Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Military Medicine/CoronaVirus Comics PAT PARKER: WAR NURSE "Disease from the Depths"

Few non-superpowered World War II heroines had as active a career as...
 ...who went through three different incarnations during the conflict!
Introduced in Harvey's Speed Comics #13, British nurse Patricia Parker kicked the butts of spies, saboteurs, and medical black marketers in plainclothes for two issues before donning her costume and identity at the end of this never-reprinted story from Speed #15 (1942).
She was as proficient at Nazi-clobbering in costume as without one.
You'll note Pat didn't need a guy to assist her.
But, as of Speed Comics #23, she teamed up with several women from other countries (China, Russia, and America) to form the Girl Commandos, a distaff version of the multi-national Blackhawks...
...and dropped the "War Nurse" identity for the remainder of her run!
Note: If the art seems a tad un-detailed, even for a Golden Age comic, that's because the book wasn't normal sized (7.75" x 10.5"), but the smaller digest magazine-size (4" x 6.75")!
We just run them at the same size as the regular comics on this blog for your viewing ease!
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Friday, May 20, 2022

EMERGENCY! "Silent Death" Conclusion

...they had been trained as paramedics, but were unable to legally-use that training in life-or-death situations they encounter daily, due to legal restrictions.
That is about to change...

The story, written by Joe Gill, was adapted from an early draft of the pilot episode, "Wedworth-Townsend Act", of the 1970s TV series Emergency!
The script dealt with the then-new law allowing specially-trained firemen to administer more than basic first aid to accident victims.
The series, from producer/actor Jack (Dragnet) Webb was a companion show with his other ongoing series Adam-12.
There were several crossovers between the two series during their runs, including this pilot episode!
However, since two different comic companies had the rights to Emergency! and Adam-12, the comics themselved didn't do a crossover!
Though the series began in 1972, this b/w magazine and the companion color comic (which presented different stories) weren't introduced until the show's fifth season, in 1977.
BTW, this story from Charlton's EMERGENCY! #1 (1976) adapts the remainder of the two-hour pilot.
"Crusty Bunkers" was the nickname assigned to a varying team of artists who worked on assignments for packager Continuity Associates (who provided art for various Charlton projects including this and Six Million Dollar Man.)
This particular team consisted of Joe Brozowski, Joe Barney, Mark Rice, Sal Amendola, Carl Potts, Terry Austin, Bruce Patterson, Bob Wiacek and John Fuller with Dick Giordano and Continuity Associates owner, the recently-deceased Neal Adams, overseeing and also providing layouts.

Friday, May 13, 2022

EMERGENCY! "Silent Death" Part 1

We Have Already Seen...

...well, that pretty much summarized the situation.
Now let's see what happens to Gage and DeSoto...

To Be Concluded...
NEXT WEEK

The story, written by Joe Gill, was adapted from an early draft of the pilot episode, "Wedworth-Townsend Act", of the 1970s TV series Emergency!
The script dealt with the then-new law allowing specially-trained firemen to administer more than basic first aid to accident victims.
The series, from producer/actor Jack (Dragnet) Webb was a companion show with his other ongoing series Adam-12.
There were several crossovers between the two series during their runs, including this pilot episode!
However, since two different comic companies had the rights to Emergency! and Adam-12, the comics themselved didn't do a crossover!
Though the series began in 1972, this b/w magazine and the companion color comic (which presented different stories) weren't introduced until the show's fifth season, in 1977.
BTW, this story from Charlton's EMERGENCY! #1 (1976) adapts the remainder of the two-hour pilot.
We presented the first part HERE.
"Crusty Bunkers" was the nickname assigned to a varying team of artists who worked on assignments for packager Continuity Associates (who provided art for various Charlton projects including this and Six Million Dollar Man.)
This particular team consisted of Joe Brozowski, Joe Barney, Mark Rice, Sal Amendola, Carl Potts, Terry Austin, Bruce Patterson, Bob Wiacek and John Fuller with Dick Giordano and Continuity Associates owner, the recently-deceased Neal Adams, overseeing and also providing layouts.

Friday, May 6, 2022

UNCANNY ORIGINS "Physician, Heal Thyself!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

After an obsession for money was drilled into him by his father, young Steven Strange studied medicine, not to help his fellow man, but for profit!
His dedication to using his skills only to make himself rich left him a drunken, friendless (though wealthy) in-demand surgeon with skills second-to-none.
His alcoholism caused him to crash his car, destroying his manual dexterity and his career.
Since science couldn't help him, Steven followed rumors of a mystic guru who could allegedly-cure anything..
We hope you enjoyed this presentation of the good Doctor's origin, and that you'll go see
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
...in theatres NOW!
BTW, in October, we'll be presenting a month-long saga featuring Marvel's "Mightiest Medics"...

...including Doctor Strange, Dr Jane Foster as Valkyrie, Night Nurse, Cardiac, Excalibur, and Manikin, to save Death itself from oblivion!
It's our annual Haunted Hospital Halloween blogathon cranked up to "11"!

Thursday, May 5, 2022

UNCANNY ORIGINS "Physician, Heal Thyself!" Part 1


...we thought "Why wait for Halloween to present our annual 'Origin of Doctor Strange' story...as we did twice-previously?
(His original origin from 1963 HERE and an expanded retelling from 1968 HERE!)
This version, from 1997, expands it even more, detailing why Steven Strange was obsessed with making money from his superb surgical skills...as well as revealing he was an alcoholic (which you might think would've impaired his mental faculties and hand-eye coordination) while in medical school, during his surgical practice...and was the cause of the car crash that destroyed his manual dexterity!
To Be Concluded...
Written by Bronze/Modern Age scribe Len Wein and illustrated by Mark Campos, this tale from Marvel's Uncanny Origins #12 (1997) concentrated more on his pre-mystic years than any of the previous tellings of "who he is and how he came to be".

PICTURE STORIES FROM SCIENCE "Fighting Germs with Germs: the Story of Vaccination and Innoculation"

This comic tale from the 1940s explains the benefits of vaccination  in such a simple, graphic way... ...that even a regressive Reich-wing a...