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