In the late 19s, hippie culture reached its peak in Western society. Its representatives adhered to pacifist views and sang love. New Zealand artist Kim Grove grew up under the influence of this ideology. When she was XNUMX years old, she went on a trip around the world. And six years later, Kim settled in sunny California. One day she went to a ski club in Los Angeles, where she noticed a man who made her heart beat faster. Roberto Casali, a handsome Italian and a successful engineer, initially ignored the young and modest girl. And Kim was embarrassed to take the first step and openly get to know him. Instead, she started drawing cute pictures on napkins of a little girl with freckles and a dark-haired boy getting into funny situations on the ski slope and sending them to Roberto.

"I started drawing to express how I felt..." Kim later said. - First I drew a droplet that became a girl, it should have been me. She experienced all these fantastic feelings. Then I drew another drop - the boy who was the cause of these feelings.

The photos made a huge impression on Robert and, of course, he was impressed by the personality of their author. He asked Kim out on a date and very quickly fell in love with this talented girl who feels love so delicately. All the photos she sent him he carefully saved. Roberto felt that these touching "confessions" made on small pieces of paper were a real treasure that he was lucky enough to receive as a gift. Embarrassed, Kim dismissed his compliments: she saw no value in them, except that they helped her meet the man of her dreams. But Roberto was determined to help his beloved realize her wonderful gift to the fullest. He arranged with his friend, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and in 1970 January 5 Kim's work was first published on the back page of a popular American newspaper.

The audience was fascinated by the New Zealand artist's comics - the whole 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. Following the popularity of the series "Love is...", the film "Love Story" was released, based on the novel of the same name by Eric Siegel. Her motto was a phrase strongly reminiscent of Kim Grove's romantic messages: "Love is... when you don't have to apologize."

Meanwhile, Kim and Robert's relationship went to a new level. A man proposed to his girlfriend. But before she agreed, she took one promise from him. "My father died when I was young," Kim said. "So when Roberto asked me to marry him, I said yes, but I said, 'Whatever you do, don't die for me.' He laughed and promised to try."

Their wedding took place on July 1971, 24 in New Zealand. They exchanged vows under the vaults of the small church where Kim's parents were married 35 years ago. The artist completed her wedding look with a charming daisy wreath, and the same accessory soon appeared on her famous comic book heroine. So touchingly, Kim "documented" everything that happened in her life with Roberto: over time, the characters of the artist's cartoons knew all the joys of parenthood (Kim gave birth to two sons in 1971) and learned to create a joint life and be happy, despite everything!

in 1972 In January, Robert's Minikim licensed the Love is... comics, which continued to gain popularity. They were later released in 50 countries around the world.

However, in 1975, the marital happiness of Kim and Robert was shaken: the husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was a huge blow to the couple. The artist put aside work on the series "Love is..." and fully devoted herself to the care of her husband. In order not to upset comic book fans, she asked English animator Bill Asprey to draw cartoons for her using her pseudonym. And she herself spent days and nights in the hospital next to her lover. "I spent the next year seeking treatment, trying to keep him [Roberto] out of the bad news," she recalled.

Doctors decided to operate on the man, but warned the couple that even if the operation would prolong the man's life, he would still remain infertile. Then Kim and Roberto, dreaming of another child, decided to freeze the man's genetic material while he went to the surgeon's table. Unfortunately, the operation did not yield positive results. In 1976, Roberto died, and in the comics "Love is ..." only the girlfriend Kim and the tombstone remained.

Kim had a hard time coping with this loss. And yet she decided to fulfill her shared dream with Roberto and give birth to a child using her lover's genetic material. 16 months after her husband's death, Kim became the mother of a boy, Milo. This event was reflected in the artist's comics: in the new postcard, a girl was standing next to a wheelchair, and the caption read: "We are pleased to present Milo Casali. Parents: Kim and Roberto (posthumously via artificial insemination).

Fans began to congratulate their beloved artist, and British newspapers called Milo a "miracle child". However, there were those who condemned Kim's act: the religious community and representatives of the Vatican said that the artist has no right to give birth to a child from a dead spouse, as it is against Christian morality.

Kim responded to the criticism: "Robert and I really wanted to give our two sons a sibling. Now, thanks to the care and patience of the doctors, it became possible: I got another reminder of my wonderful husband... Thanks to the love of his mom and dad, it's nice here. If anyone condemns it, then the world has lost its sense of moderation. Before Robert died, we tried to have a baby through artificial insemination.

Soon, Kim moved to Australia with his sons and bought a farm near Sydney, where he began breeding Arabian horses. She died in 1998 and her son Stefano took over Minikim. Kim never returned to Love Is... but Bill Asprey continued his work. Until 1978, the English animator followed the style of a black-and-white comic creator, but then he decided to take a risk and published the first color pictures about the love of a boy and a girl. The fans greeted them enthusiastically. Since then - for more than 40 years - Bill Asprey has been painting "Love is..." every day, Monday through 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.

Interestingly, Bill did not suspect for a long time that the Turkish company Dandy Sakiz began to produce chewing gum "Love is..." with its own comic inserts. In 2008, a correspondent of a Russian newspaper invited the artist for an interview and was surprised to learn that he had become popular in Russia because of his pictures made of chewing gum. It took several years to negotiate with the Turkish manufacturer who produced the product without the permission of the copyright holders. Eventually, Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International) bought the Dandy Sakiz factory and reformulated the chewing gum with the official copyright.

Despite the fact that the prototypes of the main characters are no longer alive, the comics "Love is..." still exist and teach us to value our beloved.

"Love is in everything that surrounds us, you just have to learn to see it," the artist's son Stefano Casali is convinced.