Polite Dissent

After last night’s list of the best in comic book medicine over the past year, tonight’s list takes a look at the very worst in comic book medicine in 2005, and unfortunately there were many nominees this year.

Worst Depiction of Medicine:
Without a doubt, the Operating Room scene in Richard Dragon #10 was the worst medical scene in comics this year, and probably the worst OR scene in comics ever.

Worst Doctor:
Sadly, Leslie Tompkins wins the Worst Doctor of the Year Award. Honestly, DC Comics and Bill Willingham should win this award for taking the easy way out to alleviate Batman’s guilt over the death of Stephanie Brown, and sacrificing a respected character to do so.

Worst Single Medical or Scientific Concept:
Aquaman #30 and the ridiculous “Kiss of Death” storyline, where people suffocated from too much oxygen.

Worst Imaginary Medicine or Treatment:
The “Military Strength Pain Killer” from Black Widow (yes, the same mini-series wins both the Best and Worst Awards). Pain is pain — the idea that people in the military get stonger pain killers is ridiculous; if anything, their choice of pain killers are more restrictive than civilians.

Dishonorable Mentions:
For comics that went benarth and below the call of duty, delivering scenes fraught with horrible medicine and science.

• Batman: Gotham Knights #61, where Hush believes resistance to poison ivy is rare, and the writer thinks that DDT is a weed killer instead of an insecticide.
• Ultimate Iron Man for that ridiculous brain-tissue-spread-throughout-the-body concept.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #23, for Sue Storm “brain-damaging” a villain by “collapsing” a single synapse (out of tens of millions in an average brain) and for the optic nerve blindness foolishness.
• Batman #644 for showing the readers that basic high school chemistry is beyond Batman’s understanding.