Best of True Love in the Emergency Room YOUNG ROMANCE "Full Hands - Empty Heart!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Bob Oksner and Frank Giacoia

...Nurse Phyllis Carter and Doctor Allan Tate bond over working together in the ER, and a romance develops between the medical professionals.
But it's a romance with a complication the medical professionals never thought they'd have to deal with...

Wait!

The Doctor she's working with has just been murdered in fromt of her!
Even if she wasn't romantically involved with him...they can't let her sit down and rest?

She's clearly in shock!
I wouldn't want her near patients in her present condition!
Plus, wouldn't the police want to talk to her as a witness to the murder?
Speaking of that...has anybody restrained Johnny?
Written by Robert Kanigher, penciled by John Rosenberger and inked by Vince Colletta, this cover-featured story from DC's Young Romance #194 (1973) tries to jam a legitimate moral into the last few panels instead of giving it an extra page to play out in a more coherent manner.
Editor/writer Robert Kanigher was the most vocal proponent of racial equality in the DC editorial "Old Guard" of the 1950s-70s, scripting numerous anti-racist stories as well as introducing several Black characters into the DC Comics universe including...

...Nubia, the second ongoing character to bear the Wonder Woman title, as well as scripting this somewhat infamous Lois Lane story...

Though he meant well, Kanigher was rather heavy-handed, sometimes sacrificing plot logic (like the ending of "Full Hands, Empty Heart") to make a moral point.
Note: On some pages Phyllis (and other Black characters') skin is gray/purple and on some it's brown.
That's because on the pages showing her as gray, the color separators used the wrong combination of yellow, red (magenta) and blue (cyan) screens.
When the story was reprinted in Simon & Schuster's Heart Throbs: Best of DC Romance Comics (1979) trade paperback, the only editorial change was to correct the Black characters' skin tones.

All the other coloring remained the same.

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Best of True Love in the Emergency Room YOUNG ROMANCE "Full Hands - Empty Heart!" Part 1

Since it's both Black History Month and almost Valentines Day...

..we thought we'd re-present a two-parter featuring a Black medical professional in a romantic relationship!

Note: On some pages Phyllis' skin is gray and on some it's brown.

That's because on the pages showing her as gray, the color separators used the wrong combination of yellow, red (magenta) and blue (cyan) screens.

To find out what happens next...

Be Here Next Week

for the heart-rending conclusion as well as some background about the writer of the tale!

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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!

Sensation Comics DR PAT "Danger in the Everglades!"

Don't you wish your doctor was more like Dr Pat?

Anybody can sit around in their office, but she gets out there in the field where few male doctors would dare go!

While not exactly "racist", the use of solid magenta for the Seminoles' skin tone is just...weird, especially since, in DC's various Old West titles, the Native Americans are shown as "suntanned" compared to the White characters, not beet-red.

Otherwise, this never-reprinted tale from DC's Sensation Comics #105 (1951) is pretty much "business as usual" for comics' first ongoing female doctor!

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Sensation Comics DR PAT "Case of the Frightened Flyer!"

Dr Pat...physician, crime-fighter, aircraft pilot, animal tamer, Commie-crusher..

...lets add "unlicensed psychologist" to that resume!

Inker Frank Giacoia also pencils this never-reprinted tale from DC's Sensation Comics #104 (1951), giving it a different "look" as he experiments with "camera angles" to liven up the story...not that it needs "livening up"!

Once more, Dr Pat demonstrates that not only can she do almost anything, she's aware of when not doing anything is the best strategy!

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Sensation Comics DR PAT "Carnival of Doom!"

Have no fear...Dr Pat is here!

And this never-reprinted tale from DC's Sensation Comics #103 (1951) shows why...and it ain't just her medical acumen!

Considering the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel features multiple series about freelance female sleuths whose main gigs are everything from bookstore owners to matchmakers to talk show hosts to Post Office workers, why don't they have a woman doctor who solves crimes in her spare time?

I'd suggest adapting Dr Pat into a series, either as a 1950s period piece or a contemporary-set show featuring the latest in medical technology at her disposal!

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