Halloween Hospital Horrors ALIEN WORLDS "Wasteland"

To Some Patients, the Most Terrifying Thing About Their Hospital Stay...

...is the poor choice of TV programming the hospital provides!

But when Fate offers some "alternative viewing"...

Scripted by Bruce Jones, and penciled/inked by Tom Yeates, this tale from Pacific Comics' Alien Worlds #5 (1983) combines a nightmare suffered by way too many hospital patients (myself included, during a recent stay) with the classic time travel trope of "don't change anything in the past, no matter how inconsequential, because..."
And if you have to ask "Does this really qualify as a Halloween Hospital Horror?"..well, it takes place in a hospital...and it's horrifying!

Besides, it's my blog!

Marvel Comics, The American Cancer Society and the Story So Nice, They Told it Twice!

Actually, it wasn't a "nice" tale, but we wanted an alliterative title...

In 1982, Marvel and the American Cancer Society co-produced a giveaway comic against under-21 smoking starring Spider-Man, Storm of The X-Men and Luke Cage: Power Man vs the villain called...SmokeScreen!
In 1998, they reprinted the comic, but the response from medical offices was poor, with kids not interested in the "old-fashioned" artwork!
So it was decided to keep the script (almost verbatim) and redraw it, start to finish!

Here are both versions for you to "compare and contrast"!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 1

Part 2

Which do you prefer?

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Giveaways that Fought Commies, Sold Cars and Cigars, Showed How to Buy a TV and Avoid VD, and are now Saving Lives!
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NEW TEEN TITANS "Plague!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...The Teen Titans (minus Robin) assist The Protector in trying to shut down a drug dealing operation.

While interacting with tweens/teens, one of the heroes, Speedy, reveals he had been an addict, but managed, with great difficulty, to kick the habit.
But the kids' parents are still confused and disturbed...

It's not a pat ending, but it is a hopeful one!

Co-creators Marv Wolfman (writer) and George Perez (penciler) of the NEW Teen Titans ensemble* did a superb job creating a story that gets the point across without being overly "preachy", even going into establish DC canon about Speedy's drug addiction!
(*The Teen Titans were created in 1964, originally made up of adult superhero/heroines' sidekicks and had a couple of different runs ending in 1975,
In 1980, DC, following the example of Marvel's "All-New, All-Different X-Men" revamp, did a similar thing with Titans, combining already-existing characters with several new Wolfman-Perez creations, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire)

NEW TEEN TITANS "Plague!" Part 1

If You're Any Sort of Comic Book Fan, You Know this Team...

...except for the guy in the middle yelling at us!
Don't worry, we'll clear that matter up as we go along...













To Be Continued...Next Friday

Unlike a number of other "revelations" about super-heroes in public-service comics, like Captain America revealing he had asthma as a kid, Speedy's confession about being a drug addict didn't come out of nowhere!
It was already part of official DC canon, first shown over a decade earlier in DC's Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 (1971)...

...written by Denny O'Neil, penciled by Neal Adams, and inked by Dick Giordano (who also inked this story).
Note: when this Titans story was published in 1983, the GL/GA story was out of print, so that's why there's no footnote about it in the tale above.
The entire GL/GA storyline from the early 1970s was reprinted in a mini series the next year.
As to who The Protector is...
Because Robin was part of the Batman licensing program which was promoting Nabisco cookies at that point in time, he couldn't be used in the Keebler cookie-sponsored comic!
The Protector ended up as the Robin-replacement in all three public service drug issues, even the ones not sponsored by Keebler!
But, DC apparently made him an official part of DC continuity with an entry in Who's Who Update '87 #4...

...and even including him on the wraparound cover (in the center on the far-left of the back)...

He's cameoed in several stories over the years, always in the background.
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(Which includes the GL/GA issue shown above as well as the follow-up stories)
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CAPTAIN AMERICA "Return of the Asthma Monster" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Living Legend of World War II...

...Captain America and a pair of young allies with asthma defeated the Asthma Monster!

However, the Medical Menace broke out of prison and, swearing vengeance on those who previously-stopped him, attacked the Star-Spangled Avenger (who had asthma as a kid)...

This comic was handed out in offices of doctors who utilized Glaxco asthma products, including inhalers.

("Allen & Hansburys" is a subsidiary of Glaxco)
Both Marvel and DC have specialized licensing divisions who handle comics for both commercial clients like DoorDash, and non-profits like the American Cancer Society!

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