ADAMS, NEAL - Ben Casey daily, 5/11 1966, "Calling Dr Casey!"

The Boy Wonder: Neal Adams and Ben Casey

The strip ran from 1962 untill 1966 with appox 1150 dailies

Adams had been famously turned down at DC after his graduation from School of Industrial Arts, his sample pages revealing a wild, exuberant storytelling sense even then but still very raw. Under Wexler's critical eye, Adams, in only a very short time, became as slick and polished as any artist at Johnstone and Cushing. And, to top it off, he reached this level in under two years. He often tells the story of his co-workers sighing a breath of relief when he turns 20. It had been embarrassing for these industry-tested veterans to be bested by a teenager.

It was his youth that partly made the difference. The standard of illustration craft at Johnstone and Cushing was exacting, as high as anywhere in the profession and far beyond what was expected in Comics. Adams thrived, perhaps because he had a burning ambition to be the best and in his words, had the "strength and enthusiasm," to endure the long hours to get it right. As he recalls when he became a Johnstone and Cushing staffer, he did a Boy’s Life series where “even the light switches were referenced.” He was an insatiable “sponge” Adams remembers, “an incredible education” in line technique before him.

At 21, Adams gets a plum, Ben Casey, a soap opera strip created to cash in on the huge popularity of the TV show and a rival to Ken Bald’s Dr. Kildare. Writer Jerry Caplin, Al Capp's brother, called one day based on a recommendation and asked Adams to join forces, an agreement with Newspaper Enterprise Association for the new strip already in hand.