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.

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

NEW HEROIC COMICS "Modest Medic"

Even a Layman with Some Basic Medical Training can Save a Life...

...as shown in this never-reprinted featurette from Eastern Color's New Heroic Comics #61 (1950)!

While I'm unable to trace if this story, illustrated by Jerry Fasano, is true or not, I'm willing to accept it as authentic, since it reads and feels like something that would occur in real life.

Judge for yourself.

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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Clara Barton
Angel of the Battlefield
Graphic Novel
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CororonaVirus Comics WONDER WOMEN OF HISTORY "Bethenia Owens"

As Covid returns to threaten us all in the New Year...

...let's look at a pioneer woman who was also a medical pioneer!

Written by Julius Schwartz and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this tale from DC's Wonder Woman #37 (1949) was part of an ongoing non-fiction feature, "Wonder Woman of History" which ran in both Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics (which featured Wonder Woman, just as Action Comics features Superman and Detective Comics features The Batman)!
Interestingly, when these shorts were reprinted, it was only in the back of romance comics or in Superman's GirlFriend Lois Lane!
For example, this particular feature was re-presented in DC's Secret Hearts #35 (1956)!

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M.D.

Volume 1

The First Newsstand Comic Dedicated to the Medical Profession!

CoronaVirus Comics PICTURE STORIES FROM SCIENCE "Man's Unseen Foe: the Story of Germs"

Here's an EC Comics tale that isn't designed to scare you...

...because it's from the pre-horror days when "Entertaining Comics" was "Educational Comics"!

Who sez comics can't teach ya nuthin'?

Certainly not writer Morris Nelson Sachs nor artist Don Cameron in this never-reprinted story from EC's Picture Stories from Science #2 (1947)!

They've just visually-presented the difference between bacteria, germs, and viruses (such as CoronaVirus)!

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Top 10 as We Hit Bottom

What Global Warming, Nuclear War, Cyberwar, Pandemics, SuperVolcanoes, Asteroid Strikes, Out of Control AI, and Other Unpleasantness Can Do to Us

Military Medicine/CoronaVirus Comics PAT PARKER: WAR NURSE "Disease from the Depths"

Few non-superpowered World War II heroines had as active a career as...

 ...who went through three different incarnations during the conflict!

Introduced in Harvey's Speed Comics #13, British nurse Patricia Parker kicked the butts of spies, saboteurs, and medical black marketers in plainclothes for two issues before donning her costume and identity at the end of this never-reprinted story from Speed #15 (1942).

She was as proficient at Nazi-clobbering in costume as without one.

You'll note Pat didn't need a guy to assist her.

But, as of Speed Comics #23, she teamed up with several women from other countries (China, Russia, and America) to form the Girl Commandos, a distaff version of the multi-national Blackhawks...

...and dropped the "War Nurse" identity for the remainder of her run!
Note: If the art seems a tad un-detailed, even for a Golden Age comic, that's because the book wasn't normal sized (7.75" x 10.5"), but the smaller digest magazine-size (4" x 6.75")!
We just run them at the same size as the regular comics on this blog for your viewing ease!

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Divas, Dames & Daredevils
Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics