Before Doctor Strange Was...Doctor Droom!

Before any other heroes (including Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four)...

...this MD-turned sorcerer protected the Silver Age Marvel Universe from mystical menaces!*

BTW, note the guy in panel 3 is the guy in the first panel...but that ain't mascara around his eyes!

Keep reading...

Wait a second...

"My Eyes! They're becoming slanted!"

"I have given you an appearance suitable to your new role!"

What sort of "reverse racism" is this?

Did writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, or inker Steve Ditko theorize only an Asian-looking person could manipulate magic?
At least they didn't give him any sort of cliched Chinese/Japanese speech pattern...

The good Doctor's strip lasted five issues, including this one from Atlas' Amazing Adventures #1 (1961)

Many of the elements were reused in the origin of Dr Strange, (who was created by the guy who inked this tale, writer/artist Steve Ditko!)

Perhaps Steve looked at this concept and said "Well, this part works, but this one sure as hell doesn't!" and reworked the concept.

At any rate, "Doctor Droom 2.0" aka Doctor Strange turned out to be one of the longest-lasting characters at Marvel, and Droom disappeared, never to be seen again.

Hah!

Fooled you!

In the mid-1970s, reprint editor Roger Stern decided to revive the character to fill out a horror anthology, but with some modifications, like a costume (Droom wore street clothes), eliminating the whole "asian look" aspect, and making him a descendant of Druids (hence the name change)!
Here's his reintroduction from Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #19 (1976)

Dr Druid became an ongoing guest-star in the Marvel Universe, even briefly leading the Avengers, and helming his own miniseries....where he was killed off!
He'll not doubt, rise again at some point!

Medical Trivia: Though Droom's medical credentials were never specified, Druid received his MD from Harvard and completed a residency in psychiatry.
*Note: this doesn't count Timely/Atlas/Marvel's Golden Age characters, none of whom were being published in 1961!

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Hellstorm

by Warren Ellis

(TPB which contains the complete 1990s Doctor Druid miniseries where he dies)

Sensation Comics DR PAT "Case of the Frightened Flyer!"

Dr Pat...physician, crime-fighter, aircraft pilot, animal tamer, Commie-crusher..

...lets add "unlicensed psychologist" to that resume!

Inker Frank Giacoia also pencils this never-reprinted tale from DC's Sensation Comics #104 (1951), giving it a different "look" as he experiments with "camera angles" to liven up the story...not that it needs "livening up"!

Once more, Dr Pat demonstrates that not only can she do almost anything, she's aware of when not doing anything is the best strategy!

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M.D.

Volume 1

The First Newsstand Comic Dedicated to the Medical Profession!

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

Drawing American Pop Culture: a Career Retrospective

NELLIE THE NURSE "Sweets For the Not-So-Sweet!"

Among many "lost", never-reprinted comic book series...

...was this amusing one about childhood "besties" who ended up working together at the same hospital!

Even though Snazzy's an intern/resident, Nellie's a nurse and Speed is an ambulance driver, the three don't allow professional, social or financial status to affect their decades-long relationship as equals!

Also note that Nellie is an extremely-comptetent professional, unlike the stereotype of the beautiful-yet-ditzy nurse prevalent in media of the period!

This story from Timely's Nellie the Nurse #2 (1946) reads like a radio dramedy (there was no TV back then), with lots of witty and charming character interplay.
Sadly, there are no credits for the creatives, even though the book was published by what is today Marvel Comics!
Apparently, they tossed the records during one of their many moves to new offices through Manhattan over the years!
Nellie the Nurse survived for 36 issues from 1946 to 1952, despite a couple of reformattings from this relatively-sophisticated version to becoming a stereotypical ditz, to vaudeville-level slapstick humor illustrated in an Archie Comics/Dan DeCarlo art style before being moved to the back of Millie the Model, where she lasted until 1958!
(She even did a cross-over with Millie the Model, which we'll bring you soon!)

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Night Nurse