Polite Dissent

Hawkeye: Blindspot #4
Jim McCann, writer
Paco Diaz, penciler

It may seem like I’m enjoy picking on Jim McCann, but that’s not true. He writes thoroughly enjoyable superhero comics, and I appreciate the way he frequently throws in good medical scenes — even if he’s been known to get tripped up by the little details. Like in Hawkeye: Blindspot #4.

The occipital lobe, the rearmost area of the brain, contains the visual cortex, where the processing of the sense of sight occurs. An injury to this area can lead to visual impairment up to complete blindness. The brain isn’t particularly good at healing itself, so brain injuries tend to be long lasting if not outright permanent.

First off, the idea of using Pym particles to reduce the swelling in the brain is pure medical genius in the way that only comic books can pull off.

Now, moving on to the actual treatment:

Stem cells are as good an idea as any to repair brain damage — in fact, they’re an entirely reasonable idea. Being able to grow new brain cells would go a long way toward correcting brain damage. Unfortunately, Stark’s plan has no chance of working because they’re using hematopoietic stem cells. These are cells that are found in the bone marrow and are used by the body to grow new blood cells. That’s what they do: create blood cells. It’s in the name: hemato – (blood) – poiesis – (formation). So unless there’s a problem with blood cells, hematopoietic stem cells aren’t going to do much good (but it’s why they’re useful in the treatment of diseases of the blood, like leukemia). Hawkeye needs stem cells that can grow brain tissue (such as pluripotent stem cells — cells that can be used to form any cell type) not stem cells limited to just blood cells.