The 1970s was a time ripe for the dawning of the Love is cartoons.  They grew so popular that the strips became a standard feature in hundreds of newspapers around the world.  The original newspaper that published the strip was the Los Angeles Times.  The first Comic appeared on Monday January 5, 1970.

Although the cartoon was so well received that it began to adorn hundreds of commercial items, everything from nighties and napkins to figurines and chocolate wrappers, the cartoon also had its detractors.  The Los Angeles Times printed an article "Love is . . . Engaging in a Spirited Debate," on December 30, 1973.  This article discussed a debate between Kim Grove Casali, then 32 and Edith Zaslow, 61 a housewife and mother.  Zaslow argued, "The huge majority of them (the cartoons) portray women as childish, simple-minded dependents whose function is to serve man."  Kim replied, "Never in my life have I felt inferior to a man."  Zaslow complained that this did not come across in the cartoons.  After a "spirited debate," Kim stated, "I am here by accident.  I'm just trying to give people what they want.  Obviously, I must not have offended to many people because we've been successful."

In 1975 tragedy struck.  Roberto was taken ill with cancer.  Around this time, the Casalis employed artist Bill Asprey to continue drawing the strips, which he does to this day.  After Roberto's death Kim successfully utilized artificial insemination and gave birth to the third of her sons, Milo.

Throughout the 70s and 80s the popularity of the strip continued.  The Star magazine used to print the cartoon with reader inspired captions.  In 1995 the Los Angeles Times were set to discontinue publishing the strip in its newspaper.  The outcry was so strong that the publishers decided against this.

Kim Grove Casali passed away also due to cancer on June 18, 1997 at 55.  Since his mother’s death in June 1997, Stefano Casali has maintained his mother’s legacy of the beloved comic panel.

Born in Wimbledon near London, Casali has spent most of his life in the U.K. After graduation from university, he began a full-time job at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in London where he worked on Gillette, Hewlett-Packard and Samsung. Three years later, he went from the sublime at Saatchis to the silly while working on the McDonald's account at Leo Burnett in London.

After the death of his mother, he joined Minikim (named after his mother) and assumed full control of Love Is... while maintaining his advertising job in tandem. Since September 1999 he has been dedicated to the feature full-time, working with artist Bill Asprey.

Casali said, "It was a great change going from working in big advertising companies to working for myself in a considerably smaller operation, but I would not want to return to the former for all the tea in China."

A recent licensing deal with The Licensing Company is slowly bringing back collectible items to a Love is starved public.  

 Love Is... continues to be a favorite for millions of loyal readers around the world.