Marvel Comics, The American Cancer Society and the Story So Nice, They Told it Twice!

Actually, it wasn't a "nice" tale, but we wanted an alliterative title...

In 1982, Marvel and the American Cancer Society co-produced a giveaway comic against under-21 smoking starring Spider-Man, Storm of The X-Men and Luke Cage: Power Man vs the villain called...SmokeScreen!
In 1998, they reprinted the comic, but the response from medical offices was poor, with kids not interested in the "old-fashioned" artwork!
So it was decided to keep the script (almost verbatim) and redraw it, start to finish!

Here are both versions for you to "compare and contrast"!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 1

Part 2

Which do you prefer?

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Free Comics

Giveaways that Fought Commies, Sold Cars and Cigars, Showed How to Buy a TV and Avoid VD, and are now Saving Lives!
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XMas in the Emergency Room WITHIN OUR REACH "Home for Christmas"

Our Yuletide Tale Involves a Hospital and Terminal Illness...

...but there's no involvement by the patients with a doctor or other medical practitioner!

This tale, written by Shair and illustrated by Eric Shanower appeared in the Yultetide-season charity benefit book Within Our Reach (1991) with proceeds going equally to AmFAR and Sempervirens.

Besides AIDS patients, the comic ran stories about the poor and homeless, undocumented immigrants, and the clinically-depressed, all set at Christmastime.
The one-shot was the final publication by independent publisher Star*Reach, which became a "packager" providing editorial and art services for other publishers through the 1990s.

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year

We're taking next week off, but we'll be back the week after New Year's Day.

Behind the Operating Theatre AMERICAN SPLENDOR: ON THE JOB! "Veterans' Rights"

We presented an X-Mas-themed tale from this one-shot title HERE...

...and here's another story of one man's crusade against the Veterans' Administration's bureaucratic incompetence!

There's a lot more to medicine than the stories about doctors, nurses, techs, and ambulance drivers handling life-or-death situations!

There are the stories about how the whole hospital/doctor's practice is kept operating by the people the patient doesn't see...or even know about...like file clerks!

Written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by Frank Stack, this story from Dark Horse's one-shot American Splendor: On the Job (1997) is part of Pekar's multiple award-winning, long-running, autobiographical underground comic series American Splendor.

After doing a stint in the Navy, Harvey spent most of his adult life as a file clerk at the Veterans Administration Hospital in his native Cleveland, working there (even while, beginning in 1976, writing American Splendor) until his retirement in 2001, at which point, the slice-of-life comic series and related projects became his full-time gig.
He passed away in 2010 from an accidental overdose of antidepressants while dealing with a third diagnosis of cancer.
(He had already successfully-overcome the disease twice.)

Please Support Medical Comics and Stories

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Best of American Splendor
(which contains this story and others from "On the Job")
Or

American Splendor: the Movie
Paul Giamatti IS Harvey Pekar!
(Not available on blu-ray? WHY???)
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Xmas in the Emergency Room AMERICAN SPLENDOR: ON THE JOB! "Why Won't They Let Us Out?"

For those who work in support services in medical facilities...

...one tedious day is much like the other, even during the Yuletide season!

Written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by Frank Stack, this story from Dark Horse's one-shot American Splendor: On the Job (1997) is part of Pekar's multiple award-winning, long-running, autobiographical underground comic series American Splendor.

After doing a stint in the Navy, Harvey spent most of his adult life as a file clerk at the Veterans Administration Hospital in his native Cleveland, working there (even while, beginning in 1976, writing American Splendor) until his retirement in 2001, at which point, the slice-of-life comic series and related projects became his full-time gig.
He passed away in 2010 from an accidental overdose of antidepressants while dealing with a third diagnosis of cancer.
(He had already successfully-overcome the disease twice.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

&

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Prelude to Haunted Hospital J N WILLIAMSON'S MASQUES "Billion Monstrosities"

It's almost October!

Time for spooky stuff...

...which is still medically-oriented!

Written by editor Mort Castle, illustrated by Tim Vigil.

This two-issue mini-series was a graphic spin-off from a long-running, award-winning prose horror anthology. 
Next Week:

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"!

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J N Williamson's
Illustrated Masques

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"!

UNCANNY ORIGINS "Physician, Heal Thyself!" Part 1

With a new movie starring him opening tomorrow...

...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...

Tomorrow!

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".