NELLIE THE NURSE "Who Will Care for the Millionaire?"

After the Last Three Weeks of Conflict and Chaos...

...and what was happening in this blog on Hope Ship was no laughing matter either, we're going to offer some medical-oriented laughs!

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Dan DeCarlo (before he settled in at Archie Comics and visually-redefined the characters for decades), this never-reprinted short from Atlas' Mille the Model Comics #88 (1959) was actually left over from a Nellie the Nurse comic that only ran one issue in 1957!
(The story was meant for #2)

HOPE SHIP Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Arriving in the earthquake-ravaged Asian city of Jahira, the medical staff of the hospital ship S.S. Aid jump into action, providing much-needed medical care to the injured and sick.

But when a young boy arrives and tells of his injured brother who can't be brought to the ship and others in similar straits, Dr McDanger resolves to go inland and help them.
But they're in a crime-ridden slum called "Black Alley" where even the local police and military refuse to go...

Thus concludes the tale of Dr Roger McDanger, a man of violence who learned to embrace the way of peace, though his every instinct was against it, to heal and protect the innocent!

BTW, remember we mentioned that a statement by the current American President about sending a hospital ship to Greenland inspired us to run this multi-part post.
As of this date, three weeks later, no such ship has left an American port for Greenland!
Just thought you'd like to know...

HOPE SHIP Part 2

Before We Continue, a Little Bit of History...

Now, on with the story...

After re-provisioning and taking on replacement crew and medical personnel, the medical ship S.S. Aid responds to requests for medical assistance after an earthquake in the Asian city of Jahira...

To Be Concluded, Next Friday!

The book's unknown writer obviously-wanted to make the oddly-named Dr McDanger an exciting hands-on, yet conflicted, protagonist!

A healer with a mysterious, apparently violence-ridden past, willing to take outlandish risks to help suffering innocents!
Not exactly what a reader picking up this comic might have expected...

HOPE SHIP Part 1

With Don da Con's Proclamation About Sending a Hospital Ship to Greenland...

...(Lord only knows why), it reminded me that there actually was a comic about such a vessel (albeit fictional) from the 1960s!

To Be Continued Next Friday

Produced in 1963, Dell's Hope Ship (1963) was a weird combination of historical fact and hysterical fiction!

While the history of previous medical practices on civilian and military vessels was fairly accurate, the situations the fictional U.S.S. Aid encountered were anything but accurate!

Apparently-inspired by the exploits of the S.S. Hope, the worlds first civilian hospital ship, which had just competed three assignments to international acclaim, this tale, illustrated by Edd Ashe, wasn't sponsored by any medical organization, nor sanctioned by any government department.
It's one of those unusual projects that pops up from time to time, then disappears into obscurity!

MODNIKS "Noel Talent: the Most Unkindest Cut"

By the early 1970s, Jack Davis was an established, successful, and busy, commercial artist...

...so when was this weird filler short, published in 1970, created?

Written by Gary Poole and illustrated by Davis, this one-off tale appeared in the second (and final) issue of Gold Key's Modniks in 1970.

But here's the weird part...

The previous issue of this title appeared three years earlier...in 1967!

That's a loooonnng time between issues!

Plus, Davis had never done any work for Gold Key, and it had been years since Jack had done any work for Dell (which Gold Key split-off from years earlier)!

And, Poole didn't start working in comics until the mid-1960s, after GK had split from Dell, so this wasn't leftover inventory from that period!

Did Davis know Poole (who had been a radio/tv writer for years before coming to comics) and illustrated this as a favor for a friend entering the field?

We'll never know...

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Jack Davis

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