Love Is...

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For other uses, see Love is (disambiguation).
Love is...
Love is.jpg
Love Is... comic strip from May 25, 2007
Author(s) Kim Casali/Bill Asprey
Website Official website
Current status / schedule Running/Daily
Launch date January 5, 1970
Syndicate(s) Tribune Media Services
Genre(s) Comedy/Romance

Love is... is the name of a comic strip created by New Zealand cartoonist Kim Casali (née Grove) in the late 1960s.[1][2][3]. The strip is syndicated worldwide by Tribune Media Services.[1] The cartoons originated from a series of love notes that Casali drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. The strip was first published in 1970, under the pen name "Kim", and was syndicated soon after. One of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry", published on February 9, 1972, was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs. The beginning of the strip coincided closely with the 1970 film Love Story. The film's signature line is "Love means never having to say you're sorry." At the height of their popularity in the 1970s the cartoons were earning Casali £4-5 million annually.[4]

Roberto Casali was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1975 and Kim stopped working on the cartoon to spend more time with him.[5] 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.[6] Asprey has produced the cartoon continuously since 1975.[7] Upon her death in 1997, Casali's son Stefano took over Minikim, the company which handles the intellectual rights.

Contents

[edit] Comic Strip Features

 This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Love Is... is a single-frame strip. The upper left-hand corner starts with a simple phrase which always begins with "Love Is...", the drawing appears in the middle and the remainder of the phrase at the bottom (along with the legal jargon). Each strip is independent of the others; there are no "series" of strips running for a period of time covering the same topic.

The main characters are a male and a female. Their names may be Roberto and Kim, respectively, since in a 1974 episode which says "Love is... your name pronounced by him while sleeping" the male pronounces the name "Kim", the strip's creator's name, and in a 1971 panel the female writes the letter 'R' in the beach sand (the creator's husband's name is Roberto). The male has dark black, short hair while the female has light, waist-length hair. The characters have been featured in various stages of romance: just meeting, boyfriend/girlfriend and husband/wife. They appear to be quite young, looking like toddlers, however, they are apparently supposed to represent adults.

Fourth edition print of one of the many LOVE IS.... books written and drawn by Kim Grove, published by Signette. The frontspiece carries the message “FOR MY MOTHER”.

Sometimes, the male is seen to be part of the Army, Marines, etc.

When featured as husband and wife, at times a child/children will appear who are much smaller than them, but never more than two children, a boy and a girl. The boy and girl have the hair coloring of their opposite gender parent (i.e., the girl has her father's black hair, while the boy has his mother's light hair). The children have been featured both as infants and as elementary school age; they have not been featured as teenagers.

From time to time the female's parents (one or both) are shown, both parents have light hair and are featured as being elderly. The male's parents have also featured in the strips. They have similar looks as those of female's parents. In one of the strips, female is shown talking to her mother-in-law over the phone.

The characters may appear single or together; when one is thinking about the other, the partner's face will appear (in various forms, such as a dream balloon, a photo, even a screen saver have been used). Items appearing in the strip are often shown in the shape of or featuring, hearts - symbolic of the strip's theme.

The characters are often shown in the nude. No primary or secondary sexual features are displayed, other than depicting only the female having nipples. It is clear which character is male and which is female due to tertiary features.

Other men shown in the strips are different in their looks. They have curly blond hair and sometimes shown with a mustache, while the male is always shown with his usual black short straight hair.

Other women shown in strips are short haired as compared to the female who has waist length hair.

Although the strip generally deals with light issues, sometimes there are messages related to environment conservation and teaching their kids lessons about the environment. In one of the strips they are shown campaigning to save children.

A dog is shown sometimes in their household. And in one strip they had a small grave with a stick with the name Fido on it, presumably a recently deceased pet dog. There is a new dog though named Samson. Cats are mentioned twice.In 2005 the couple are happy surrounded by two cats and in 2009 the girl is crying looking at Kitty's empty plate thinking of their deceased lovely cat.

The male is sometimes shown reading a newspaper named Daily Blah.

The strip is run all weekdays except on Sunday.

[edit] British version

In the 1980s an alternate version of the strip ran in the "Cartoons" paper in the British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday. This was a three- or four-panel strip, with the male and female characters drawn fully clothed.

[edit] In other languages

Love Is... has been translated in many languages. Here are a few examples:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Biography: Kim Casali, conceived by and drawn by Bill Asprey". Tribune Media Services. 2011. http://www.tmsfeatures.com/bio/kim-casali/. Retrieved 22-09-2011. 
  2. ^ Bryant, Mark (21 June 1997). "Obituary: Kim Casali". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-kim-casali-1257116.html. Retrieved 22-09-2011. 
  3. ^ "Author: Kim Casali". Random House. 2011. http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/authors/kim-casali. Retrieved 22-09-2011. 
  4. ^ "Obituary: Kim Casali". The Times (London) (65921): p. 23. 20 June 1997. 
  5. ^ Jeffreys, Daniel (8 October 1996). "I had my baby 16 months after my husband died. I know exactly how that widow feels today...". The Daily Mail (London). 
  6. ^ "Bill Asprey". The Cartoon Art of Bill Asprey. 2011. http://www.artfulaspreycartoons.co.uk/about-me/. Retrieved 22-09-2011. 
  7. ^ "How I came to draw Love is...". The Cartoon Art of Bill Asprey. 2011. http://www.artfulaspreycartoons.co.uk/love-is/. Retrieved 22-09-2011. 

[edit] See also

Philosophy of love

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