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Love is: the tragic story of a couple who gave the world the most famous love comics

In childhood, many of us collected Love is gum inserts, which told about what true love is. However, not everyone knows that the touching cartoon characters had real prototypes: the girl is the New Zealand artist Kim Grove, and the dark-haired boy is her husband, Italian Roberto Casali. We remember the wonderful and sad story of this couple, who made us believe that love conquers everything - even death.

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In the late 1960s, hippie culture was at its peak in Western society. Its representatives adhered to pacifist views and sang love. It was under the influence of this ideology that New Zealand artist Kim Grove grew up. When she turned 19, she went on a trip around the world. And six years later, Kim settled in sunny California. One day she went to the Los Angeles ski club, where she noticed a man, at the sight of whom her heart beat faster. Roberto Casali - a handsome Italian and a successful engineer - at first did not pay attention to a young and modest girl. And Kim was embarrassed to take the first step and get to know him openly. Instead, she began to paint cute pictures of a little girl with freckles and a dark-haired boy who find themselves in funny situations on a ski slope on napkins and send them to Roberto. The artist accompanied each drawing with the signature “Love is…”, after which there was another interpretation of the most beautiful feeling in the world.

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The first sketch of the girl who became the heroine of the comics "Love is ..." appeared on a postcard sent by Kim Grove to Roberto Casali

“I began to make small drawings to express what I feel ... - later said Kim. - First, I drew a droplet that became a girl, it had to be me. She experienced all these fantastic feelings. Then I drew another drop - a boy who was the cause of these feelings. "

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Character sketches

The pictures made a huge impression on Roberto, and, of course, he was intrigued by the personality of their author. He invited Kim on a date and very soon fell in love with this talented girl who felt love so subtly. All the pictures that she sent him, he carefully preserved. It seemed to Roberto that these touching "confessions" made on small pieces of paper were a real treasure that he was lucky enough to receive as a gift. Kim, embarrassed, brushed aside his compliments: she saw no value in them other than the fact that they helped her meet the man of her dreams. But Roberto was determined to help his beloved fully realize her wonderful gift. He made an agreement with an acquaintance of his, a journalist from the Los Angeles Times, and on January 5, 1970, Kim's works were first printed on the last page of a popular American newspaper.

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Kim Grove comics in the newspaper

The audience was fascinated by the comics of the New Zealand artist - all of America started talking about them. Soon, cartoon pictures of lovers began to be printed not only in newspapers, but also on souvenirs - mugs, calendars, postcards, magnets, T-shirts, napkins and even playing cards. In the wake of the popularity of the series "Love is ...", the film "Love Story" was released, based on the story of the same name by Eric Siegel. Its slogan was a phrase that strongly resembles the romantic messages of Kim Grove: "Love is ... when you don't have to apologize."

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Kim Grove and Roberto Casali

Meanwhile, the relationship between Kim and Roberto moved to a new level. The man proposed to his beloved. However, before answering with consent, she took from him one promise. “My father died when I was young,” Kim said. - So when Roberto asked me to marry him, I agreed, but said: 'Whatever you do, don't die on me.' He laughed and promised that he would try. " Their wedding took place on July 24, 1971 in New Zealand. They exchanged vows under the vaults of a small church where Kim's parents had been married 35 years earlier. The artist complemented her wedding look with a charming wreath of daisies - and the same accessory soon appeared on the heroine of her famous comics. In such a touching way, Kim "documented" everything that happened in her and Roberto's life: over time, the cartoon characters of the artist learned all the joys of parenting (in 1971, Kim gave birth to two sons), got pets, learned to create a joint life and be happy, despite for what.

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Roberto and Kim with their son

In January 1972, Roberto's Minikim company licensed the comics "Love is ...", which continued to grow in popularity. Subsequently, they were published in 50 countries around the world.
But in 1975, the family happiness of Kim and Roberto was shaken: the man was diagnosed with cancer at the last stage. This was a huge blow to the couple. The artist put off work on the Love is ... series and devoted herself entirely to caring for her husband. In order not to upset comic book fans, she asked the English animator Bill Asprey to draw cartoon pictures for her using her nickname. And she herself spent days and nights in the hospital next to her lover. “I spent the next year looking for a cure, trying to keep him [Roberto] away from bad news,” she recalled. The doctors decided to operate on the man, but warned the spouses that even if the surgery prolonged the man's life, he would still remain sterile. Then Kim and Roberto, who dreamed of another child, decided to freeze the man's genetic material before he went to the surgeon's table. Unfortunately, the operation did not bring positive results. In 1976, Roberto died, and in the comics "Love is ..." only the girl Kim and the tombstone remained.

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Kim was struggling to cope with this loss. And yet, she decided to fulfill their common dream with Roberto and give birth to a child, using the genetic material of her lover. 16 months after her husband's death, Kim became the mother of a boy named Milo. This event was reflected in the artist's comics: on the new postcard, the girl was standing next to the stroller, and the caption read: “We are glad to introduce Milo Kasali. Parents: Kim and Roberto (posthumously, by means of artificial insemination). " Fans began to congratulate their beloved artist, and British newspapers dubbed Milo "the miracle child." However, there were those who condemned Kim's act: the religious community and representatives of the Vatican said that the artist had no right to give birth to a child from her deceased husband, because it contradicts Christian morality.

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Kim with son

To criticism, Kim replied: “Roberto and I really wanted to give our two sons a brother or sister. Now, thanks to the care and patience of the doctors, this has become possible: I received another reminder of my wonderful husband ... Nice is here thanks to the love of his mother and father. If someone condemns this, it means that the world has lost its sense of proportion. We tried to have a baby through artificial insemination before Roberto's death. If my husband was alive, Milo would have been conceived in marriage. What changes Roberto's death? "

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Kim with sons

Soon, Kim and her sons moved to Australia and bought a farm near Sydney, where she began to breed Arabian horses. She died in 1998, and her son Stefano became the head of Minikim. Kim never returned to the series "Love is ...", but her work was continued by Bill Asprey. Until 1978, the English animator adhered to the black and white style of the creator of comics, but then he decided to take a chance and released the first color pictures about the love of a boy and a girl. The fans greeted them with delight. Since then - for more than 40 years - Bill Asprey has been drawing one picture "Love is ..." every day from Monday to Saturday. The artist admits that he draws inspiration not only from the love story of the creator of the series, but also from hundreds of thousands of other people who send him letters from all over the world.

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Despite the fact that the prototypes of the main characters have long been dead, the comics "Love is ..." continue to exist and teach us to appreciate our beloved. “Love is in everything that surrounds us, you just need to learn to see it,” the artist's son, Stefano Casali, is convinced.

©2023 by Jonah Altman. Proudly created with Wix.

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