The De-Evolution of Nellie the Nurse: Part II of VI

This June 1948 issue, Nellie the Nurse 13, has a cover in keeping with what constitutes good girl art. She's jumping into the arms of Snazzy, not aware of what a turn on this is for him. At the same time her clothing shows her body contours in a way that will automatically get the dopamine flowing in a heterosexual male onlooker's brain. These are thick books and contain other strips besides Nellie. There are several Nellie stories and I've just included the first two in the book here. Notice that, in comparison to Nellie 2 from Part I of this series of posts, the figures are simpler, more stylized. The art in these two stories attempts to break free of the standard format (as did that in issue 2 to some extent) by having figures and other graphic elements extend beyond the confines of their frame, or the frame itself is angled, or in some cases adjacent frames form the frame. The nurse uniforms are now a little tighter than they were in issue 2, emphasizing the breasts. Romance is more prominent.

Both stories here feature Nellie's rival, Pam, whose plans to snag Nellie's admirers away from her inevitably end in embarrassing failure. Despite the hospital setting, care of patients and doing their job seems to take a back seat to the social component in the lives of these nurses.

Next we'll look at a couple of slightly later issues and see how this style morphs into one with much simpler figures, minimally detailed or absent backgrounds, and even less reference to the actual work of nurses.