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!

Halloween Hospital Horrors SCIENCE COMICS "Dr Doom's Diabolical Disease"

No, not this well-known Marvel villain...

...but his totally-unrelated Golden Age predecessor who had his own strip in Fox's Science Comics!

In a future when Mankind has colonized the Solar System, a somewhat-stereotypical Mad Scientist constantly threatens all civilized life due to unspecified "injustices" allegedly-done to him!

Opposing this nutcase are heroic square-jawed aviator Jan Swift and his co-pilot/girlfriend Wanda.

And that's all you really need to know...

In the early days, few comics were about just one character.

(Even books which were titled after a lead strip, like Superman, had backup stories about other characters to fill out 52 to 68 pages in each issue!)

Most comics of the era were anthologies, with up to a half-dozen strips ranging through every genre you could think of!

Many titles had an ongoing feature about a villain...who lost almost all the time!

And even if he (Or "she"! Comics were equal-opportunity when it came to evil!) was captured, they would escape to plot evil once more!

This never-reprinted tale by "Richard Crater" (a pen-name) from Fox Feature's Science Comics #6 (1940) was typical of those "villain strips"
Trivia: Dr Doom appeared in all eight issues of Science Comics, with a couple of already-prepared tales appearing in the back of other Fox comics after Science's cancellation.
None of his stories has ever been reprinted!
Unlike later Science Comics series from other publishers, Fox Feature's version had absolutely no educational material!

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CRAZY "Flu Strains from DIfferent Countries"

You thought that, during the 1970s, we were becoming more sensitive to ethnic humor?

You obviously weren't around then, bunkie!

While TV series like All in the Family and films like Kentucky Fried Movie were cleverly skewering racial stereotypes, some pop culture contributors were still indulging in them, as this (not surprisingly) never-reprinted feature from Marvel's Crazy Magazine #43 (1978) proves!

I don't know what writer Fred Wolfe and artist John Langton were thinking when they created this, but the fact that editor Paul Laikin let it see print doesn't speak well for any of their sensibilities!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

ARCHIE'S JUGHEAD "Jughead in 'The Patient' "

What happens when the best friend of America's Most Famous Comic Book TeenAger is taken ill?

Well, it seems the gang's true feelings about him come out...

Written by Dick Malmgren and illustrated by Saam Schwartz, this tale from Archie's Jughead #250 (1976) seems to show how little respect Forsythe Pendleton Jones III engenders in his associates...except for Archie!

I hope the current version of the characters has revised this concept...

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SURGEON X SPECIAL "Trial and Error"

When is a Surgeon X story not a Surgeon X story?

When Rosa Scott MD, isn't the protaganist, but a supporting character in a tale involving her cousin, research scientist Dr Sun Walker!

Written by Sara Kenney and illustrated by Warren Pleece, this was a digital-only tale set in 2037, a year after the end of the mini-series.
There haven't been any more Surgeon X stories since the story's release in 2017.
But this potential future may be closer than you think...

In the meantime, go...HERE

(And yes, I'm as surprised as you are that the site is still up almost a decade later!)

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SURGEON X "Path of Most Resistance" Chapter 6 "Gods and Monsters" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

...if you haven't been following the series up to now, at least go back to last week's post HERE, then continue from this point!

So,what were you expecting?
A happy ending?

Speaking of which, Just before issue #5 was released, artist John Watkiss passed away from cancer,.
The editorial page for this issue, which was about to go to press, was modified to present the tragic news, but comic websites like Bleeding Cool had already gotten the word out.

While the Surgeon X series hasn't (to date) continued, there was a one-shot digital comic published on-line, written by Sara Kennedy and illustrated by Warren Pleece, who assisted Watkiss with the art on #6!

You'll see that final, far more optimistic tale...
NEXT WEEK!

In the meantime, go...HERE

(And yes, I'm as surprised as you are that the site is still up almost a decade later!)

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SURGEON X "Path of Most Resistance" Chapter 6 "Gods and Monsters" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...as her mentally-unstable brother goes off the deep end, and her sister goes to Burma to find answers to their mother's disappearance, Rosa Scott MD, aka Surgeon X hits a dead-end in her research with a police detective about a government coverup involving the entire medical community!

But things are about to go from bad to much, much, worse..

Her Illegal Antibiotic Supplier Dies (at Her Hand) as a New Plague Hits London!

Plus, an Insane (and really irritiating) AI is Everywhere!

And, Oh, So Many Unanswered Questions!

Be here for the Mini-Series'Conclusion...

...but Not the End of Surgeon X...

Next Week!

In the meantime, go...HERE

(And yes, I'm as surprised as you are that the site is still up almost a decade later!)

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Surgeon X

Path of Most Resistance

TPB Containing the Complete Mini-Series

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