Ay me! For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth. But either it was different in blood, Or else misgraffèd in respect of years, Or else it stood upon the choice of friends, Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentary as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night; That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and Earth, And ere a man hath power to say “Behold!” The jaws of darkness do devour it up. So quick bright things come to confusion. -- Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 132ff (Of course bear in mind that's one of the young lovers, Lysander, complaining to his beau, Hermia, and by the end of the play they're married.) Successful relationships in comics are few and far between, if only because the drama of failed relationships is so tempting to writers. Even where the relationships are solid, writers (or editorial) just can't resist dicking around with them, sometimes using the excuse that the comic-reading public isn't interested in or can't relate to successful long-term relationships, let alone marriages. To which I say "Fie."
