MY GREATEST ADVENTURE "Cure Our Robot Ruler--or Die"

Yes, This is a Weekly Blog about Doctors, Nurses, and Other Medical Personnel...

Art by Lee Elias

...but nobody said the patients had to be human!

Ever see the movie Crisis (1950)?

Cary Grant plays a doctor vacationing in a South American country, where a revolution is brewing.

He's grabbed by the dictator's (Jose Ferrer) police to operate on him since they don't trust any of the surgeons native to the country to keep the secret of the ruler's infirmity!
The sadly-unknown writer of this never-repinted story from DC's My Greatest Adventure #77 (1963) obviously based his script on is, adding a cybernetic variation of that concept!

Interesting that the whole story comes down to "turn off the device and reboot", which was all-but unknown back in 1963!

9-11 WORLD'S FINEST COMIC BOOK WRITERS & ARTISTS TELL STORIES TO REMEMBER "The Job"

25 Years Ago Today, Our World Changed...

...and Americans, particularly first responders/medical personnel, rose to the challenge and dealt with it!

Writer Josh Kratch, penciler Scott McDaniel, and inker James Pascoe tell a tale of two determined EMTs/paramedics on-site at the Twin Towers, helping mo matter what the cost, in a story published in the DC Comics charity benefit comic World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember (2002).
All the creatives, as well as the printers, donated their time and materials (including printing ink, paper stock and presstime) to the project.
Interestingly, copies of this comic are available on-line and in comics shops from $2.50 to $75 each, but none of the price you'd pay now will go to charity...

SuperHero Surgeons DOCTOR MID-NITE

Some super-hero "doctors" were also MDs in their secret identities...

....such as this "creature of the night", who, sadly, never made it big, despite having a long life as a second-stringer!

Though the character retained his license and served as a consultant to other MDs, he wasn't permitted to perform surgery.

(He occasionally did so in emergencies, as you've seen above!)

Note: While Charles McNider's costumed persona was comics' first blind super-hero (beating Marvel's Daredevil out by 23 years), he wasn't the first blind super-hero!

(A pulp magazine character called the Black Bat preceded him by a couple of years)

Dr Mid-Nite had a long run as a back-up feature in DC's All-American Comics, as well as being a member of comics' first super-hero team, the Justice Society of America.

But when superheroes (except for Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and a couple of others) faded out after World War II, his strip was one of the casualties.

Then came the 1960s, with both the Batman and James Bond fads in full-swing, Mid-Nite was revived with the rest of the Justice Society...albeit with a whole new modus operandi and lots of medical-oriented gimmicks...

The good Doctor eventually went back to his nighttime activities and blackout bombs.

Charles McNider was killed during the "Zero Hour" event which ran through all of DC Comics in 1986.

But the Dr Mid-Nite name has been continued by two other characters in DC Comics, both of whom are MDs rendered blind by villains!
Plus, the good doctor appeared on the recent Stargirl TV series, both as Charles McNider in flashbacks to the Golden Age, and Beth Chapel, who, in the present, finds his helmet (which contains an AI progammed with McNider's brain patterns) and goggles which have heads-up displays!

If readers ask for them, I'll do additional posts...

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Dr Mid-Nite
(featuring Dr Pieter Cross, the third Dr Mid-Nite
Charles McNider never had his own series)
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Best of Medical Comics & Stories DR PAT: The First Female Doctor to Have Her Own Comic Series!

Debuting in DC's Sensation Comics #94 (1949)...

...Dr Pat was a radical concept for the era, an independent female doctor equal to any male MD, and not obsessed with romance!

In fact, romance was usually the last thing on her mind!

She was too busy battling crime...

...Commies...

...even rampaging robots!

And when she did get involved in romantic situations, it was usually to assist someone else!

Created as part of the rebooting of Wonder Woman's original home, Sensation Comics into an all-female series book!
She lasted longer than any of the other secondary features including Romance: Inc, Headline Heroines, Astra: Girl of the Future, and Beautiful, But Not Dumb!, 
When Sensation Comics was rebooted again, this time with an entirely-new line-up in #107 (1952), Dr Pat and Wonder Woman both lost their strips...though Princess Diana continued in her own book!
Except for a couple of reprints in the back of Superman's Girl Friend: Lois Lane, almost the entire comics world forgot all about Dr Pat!
But we didn't!
In fact, she was our very first post, and our first ongoing series!
So, when you have a moment, check her her out!

She's a bit of comics history who doesn't deserve to be forgotten!

NEW TEEN TITANS "Plague!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...The Teen Titans (minus Robin) assist The Protector in trying to shut down a drug dealing operation.

While interacting with tweens/teens, one of the heroes, Speedy, reveals he had been an addict, but managed, with great difficulty, to kick the habit.
But the kids' parents are still confused and disturbed...

It's not a pat ending, but it is a hopeful one!

Co-creators Marv Wolfman (writer) and George Perez (penciler) of the NEW Teen Titans ensemble* did a superb job creating a story that gets the point across without being overly "preachy", even going into establish DC canon about Speedy's drug addiction!
(*The Teen Titans were created in 1964, originally made up of adult superhero/heroines' sidekicks and had a couple of different runs ending in 1975,
In 1980, DC, following the example of Marvel's "All-New, All-Different X-Men" revamp, did a similar thing with Titans, combining already-existing characters with several new Wolfman-Perez creations, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire)

NEW TEEN TITANS "Plague!" Part 1

If You're Any Sort of Comic Book Fan, You Know this Team...

...except for the guy in the middle yelling at us!
Don't worry, we'll clear that matter up as we go along...













To Be Continued...Next Friday

Unlike a number of other "revelations" about super-heroes in public-service comics, like Captain America revealing he had asthma as a kid, Speedy's confession about being a drug addict didn't come out of nowhere!
It was already part of official DC canon, first shown over a decade earlier in DC's Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 (1971)...

...written by Denny O'Neil, penciled by Neal Adams, and inked by Dick Giordano (who also inked this story).
Note: when this Titans story was published in 1983, the GL/GA story was out of print, so that's why there's no footnote about it in the tale above.
The entire GL/GA storyline from the early 1970s was reprinted in a mini series the next year.
As to who The Protector is...
Because Robin was part of the Batman licensing program which was promoting Nabisco cookies at that point in time, he couldn't be used in the Keebler cookie-sponsored comic!
The Protector ended up as the Robin-replacement in all three public service drug issues, even the ones not sponsored by Keebler!
But, DC apparently made him an official part of DC continuity with an entry in Who's Who Update '87 #4...

...and even including him on the wraparound cover (in the center on the far-left of the back)...

He's cameoed in several stories over the years, always in the background.
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Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard-Travelling Heroes  Omnibus
(Which includes the GL/GA issue shown above as well as the follow-up stories)
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