PATSY WALKER "Great Idea!"

There used to be lots more to teen humor comics than just Archie and his friends...

...with every comics publisher from the late 1940s through the early 1970s doing them! 

Created by writer Stuart Little (no, he's not a talking mouse) and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Timely's Miss America Magazine #2 (1944).

Redheaded Patsy Walker, parents Stanley and Betty, boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and insanely-rich, raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1944 through 1967 in various teen humor anthologies as well as several self-titled comics.

Trivia: Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt: Outlaw) were the only titles published continuously by Marvel from Timely in the Golden Age, through Atlas in the 1950s, to Marvel in the  Silver Age!

Patsy, Buzz and Hedy are all part of the Marvel Universe from Marvel's Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) when Patsy and Hedy attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!

Patsy later became the superheroine HellCat, and Buzz was revealed to be the supervillain Mad-Dog!

Patsy (and HellCat) appeared on the NetFlix series Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Defenders, played (at various ages from child to adulthood) by Rachael Taylor, Catherine Blades, and Audrey Grace Marshall, making her part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

(Note: she's called "Trish", not "Patsy" in the MCU)

Written and illustrated by the versatile Al Jaffee (before he moved over to MAD Magazine), this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Patsy Walker #36 (1951) promoted contributing to the charity created in 1946 by newsman Walter Winchell (best known today as the narrator of the 1960s TV show Untouchables) to honor his friend, writer Damon Runyon, who died of cancer!

The charity, now called Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, still exists!

The CrossOver That Shaped the Marvel Multiverse...

When Last We Left Linda Carter...
No, not that Lynda (with a "y") Carter!
This Linda (with an "i") Carter!
...we had learned she has an important place in the Marvel Multiverse!

As Douglas Wolk, author of the monumental work All of the Marvels put it...
"Still, I think of (Linda Carter: Student Nurse), rather than Fantastic Four, as being where the collective Marvel story really begins, for three reasons.
The first is that it was part of Marvel’s first shared-universe, multiple-series crossover, which was published immediately after Fantastic Four #1—and didn’t involve any superheroes."
I'd add that this was the first crossover between non-superhero characters who would also later appear within the Marvel Multiverse!

Without further adieu, here's the never-reprinted milestone from Atlas/Marvel's Patsy Walker #99 (1962)...

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Al Hartley (who, conveniently, happened to do those jobs on both the Patsy Walker and Linda Carter: Student Nurse comics!)

Both Patsy and Linda would later reappear in Bronze Age Marvel titles!,

Patsy would play a supporting role in ex-X-Man The Beast's short-lived strip in Amazing Adventures before following him over to The Avengers and finding a technologically-advanced costume which enabled her to become HellCat, then joining the team!

She's been a part of the Marvel Multiverse (including the Marvel Cinematic Universe) ever since!

(Fanboy/Girl Note: the costume previously-belonged to a heroine named The Cat...

...who had metamorphed into a were-cat using the name Tigra, and didn't need the outfit any longer!)

(I know, I know...TMI...but it's my blog, so bear with me!)
Linda, whose comic was cancelled after nine issues, would reappear in 1972...

...ironically, the same year as The Cat debuted!

(Amazing how all this stuff overlaps, eh?)

But. before Linda disappeared for a decade, she crossed-over with another character who would also become part of the Marvel Multiverse!

Her final issue, #9 in 1963 featured someone visiting her comic...in the last Linda Carter story published!
Don't let the title deceive you...

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Al Hartley.

Millie the Model was, until its' cancellation, Timely/Atlas/Marvel's longest-running, continuously-published title, (207 issues from 1945 to 1973)!
Millie, along with Patsy (and Hedy) made their Marvel Universe debut in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) as onlookers at the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.
Unlike Patsy, she never gained superpowers (except in a dream, as shown HERE), but has hung out with the Defenders, Dazzler, She-Hulk and The Sentry in their respective series as well as starred in a mini-series called Models, Inc about fashion models involved with superheroes!
But this mini-series is about Linda Carter.
Sadly, we've run our of room for this week.

So, be here next Friday, as we explore the 1970s incarnation of our favorite RN as she becomes...

Night Nurse!

(And we'll tell you the other two things Wolk said!)

It's worth the wait!

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