*Vintage UK/Australian Reprints of US Material: Following the romance comics boom in the American comics industry in the late 1940s, it didn’t take long for the UK to climb aboard with re-packaged American stories for the British audience, at that time denied distribution of the US product. Arnold/Strato (sometimes listed as separate companies, but they were linked in some way we haven’t been able to fathom) were a leading repackager of US material, and they shrewdly licenced the three Simon & Kirby titles which had kicked off the ‘love boom’: Young Brides, Young Love and Young Romance, which they released as 68-page squarebound compilations. However, with a fine disregard for intellectual property, the publishers mixed & matched material, so while the titles may have been from the Prize stable, the content could contain any old love from a myriad of publishers: ACG, Atlas, Ajax/Farrell, Quality and, yes, Prize, are among the ones we’ve positively identified, along with many more that we have to shrug helplessly and say “We don’t really know, Vera…” These 68-page squarebounds, dating from 1954 to 1955, have a distinctive yellow & red livery that made them easy to pick out at the newsagent’s, but also a bugger for acquiring stains and marks, so we’re delighted to have a nice selection of all three ‘Young’ titles in clean bright condition, averaging Fine or better. As a bonus, we also have the first Album of each series, 128-page stonkers with more tearstained moonlit fantasies than before! Depicted are Young Brides #1 FN+ £25 and Album #1 FN+ £40; Young Love #9 FN £12 and Album #1 FN+ £40; and Young Romance #14 (three Simon & Kirby, 1 Matt Baker) FN £17.50, and Album #1 FN+ £40.