1977 Comic Strips: A Summary

Source*: Curtis, Dal. Rex Morgan, MD. 1 Jan - 31 Dec 1977, Field Newspaper Syndicate (Chicago, IL). 
*p. 626-678 on disk from King Features Syndicate.


All comic strips are posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.

• January 1 - February 2: Mary Gordon, oppressed wife of a surgeon (see 1976)
• February 2 - June 13: Paul Belmont, mob boss 
• Danny Belmont, a 6-year-old boy comes into Dr. Morgan's office due to car accident that June witnesses. It's critical at first (an artery is severed) but is quickly mediated. We learn quickly that he has a dedicated father, and has not spoken a word since his mother died one year ago (he witnessed "his mother blown apart before his eyes")
• This story is briefly interrupted by a homicide (3/2/77); Dr. Morgan receives a gunshot victim, but is dead on arrival - the police suspect it was a professional job; fingerprints point to a mob killing

Rex Morgan, MD - March 3, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• Danny instantly gets attached to June, who visits for dinner - we get snippets of Paul Belmont's professional life - a man named "Garrity" has been murdered and an emergency board meeting is being called
• Victor Lambros cannot be reached - unacceptable!
• June also suggests Danny sees a psychiatrist for his separation issues
• Paul believes his wife was murdered and has been trying to track down the murderer every since - Garrity was supposedly to provide information
• While Melissa shares Paul's life story with June, Danny runs away and is found in the bushes by the police
• Paul turns to the DA when learning his wife and friend (Garrity) were killed by one of his own men
• The stories are ending more abruptly - the conclusions seems to have less grandeur to them...
• June 13 - January 27, 1978: Dr. Jim, "cancer specialist"
• When Dr. Adam doesn't show up for work, an anonymous phone call says that he would be in touch in the morning
• He's been taken hostage by some criminals (wanted for armed robbery) trying to nurse a young woman, Jeannie, back to health without involving authorities
• Brice writes a false prescription to quietly alert authorities; meanwhile, Jeannie falls into a coma
• Jeannie has bacterial meningitis, but survives once put on IV antibiotics
• Jase, the leader of the pack, comes down the with same and dies on the way to the hospital
• Billy, the youngest of the three, is hospitalized for observation, but attempts escape
• Brice appears to be taking a personal interest in Billy

Rex Morgan, MD - August 13, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• Brice takes Billy shopping, gives him car and apartment keys so he can turn his life around
• Dr. Morgan tries to connect Billy with Ellen Glenn, personnel manager of the local auto parts shop; she's due for a physical, and plans to hide her cancer treatments from him (per her 'oncologist's' wishes) Dr. Jim seems a bit dodgy - I think the artist wants us to know this by giving him a mustache more similar to previous criminals than the clean-cut physicians  

Rex Morgan, MD - October 5, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• It's evident that Dr. Jim is a nasty fraud, while his assistant, Charlotte, appears to have a smidge of a conscience
• In an ironic turn of events, Billy picks up work both at Ellen's auto shop, and then cleaning at Dr. Jim's "Health Clinic" in the evenings
• We get a good strip on cancer education (it's been a while since we've seen one of these):

Rex Morgan, MD - November 10, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• Ellen almost dies after a cancer "shot", but Billy saves her by phoning Dr. Adam in time
• Brice confronts Dr. Jim - Go, Brice, go!

Rex Morgan, MD - December 20, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• The plot becomes more intense when Charlotte backs out of the operation and is caught trying to take money from their safe

Rex Morgan, MD - January 7, 1977    © King Features Syndicate

• Dr. Jim is arrested, and Charlotte recovers well at the hospital
• The story shifts slightly to focus again on Billy, and his new friends at work, who appear to be plotting something evil and including Billy in their plans - the poor kid can't catch a break! 
• See details in 1978!

1976 Comic Strips: A Summary

Source*: Curtis, Dal. Rex Morgan, MD. 1 Jan - 31 Dec 1976, Field Newspaper Syndicate (Chicago, IL). 
*p. 574-626 on disk from King Features Syndicate.


All comic strips are posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.

• December 29, 1975 - April 9, 1976: Norm & Elizabeth Prescott
• We start in the middle of a story, with Rex's new patient, Mr. Norm Prescott - who has already given June a vase of roses (shocker!)
• Norm needs a complete physical to take out a $2M insurance policy
• Preliminary blood tests are suspicious and need to be repeated: elevated WBC count and abnormal cells
• Rex watches (looking concerned only when by himself) as June is wooed by yet another dashing, exciting young man
• June is whisked away to Philadelphia with Norm for the night, and answers an agitated phone call from Mrs. Elizabeth Prescott about their son (yikes!) - we learn a few days later that they're divorced, and that there's an argument over money and their son - Norm makes it clear he's only concerned about his son, not the money
• Norm's charm wears off as all of his dates with June are constantly interrupted by work phone calls
• Norm drinks alcohol and takes sleeping pills - not an intentional suicide attempt - after realizing that they want to admit him to the hospital for further testing
• We learn that he's previously had tests, and been told he has leukemia

Rex Morgan, MD - March 19, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• Unknown to Norm, his little boy and wife have arrived at the airport
• Norm is surprised to see Elizabeth, but makes an effort to concentrate on her - he asks them to move back to the house
• We also learn Norm does not have leukemia, and was just fighting off mono
• This story is interrupted by an emergency phone call for Rex...
• April 9 - September 7: Becky Barrett, Barbara & Brick
• Becky initially refuses treatment - she's quite a rebel - but eventually allows Rex to examine her
• Her father is concerned that they no longer communicate well
• Becky is released, and a man name Brick Cutler picks her up
• Becky runs into Rex and June on a date; on their way out they see Brick hitting Becky (out of jealousy):

Rex Morgan, MD - May 15, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• As Rex and June drop Becky off at home, she finds her father unconscious on the floor - Rex is able to get him stabilized in the ER
• Becky thinks her father divorced her mother because of his secretary, 15 years ago
• We learn that Brick has been shot and killed
• Barbara Sears, Mark's secretary, agrees to stay with Becky while her dad is in the hospital
• Becky does not give an accurate story to the police about her last interaction with Brick when questioned about his death
• The police make a comment about "this day and age", and that Brick may have been murdered for drugs:

Rex Morgan, MD - June 23, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• Becky has had an apparent change of heart and is showering Barbara with compliments when they visit Mark at the hospital - it's kind of suspicious...
• Rex brings up open heart surgery to Mark, suggesting the only alternative is to live with bouts of chest pain
• Barbara admits to Rex that she shot Brick - unintentionally (we believe her) - when it started to appear Becky was to be accused of murder
• The story seems to end abruptly, with Barbara's confession and Mark's open heart surgery; it picks up again on 9/17
• September 8 - February 2, 1977: Mary Gordon, oppressed wife of a surgeon
• Dr. Wes Gordon's wife, Mary, phones Brice in a drug/alcohol-induced stupor
• She leaves the hospital against orders for fear of embarrassing her surgeon husband
• She makes several comments where she feels trapped by the stereotype of a surgeon's wife, unable to work as a waitress or go back to school:

Rex Morgan, MD - September 28, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• Apparently Dr. Gordon's study is "off limits" to his wife when he's reading!
• When he gets home from his fishing trip he's upset to find Mary has gone back to school. The nerve! He becomes angrier when she's not home for lunch - she must be out of her mind!
• Dr. Gordon bumps into a couple of women at a bar, and ends up flirting and going out with Sherri Wade, an artist
• Wes then lies to Mary about his plans - he's going to "watch Sherri paint" in the afternoon but tells her he has committee meetings. I'm not impressed.
• Rex is quite bold and confronts Wes directly about his marriage and Mary:

Rex Morgan, MD - December 4, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• While Wesley is out on a date with Sherri, his patient receives emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction
• We break again for an off-topic, yet lovely, Christmas panel (in reading Scott McCloud's book, Understanding Comics, the use of a single, full panel helps to exaggerate expansive time/meaning - how perfect for Christmas cheer!)

Rex Morgan, MD - December 25, 1976    © King Features Syndicate

• Wesley calls Sherri at 3am to tell her they can't see each other anymore, but they're struck by a drunk driver on their way home
• The story ends quite abruptly - there's initial concern Wes will lose his arm (or its function), but is quickly given a good prognosis; Sherri is discovered to be shallow and Wes makes up with Mary