Military Medicine TRUE COMICS "Call Him 'DOC'"

They're Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the US Army This Weekend...

...so let's tell a real story about a real medic!

I'm not sure if this never-reprinted tale from Parents Magazine Press' True Comics #33 (1943), is, in fact, true!

But it is just unusual enough to be believable.

Military Medicine SHIP AHOY "Navy Air Medic"

Before the Air Force Became a Separate Branch of the Military...

...all three of the services (Army, Navy, Marines) had their own, distinct air services...and unique ways of doing things tailored to their specific needs!

Now, this isn't to say they didn't share results of research between the branches, but there were aspects applicable only to each service.

This never-reprinted feature from Spotlight Publication's one-shot Ship Ahoy (1944) was likely checked by the government so that no critical/secret info was inadvertently published!

CoronaVirus Comics REAL HEROES "Plague Vanquished"

Not all comic book heroes wear capes...

..as this tale of Edward Jenner, the doctor who saved us from smallpox, proves!

Who says comics ain't educational?

Not me, kiddo!

This never-reprinted story from Parent Magazines' Real Heroes #15 (1946) was one of several graphic dramatizations of Dr Jenner's achievement which has saved countless lives since its' introduction!

Depending on how long the Covid-19 lockdown continues, we may have time to run all of them!

Sadly, both writer and illustrator(s) are unknown!

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Rabbit and Cat's CoronaVirus Jokes for Such a Time as This

Volume One

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

Halloween Hospital Horrors SCIENCE COMICS "Dr Doom's Diabolical Disease"

No, not this well-known Marvel villain...

...but his totally-unrelated Golden Age predecessor who had his own strip in Fox's Science Comics!

In a future when Mankind has colonized the Solar System, a somewhat-stereotypical Mad Scientist constantly threatens all civilized life due to unspecified "injustices" allegedly-done to him!

Opposing this nutcase are heroic square-jawed aviator Jan Swift and his co-pilot/girlfriend Wanda.

And that's all you really need to know...

In the early days, few comics were about just one character.

(Even books which were titled after a lead strip, like Superman, had backup stories about other characters to fill out 52 to 68 pages in each issue!)

Most comics of the era were anthologies, with up to a half-dozen strips ranging through every genre you could think of!

Many titles had an ongoing feature about a villain...who lost almost all the time!

And even if he (Or "she"! Comics were equal-opportunity when it came to evil!) was captured, they would escape to plot evil once more!

This never-reprinted tale by "Richard Crater" (a pen-name) from Fox Feature's Science Comics #6 (1940) was typical of those "villain strips"
Trivia: Dr Doom appeared in all eight issues of Science Comics, with a couple of already-prepared tales appearing in the back of other Fox comics after Science's cancellation.
None of his stories has ever been reprinted!
Unlike later Science Comics series from other publishers, Fox Feature's version had absolutely no educational material!

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Illustrated History of Science Fiction Comics

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CLARA BARTON: ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD

One of the most important figures in nursing history...not just for her nursing skills!

Profiled in a never-reprinted feature in DC's Wonder Woman V1N2 (1942) by writer Alice Marble and illustrator Sheldon Moldoff.

Then, in 1944, she received a cover-featured...

...and also never-reprinted, more detailed feature in Parents Magazine Press' True Comics #34, by (sadly) unknown creatives.

Note: The scans are from a hardbound compilation of True Comics, so the pages couldn't lie flat on the scanner. 

An Amazing Nurse!

An Amazing Woman!

An Amazing American!

An appropriate post for the 4th of July weekend, eh?

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Military Medicine REAL LIFE COMICS "Fighting Surgeon"

Since this is Memorial Day weekend...

...we thought we'd present a tale of a combat surgeon who served in multiple theatres of war!

Note: it may be considered NSFW/NSFS due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

In reality, "Dr David De Leon" didn't exist!

Everything attributed to him in this story actually occurred to Dr Samuel Preston Moore!
Why his real name wasn't used in this piece is unknown!
Considering that other historical figures in this issue like Kit Carson, President Franklin D Roosevelt, Captain Oliver Perry, Francois Villon, Jim Thorpe, Helen Keller, Jessie Owens, and even Burl Ives weren't renamed, it seems...odd!
BTW, this never-reprinted illustrated feature from Standard Publishing's Real Life Comics #45 (1947) was the result of postal regulations!
In order to qualify as a periodical publication to receive lowered postal rates, a comic had to have at least one full page of typeset text per issue.
If there was a quarter-page or larger illustration on the page, then a second page had to be added to provide more text to fulfill the mandate!
When comics added letters pages from the 1950s onward, those fulfilled the text requirement, and these prose pieces all but disappeared!

Who says comics ain't educational???

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 anti-vaxxer like RFK Jr could understand!

(Note that the Near Eastern people in the third panel are supposed to be suntanned/light brown, but colorists of the time had problems getting the correct CMY color combination!)

Written by Morris Nelson Sachs and illustrated by Don Cameron, this never-reprinted story from EC Comics' Picture Stories of Science #2 (1947) was told in a straightforward manner, taking info from encyclopedias and school textbooks and visualizing it for kids.

And, yes, that's the same EC Comics who, in the 1950s, produced...

...but, in the 1940s, were doing educational comics like this...

When the wholesome stuff didn't sell, they changed the company name from "Educational Comics" to "Entertaining Comics", took a different approach, and the rest was history!
Ironically, after the whole "comics cause juvenile delinquency" mania of the mid-1950s which almost destroyed the comic book business, EC made one more stab at doing adult-oriented, "quality" comics...

...and...

Both failed within a year!

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