Polite Dissent

 

Identity Crisis #6 “Husbands & Wives”
Brad Meltzer, writer
Rags Morales, penciler

I. Introduction
If you squint your eyes and tilt your head just right, the medical science of Identity Crisis #6 makes a certain kind of sense. I’m not inclined to be that charitable however, so I’ll be taking a more jaundiced view of this issue

After performing Sue Dibny’s autopsy, Dr. Mid-Nite is looking at a slide of her brain tissue under the microscope when he makes a startling discovery. In an area of the brainstem known as the Nucleus Coeruleus there are signs of infarct. Plus, when examined closer, the area of infarction also shows a set of tiny footprints.

II. An Infarct in the Locus Coeruleus
The Nucleus Coeruleus, more commonly called the Locus Coeruleus, is an area located deep in the brainstem. The brainstem is the most primitive portion of the brain. It connects the brain to the spinal cord and is responsible for the basic functions of life. Current research suggests that the locus coeruleus is important in wakefulness and mood disorders. It should be noted that unlike what Dr. Mid-Nite says, the locus coeruleus is not located in the medulla, but instead the pons (the part of the brainstem located just above the medulla).

An infarct occurs when part of an organ dies because its blood supply is interrupted. For example, the medical term for a heart attack is a myocardial infarction. An infarction in the brain is a stroke. According to what Dr. Mid-Nite saw under the microscope, Sue had a small stroke in the locus coeruleus.

He then states that a blockage of the artery to the mid-medulla cut off the blood supply to the rest of the brain and this is what killed her. This is nonsense. There are many arteries supplying blood to different parts of the brain. A block in an artery to the brainstem would not affect the blood supply to the rest of the brain.

However, a stroke to the brainstem itself can be devastating; roughly two-thirds of them are fatal. This could be what killed Sue.

III. A Blocked Blood Vessel
Shouldn’t the Ray’s “spectral analysis” of the blood vessels have shown this blockage? I know that spectral analysis in this context is complete technobabble, but what good is a blood vessel scan if it can’t find blockages?

IV. A Strange Comment
Dr. Mid-Nite mentions that he first thought Sue’s stroke was natural. Excuse me? A young otherwise-healthy woman dies of a rare stroke, her body is burned to a crisp, super-villains are targeting family members, and his first thought is that this was a natural occurrence?

V. The Microscope
Before a tissue sample can be examined under a microscope, it needs to be specially prepared. First the sample is stained and then frozen or imbedded in paraffin. After that, the tissue is sliced into pieces just a few microns thick and placed on a microscope slide (for a frame of reference, a piece of paper is 100 microns thick).

I’m willing to accept that Dr. Mid-Nite was able to choose the right sample to show the stroke because he had an idea of what he was looking for. But what are the odds that this one slice out of millions of possible samples showed footprints, let alone at the perfect angle to see them for exactly what they were. How nice of the villain to arrange himself perpendicularly. Also, how can footprints leave indentations on such a thin slice?

VI. The Villain
According to Dr. Mid-Nite, there is a set of footprints smack dab in the middle of the brainstem. Here’s my question: How and where exactly is the perpetrator standing? This set of footprints is deep in the brain tissue itself. Why wouldn’t the villain have been crushed or suffocated by the surrounding tissues? How did he even stand up to leave a set of footprints? Why are there just footprints and not a whole body print?

VII. Conclusion
Like the rest of Identity Crisis, the plot makes sense at first, at least until you actually begin to think about it.