ABSTRACT
In 1950, comic book publisher St. John released a self-proclaimed "Picture Novel" titled It Rhymes With Lust, a 128-page digest-sized book written by the pseudonymous Drake Waller. An unusual publishing experiment, It Rhymes With Lust can arguably be considered the first graphic novel, but is seldom recognized as such. This chapter explores the novel's overlooked place in comics history and examine key reasons for this omission. The legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are generally credited with creating the first romance comic when they pitched the anthology Young Romance to Crestwood publishing for its Prize Comics imprint in 1947. When tales of enormous Young Romance sales circulated in the industry, everyone was eager to jump on the trend. When romance boomed, St. John gradually added the genre to his output, relying heavily on innovative writer Dana Dutch and established penciller Matt Baker.
