"Could Her Love Win Over Death?"
Without further adieu, let's get to today's story about a loved one suffering from a debilitating disease...or is he?
This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Cynthia Doyle: Nurse in Love #69 (1963) plays up the "...In Love" aspect of the title while providing some rather iffy medical concepts!
Remember, this is a soap opera in comic book form!
It's
not meant to be even a semi-serious feature about a female medical professional, like
Dr Pat!
This is, as most 1950s-1970s strips starring nurses were, a three-Kleenex romance comic!
Heck, before the book became Cynthia Doyle: Nurse in Love as of #66, it was Sweetheart Diaries, a romance anthology!
Cynthia appeared in a single story in the final issue, then the entire book was turned over to her!
Why?
In the early 1960s, one of the most-popular genres in pop culture was "medical drama"!
Spearheaded on TV by hunky prime-time physicians Dr Kildare and Ben Casey along with the related series The Nurses as well as daytime soap operas with hospital settings and paperback romance novels with covers featuring "studs in scrubs" with swooning nurses, comics hopped on the medical bandwagon!
Charlton, which couldn't afford the rights to comics based on any of the TV shows, launched numerous series featuring doctors and nurses including Dr Tom Brent: Young Intern, Nurse Betsy Crane, Young Interns, Sue & Sally Smith: Flying Nurses and, of course, this book!
(Oddly, there were never any cross-over stories between the various books!)
Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Dick Giordano and inked by Vince Colletta, this story came about halfway through the book's run.
BTW: the series ended with Nurse Doyle and Doctor Benson's love unconsummated!
Surprised?
Next Week...
Another Tale of Disease, Debilitating Conditions and Desire!
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!
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