Sisters in Medicine SUE AND SALLY SMITH: FLYING NURSES "No Serum for Greed"

Though the title characters usually worked together...

...both Sue and Sally also had solo globe-trotting adventures!

The fraternal-twin Smith sisters worked for "Emergency Corps", a Doctors Without Borders-type organization that sent medical personnel to hot spots all over the world.

From forest fires to typhus outbreaks, the Flying Nurses could handle it all, as this never-reprinted story by writer Joe Gill, penciler Joe Sinnott and inker Vince Colletta from Charlton's Sue and Sally Smith: Flying Nurses #48 (1962) proves!

Notes: #48 was the duo's first issue!
Before that, the comic was My Secret Life, but after the duo debuted in #47...

...the book was renamed for them!

No mention of a psychic link the two shared in this debut tale was ever made again...which is a shame, because it really would have come in handy for them in later stories...at least until the book was cancelled with #54!

Support Medical Comics and Stories

Visit Amazon and Order...

Night Nurse
Paid Link

ROMANCES OF NURSE HELEN GRANT "You Cannot Marry!"

 A Year Ago, We Presented the First Chapter in This Medical Soap Opera One-Shot...

Nurse Helen Grant and Doctor Brian Clark are a team in the operating room...and on the dance floor!
Together, they solve problems both professional and personal...

A series about a totally-loyal, Lovestruck Nurse obsessed with a Handsome Young Doctor whom every female who walks through the Emergency Room doors lusts after!

Unlike Nurse Mary Robin who wavered in her loyalty to her Dr Love Object, eventually ending up with a different doctor, Nurse Grant seems determined to be by Doctor Clark's side...obviously as close as possible...until Death Do Them Part!
Was that the reason there wasn't an issue #2?
We'd have to ask plotter/editor Stan Lee, inker Vince Colletta, and the likely "ghost" penciler, Matt Baker, what they had in mind after this premiere issue of Atlas' Romances of Nurse Helen Grant #1 (1957).
But since they've all passed away, we'll never know!

Tales Twice-Told YOUNG DOCTORS "Star Patient"

What Do You Do When the Two Hottest Doctors on TV are Licensed to Another Comics Publisher?

Why, you put out a book about two doctors who look and sound just like them, of course!

Dr Kildare...excuse me, Dr Landon, treats his latest beautiful female patient...

Written by Joe Gil, inked by Vince Colletta, and penciled by someone whose name is, sadly, lost to the mists of time, this (sort of) never-repinted tale from Charlton's Young Doctors #3 (1963) was designed to lure unwary Ben Casey and/or Dr Kildare fans into buying what appears to be a team-up of the two incredibly-popular TV medicos!

It lasted six issues, after which Drs Landon & Burke disappeared from comics forever!

Ha!

Fooled You!

There's a reason this entry is classified "Twice Told-Tales", and you'll find out why...tomorrow!

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.

Support Medical Comics and Stories
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Heart Throbs
Best of DC Romance Comics
(Which reprints this story)
Paid Link

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!

Support Medical Comics and Stories

Heart Throbs
Best of DC Romance Comics
(Which reprints this story)
Paid Link

Best of Xmas in the Emergency Room YOUNG DOCTORS "Dr Tom Brent: Christmas Comes in August!"

Its' the Day After Christmas...

...and I'm too full of spiked eggnog to do a new post, so here's a re-presentation of our first Christmas post from 2020!

This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Young Doctors #6 (1963) unfortunately shows off the terrible printing Charlton Comics was famous for.

The publisher didn't utilize the printing companies literally every other comics publisher used.

Instead, to save money, they printed on old, second-hand presses.

But these presses had been constructed to handle cardboard and plastic packaging, not the much-thinner paper used for comics!

As a result, their comics had an amazing amount of smearing and off-register color, as you can see from the first page.

It's a shame, because the art by penciler Joe Sinnott and inker Vince Colletta deserves a better presentation!

BTW, Young Doctors was an anthology title featuring tales of all the MDs who had their own Charlton books, including, of course, Dr Tom Brent, Young Intern!

We're taking next week off!
See you January 9th, 2026!

DOCTOR DAN DAZZLER "I Can't Breathe"

Here's Dr Dazzler's Final Improvised Medical Miracle...

...illustrated by returning artist Gene Colan!


It's odd that this never-reprinted story from Dell's Ben Casey #8 (1963-4) and the previous Dr Dan Dazzler tale illustrated by Gene Colan (shown HERE) feature the same basic plot...Dr Dan desperately needs rest, but circumstances keep him on his feet, heloping people!
Support Medical Comics and Stories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Secrets in the Shadows

Art & Life of Gene Colan
Paid Link