Birds of Prey #85: A Medical Review

August 22nd, 2005

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

cover, Birds of Prey #85Birds of Prey #85 “A New Morning’s Resolution”
Gail Simone, writer
Joe Bennet and Eddy Barrows, pencillers

The story and the medicine in Birds of Prey #85 were very good, but the art should have been better. There were too many instances of poor panel-to-panel continutity and a couple of occasions where it seemed the artist hadn’t fully read the script.

The plot: Oracle has been infected with the Braniac Virus and is brought to the JSA’s brownstone for treatment. Dr. Mid-Nite has assembled an all star team of experts to operate on her. She is sedated with Diprivan, an intravenous anesthetic, while a team of surgeons remove the physical aspects of the virus. Barbara herself tackles the psychological aspects of the virus.

The team is using equipment that is fancier than standard surgical equipment, but it’s not that far-fetched. For example, wireless heart monitors are already used in most hospitals so it should be no surprise that the Surgical All-Star Team is shown using one — though admittedly a very advanced model. This is consistent with past appearances of Dr. Mid-Nite, who always has the most cutting-edge medical technology.

In terms of the art, it was certainly technically proficient. However, there were several continuity errors such as intermittent surgical masks on the All-Stars and occasionally invisible tubing on Mr. Tan. There were also several instances where I wondered if the artists had missed some of the finer points of the script. Mr. Tan mentions his respirator and we actually see it behind him in one panel, but where is it hooked up to him? If he’s on a ventilator long term, then he probably has a permanent tracheotomy. His body position is such that it would hide ventilator tubing running his neck, so I can’t fault the artist there. But if Mr. Tan has a tracheotomy — or is on a ventilator of any sort — then why is he drawn with nasal oxygen tubing?

The worst example of art not matching story was not in the medical aspect of the comic, but it was jarring enough to earn a mention. As the fight starts, Black Canary mentions that she drew first blood and then (a few frames later) Helena drew second blood. The artist disagrees, clearly shows Connor drawing blood long before the Huntress.

Spoiler Warning!

What about the big reveal of the last page? It makes sense medically (well, comic-book medically). Think of it this way: the Braniac Virus wanted a perfect host. The virus would do what it could to fix any imperfections, and since it is a highly advanced virus specially attuned to the nervous system, it should have no problem repairing nerve function. Of course, that doesn’t entirely explain why it wasn’t until after the virus was defeated that Barbara regained her mobility. We’ll just have to wait and see what Simone has in store for her.

To sum up: Story, good; Medicine, good; Ending, good; Dr. Mid-Nite’s All-Star Surgical Team, good (and they need their own comic); Art, needs work.

7 Responses to “ Birds of Prey #85: A Medical Review ”

  1. Ashtur
    August 22nd, 2005 at 11:49 pm

    Depending on just how intellegent the virus was, I can take a guess as to why Barbara is just now able to move her toes.

    If the virus wanted to “hide” the extent of its repairs on Barbara, so that she wouldn’t become too suspicious too quickly, it could “block” the never impulses, while healing them for later use. We know from the previous issue that it was already releasing “drugs” into her to prevent her from taking action against it, so this would just be an extention of the same thing.

    One the virus was gone, the nerves would then be free to act normally.

  2. Jeff R.
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:11 am

    So, presuming the virus restored her spine’s neural connections, exactly how much Physical Therapy would she realistically need to undergo before being able to stand up? to walk? to run? to fight?

    [This is, of course, presuming the virus didn't do major muscle repairs while it was busy; not a given...]

  3. Scott
    August 23rd, 2005 at 3:46 pm
    Official Comment

    She would need a great deal (i.e. months, not weeks) of reconditioning and re-training. Her muscles would have significantly atrophied from non-use (and not been the shapely legs we saw) and she’ll have to build the muscles back – particularly if she wants to be very active.

  4. Anonymous
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:44 pm

    Don’t muscles sometimes get kinda twitchy and stay somewhat toned even when they’re not used? In his autobiography _Moving Violations : War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence_, John Hockenberry says that’s how his leg muscles didn’t atrophy even after he became paralyzed and never walked again.

  5. Scott
    August 23rd, 2005 at 9:21 pm
    Official Comment

    It partially depends on how severe the spinal cord was damaged in whether in reflexes/twitches remain.

  6. Gail
    August 24th, 2005 at 8:58 am

    Just wanted to thank Scott again for all his wonderful help, and I’m sorry some things didn’t come out completely accurately, for a variety of reasons too maudlin to discuss. But what WAS right was mostly Scott’s fault THANKS, SCOTT!

    Gail

  7. Sean Duggan
    July 7th, 2007 at 7:29 pm

    I seem to recall at least one story (I’m pretty sure it was fictional although it sounded plausible) where the character, paralyzed from the waist down, was “exercised” by the physical therapist, having the leg drawn up to their chest and released repeatedly to simulate exercise, maintaining some degree of muscle tone in hopes that they might recover movement if/when the spinal injury healed. The Bone Collector maybe?

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