Comic Strips

Surgery: Rex Morgan Out, Terry Beatty In – Update: Terry’s Fine

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D. D. Degg Published: February 3, 2026 Updated: February 3, 2026 1 minute 5 comments

Original February 1 post:

Cartoonist Terry Beatty, who both writes and draws the Rex Morgan, M.D. comic strip has had the good doctor and Rex and June’s son Johnny in for surgery these days.

Now it is Terry Beatty himself headed for the operating room. From Terry’s Facebook page:

Well, folks, I suppose it’s time to share this news. A while back I noticed that my stamina level was dropping. A walk around the block or climbing a flight of stairs was wearing me out. That was not normal. So — all sorts of invasive and annoying medical tests later, the end result is that I’m scheduled for triple coronary bypass surgery this coming Monday.

Recovery will necessitate a guest artist to step in for a while.

As for production on upcoming Rex strips, I’ll not be able to draw the feature for a while, and I do have a guest artist lined up to fill in for a while (more about that when the strips are about to see print). I’ve written ahead, so they’ll have plenty of script to work with while I just laze about in my hospital bed, with not a care in the world. Heh heh. Urgh.

We don’t know how far in advance Terry works – six, eight, ten weeks? We’ll find out.

It won’t be the first time during Terry’s 12 years on the strip that another cartoonist has filled in.

Terry certainly has a better attitude than Rex.

Terry continues:

As for financial issues and medical bills — our insurance should cover the vast majority of this, And between the generosity of my amazing in-laws and Erika’s employer, the dip in my income due to someone else drawing Rex for a while will be a lot less painful than it could have been. We’re really astoundingly lucky on this front, and are well aware that not everyone has this experience with a major surgery such as this. This is the sort of thing that bankrupts some folks, and I remain upset about that fact.

Stay up-to-date with Terry’s medical research at his Facebook page.

We wish Terry well and a quick recovery.

Late February 2 Update:

Terry’s wife Erika posted to Facebook:

Terry’s surgery is complete and went well. Doctor was happy. Now moving him to ICU for close monitoring for a couple days. Thank you for the well wishes and prayers. They are appreciated.