Short Lived Comic Series #21 - The Adventures of Young Doctor Masters (Archie Comics)

 More and more, I find myself getting into and thoroughly enjoying a lot of the old "romance"  and "career" comics of the '50s, '60s, and '70s, particularly those from independent publishers other than DC and Marvel.

 

Published in 1964 by Archie Comics, with cover dates of August 1964 (issue one) and November 1964 (issue two), The Adventures of Young Dr. Masters is a two-issue series that tries to cash in on the romance and "doctor" comics that were hitting the spinner racks back in that time.  DC Comics had Young Love, Young Romance, Heart Throbs, Falling in Love, Secret Hearts; Charlton Comics had Love Diary, I Love You, First Kiss, Teen Confessions, Career Girl Romance; Marvel Comics had Patsy Walker, Kathy, Modeling with Millie; and many others!  Meanwhile, around the same time, there were medical drama comics such as Dell Comics' Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey; Dell had previously published a series of comics about Nurse Linda Lark; Marvel had published a series about Linda Carter, Student Nurse from '61 to '63; Charlton published its own nursing series about Nurse Betsy Crane, as well as a series about The Young Doctors and Doctor Tom Brent, Young Intern in 1963; and, of course, there were others.  So, it only stands to reason that Archie Comics, who already had their own romance comic in the form of Katy Keene, would take a stab at the medical drama comic, with a little romance thrown in for good measure.

The first issue of The Adventures of Young Dr. Masters serves as an introduction of the main cast to readers.  David Masters if the "young" Dr. Masters, who shares a practice with his father, Walter Masters, who is referred to as the "old" Dr. Masters.  The story certainly starts off with a bang, as Young Dr. Masters is asked by the police to provide emergency medical attention to two people who were shot in a hold-up, as well as the criminal himself, who was also shot.  Masters shows some great courage in confronting the crook and ultimately tricking him so that the police can come in and arrest him!  But, by the fifth page, the internal conflict comes to light as Masters returns to his office where a patient is demanding to be treated by "old" Dr. Masters, and not the son!  From there, readers quickly discover that David Masters is more interested in the research side of medicine and not at all confident when it comes to examining and diagnosing patients; however, his father is determined to force him to follow in his footsteps, as is his fiance, Brenda Moore, who has made it clear to the young Dr. Masters that she won't marry him until he makes a choice - either follow his father's path to become a practicing physician and give up the lab work, or she will never marry him!  (Hence, the romance drama!).

The lead in to the second story introduces readers to the fourth member of our cast, a young nurse named Sally Redmond, who falls for young Dr. Masters without realizing he is engaged.  Masters and Redmond are called to a construction site, where two men have become trapped under a girder on the 19th floor of the building under construction!  Once again, young Dr. Masters puts his life at risk to save the men, much to the admiration of Nurse Sally.  Of course, upon returning to the office, "old" and "young" Doctors Masters get into yet another argument about his career, which ends with old Dr. Masters falling ill and ending up in the hospital.  It is revealed that in destroying his son's lab, old Dr. Masters released a virus that he has now contracted, and it's up to young Dr. Masters to save his father's life!

The stories are fast-paced and definitely worthy of your typical soap-opera, medical drama.  Interestingly, though, it is not the young female lead who is being pushed about and forced into a life she doesn't want; rather, this comic gender-switches the standard fare and gives us a young male who is in a quandary about his life and what career he should pursue and whether he should get married or not.  Yes, despite all of his wavering and emotional outbursts, there is nothing "feminine" about young Dr. Masters at all.  He shows strength and fortitude as he faces down an armed criminal and climbs out on a teetering girder 19 stories high to save lives.  He shows just what he's made of and definitely endears the reader to his character.

The second issue of The Adventures of Young Dr. Masters features two more stories, "Operation Plane Crash" and "A Case of Bad Blood."  Oddly enough, this second issue features some glaring changes - "old" Dr. Masters makes no appearance at all, and in fact, he's not even referenced.  In addition, Masters' fiance, Brenda Moore, is also suddenly off-canvas.  Also gone is Masters' uncertainty regarding his ability as a doctor; in fact, in the first story, Masters finishes up an appendix operation when the news comes in of a plane crash where medical attention is needed immediately, but the only way to get to them is by parachute - which, coincidentally enough, Dr. Masters is fine with, having been a medic in the 82nd Airborne in Korea! (Why wasn't this mentioned anywhere in the first issue, where Masters made it seem like he barely had any experience with practicing medicine?)  However, like in the stories of the first issue, Masters jumps into danger (literally!) as he must help save the lives of a desperate killer who has already taken the lives of three people in the plane.

In the second story, it's clear that Masters and Nurse Sally Redmond have become a lot closer since that first issue, so when she reveals to him her concern for her uncle and a bitter rivalry he has with a director of the construction site, he immediately jumps in to give aid when news comes in that there was an accident at the construction site.  It seems a crane has fallen on Sally's uncle and his rival, Mr. Roper (Three's Company, anyone? Oh, wait, this is a decade before that show came out....) have become trapped under the crane and are both injured (gee, doesn't this sound somewhat similar to the second story of the first issue, where two men were trapped under a girder at a construction site?).  Young Dr. Masters' compassionate side is seen here, for he leads the men to believe the only way one of them can be saved is for the other to provide a transfusion of blood, thus tying the men together in a unique way!  Will the men allow their feud to cost one of them his life, or will they put aside their differences so that they both can live?  Definitely a question worthy of any good drama!

While neither issue provides credits for the author or artists, a search on line reveals that the stories were written by Robert Bernstein, with art by John Rosenberger and Sal Contrera.  I'm not really familiar with any of these creators, but I did find online that Rosenberger helped co-create the character of "Lady Cop" for DC Comics in 1975 (which comic I reviewed for this blog some time ago).

Sadly, this series only had two issues, so readers were not able to follow any further adventures of the Young Dr. Masters.  Yet, the character was certainly not forgotten by Archie Comics, because just this year, the character appeared in a five-page short story in Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305, published with a cover date of August 2022.  In a story titled "The Doctor is in Vogue," Betty and Veronica are watching their new favorite online celebrity, Dr. Masters, live-stream his international adventures on his travel vlog, when they discovered he is at the beach in Riverdale - the same beach where they are currently sunbathing!  It is revealed that Betty is the president of the local Dr. Masters' fan club, while Veronica helped sponsor the doctor's travel vlog.  Soon enough, two boys are in danger out in the water after their jet skis crash, and it's up to young Dr. Masters to save the day!  I give artist Jeff Shultz props for making young Dr. Masters look very similar to his 1964 incarnation, making him stand out from the "standard" Archie-style art of Betty, Veronica, and the other characters in the story.

 

 

Now, we are all left to wonder - when will our young Dr. Masters appear next?

RATING:  9 therapeutic trial treatments out of 10 for some good, clean, fun stories filled with drama, romance, and adventure - all the makings of a great comic!