Identity Crisis #7: A Medical Review (with some legal questions thrown in for free)

January 20th, 2005

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

cover, Identity Crisis #7Identity Crisis #7
Brad Meltzer, writer
Rags Morales, penciler

I’m a little depressed, because this will be my last chance to review an issue of Identity Crisis. On the other hand, that fact also makes me very happy.

The criminal “mastermind” and killer of Sue Dibny is revelaed to be Jean Loring, Ray Palmer’s ex-wife. She committed the murders in an attempt to get Ray back. Jean shrunk down to sub-atomic size and traveled the phone lines to the Dibny household. She jumped out of the phone then entered Sue’s brain, presumably by way of her ear. Once in the brain, she enlarged enough to kill Sue.

Jean said her plan was only to knock Sue out, but that wouldn’t have worked. A microscopic foreign body in the brain is not going to knock someone out. It might cause a seizure, but I don’t think it’s going to cause unconsciousness.

Similarly, it would be hard for a microscopic person to cause a stroke in someone’s brain. If Jean cut or blocked some blood vessels, then it might cause a stroke, but there is no way this could be accidental, it would have to be on purpose. She didn’t cause a hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke, because the blood would have been obvious during the autopsy. She probably caused a stroke by blocking some blood vessels; these blockages were what Dr. Mid-Nite was pointing out in Identity Crisis #6. (As a side note, it would have taken more blockages than the microscopic ones he noticed to cause a fatal stroke)

scene from Identity Crisis #7Since Jean caused Sue’s death due to blocking the blood flow and causing a stroke, why is Sue bleeding profusely out of her ear? Bleeding from the ear is not a sign or symptom of strokes. In face, ear bleeding is not associated with strokes at all. And why didn’t Dr. Mid-Nite notice that much blood during the autopsy?

(While we’re on the subject, who came up with the concept that telepaths bleed out of their nose, ears or eyes? I can see how severe straining might cause some bleeding from the nose, but not the ear or eyes. A blood vessel might pop within the eye itself, but there wouldn’t be any overt bleeding. It simply doesn’t make sense anatomically. If someone is straining that much to cause bleeding out the nose, I’d be more worried about the sky-high blood pressure and possibility of popping aneurysms).

Finally, I have some legal questions. What happened to Jean’s due process? One moment she’s in bed with Ray and the next she’s being locked up at Arkham Asylum. Some time has passed, but the script suggests it wasn’t that much. What about a trial?

Why is she in an insane asylum? She acted criminally, but she didn’t act insanely. She committed a pre-meditated assault that turned into murder. She knew her actions were wrong and tried to cover them up by burning the body. She hired someone to kill Tim Drake’s father, but purposefully chose someone weak so that he would survive (but things didn’t work out according to plan). She clearly had thought through what she was going to do and knew what was right and what was wrong. She wouldn’t come close to meeting the definition of criminally insane in most, if not all, states of the Union. With his legal background, Meltzer should know better.

Finally, since she’s not insane, why are they medicating her? There’s no pill to cure criminal tendencies.

11 Responses to “ Identity Crisis #7: A Medical Review (with some legal questions thrown in for free) ”

  1. matthew rossi
    January 20th, 2005 at 8:49 pm

    Clearly you didn’t see the ‘booga booga I’m crazy’ look on her face, Scott. I’m pretty sure that’s admissible in court.

    Either that, or when she explained the logic behind her original idea, the Judge immediately ordered her locked up in the crazyhouse because it was the most nonsensical thing he’d ever heard.

  2. Brian Cronin
    January 21st, 2005 at 12:42 am

    Good stuff, Scott.

    As to the answers to these questions…I do not know. I just do not know.

  3. Gordon
    January 21st, 2005 at 9:57 am

    Scott,

    First, this may be a dumb question on the ear bleeding – could the “scientific” explanation be that Jean went through the phone and grew so fast that she became a projectile and punctured Sue’s eardrum? (I’m not a medical expert, so take this with a huge grain of salt.

    And if Jean were smart enough to get a good lawyer, they could probably plead down to a lesser charge and/or make a decent insanity defense, and a trial might be waived in lieu of “psychiatric help.” Of course, it would probably be more of a psychiatric ward in a hospital and/or therapy, rather than Arkham Asylum. (Yes, I am Counselor Boy).

    Personally, I choose to just explain it as “sloppy writing on Meltzer’s part”

  4. Scott
    January 21st, 2005 at 11:10 am

    Not a bad idea, Gordon. Eardrums don’t have a lot of blood, so while it might bleed a little, it shouldn’t gush.

    Looking at the picture again, I think it’s the ear…but could it be the mouth? THe next panel shows a dead Sus with some blood around her lips. Of course, that makes even less sense anatomically…

  5. Jer
    January 21st, 2005 at 11:16 am

    Scott,

    Nice analysis! I took the “Jean-goes-to-Arkham” thing as a bit of “string-pulling” being done by Ray so that there wouldn’t have to be a trial. If there was supposed to be a trial in there, Metzler dropped the ball even more than I thought when I read it.

    Ludicrous, yes. But the type of ending that soap operas aspire to weekly. And since the whole exercise seemed to boil down to “soap opera with capes,” about what could be expected.

  6. Gordon
    January 21st, 2005 at 2:49 pm

    And just a note – “insane” isn’t a psychological/psychiatric diagnosis, it’s a legal definition.

    There are probably several disorders that Jean could be diagnosed with: Dissociative Disorder, Narcisisstic/Antisocial Personality Disorder, et al – things that might not be treatable with medications.

    Again – I chalk it up to “sloppy writing”, but I could be wrong.

  7. Scott
    January 21st, 2005 at 3:23 pm

    I’d agree with Narcisisstic and Anti-Social, but I’m not sure she’s displayed any dissociation. Maybe a little Borderline thrown in as well.
    Can personality disorders get someone legally declared insane?

  8. matthew rossi
    January 21st, 2005 at 4:03 pm

    IANAL, of course, but as far as I recall in most states to be ‘legally insane’ you have to be unable to determine why your actions were criminal or wrong. In other words, if Jean knew what she was doing was wrong but did it anyway, she’s not legally insane. If she thought it was morally right, or indeed was unable to make that determination one way or the other, then she is.

  9. Scott
    January 21st, 2005 at 4:12 pm

    That’s pretty much of my understanding of the situation as well, Matt. I think the series shows that Jean knew what she was doing was wrong (for reasons I outlined in the post) so that’s why I question whether she is insane (legally, at least).

  10. Jeff R.
    January 21st, 2005 at 4:52 pm

    Arkham is, and will always be, an extraordinarily pre-reform-era mental asylum. We see now that this extends not only the the horrible conditions and utterly ineffective treatment, but also to it’s usefulness by connected people to ‘disappear’ inconvenient wimminfolk.

    The ear bleed is indeed very strange. It also shows up only in the sepia-toned “Jean’s version” of the events, not the natural-colored “presumably real version” from the first issue…

  11. M
    January 21st, 2005 at 8:51 pm

    I always thought the psionic-or-their-victim bleeding through eyes ears nose and mouth thing was strange. Yeah, nose-bleed due to strain I get, but mostly it’s just an incredibly overused sci-fi cliche. Note to authors/artists: eyes and ears no, nose only if there’s physical strain. Otherwise a look of concentration maybe a furrowed brow.

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