NELLIE THE NURSE "Who Will Care for the Millionaire?"

After the Last Three Weeks of Conflict and Chaos...

...and what was happening in this blog on Hope Ship was no laughing matter either, we're going to offer some medical-oriented laughs!

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Dan DeCarlo (before he settled in at Archie Comics and visually-redefined the characters for decades), this never-reprinted short from Atlas' Mille the Model Comics #88 (1959) was actually left over from a Nellie the Nurse comic that only ran one issue in 1957!
(The story was meant for #2)

NELLIE THE NURSE "Sweets For the Not-So-Sweet!"

Among many "lost", never-reprinted comic book series...

...was this amusing one about childhood "besties" who ended up working together at the same hospital!

Even though Snazzy's an intern/resident, Nellie's a nurse and Speed is an ambulance driver, the three don't allow professional, social or financial status to affect their decades-long relationship as equals!

Also note that Nellie is an extremely-comptetent professional, unlike the stereotype of the beautiful-yet-ditzy nurse prevalent in media of the period!

This story from Timely's Nellie the Nurse #2 (1946) reads like a radio dramedy (there was no TV back then), with lots of witty and charming character interplay.
Sadly, there are no credits for the creatives, even though the book was published by what is today Marvel Comics!
Apparently, they tossed the records during one of their many moves to new offices through Manhattan over the years!
Nellie the Nurse survived for 36 issues from 1946 to 1952, despite a couple of reformattings from this relatively-sophisticated version to becoming a stereotypical ditz, to vaudeville-level slapstick humor illustrated in an Archie Comics/Dan DeCarlo art style before being moved to the back of Millie the Model, where she lasted until 1958!
(She even did a cross-over with Millie the Model, which we'll bring you soon!)

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CoronaVirus Comics NELLIE THE NURSE "Busman's Holiday"

Before teen books like the Archie line dominated humor comics...

...there were...I suppose you'd call them..."young adult" humor comics like this one!

BTW, this opening panel's situation does not appear in the story...

In many ways, these comics are the screwball comedy b-movies / TV situation comedies of their era, as this never-reprinted tale from Timely's Nellie the Nurse #2 (1946) demonstrates!

Nellie had a healthy 36-issue run from 1945 to 1954.

She also popped up as a back-up feature in Willie Comics, Comedy Comics, and Millie the Model from time to time.

BTW, we mentioned Archie Comics earlier in this post.

When Nellie was revived in the late 1950s by Timely's successor, Atlas Comics, guess what style she was drawn in?

Saw that one coming, didn't ya?

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Nurse Nellie's Belly Laughs

NELLIE THE NURSE "Work Hard, Play Hard!"

After last week's rather grim (though "uplifting") tale torn from current real life...
...we thought you might enjoy a humorous "breather" from the 1950s, when men were doctors, women were nurses, and sexism ran rampant!

Pop Culture In-Joke: Both Dr Kildare and Dr Christian were popular 1930s-40s radio shows that spun-off into b-movie series, though they never crossed-over as shown on the movie screen in the last panel!

Writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett (doing a great Dan DeCarlo imitation) makes this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Nellie the Nurse V2N1 (1957) a quick, fun read by doing what reads like a classic vaudeville routine!

This was a reboot of the first Nellie the Nurse series which ran from 1945 to 1952 but aimed at a younger, less sophisticated audience. (You can see an example of that strip HERE.)

The revival didn't sell, and Nellie became a backup strip in Millie the Model to use up the inventory of stories created for the never-published #2 and 3!

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