MYRA NORTH. SPECIAL NURSE

Far from being a romantic or medical comic strip as the name might imply, Myra North, Special Nurse put the emphasis on "special" as the gutsy young nurse solves murders, uncovers medical malpractice, and spans the globe foiling would-be world conquerors and other master villains.

Myra began life as a daily strip on February 10, 1936 as the creation of Ray Thompson and Charles Cobb.  Thompson (who wrote the strip) had a background as a commercial artist and had written a number of radio scripts and had ghost written for the comics before creating Myra.  (Later on, he would create "The Fleer Double-Bubble Kids" as a direct response to Fleer's commercial rival Bazooka and their "Bazooka Joe.")  Cobb who drew the strip also had a background in commercial art and, in the Forties he worked on many comic books for a number of studios, including the Binder studio which was run by Jack Binder (brother of Otto and Earl).

Of course, Myra has a boyfriend and (of course) he's a cop -- Detective Sergeant Jack Lane.

n many ways, Myra North reminds me of the Mignon G. Eberhart characters Nurse Susan Dare and Nurse Sara (Sally) Keate, both of whom had been created a few years earlier.  An influence, perhaps?

Myra's run as a daily strip ended on March 25, 1939.  The Sunday strip, which began on December 6, 1936, carried on until August 31, 1941.  Thompson and Cobb worked on the strip until the end.  Myra North, Special Nurse appeared in 466 newspapers.

Before the comic strip ended, Myra appeared in a Big Little book, and (much later) appeared over forty times as a feature in several Dell comic books.

The following links take you many of the daily strips.

Enjoy.

From 1936:

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=55725

From 1937:

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=55724

From 1938:

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26460

From 1939:

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26460