Night Nurse (comics)
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Night Nurse is a character in the Marvel Comics universe known for her willingness to help injured superheroes, who first appeared in Daredevil (vol. 2) #58 and was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Although she uses the word "nurse" as part of her codename, she claims to be a doctor. Night Nurse is also the name of a Marvel Comics title published in the early 1970's, which the new character has apparently been named after. [1]
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[edit] Night Nurse (1970s)
Night Nurse was a Marvel Comics title that lasted four issues in late 1972 and early 1973. The series, which straddled several different genres, focused on the adventures of three female roommates who worked the night shift at the fictional Metropolitan General Hospital in New York City: Linda Carter, Georgia Jenkins, and Christine Palmer.
The series was written by Jean Thomas, then the wife of comics writer and editor Roy Thomas, and drawn by Winslow Mortimer. The stories, unlike most of Marvel's offerings at the time, contain no superheroes or fantastic elements. However, the night nurses do encounter a fair amount of "danger, drama and death", as the cover tag proclaims, as they work to foil bomb plots, malpracticing surgeons, and mob hitmen. Night Nurse, like the "relevant comics" of the early 1970s, also attempted to address real-world social issues; Night Nurse #1 features a scene where a character asking why his poor neighborhood is the one always experiencing power outages. "Why not Park Avenue for a change?".
Night Nurse #4 is the only issue of the series that takes place away from Metro General and New York City. This story shifts away from the urban drama of the first three issues and instead features Christine embroiled in a suspenseful gothic adventure, complete with a foreboding mansion, dusty secret passageways, and mysterious lights.
While it was unclear during the original publication of Night Nurse whether it took place in the Marvel Universe or in the "real world", Christine Palmer reappeared in Nightcrawler v3 #1. This issue was published in September 2004, 31 years after her last appearance in Night Nurse #4. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the writer of Nightcrawler, said in an interview that he was "a huge fan" of Night Nurse, and wanted to bring back the character when he realized that his first Nightcrawler story would take place in a hospital [2]. Linda and Georgia have not appeared since Night Nurse.
Prior to Night Nurse, there was an earlier series called Linda Carter, Student Nurse, which was initially published by Atlas Comics, a precursor to Marvel Comics.[3] This series ran from 1961 to 1963. Presumably, the creators of Night Nurse named their blonde heroine after the 1960s brunette Linda Carter. It is unknown whether they were intended to be the same person, and there has never been any in-universe connection established between the two. However, the earlier Linda Carter once made an appearance in Patsy Walker #99 (February 1962). Since the early "teen adventure" Patsy Walker stories are considered to be fictional within the Marvel Universe, it is likely that the same is true of Linda Carter, Student Nurse.
[edit] The night nurses
While the three roommates initially bicker amongst themselves, they soon bond with each other over their shared loneliness, and become best friends.
Linda Carter is the daughter of a doctor in Allentown, New York. In Night Nurse #1, she meets and falls in love with Marshall Michaels, a wealthy businessman. However, he forces her to choose between marrying him or staying at Metro General as a nurse. She makes her decision and tearfully watches him walk away. In the following two issues of the series, Linda demonstrates that her skills are not limited to nursing practice, as she performs detective work to help expose an incompetent surgeon and also prevents a hitman from murdering one of her patients. By the time the series was cancelled, she had started a budding romance with Dr. Jack Tryon, a young resident doctor.
Georgia Jenkins is an African American nurse who comes from an inner-city neighborhood, blocks away from Metro General Hospital. On her days off from work, she provides free medical care to the people on her old block. In Night Nurse #1, she discovers that her older brother Ben was conned into nearly blowing up the hospital generator. Even though Ben has a change of heart, and is shot while trying to protect the nurses, Georgia finds out in issue #3 that Ben has been sentenced to ten-to-twenty-years in prison. She angrily compares the harshness of his sentence with the fact that powerful mob criminals walk around free.
In Night Nurse #1, Christine Palmer leaves her home in "an exclusive Midwestern suburb" against her father's wishes, intending to "make a new life without her father's money". In issue #2, her father comes to New York to try and convince her to return to her life as a debutante, threatening "if you don't come home by Thanksgiving, then don't come home at all!" Though she considers his offer, she elects to stay in New York and becomes a surgical nurse for Dr. William Sutton. When Dr. Sutton's career ends in disaster, she leaves New York City and her friends behind, and travels the country, finding a job as a private nurse for a paraplegic at a spooky mansion. However, this particular position is short-lived.
Christine ended up returning to Metropolitan General Hospital, where she first encountered Storm and Nightcrawler of the X-Men. It is revealed in the Nightcrawler series that her mother lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Linda is often considered to be the main character of the series, as she is portrayed prominently on three of the covers, and hers is the sole headshot featured in the "corner circle" on the cover design. However, Christine is the protagonist of Night Nurse #4, with Linda only making a one-panel cameo, and Georgia not appearing at all in the issue. Indeed, Christine is the character with the longest publication history, given her reappearance in the 2004 Nightcrawler series.
Unlike the Brian Michael Bendis-created Night Nurse character introduced in Daredevil, none of the three nurses use "Night Nurse" as a kind of codename, though the "Next Issue" box in Night Nurse #1 promises, "More true-to-life adventures of Linda Carter, Night Nurse!"
[edit] Night Nurse (modern)
[edit] Fictional Biography
Nothing is known about the current Night Nurse's past, not even her real name. The only thing that can be guessed is that she may have been rescued by a super-hero once, and afterwards decided to pay the super-human community back by ministering to their health. When she first appeared, she took care of a seriously injured Daredevil following his defeat by the Yakuza. Later, during Nick Fury's Secret War, Night Nurse took care of a badly injured Luke Cage (whose nearly-impenetrable skin required special treatment). During this time, the Night Nurse became known for her catch phrase "go to the room on the right," which is apparently a room in her hospital where she can heal the heroes unnoticed. After this event, she was interviewed by reporter Ben Urich, where she again stated that she wanted to repay the super-hero community by taking care of their health. Daredevil apparently took a liking to Night Nurse, because after being shot by Paladin, he asked Elektra to take him to her. Shortly thereafter, even the Black Widow visited the Night Nurse with Milla Donovan. Despite Daredevil's trust, Elektra was not impressed by the "careless" way the Night Nurse took care of her patients, and even ordered her Hand agents to teleport Daredevil away so they could take care of him themselves.
Daredevil still seems to trust the Night Nurse, because he took Spider-Man to her after he was stabbed in the neck.
During the Civil War event, the Night Nurse took Captain America's side against the registration act, and now joins his resistance group. She now operates from SHIELD safe-house number 23. Though it was at first very hard to recognize the Night Nurse in Civil War #2, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort stated in an interview on the Internet Site "Newsarama" that it was really her welcoming the Young Avengers at the new headquarters. [1]
The new Night Nurse teamed up with Doctor Strange, in his 2006 mini series, The Oath. [2] She appeared alongside Strange in an effort to help him recover the cure for cancer, which Doctor Strange had brought back from another dimension to help cure Wong, and had been stolen from him by a mysterious enemy.
In Civil War #5, Captain America addresses Night Nurse as "Linda", raising the possibility that she may in fact be Linda Carter, though the name may simply be an homage to the earlier character. She is currently treating Spider-Man after he was brought in by the Punisher.
Night Nurse is similar to Patsy Walker in that she or a character similar to her starred in a comic outside of Marvel Universe canon, but was brought into it.
[edit] References
- ^ Night Nurse at Toonopedia
- ^ Dave Richards. The Winding Way Back: Sacasa Talks "Nightcrawler". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
- ^ The Cherry Ames Page: Linda Carter, Student Nurse. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
