zena|website=Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999}}</ref> Ruth Brant, Phyllis Reed, Dorothy Woolfolk,<ref name=sergi>{{Cite web|url=http://cbldf.org/2013/02/tales-from-the-code-youve-lost-that-loving-feeling-the-rise-and-fall-of-romance-comics/|title=Tales From the Code: You've Lost That Loving Feeling|last=Sergi|first=Joe|website=CBLDF}}</ref> Barbara Friedlander<ref>{{cite web|title=LUST! HEARTACHE! JEALOUSY! THE WILD WORLD OF ROMANCE COMICS |first=Greg |last=Rienzi |date=Fall 2022 |work=Johns Hopkins Magazine|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|url=https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2022/fall/romance-comic-books-collection/}}</ref> |creative_team_month = |creative_team_year = |creators = |nonUS = |subcat = DC Comics |sort = Secret Hearts }} '''''Secret Hearts''''' was a romance comic anthology published by DC Comics in the United States, primarily in the 1950s and '60s. A staple of the company's romance line, it was "one of the publisher's most successful and well-known romance titles."<ref name=BC2023>{{cite news|title=The Long-Running Romance of DC Comics' Secret Hearts, up for Auction|date=27 Oct 2023 |first= Mark |last=Seifert|work=Bleeding Cool |url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-long-running-romance-of-dc-comics-secret-hearts-up-for-auction/}}</ref>
Notable artists featured in ''Secret Hearts'' include Mike Sekowsky, John Romita Sr., Jay Scott Pike,<ref name=BC2023>{{cite news|title=The Long-Running Romance of DC Comics' Secret Hearts, up for Auction|date=27 Oct 2023 |first= Mark |last=Seifert|work=Bleeding Cool |url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-long-running-romance-of-dc-comics-secret-hearts-up-for-auction/}}</ref> Tony Abruzzo, Liz Berube, John Celardo, Gene Colan, John Rosenberger, Joe Rosen, and Werner Roth.
Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein based a number of his works, including ''Drowning Girl'' (1963), on panels from ''Secret Hearts''.
== Publication history == DC published ''Secret Hearts'' under a variety of the company's romance line imprints, including '''Arleigh Publishing Co./Corp.''' and '''Beverly Publishing Co.''', as well as the typical National Periodical Publications, Inc.. Debuting with a Sept.–Oct. 1949 cover-date, ''Secret Hearts'' ran for 153 issues, ending with the July 1971 issue.
''Secret Hearts'' was released on a bimonthly schedule from 1949 to mid-1957, when it went to an eight-times-a-year schedule. The first six issues of the title were 52 pages each; it underwent a publishing hiatus of nearly a year and a half between issue #6 (July–August 1950) and #7 (December 1951-January 1952).<ref name=BC2023 /> When the comic returned, it was 36 pages per issue, where it stayed for the remainder of its run.
By the title's 150th issue (cover date March 1971), circulation had dropped to an average of 140,927, with only 53 subscriptions.<ref>{{cite comic|story=ownership statement|title=Secret Hearts|issue=150 |date=March 1971|publisher=DC Comics}}</ref> The final issue of ''Secret Hearts'' came out on May 20, 1971.<ref>{{cite comic|title=Secret Hearts|issue=153|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/66766/|publisher=National Periodical Publications Inc.|date=July 1971}}</ref> It was the first of DC's seven romance titles to be canceled.{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=202}}
== Overview == Each issue of ''Secret Hearts'' featured at least three separate stories of romance, each one usually about 8 pages in length. In 1964, the title began running serialized soap opera-style stories; the first one beginning in issue #96 (June 1964), featuring Amy Ames, "Miss Listening Heart" of the ''Daily Star''. The series lasted through #109 (Jan. 1966) (skipping #108).{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=202}}
"Reach for Happiness," written by Jack Miller, was another serialized story that ran for 29 consecutive episodes from issue #110 (Mar. 1966) through issue #138 (Sept. 1969).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comics.org/feature/955/|title=Reach for Happiness|department=Feature|work=Grand Comics Database}}</ref> About the town of Danville Corners, "Reach for Happiness," was a knockoff of the hit TV soap opera ''Peyton Place''. The story grew increasingly complex, so much so that the publisher included a one-page update about the cast. The ending of "Reach for Happiness" "was unorthodox for the time period, to say the least: On the final page, heroine Karen asks hero Greg, 'Oh, Greg, Greg, Greg, my darling — will you marry me?' To which our man of few words replies, 'You bet I will!'"{{sfn|Nolan|2008|p=202}}
The title's letters page, called ''Ann Martin, Counselor-at-Love'', featured romantic advice to readers.
== Connection with Roy Lichtenstein == Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein based a number of his works on panels from ''Secret Hearts''. One of Lichtenstein's most well-known works, ''Drowning Girl'' (1963), was adapted from the splash page of "Run for Love!", from ''Secret Hearts'' #83 (Nov. 1962),<ref>{{cite book |title=Roy Lichtenstein |last=Waldman |first=Diane |year=1993 |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |isbn=0-89207-108-7 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald |pages=118–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Arntson|first=Amy E|title = Graphic Design Basics |year=2006|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=0-495-00693-9|page= 165}}</ref> illustrated by Tony Abruzzo and lettered by Ira Schnapp.<ref>{{cite comic| artist=Tony Abruzzo|letterer=Ira Schnapp|story=Run for Love!|title=Secret Hearts | issue=83 | publisher =DC Comics|date=November 1963|page=1}}</ref> Other notable examples of Lichtenstein works based on panels from ''Secret Hearts'' include: * ''Hopeless'' (1963) — adapted from a panel from the same story, "Run for Love!", artwork by Abruzzo and lettered by Schnapp, in ''Secret Hearts'' #83 (Nov. 1962)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=21212|title=Secret Hearts 83 (a)|access-date=June 11, 2013 | publisher = Lichtenstein Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225215230/http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=21212|archive-date=Feb 25, 2014}}</ref> * ''Crying Girl'' (1963) — adapted from "Escape from Loneliness," penciled by Abruzzo<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/17707/|title=Secret Hearts #88|date=June 1963|work=Grand Comics Database|access-date=September 14, 2020}}</ref> and inked by Bernard Sachs,<ref>{{cite comic|title=Secret Hearts |issue=88 |publisher=DC Comics |date=June 1963|story=Escape from Loneliness|artist=Tony Abruzzo|inker=Bernard Sachs}}</ref> in ''Secret Hearts'' #88 (June 1963) * Crying Girl (1964) — adapted from "Exit Love--Enter Heartbreak!", drawn by Werner Roth and John Romita Sr.,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rogersmagasin.com/serieskapare-tecknare-och-manusforfattare/roy-lichtenstein/lichtenstein-kopierade-john-romita/|language=Swedish|title=Lichtenstein kopierade John Romita|work=Rogers Seriemagasin|date=21 September 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Secret Hearts #88 (June 1963): DC, 1949 Series|url=https://www.comics.org/issue/17707/|work=Grand Comics Database|access-date=Apr 6, 2024}}</ref> in ''Secret Hearts'' #88 (June 1963)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=20099|title=Secret Hearts #88 (s)|work=Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827074146/http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=20099|archive-date=Aug 27, 2016}}</ref> * ''Ohhh...Alright...'' (1964) — also derived from ''Secret Hearts'' #88 (June 1963)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imageduplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0213&year=1964&decade=60|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122100415/https://www.imageduplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0213&year=1964&decade=60|archive-date=Jan 22, 2023|title=Ohhh...Alright...|access-date=May 20, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref>
== Further reading == * {{cite book|last=Robbins|first= Trina|title=A Century of Women Cartoonists|publisher=Kitchen Sink Press|year=1993|isbn=0-87816-206-2|author-link=Trina Robbins}} * {{cite book|last=Robbins|first= Trina|title=From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Comics from Teens to Zines|publisher=Chronicle Books|date=1999|isbn=0-8118-2199-4}}
==References== === Notes === {{Reflist}}
=== Sources === *{{cite book |last=Nolan |first= Michelle |year=2008 |title=Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |isbn=978-0-7864-3519-7}}
== External links == * {{gcdb series|id= 613 |title=''Secret Hearts''}} * [https://www.sequentialcrush.com/blog/tag/Secret+Hearts Posts tagged "Secret Hearts"] at Sequential Crush
Category:1949 comics debuts Category:1971 comics endings Category:DC Comics titles Category:Defunct American comics Category:Romance comics