Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR HORMONE "The Doctor is In!"

You may laugh at this physician's name, but this isn't a comedy strip...

...and, BTW, he's a good guy, not an evil mad scientist, though at times he may act like one!

Talk about a cliffhanger!

Keep in mind, back in the 1940s, there was very little public information about hormones and what they could (and more importantly) couldn't do, so the creators were free to play fast-and-loose with the concept!
This premiere entry in the Doctor Hormone saga from Dell's Popular Comics #54 (1940) has everything...secret origin of a superhero, super-science run amok, espionage, and a full-scale war!

You'll note the good doctor doesn't indulge in hand-to-hand combat.

That'll change before the strip ends six issues later in #60!
Also, though he calls it a "youth" hormone, the treatment has the same effect on young and old subjects alike...aging or de-aging them to roughly the physical age of 25!

Though the writer is unknown, the artist is Robert "Bob" Bugg, who became a comic book artist in 1940, fresh out of high school.

He was drafted in 1942 and saw front-line duty, experiencing in real-life what he had drawn in tales like this (minus the super-science).

When he returned from the war, the comic book industry was in decline, and he switched to illustrating "slick" magazines like Colliers, doing advertising art and ghost-illustrating existing syndicated newspaper strips.

He eventually got his own one-panel daily cartoon, The New Neighbors, which ran from 1973 to 1976.

Next Week:

Anther Halloween Hospital Horror!

Please Support Medical Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

M.D.

Volume 1

The First Newsstand Comic Dedicated to the Medical Profession!

Coronavirus Comics HIT COMICS "Red Bee vs the Medical Grifters"

Numerous comic book characters have fought to protect America from medical threats...

...whether from terrorists/saboteurs from other countries or criminals right here in the good ol' USA!

This never-reprinted story from Quality's Hit Comics #2 (1940) was written by Toni Blum (one of the few women writing comics during the Golden Age), but the artist under the "B H Apiary" pen-name is unknown. (An apiary is a group/colony of separate bee hives close together)

While other characters like The Crimson Avenger and The Sandman borrowed The Green Hornet's "wanted criminal in a fedora and overcoat" motif, the Red Bee took the "colorful insect wanted by the police" concept and went in a different direction...a skintight costume with transparent sleeves and actually using live insects!

Besides trained bees (Can you actually train bees?), the two-fisted adventurer used a "stinger" gun that shot tranquilizer darts (paralleling the Green Hornet's knockout-gas gun)!

Note: bees, wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets are all from the same sub-species of insects.

Quality's editors must've thought the concept was a winner, since the Red Bee was cover-featured on Hit Comics' first issue, plus a run of several consecutive issues a few months later.

(Most of the time, characters were rotated, with each one getting a cover every 3-4 issues!)

Despite the promotional push, the Red Bee disappeared after Hit #24, but returned in DC's All Star Squadron in the1980s, only to be killed off shortly after his reappearance!

Please Support Medical Comics and Stories

Visit Amazon and Order...

League of Regrettable SuperHeroes

(including the Red Bee!)

Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR STRANGE "Origin"

Easily the best-known super-heroic MD, both in costume and in his secret identity...

...Stephen Strange, created by plotter/artist Steve Ditko and scripted by Stan Lee, has been a mainstay of Marvel Comics since his debut in Strange Tales #110 (1963)!

(Stan Lee wrote the final scripts and was commonly credited as the sorcerer's creator or co-creator until a letter resurfaced that was sent to fan and academic Jerry Bails before the release of Strange Tales #110, in which Lee mentions the upcoming character and says: "'Twas Steve's idea." )

Trivia: You'll note Doc's not wearing his red Cloak of Levitation, nor the Eye of Agamotto!

That's because he wasn't gifted (by the Ancient One) the Cloak or the Eye until Strange Tales #127 (1964)!

Doc remained in Strange Tales (which was retitled Doctor Strange as of #169 [1968]) until its' cancellation as of #183 (1969).

He continued as a guest-star in various comics until 1971, when he became a regular in The Defenders and the lead feature in Marvel Premiere.

The Sorcerer Supreme finally regained his own title in 1974.

Since then, he's always had an ongoing title, with the current version running 416 issues.

Recently, Stephen regained the total use of his hands, and returned to practicing medicine while still serving as Earth's primary mystic defender, resulting in all sorts of ethical and practical dilemmas...

...involving his priorities as either healer or warrior wizard...

...and problems when the two careers overlap...

...(Talk about serious multitasking)!

The series ended unexpectedly, and now Doc is the Headmaster of a Xavier's School for Gifted Students-style academy for teen sorcerers in the new series Strange Academy!

Whether Strange still retains the delicate manual dexterity he re-acquired is unknown...

Please Support Medical Comics and Stories
Visit Amazon and Order...

Doctor Strange

Surgeon Supreme: Under the Knife
(featuring the complete 6-issue series)

Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR MID-NITE

Some super-hero "doctors" were also MDs in their secret identities...

....such as this "creature of the night", who, sadly, never made it big, despite having a long life as a second-stringer!

Though the character retained his license and served as a consultant to other MDs, he wasn't permitted to perform surgery.

(He occasionally did so in emergencies, as you've seen above!)

Note: While Charles McNider's costumed persona was comics' first blind super-hero (beating Marvel's Daredevil out by 23 years), he wasn't the first blind super-hero!

(A pulp magazine character called the Black Bat preceded him by a couple of years)

Dr Mid-Nite had a long run as a back-up feature in DC's All-American Comics, as well as being a member of comics' first super-hero team, the Justice Society of America.

But when superheroes (except for Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and a couple of others) faded out after World War II, his strip was one of the casualties.

Then came the 1960s, with both the Batman and James Bond fads in full-swing, Mid-Nite was revived with the rest of the Justice Society...albeit with a whole new modus operandi and lots of medical-oriented gimmicks...

The good Doctor eventually went back to his nighttime activities and blackout bombs.

Charles McNider was killed during the "Zero Hour" event which ran through all of DC Comics in 1986.

But the Dr Mid-Nite name has been continued by two other characters, both of whom are MDs rendered blind by villains!
If readers ask for them, I'll do additional posts...

Please Support Medical Comics & Stories

Visit Amazon and Order...

Dr Mid-Nite
(featuring Dr Pieter Cross, the third Dr Mid-Nite
Charles McNider never had his own series)

Halloween Hospital Horrors DOC STEARNE: MR MONSTER

 For October, we're presenting sci-fi/fantasy...

...starting with a monster-fighting super-hero who's also a medical practitioner!

Doctor Jim Stearne was, initially, a Doc Savage clone, an MD (specifically, a psychiatrist) turned scientific adventurer.

After a brief run in the Canadian comic book "WOW" Comics (yes, the quotation marks were part of the title), the character was reconceptualized for his next appearance in Terrific Comics #31 (1945)...

Stearne then moved (not to Unusual Comics, which was never published) but to Bell Features' Super Duper Comics #3 (1946)...where he finally appeared in color!

You can see it HERE!

And, that was the end for Doc Stearne: Mr Monster...or was it?

In the early 1980s, writer-artist Michael T Gilbert revived the concept and name, doing a new version, Doc Stearn: Mr Monster (the missing "e" in "Stearn" isn't a typo.), revealed to be the son of the Golden Age character, as explained HERE!

That version continues, on and off, to this day.

Trivia: Originally, Canada imported American comic books and pulp magazines, filling their newsstands with Superman, The Shadow, and loads of other American characters.

But, when World War II broke out, Canada banned all "non-essential" imports, including comics and pulps!

This opened up a whole new industry for Canadian writers and artists to finally do their own characters!

One major difference between the American and Canadian comic books was that the World War II Canadian books were black and white inside, not four-color like American comics!

(British comics were also b/w inside until the 1950s, when they started using a second color on some books.)

Some American companies licensed Canadian publishers to reprint US comics, but the interiors for those were b/w as well.

In addition, there was a limit to how much "non-Canadian content" could be included in Canadian magazine print runs, so there were relatively-few American reprints during the war.

After the war ended American comics were again imported, so most Canadian publishers began doing color insides to compete with the imports.
But the American characters were far better-known, and, within a year, the Canadian characters had all but disappeared!

Please Support Medical Comics and Stories!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Doc Stearn: Mr Monster

His Books of Forbidden Knowledge

Volume 1

(includes both the Golden and Bronze Age Misters Monster!)