After 61 years the educational one column medical panel Health Capsules has ended.
The didactic feature illustrated with a cartoon ran from February 20, 1961 to May 28, 2022.
Health Capsules was created by Dr. Michael A. Petti and cartoonist Jud Hurd,
they stayed with the daily panel for 41 years until May 4, 2002.
On May 6, 2002 Bron Smith took over writing and drawing and stayed until the end.
left: last panel by Petti and Hurd; right: first panel by Smith
Bron had experience creating such material having self syndicated a like feature.
The panel did not escape controversies – such as a milk series in 2006.
Certainly not a popular week for the feature in dairy country.
Health Capsules began as a United Feature Syndicate panel and stayed with the syndicate through all its incarnations: United Feature Syndicate, Universal Uclick, Andrews McMeel Syndication.
The panel has been dropped from the Andrews McMeel Syndication page and from GoComics, it will slowly disappear from the online GoComics page distributed by newspapers over the next few weeks.
From first to last a disclaimer ran under the panel denying any diagnostic nature.
HEALTH CAPSULES
February 20, 1961 – May 28, 2022
by Dr. Michael A. Petti and Jud Hurd; Bron Smith
daily panel
United Feature Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndicate