“Love Is …” comic strips
From Wikipedia:
Love Is … is the name of a comic strip created by New Zealand cartoonist Kim Casali (née Grove) in the 1960s. The cartoons originated from a series of love notes that Grove drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. They were published in booklets in the late 1960s before appearing in strip form in a newspaper in 1970, under the pen name “Kim”. […] Casali commissioned London-based British cartoonist Bill Asprey to take over the writing and drawing of the daily cartoons for her, under her pen name. Asprey has produced the cartoon continuously since 1975.
First published in the Los Angeles Times on January 5, 1970 [loveisapplication.com], the cartoons were syndicated soon after. Today the strip is syndicated worldwide by Tribune Media Services. Since the beginning — and up to this date — the title has been rendered in lowercase Crayonette, making it the most prominent and longest-lasting in-use example of this weird and wonderful Victorian typeface. The distinctive type choice has also been adopted by several of the many editions in other languages, see e.g. the German “Liebe ist …” at Korsch Verlag, or the Italian “Amore é …” (below).
“Love Is …” clippings from the Los Angeles Times, 1970/1971, from Susan Eynon’s collection
8 Comments on ““Love Is …” comic strips”
The makers of the Spanish adaptation “Amor es …” recognized the brand value of the Crayonette letterforms, too, but since the typeface wasn’t easily available, they had to compromise. There are at least two versions that both look like they were cobbled together from the letters in the English “love is …”, with the ‘m’ made from an upside-down or mirrored ‘v’.
For a while, “Love is …” also appeared in another italic with horizontal stress, the chubby Lazybones (with a customized ‘v’).
Source: latimes.com
Oh my! I have loved these since I was 14. Brings back so many memories of my 1st love . I give my best friend a glass figurine, she still has it…50 years now. Every now again when I see it , I get a little teary eyed missing my youth. I would love to be able to buy some. Do you sell any of these?☮️
A boyfriend would send me these paper cut outs in the early 70s . Could you tell me which newspaper posted these please.
Hi Julie, some of the info is in the article: Love is… was first published in the Los Angeles Times. The cartoon was subsequently syndicated, which means it was published simultaneously in a number of newspapers. I don’t have a list of titles.
My husband and I met when we were 14 and 15 and were engaged two years later. Our local newspaper used to publish these cartoons every day. I cut them out and put them in an album. When I had collected dozens of them, I gave him the album as a gift. We married at 18 and 19 and will celebrate 50 years of marriage the end of November, 1974. I am in the process of creating a video for our anniversary and inserting some of these cartoons. Several of our friends and family have lost spouses in recent years and it really makes you think about your own mortality. I came across the cartoon that says, “love is…too precious to waste.” How true it is!
Victoria, that’s wonderful. Thanks for sharing your story here, and best wishes for your golden wedding anniversary!
Hello, when I was a little girl we used to buy a particular type of writing pad and on the back of the notebook was love is quotes, my dad drew one of those pictures for me but made it a lot larger… my father passed away in January this year and I was hoping someone could help me out with finding the same picture… the quote was love is walking through the spring flowers together and obviously the cartoon characters were walking through flowers, it would make me extremely happy to see the picture again, thank you in
Sorry for your loss, Crystal. I’m only finding a similar one that says “Love is … a bunch of spring flowers.”