Look At All The Pretty Colors (of Diseases)

August 1st, 2006

Filed under: Books, Comics, Medicine

Thanks to medical science, classic literature, and comic books, we’re nearing the point where we can say we have a disease named for every color of the rainbow. Just a few more years…

  • Black Flu
    Disease that killed many of the first-generation underwater Atlanteans. From Atlantis Chronicles #2
  • Black Death
    The Bubonic Plague
  • Green Plague
    Condition that killed many Kryptonians prior to the destruction of Krypton. From Superman: Man of Steel #1
  • Red Death
    From Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death
  • Red Rain
    A weaponized form of Group A Streptococcus. From Avengers #65-70
  • Yellow Fever
    A mosquito-borne disease of the tropics

Speaking of diseases, here’s a couple of interesting disease-related links:

  • Damn Interesting had a recent article on the Sleeping Sickness, a weird condition/disease that struck down may people from 1916 into the 1920s. Fans of Sandman will remember that this disease makes up an important part of the plot of The Dolls House (and to a lesser extent, the first story arc as well). It also plays a role in the book and movie Awakenings.
  • A list of major epidemics, from Wikipedia.

Tags:

11 Responses to “ Look At All The Pretty Colors (of Diseases) ”

  1. Nala
    August 2nd, 2006 at 11:58 am

    The question is… can Hal Jordan overcome yellow fever?

  2. Jeff R.
    August 2nd, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    There’s also Scarlet Jungle Fever, a Kryptonian disease…

  3. Scott
    August 2nd, 2006 at 12:57 pm
    Official Comment

    Good one Jeff, and I just re-read that story recently too.

  4. David Oakes
    August 2nd, 2006 at 2:40 pm

    Don’t forget the “Blue Flu”, which strikes law enforement personel during labor disputes, and the “Purple Pox”, which keeps the Unniversity of Illinois athletics teams from defeating Northwestern. I thought there was a “Violet Fever” to match “Scarlet Fever”, but the Internet won’t back me up.

    Orange is… Orange. I can’t even see comic book biology using that one.

  5. Steven
    August 2nd, 2006 at 3:02 pm

    Purple Haze: Dementia, most likely drug induced, leaving the patient unable to distinguish day from night, happiness from misery, and tomorrow from the end of time.

    Also creates a desire in the patient to kiss the sky (possibly “this guy”)

  6. Doug Dawson
    August 2nd, 2006 at 4:21 pm

    I seem to remember that the “white plague” is another name for tuberculosis, and is certainly the name of a science fictional disease that kills only women, created by Frank Herbert.

  7. Really Likes Batman Better
    August 2nd, 2006 at 7:24 pm

    Orange Fever? Didn’t that heavily hit The Wonka candy factory in the early seventies and then some time last year?

  8. Carl Fink
    August 3rd, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    Surely a GP hasn’t forgotten Scarlet Fever?

  9. Randy
    August 3rd, 2006 at 3:23 pm

    How about the ‘Orange Crush?’

  10. Melissa Gay
    August 3rd, 2006 at 9:00 pm

    I used to think it was “Blue-bonic Plague.”

  11. Polite Dissent » The Peril of…the “Crimson Virus”
    June 6th, 2008 at 12:47 am

    [...] 5. Despite being 1000 years in the future, the Legionnaires sure have some dismal medical care. Sure they have fourth dimensional surgery, but when you get down to it, that’s actually pretty backwards. An earlier issue showed that they keep a powerful healing urn stored in a museum — why not actually use it? This is what happens when you have a Coluan who thinks that he’s a doctor. Source: Adventure Comics #313, “The Condemned Legionnaires,” by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan Other colorful comic book diseases: Black Flu, Green Plague (1), Green Plague (2), Purple Plague, Red Rain, and Scarlet Jungle Fever. Tags: comics medicine legion of super-heroes virus supergirl super-pets kryptonite [...]

Leave a Reply

« House Repeat and a New Grand Rounds Y: The Last Man #47: A Medical Review »