Over the numerous decades that comic books have entertained readers, there have been quite a few short-lived series - titles that only lasted two, three, sometimes four issues before being cancelled. Out of those myriad of titles, a select few can claim to be the shortest-lived series, having had only one issue published (despite indications that more issues were planned, considered, wanted, or hoped for). In all the years that comics have been published, there have also been hundreds of publishers who have come and gone, most of whom are no longer in existence, and many of those not even known by comic readers today. Hopefully, Gold Key is not one of those long-forgotten publishers. For me, I remember Gold Key as publishing television-related titles such as Dark Shadows, Star Trek, Space Family Robinson (a/k/a Lost in Space), and Battle of the Planets (among others). But at a comic convention a couple of years ago, I came across a book that caught my eye, and I finally got around to reading it.
Blake Harper, City Surgeon is a single-issue comic series that, according to the indicia, was published by K.K. Publications, In. in cooperation with Golden Press (Gold Key). Published in 1963 (with a cover date of August 1963), it is one of Gold Key's non-television related titles that has an original creation in an original story. The early '60s seems to have been a time for a number of medical-related comic books, with Dell and Charlton publishing a number of medical romance titles. It was also around this same time that The Doctors and General Hospital both made their television premieres, which could potentially be a reason the comic companies decided to jump on the medical drama bandwagon. Whatever the reason, Gold Key was apparently not going to be left out (although, since this series only had one issue, it apparently didn't sell as well as they had hoped!).
After a brief four-page interlude ("Donora's Deadly Fog," which tells the story of the real-life terror that affected the town of Donora, Pennsylvania back in October 1948) and a one-page prose tale ("Early Surgery," telling the story of Ambroise Pare of France, said to be one of the first great surgeons of modern times), readers find a second Blake Harper tale. This second story is 11-pages in length and is titled "Plague." Based on the title, it's pretty obvious what the story is about (and how apropos is that to the world we are living in right now?). When a patient of Dr. Harper shows up with strange symptoms after being on a cruise, Harper suspects the man may be carrying a contagious disease. Once he confirms the ship made two calls at African ports, the doctor is convinced this could be the start of a plague. Once again, the drama ensues as Dr. Harper and Miss Lake must track down and inoculate all of the passengers from the cruise - but two crew members have taken off-ship and are nowhere to be found! One turns up dead, and the other is trying to sneak into the country undetected. An appeal on the TV gets the final crew member to show up at Miss Lake's house, where he attacks and threatens her to keep his whereabouts a secret. The man is tricked into being given the antidote, and it becomes a matter of waiting the virus out.... and just when they think they have it kicked, a new patient shows up with the symptoms of the plague!
As with many of the comic book titles by Gold Key and other smaller publishers of that day, there are no credits given in the book to the cover artist, the writers, the artists, the letterers, editors, or anyone else who worked on the book. A search online reveals that Jack Sparling provided the interior art for the two Blake Harper stories, as well as the "Deadly Fog" tale. Ben Oda is identified as the letterer for the stories. There are no credits found for the writer of the stories, and no credit for who painted the beautifully rendered cover to this comic (which is also featured as "Pin Up No. 1" on the back cover without the title and blurb to obscure any of the art). This is one thing I have to give Gold Key credit for - a lot of their comics featured beautifully painted cover art, for which I would love to find out the artist's identity!
I have to say, the two Blake Harper stories are very well written, although they are clearly dated now. With only 16 and 11 pages, there's obviously not a lot of room for build-up and character development, particularly of the supporting characters, the writer does manage to give readers a clear feel for both Blake Harper and Miss Lane (even if we never do learn her first name). The two have a very good rapport, going beyond just doctor/nurse - employer/employee (but definitely not anything of a romantic nature). Miss Lake is very loyal and professional, and Dr. Harper definitely trusts her capabilities and knowledge. It's nice to know that even back in 1963, a writer could give a nurse such a strong position within the story, and not just write her in as a love interest. Another thing I noticed, and enjoyed, is that with both stories, there are very few caption boxes in the story - pretty much everything in the story is moved forward with the art and the dialogue - the readers do not need all the captions that most comics today have to move them forward in the story. The few captions that are used in these two stories are to either introduce the tale or to provide a transition through a montage.
While there is no "To Be Continued..." or "Next Issue:" blurb at the end of the comic, the indicia on the first page indicated this is indeed issue "No. 1" and that the title is "[p]ublished quarterly," which would indicate that this was intended to be an ongoing series with more than one issue. Sadly, though, the world was only give one issue of Blake Harper, City Surgeon, and we'll never know what future stories held in store for the gifted physician.
RATING: 10 units of Type A Negative blood out of 10 for giving comic readers an original medical drama that had such fantastic potential (that it's such a shame it never got to fulfill...)
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