Why the Vatican condemned the creator of the comics Love is: All-conquering love or trampling on morality

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The name of the New Zealand artist Kim Grove could remain unknown to the general public if one day she did not fall in love and began to paint her feelings on napkins. Later, Kim Grove's black and white comics Love is will appear, and the whole world will read a touching love story that was supposed to last forever. But the tale was suddenly interrupted, and the artist, who proved that love can be stronger than death, was condemned by religious organizations and the Vatican.

Love on little cards

Kim Grove was born in 1941 in New Zealand. At the age of 19, she went to travel the world, visited Australia, Europe, and in 1967 ended up in Los Angeles. A week after Valentine's Day, in one of the ski clubs, she met a man who won her heart at first sight.

Roberto Casali was originally from Italy, he was engaged in computer systems and did not even know about the feelings of the charming but very modest Kim. She did not dare to approach him to meet him, only often looked at him for a long time. And she began to draw her feelings. She made her very first drawing on a postcard that Roberto sent during a ski trip. The girl on it was the size of the artist's own thumbnail.

Soon, next to a droplet that turned into a little freckled girl, Kim drew another one that became a boy. And the caption on each picture was more eloquent than all the confessions: "Love is …" Then each time followed a brief description of what love is for her, Kim.

Over and over again, she drew her feelings on small cards and left them for her beloved in different places: under a pillow, in a jacket pocket, in the glove compartment of a car, in a desk drawer. Roberto became interested in a girl who left small, but such touching confessions for him. And soon he invited the shy Kim Grove on a first date. He simply did not have a single chance not to fall in love with a girl, whose love turned out to be a whole world, which he had to learn all his life.

Love is …

After returning from the resort, Kim continued to work as a secretary in one of the printing houses, but did not quit drawing touching comics. She began collecting her illustrations in small booklets and even sold them for one dollar apiece. Small books were popular, and one of them turned out to be a wedding gift for the bride.

Then Roberto decided to take Kim's collection of comics to the newspaper in order to assess the possible interest in them. On January 5, 1970, several pictures were printed in the Los Angeles Times. It was with this that the triumphant procession of love stories in pictures around the world began. Later they will be translated into 25 languages and printed in 50 countries. In the same year, the very first licensed Love is product appeared - plastic wall signs.

In November 1970, Roberto Casali and Kim Grove announced their engagement, and in July 1971 they became husband and wife.

Love is stronger than death

But Love is continued to live. Kim Kasali continued to write their love story in pictures. If at the wedding ceremony she had a modest bunch of daisies in her hands, they soon appeared in her pictures. Two sons appeared in the family of Kim and Roberto, then they got pets. Together, they learned to equip life and just find happiness in the little things. All this happened with comic book heroes.

And soon funny pictures were printed not only in newspapers. Souvenir products began to be produced. Comics have been licensed since January 1972 by Minikim, which was created by Roberto Casali.

But just four years after the wedding, Roberto was diagnosed with cancer in the last stage. Since that time, the English animator Bill Asprey began to draw the comics "Love is …", since Kim devoted all her time to her husband. She sat by his bed in the hospital, looking for medicines and trying to do everything to prolong the life of her beloved husband.

Doctors decided to do an operation for Roberto, but they warned him: even if he succeeds, he will no longer have children. Kim and her husband dreamed of another child, so they froze the man's genetic material before surgery. Unfortunately, the surgical intervention did not give positive results, and in 1976 in the comics "Love is …" the girl cried at the tombstone.

And 16 months after the death of Roberto, his third son, baby Milo, was born, conceived through an artificial insemination procedure. Newspapers called the boy a "miracle child", fans congratulated the artist. But religious communities and representatives of the Vatican condemned. In their opinion, Kim Kasali violated the norms of Christian morality by giving birth to a son from her deceased husband.

Kim disagreed. If Roberto remained alive, she would still become a mother, since they dreamed of giving their sons a brother or sister. For her, nothing has changed: she became the mother of her third son, while she gave birth to him from her beloved man.

Subsequently, Kim Kasali, along with her sons, moved to Australia, where she began to breed Arab horses on the acquired farm. She no longer drew comics, but her business was continued by Bill Asprey, and the company, created by her husband, was headed by her son Stefano. Kim passed away in 1998, and the series "Love is …" continues to conquer the hearts of people around the world. It was Asprey who, back in 1978, released color pictures, which before that were exclusively black and white. He draws his inspiration from letters that come to him from different countries.

Marc Chagall also drew his love, his whole life was a continuous flight. He flew in his work and moved from place to place, unable to overcome his craving for wanderings. He was still very young when the gypsy prophesied to him an extraordinary life and love for three women. However, prediction about the end of the artist's earthly journey in flight also came true.