Fresh Romance is in the air, courtesy of Janelle Asselin. Bendis opens up three old wounds on each hand with Andrea Sorrentino on art in Old Man Logan (Secret Wars) #1 and don’t forget about The Endless Dreaming with Sandman: Overture #5 in this week’s edition of Triple Shot!

FRESH ROMANCE #1
WRITER: Sarah Kuhn, Kate Leth, Sarah Vaughn
ART:   Arielle Jovellanos, Sarah Winifred Searle, Sally Jane Thompson 
Publication Date: May 27, 2015
Price: $4.99
Publisher: Rosy Press/Janelle Asselin
UPC: 70985301875900111
Buy it HERE: RosyPress.com / Comixology

As I’m learning in my current comic book class with professor Michael Uslan, Romance Comics as genre came to prominence after the end of World War II.

Everyone hung up their collective capes, and even Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon filled the newsstands with tales of heartbreak, secret crushes and handkerchief hand wringing.

These days, superheroes dominate the scene and the big screen, but former DC Comics editor Jannelle Asselin is resurrecting the genre over at Rosy Press and also utilizing her vast established audience for Kickstarter funding for this special project.

[Read an amazing FOG! interview with Jannelle over here with Stefan Blitz, conducted after the project was funded!]

This inaugural issue of Fresh Romance is an anthology book highlighting 3 separate stories from some of the best talent around. Kate Leth (Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors, Edward Scissorhands) starts off with a classic high school tale of locker talk and Mean Girls swagger. I’m most looking forward to the next installment for the twist introduced at the end of these pages.

Upcoming talent Sarah Vaughn (Alex + Ada) goes back to the post-Revolutionary War days for an impending tale of arranged marriage from ye olde tymes. I wasn’t expecting to go back to the age of AMC’s Turn but it was a nice place to visit and Sarah Winifred Searle’s art is divine. 

‘The Ruby Equation’, the final tale by Sarah Kuhn and Sally Jane Thompson was perhaps my favorite. Without spoiling, this was the most comic-booky of the tales. Modern day cupid meets coffee shop barista. Very cute story with more to come.

Congrats on getting the ball rolling—this was a fun book, and I may have been quoted as saying, “I hate stupid love stories because they are stupid”.

Yet again, I was wrong.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]