DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "9 Lives Has Dr Dazzler"

One of the Weird Things About This Series...

...is that it reads like a series of one-shot stories about different doctors!

In the tale from the previous issue of Ben Casey, Dr Dazzler is shown to have acrophobia!

Yet here he is, merrily prancing around the building's superstructure without a care in the world!
Considering the same writer, Carl Memling, wrote all the Dr Dan Dazzler stories, the only way I can attribute this inconsistency is that they were initially-scripted as different doctors at the same hospital, but the (unknown) editor decided to make the feature about one doctor and just had whatever name was in the script relettered!
I'd also point out that, in every story, "Dr Dazzler" is drawn with different hair and facial features ranging from a callow 20-something with a full head of hair, to a middle-aged guy with a receding hairline!
It's a 'medical' mystery that'll never be solved...

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DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "Open and Shut Case!"

Let's return to the adventures of the "interne" who changes appearance with every story!

...and take note of the decidedly-different art style on this story by a "guest" artist!

What you've just read is the first of two never-reprinted Doctor Dan Dazzler stories penciled and inked by Gene Colan from Dell's Ben Casey Comics #6 (1963)!

He also did a couple of one-page fillers about real-life doctors!

You'll see those (and the other Dan Dazzler story) soon!

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Secrets in the Shadows

Art & Life of Gene Colan

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Media Medicine BEN CASEY FILM STORIES "Operation Tycoon" Part 1

Medical-Themed Shows Have Always Been Popular on TV...

One of the hottest shows on the air was Ben Casey, starring Vince Edwards as a handsome, but surly rule-breaking surgeon whose abrasive manner got under peoples' skins...but produced almost miraculous results!

The show was so popular that it produced two different comics from two different publishers: a regular-format comic book from Dell and this fumetti comic-sized magazine from Gold Key using photos from two episodes to re-tell the TV tales in "photonovel" format!
Remember, there was no internet and streaming services, no videotape/DVD/BluRay, or any other way to see TV series when you wished!
BTW, the show was filmed in black and white, so the b/w pix aren't a cost-saving measure by the publisher!
Most TV shows were filmed this way until the mid-1960s!

Let's begin our story, based on the first season episode "An Expensive Glass of Water"...

Will Ben Casey Buckle to the Will of Type-A Tycoon Walter Tyson?

Will Tyson Turn Chicken?

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Tune in NOW at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video to learn the Astounding Answer!

Besides the regular cast members: Sam Jaffee as Dr David Zorba, Bettye Ackerman as Dr Maggie Graham, Harry Anders as Dr Ted Hoffman, and Jeanne Bates as Nurse Wills, the guest cast included Chester Morris as Walter Tyson, and Neva Patterson as Miss Warren.

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Ben Casey

Complete Season 1

(Which includes the episode the comic/fumetti adapts!)

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DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "Deadly Playmates"

It's fascinating to see what, in the 1960s...

..."internes" had to do, including, serving as "physician-on-duty" when a circus comes to town!

Actually, I believe the esteemed interne is royally-pissed in this never-reprinted story, illustrated by John Tartaglione from Dell's Ben Casey #5 (1963)

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DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "One Heartbeat from Death"

We Return to Our Monthly Installment of Dr Dan Dazzler...

...the interne (as they spelled it back then) who never looks the same two issues in a row!

Written by Carl Memling and illustrated by Norman Nodel, this third tale of Dr Dan Dazzler from Dell's Ben Casey #4 (1962) shows us a different visual for the character than his previous appearance HERE!
Then, he's under 25, with a full head of blond hair!
But in his premiere tale HERE, he looks as he does now...early-30s with receding brown hair!
I wonder if this was meant to be a feature about a group of doctors working at a given hospital like "Internes of Central Hospital" or somesuch.
But they decided, after the art was rendered, to just change the name and the captions and make several doctors just one doctor, with, easily, the silliest name they could think of!
But they didn't modify the art to give the character a consistent look!
It's just a theory, and we'll never know the answer.

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DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "Rumble..!"

We Close Out December and 2024 with Our Monthly Feature...

...about a young "interne" who may look too youthful for his own good!

Written by Carl Memling and illustrated by Norman Nodel, this second tale of Dr Dan Dazzler from Dell's Ben Casey #3 (1962) shows us a different visual for the character than his first appearance HERE!
In this strip, he's under 25, with a full head of blond hair, but in the previous strip, he looked like early-30s with receding brown hair!
I wonder if this was meant to be a feature about a group of doctors working at a given hospital like "Internes of Central Hospital" or somesuch.
But they decided, after the art was rendered, to just change the name and the captions and make several doctors just one doctor, with, easily, the silliest name they could think of!
But they didn't modify the art to give the character a consistent look!
It's just a theory, and we'll never know the answer.

We're Taking Next Friday Off, But We'll be Back on January10th, 2025!

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DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "Dial EMERGENCY..."

Tucked behind the comic book adventures of TV's Ben Casey...

...was a strip about a young interne (as they spelled it back then)!

This premiere appearance from Dell's Ben Casey Comics #2 (1963) was scripted by Carl Memling and illustrated by Norman Nodel who did several chapters before moving on to other assignments.

BTW, Doctor Dan Dazzler is our new ongoing feature, appearing monthly.

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CITY SURGEON "Plague"

With RFK Jr about to become the Surgeon General of the US...

...we want to look at an example of how graphic fiction portrayed pandemics such as anti-vaxxer Kennedy seems to want to happen!

So the theme of this never-reprinted tale from Gold Key's City Surgeon #1 (1963)  shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!

Tell the truth, Nurse Lake seems to be brains of the operation!

She's the one who figures out one of the two missing crewmen might already be deceased, and her quick thinking immobilizes the other when he shows up at the office!

In the early 1960s, one of the most-popular genres in pop culture was "medical drama"!

Spearheaded on TV by hunky prime-time physicians Dr Kildare and Ben Casey along with the related series The Nurses as well as daytime soap operas with hospital settings and paperback romance novels with covers featuring "studs in scrubs" with swooning nurses, comics hopped on the medical bandwagon!

DC and Marvel simply ran more medical-themed tales in their existing romance books.

But the smaller publishers were another matter...

Charlton launched numerous series featuring doctors and nurses in separate titles including Cynthia Doyle: Nurse in Love, Dr Tom Brent: Young Intern, Nurse Betsy Crane, Young Interns, and Sue & Sally Smith: Flying Nurses.

(Oddly, there were never any cross-over stories between the various books!)

Archie Comics published a short-lived series about Young Dr Masters!

Dell had popular comics based on Dr Kildare. as well as their own Nurse Linda Lark!

Gold Key published two different Ben Casey comics (including one done "fumetti" style using photos of the TV actors with captions and word balloons) and created their own doctor in City Surgeon!

Unfortunately, artist Jack Sparling's illustrations weren't consistent, showing Dr Blake Harper as young and virile in one panel and middle-aged in the next on the same page!

Plus there was no romantic element to the book!

For whatever reason, there was never a second issue of the title and Dr Harper never made another house call...

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Cornered

Benign Humor Medical Cartoons

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