Polite Dissent

Something is clearly wrong with Dr Superhero, in this scene from Awesome Hospital — though at least he does seem to be wearing his head mirror more or less correctly. I like the way all his mini-clones (a reference to Superman #125, I suspect) are wearing head mirrors too.

And if you’re not reading Awesome Hospital every Tuesday and Thursday, what’s wrong with you?

scene from X-Men Legacy #235

The Stepford Cuckoos learn the hard way that Cerebra has been sabotaged by Bastion’s group in this scene from the Second Coming crossover.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed stepford cuckoos x-men

scene from Secret Six #25 (Simone, Calafiore)

Lady Vic, the cornea overlies the pupil, so it would be impossible to hit the pupil without also hitting the cornea.

Even doctors in the 1020th century still wear head mirrors.

This week’s comic book public service ad is Superboy in “Happy Hobby Time!” — or as I like to call it: Superboy’s sweatshop. He’s got to pay for all those Superboy robots somehow…

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was published twice, first in DC comics from May 1952, and then again thirteen years later in comics from June 1965. This wasn’t the first hobby PSA either, who can forget “Learn From Your Hobbies!”

This PSA was written by Jack Schiff with Win Mortimer providing the art..

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa superboy hobbies jack schiff win mortimer

It has been brought to my attention that in my complete review of Hawk and Dove appearances, I never got around to looking at Secret Origins #43, written by Karl and Barbara Kesel, which ties the original Hawk and Dove into the Kesel’s Hawk and Dove mythology.

The story opens with Barter — sometime ally, sometime enemy — researching Hawk and Dove by looking through old newspaper articles that refer to some of the duo’s original adventures¹. He can’t find the information he wants and realizes that the details he needs can only be learned from someone more intimately involved with the pair. He heads to a prison outside Washington DC where he talks to one of the mobsters present when Hawk and Dove made their first appearance.² From this conversation, he realizes that Judge Hall and his sons Hank and Don are somehow connected to Hawk and Dove. Barter heads off to the warehouse the mobster told him about, the warehouse Hank and Don were locked up in and where Hawk and Dove first appeared. Using some Ghostbuster-ish equipment, Barter is able to piece together what happened: how a strange voice (or was it voices?) offered powers to Hank and Dove in order to save their father. They agreed, and Hawk and Dove were born.

A short time later, back at his shop, Barter greets Child, one of the Lords of Chaos. In return for a piece of his crystalline companion Flaw, Child gives Barter a magical device that allows him to access specific memories related to Hawk and Dove. Barter witnesses an idyllic land where a golden knight does battle with a horrible dragon time and time again. Sometimes the knight is killed, sometimes the dragon. Regardless, the battle rages on. Barter learns that these are no ordinary combatants, but Terataya, a Lord of Order, and Tcharr, a Lord of Chaos. After ages of battle, they decide to call a truce and work together, something which has never happened before in all the history of Order and Chaos. The pair begins work on an “experiment” and they find two promising specimens on Earth: Hank and Don Hall. Each of the brother is given power by the Lords of Order and Chaos. At first the results seem promising, but then Don starts deferring too much to his brother Hank, and Dove begins exhibiting touches of Chaos. It comes to a head when Dove starts a fight after he thinks Hawk has been killed³. Tcharr and Terataya decide that for the good of their experiment, the Dove powers must be stripped from Don and given to a new candidate: Dawn Granger. Unfortunately for Don, he was in a precarious situation and was killed when he lost his powers.⁴

Just as Barter feels he is starting to understand Hawk and Dove better, Tcharr himself (herself? itself?) appears in Barter’s shop – it is his memories that Barter has been accessing. Barter agrees to return the memories, but only if Tcharr tells him why he and Terataya created Hawk and Dove.

“Because we are in love,” replies the Lord of Chaos. He refuses to answer any more questions and flies off into the night, leaving Barter more determined than ever to use Hawk and Dove for his own ends.

Thoughts:
This comic is dated August, 1989 which makes it coexistent with Hawk and Dove #3. This fits: he was first seen in Hawk & Dove #1 and mentions that he wants to learn more about the pair; he hires them to work for him in Hawk & Dove #6.

While this story does a good job linking the history of Hawk and the original Dove to the new Dove, it gives too much away too soon. The history and true origin of Hawk and Dove are better discovered slowly – a little learned here and there until the final reveal in the journey to Druspa Tau in issues #14 to #17. It’s a much more powerful story that way. Spelled out in its entirety here (especially this early in the series’ run), it loses much of its emotional strength.

The art is inconsistent. For example, for the first several pages, Barter is drawn without his trademark mustache and it took several pages to discover who the character was supposed to be.

Speaking of Barter, it was nice to see more of him and learn a little more about his curse (He was cursed by a power higher than that of Chaos and Order that he can never take or give an object or information; a trade must always take place). I’m surprised no other writer has taken up the character since the demise of the Hawk & Dove series.

Though it was strongly hinted at in Hawk & Dove (mini-series) #5, this comic makes it clear: the loss of his powers directly led to the death of Don.

The story sheds new light on the creation of Hawk and Dove. They didn’t gain powers, as generally thought, that reinforced abilities and beliefs they already had — instead Hank and Don were chosen because they fit the powers.

Hawk is listed as only 5′10″ and 181 lbs. That seems mighty short for Hank, let alone Hawk.

It is Tcharr here, but T’Charr in later issues of Hawk & Dove (I prefer the former. I loathe the unfortunate habit of fantasy and science-fiction authors to throw useless apostrophes in character’s names just to seem “alien.”)

Notes:
1. The Hawk and The Dove #3
2. Showcase #75
3. The Hawk and the Dove #5
4. Crisis on Infinite Earths #6, Hawk and Dove (mini-series) #5

Tags: comics hawk dove barter order chaos origin

scene from New Mutants #8

Karma learns that trying to control the mind of a dead person doesn’t work very well (clearly she had forgotten that undead are immune to sleep and charm effects).

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed karma new mutants

scene from More Fun Comics #98

How is artificial ice different from real ice, and why would you want it in pill form?

Superboy, as Clark Kent, needs to get out of school so he can rush off on some sort of super errand. He decides the best way to accomplish this is fooling the doctor into thinking he has a fever so he’ll get sent home.

It would be hard to come up with a more complicated and less efficient way for Superboy to fake a fever. What about using his heat vision, or the super speed, to heat the thermometer to 102°? Plus, that way you manage to avoid the myriad flaws of his original plan (for instance: How did he dispose of the toxic mercury? What if the doctor didn’t have red ink? Not to mention, Superboy ruined a perfectly good thermometer. “That’s strange, every single student I’ve seen today has had a temperature of 102°!”)

I’m continuing the “book” theme with this week’s comic book public service ad. In this PSA, several of DC’s second stringers (well, one second stringer and two third stringers) show up to teach the local kids how great books are.

Click on the image for the full ad

This isn’t the only library-themed PSA to come out of DC’s public service series — who can forget the Old Sea Captain?

I suspect Tomahawk hasn’t really read The Last of the Mohicans, because as great as the underlying plot may be, nobody who’s ever read Cooper would ever mistake his writing “thrilling.”

This public service ad appeared in DC comics published in February 1951. Jack Schiff wrote the script with Win Mortimer providing the art. This particular ad was scanned in from Adventure Comics #161.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa books library green arrow tomahawk shining knight jack schiff win mortimer

Amazing Spider-Man #639 “One Moment in Time, Chapter Two: Something New”
Joe Quesada, writer
Joe Quesada, Danny Miki, Richard Isanove, art

Though I normally complain about incorrect use of the defibrillator, I also like to give credit where credit is due:
Vtach (that is, ventricular tachycardia — an abnormally fast heart rate the originates in the bottom half of the heart) is a shockable rhythm and use of a defibrillator is proper.
The algorithm they’re using is not far off from the recommended one.
They also remember that CPR is key.

So, good job, Joe Q!

Now if you want to quibble, for ventricular tachycardia you usually perform at least a cycle of CPR between shocks, and it’s rare to jump from 200J to 360J directly — but to some extent the settings depend on the defibrillator one is usung. (Not shown in the image above, but you can find it in the comic: the doctor gives up too easy and calls time of death before even trying any resuscitation medications.) These are mostly just nit-picks, though. By and large, this is an excellent job and for once it’s nice to see a defibrillator used correctly.

Scene from New Mutants #13
Henry, you’re not a physician, so the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t apply to you.

Anyway, the Beast taking this stance is more than a little hypocritical. Just in the past year or two, how may times has he broken the Hippocratic Oath he now clings to? For instance, what about all questionably ethical efforts he made in Endangered Species to resurrect the mutant genome? How about the times he broke patient confidentiality? Or maybe the time he suggested injecting a comatose patient with an organic solvent? So much for keeping your patients from harm.

Opening scene from Ultimate Avengers 3 #1 (by Mark Millar and Steve Dillon)

It seems that Marvel has gone the “vampirism = porphyria” route in the Ultimate Universe, at least according to the latest issue of Ultimate Avengers. I’ve discussed porphyria and vampires before at length, but here’s a quick summary:

Intentional or not, Millar adds a twist. According to Blade, porphyria is a virus. Now, in the real world, porphyria is a genetic disease one is born with, and not a virus. On the other hand — purely theoretically — there could be a virus that preferentially seeks out one the genes responsible for heme production and inserts itself there, rendering the gene useless and giving the victim an acquired porphyria, which in the Ultimate Universe, equals vampirism. This virus would reproduce and be present in the vampire’s body, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be passed on to another person through, um, “traditional vampire feeding habits”. (Again, this is purely theoretical, no virus with anything near the level of specificity required by this virus exists in the real world)

Of course, assuming you accept the acquired porphyria concept (and I’m willing to, for the sake of comic book logic), porphyria on it’s best day still can’t explain the vampiric qualities exhibited in the comic. (On the other hand, you could explain them away as effects of the virus itself, but I’d want to see some impressive medical technobabble before I buy that).

Here in southwest Illinois, it’s the first week of school, and I’ve been saving this literature-themed public service ad for just such as occasion. Take the quiz! Are you as smart as Buzzy? (I hope so, since he’s merely a fictional character)

Click on the image for the full ad

I like the quotes around “Famous Books” — like the writer’s not sure if they’re really famous books or not.

That last one’s extremely vague. I bet most literary heroines DID NOT marry the boy next door.

This PSA appeared in DC comics from January 1957. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Ruben Moreira.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa buzzy books jack schiff ruben moreira

scene from Cable & Deadpool #2 (Nicieza, Udon)

Cable has just pushed his telekinetic powers “to the limit” by sucking all the mutated virus out of a terrorist (that’s the nasty blob floating the corner — the virus, that is, not the terrorist.) Meanwhile, Deadpool sneaks up and takes the opportunity to point his gun very awkwardly at Cable.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed cable deadpool virus otorrhagia

In More Fun Comics #90, Dr. Fate is hunting a villainous master of disguise. Fate has learned that the criminal is masquerading as a famous doctor in town for a medical convention, but he doesn’t know which doctor is the fake. What’s a master of the mystic arts to do?
Use a magical spell? No, of course not. When’s the last time Dr. Fate actually cast a spell?
Consult his crystal ball? No, too easy. Where’s the challenge in that?
Fall back on information he learned in medical school? Bingo.

On one hand, I have to admit that this is a really clever scheme. Dr. Fate is right that nitroglycerin is a common heart medication (though, technically, it’s not a heart stimulant but a vasodilator), so it works as a perfect trap for someone who’s just pretending to be a doctor and is only aware of the explosive aspect of nitroglycerin and not the medicinal one.

On the other hand, the modern physician in me is appalled by Dr. Fate’s method. The plan of sticking a needle in everyone’s hand may seem like a good idea on paper, but it’s a nightmare to anyone trained in infection control. A needle like that is a good way to spread blood-borne diseases including hepatitis or HIV. I’d hate to be the last doctor to enter the room and be exposed to everyone else’s blood.

I’ll give Dr. Fate a weak pass on this one. On the plus side, he caught the criminal through a ingenious trap. However, in the process, he exposed everyone in the room to the possibility of a nasty disease, and then he misstated the function of nitroglycerin to a room full of doctors. Good thing he was wearing his mask.

Superman #702 “Grounded, Part Two”
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Eddy Barrows, artist

This month, at least, Superman does not just walk by while someone suffers a life threatening health episode. Instead, he scoops the victim up in his arms and flies him to…some convenient aliens. And then all but extorts them to treat the man because “his condition is beyond me, beyond any Earth medicine.”

This is just too convenient for my tastes because:
1. Superman just happened to come across the previously unknown group of aliens earlier that day.
2. The aliens “cannot allow another sentient to die when it is within our power to stop it” — ignoring the fact that they just attacked and tried to kill Superman (who would, one would think, qualify as “another sentient”) not too many pages before.
3. Their alien medicine is able to cure the man of some clearly life-threatening lung disease despite the fact that the story makes a big deal about them not having lungs themselves (“layers of gills in your chest instead of lungs”).
Basically, I just find it way too convenient that random group of aliens — of a species unknown to Superman — would luckily have developed something able to treat humans at all, let along be more advanced that “Earth medicine,” when they have a very different physiology.

Still, it’s an improvement over last issue.

Just as a thought exercise, what condition could the old man have? Symptoms include cough and sudden collapse. That’s really all we have, though the story suggests the cough is dry (as opposed to productive) and chronic. Here’s my list, off the top of my head:
Severe COPD (i.e. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a.k.a. emphysema)
Pulmonary fibrosis
Lung Cancer
Inhaled foreign body
Asthma attack
Asbestosis (or other workplace exposure)
Severe pneumonia
Congestive heart failure (with pulmonary edema – fluid backing up into the lungs)

Of these, the most likely candidates — those “beyond any Earth medicine” — would be a very advanced cancer, asbestosis, or pulmonary fibrosis.

With summer break almost over, there’s time for one last nature-themed public service ad. This ad is about saving the wetlands and is pretty straightforward.

Click on the image for the full ad

While I agree with the kids and the outcome of the PSA, you’d think Jim could’ve found a better choice to present his point of view to the council. Someone not so easily swayed by young kids, perhaps?

For more nature PSAs, check out Nature’s Bill of Rights, Get A Box Seat to Nature’s Wonders!, Nature’s Prize Pupil!, Nature Loves a Nature Lover!, and Teddy Roosevelt – Guardian of Nature

This PSA appeared in DC comics from March 1961. The script is by king-of-the-PSAs Jack Schiff and the darker, more angular art clearly identifies the artist as Bernard Baily.

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Tags: comics psa nature wetlands jack schiff bernard baily

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a list of the interesting (and frequently frightening) searches that bring people to Polite Dissent. I think I’ve finally reached the point where little that people search for online surprises me anymore — but what does amaze me is how they ended up here.

Search terms are in bold (with spelling and punctuation intact). My comments are in green italics.

so i herd you have a second copy of your 21st chromosome….
Everybody has a second copy of their 21st chromosome (remember, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes). It’s when you have a third copy of chromosome 21 that there’s a problem.

did j.michael straczynski ruin spider-man?
Not permanently.

lap dance fungal infection
Giving or receiving? Either way, there’s a cream for that. Make an appointment.

my stethoscope on her heart sex
If you’re doing it right, her heart should be going very fast. If it’s not, then put away the stethoscope and start concentrating on her.

nurse falls in love with patient can she continue to nurse him
That depends, is she a wet nurse?

white spots on upper arms that get worse in summer
It’s Tinea versicolor

when you shot a gun into the head and cause clot of the brain can cause stroke?
If you’ve been shot in the head, a stroke should not be one of your main concerns.

there will be bleeding from orifices
Yes, yes there will.

are criminals a superstitious cowardly lot
According to this expert they are.

polite descent
There are certainly days it feels that way.

homeopathic remedy for poison ivy
Since homeopathic remedies are nothing but water, I suggest you mix it with some soap and then use it to scrub the poison ivy sap off your skin.

do you have to take blood in med school
I submit that if you have finished medical school and never drawn blood, then you have failed and you need to reevaluate your priorities.

hi and lois porn
Damn you, Rule 34!

more here

Red Robin #15 “The Hit List, part three: Secret Identity Crisis”
Fabian Nicieza, writer
Marcus To, penciler

Tim Drake-Wayne (Jingleheimer-Schmidt) is shot while giving a speech and rushed to the hospital for treatment. Several days later, a hospital spokesman gives a press conference:

I’ve got a few concerns with the hospital spokesman’s statement:

First, depending on the person, the human spinal cord ends somewhere between the first and second lumbar vertebrae. There is no spinal cord to get nicked at the level of the third lumbar vertebra. True, there are several spinal nerves remaining in the spinal canal at that level, and they can certainly be injured, but there is no spinal cord.

I suspect that what Nicieza meant was that Tim suffered an injury at the third lumbar segment of the spinal cord. An injury at this level would be consistent with the lower extremity muscle weakness he demonstrates later. However, since the adult spinal cord is much shorter than the spinal column, the third lumbar segment of the spinal cord is actually found several levels higher than the third lumbar vertebra. I know it’s confusing, but no one ever said human anatomy made sense (and if it did, my first year of medical school would have been a great deal more fun).

Second, if Tim’s spinal cord (or spinal nerves) were just nicked along the left side, why is he wearing braces on both of his legs?

(Third, and this is truly a nit-pick: it should be third lumbar vertebra. Vertebrae is plural.)

Tags: comics robin trauma spine lumbar fabian nicieza

He may have gone to correspondence school, but at least Kent Nelson (Dr. Fate) knows how to use a head mirror — though he looks quite grumpy about it, almost like Dr. Caveman.

In More Fun Comics #85 (November 1942), Kent Nelson, a.k.a. Dr Fate, decides he wants to become a medical doctor. He then proceeds to study and graduate with a medical degree all within the space of one story (four panels actually). This is no multi-year montage; this takes place within the ongoing storyline.

As far as I’m concerned, there can only be one explanation for this: correspondence school.

(And despite what whoever wrote the Wikipedia page on Dr. Fate thinks, interne is not a misspelling, but is the traditional spelling — and the preferred one back in the 1930s and 1940s — for “intern”.)

Only a few weeks of summer vacation left, just enough time for one last camping trip — and here is Peter Porkchops to teach a few lessons about camping and fire safety.

Click on the image for the full ad

It should have been a no-brainer for Peter to realize that Wolfie was the culprit — he’s the only antagonist in the series, after all! (It would be like G-Force being shocked — shocked, I say! — to find out that Zoltar was the villain behind their latest mission).

This public service ad is found in DC comics from August 1956. The script is by Jack Schiff and has art by Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa peter porkchops camping fire summer jack schiff win mortimer

Since I’ve looked at what chemicals (at various times) have made up the traditional Joker Venom, now’s the time to see what makes up the new intoxicating but non-toxic Joker Juice seen in Detective Comics #867.

According to Batman, the new Joker Juice causes “euphoria, mild hallucinations, increased energy levels, uncontrolled hilarity, and muscular spasms.”

1. Strychnodide
A (fictional) metabolite of the poison strychnine. According to Batman, it is responsible for the infamous Joker grin. This is also likely what is causing the “muscular spasms” he mentions. Speaking of muscle spasms, it’s interesting how the drug only has long-lasting effects on the smile muscles, but not on muscles elsewhere in the body.
I do like how Batman gives the Joker smile a Latin name: rictus sardonicus.

2. Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine, a type of Speed, is also known as meth or crystal meth. Basically, it’s an extremely potent and addictive stimulant. Methamphetamine would explain the increased energy levels Batman mentions, and would play a role in the euphoric feelings a as well.

3. MDMA
MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is better known as Ecstasy. The use of this drug would also explain the increased euphoria, and is probably responsible for what Batman terms “mild hallucinations” (though MDMA causes more of disturbance in sensation than a true hallucination).

4. Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous Oxide is also known as Laughing gas, it has some legitimate medical uses including mild anesthesia. Along with methamphetamine and MDMA, Nitrous Oxide causes euphoria. It has been known to cause mild hallucinations, but like ecstasy, it’s more of a disturbance in sensation than actual hallucinations. I suspect Batman also blames it for the “uncontrolled hilarity” — but despite its nickname, nitrous oxide doesn’t really cause bursts of laughter.

What exactly goes into Joker Toxin (aka Joker Venom, Smile Venom, Joker Juice, and sometimes, Smilex)? The recipe seems to have changed over the years:

1991
HUNTRESS: “Just tell me if any dimethyl silicate has changed hands lately. You know it Charley -– the poison the Joker makes his Smile Venom from.”
Dimemethyl silicate is most commonly found in cosmetics. For instance, it’s a common ingredient in lip gloss.
Source: Wonder Woman #282 (Admittedly, this story takes place on Earth-2)

1993
BRUCE WAYNE: “Some strange compound of chlorides and hydrocolloids with a protein catalyst.”
This one is little more than medical technobabble as all three terms, while real, are maddeningly vague. (FYI: Wikipedia entries on chlorides and hydrocolloids).
Source: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50

2006
DR KOWALSKI: “I had never seen anything like the neurotoxin before. It blocked the calcium and potassium channels and also placed the victim in anaphylactic shock.”
More technobabble, but, like the best technobabble, there is just enough real science present to give it a whiff of truth: calcium channels are found throughout the body, but are especially common in nerves and muscles, and potassium channels are found in nerves and the heart muscle. Anaphylactic shock is a fatal allergic reaction — for example, people who die from bee stings.
Source: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #200

2010
BATMAN: “The most lethal element of authentic Joker Venom, hydrogen cyanide, is absent. strychnodide is present, though. It causes the muscle contractions that produce the hallmark grin.”
Hydrogen cyanide is a very real, very fast, and very deadly toxin (its symptoms don’t really match Joker Venom though). Strychnodide is a fictional derivative of strychnine.
Source: Detective Comics #867.
Though this is the first mention (to my knowledge) of this Joker Venom recipe in an actual comic, this combination of toxins was first mentioned in a DC Heroes Role Playing Game supplement in back in 1993 (DC Technical Manual: S.T.A.R. Labs 1993 Annual Report — I scanned in the relevant section here.).

Click on the image for the full ad

Quack diet aids are nothing new — here’s an ad from Captain America Comics #69 (November 1948) touting “Protam.”

I sure would love to know what, if anything, Protam was. The ad is little help — it tells us what Protam isn’t more than what it is: No drugs. No starvation. No exercise. No massage. Nothing to wear (does this mean they’re naked?). Not a drug. Not a laxative. Not a Thyroid.

The ad throws in a bunch of interesting claims and statements:
It works “even if burdened with Fat for many years (illness excepted).”
Drastically cuts down fat producing calories (But what about calorie producing fat?)
Lose Ugly Fat Economically, Simply, Pleasantly.
Protam Plan Good for Ladies, Too. (But not so good for verbs, apparently).
Sorry, no Canadian orders. (Damn Canada and their truth in advertising laws! OK, that’s just a guess…)

Protam wasn’t just advertised in comics, but in magazines such as Popular Science as well.

Another Binky public service ad — actually his second PSA featuring the theme of how to spend a constructive summer. The initial PSA dealt with Binky’s friends; this PSA deals with Binky’s younger brother (he of the enormous bowtie): Allergy.

Click on the image for the full ad

“Uncle Binky” — that’s a more than a little creepy. I foresee the little blond girl ending up in therapy years later telling stories about her “uncle.”

Speaking of creepy, I suspect that monkey puppet will be a thing of nightmares.

This public service ad is found in DC comics from April 1956. The script is by Jack Schiff and has art by Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa binky allergy belong summer jack schiff win mortimer

Here’s an interesting situation: Green Lantern is captured by his enemies and placed in a special forcefield that causes severe pain any time he uses his ring. In order to escape, he uses his ring’s power to create a pill (a green pill, of course), a “highly concentrated pain-killer – a super aspirin!”

Hal swallows the pill and then waits a few minutes for it to kick in. Once it does, it blocks enough of the pain for him to escape the force field.

In other words, Green Lantern used his ring to:
1. Create a drug.
2. And it’s a drug that persists even after he stops concentrating on it. Shouldn’t the drug molecules (green, of course) and their effects evaporate once he stops focusing on them?
3. Pain killers, particularly strong ones, are difficult medicines to create — especially if you want to avoid side effects like sedation or nausea. Would Hal Jordan, a test pilot, know enough to create a super-aspirin? Or can he just tell his ring: make me a super pain killer and poof! it does?
4. Or maybe Hal just created a super-placebo?

(On the other hand, bonus points to Hal for giving the pill time to take effect rather than assuming it would work instantly, a common misconception. Medications, particularly oral ones, take time to kick in.)

Images from Green Lantern #69 (June 1969) by John Broome and Gil Kane.
More can be read here.

In this scene from the X-Women one shot, Rachel Summers is forcefully impressing her memories upon Kitty Pryde. As the art (especially the rendering of Kitty Pryde) makes abundantly clear, this comic is drawn by none other than Milo Manara.

It actually makes sense, if you think about it: Over the past decade, Claremont’s X-Men stories have degenerated into little more than soft-core bondage fantasies (c.f. any issue of X-Treme X-Men), so Manara is the perfect artist for him.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed x-men kitty pryde rachel summers claremont manara

Let’s take another look at Shadow of the Bat #50, where Batman is facing Narcosis, a villain who has created a special gas — a “patented” combination of Ketamine and Acetylcholine — to cause horrific nightmares.

First, the Ketamine:

Ketamine is a sedative and an anesthetic which I’ve covered extensively before. It is a strong tranquilizer and it has been known to cause nightmares, so its inclusion in Narcosis’ nightmare gas makes a certain amount of sense.

Now the Acetylcholine:

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. In other words, it is a chemical messenger used to pass information between two nerves and it is also used to pass information between nerves and muscles. It has multiple effects within the human body. It causes skeletal muscles to contract. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system which, among other things, increase gland excretions and cause the heart to slow down. Within the brain itself, acetylcholine is associated with REM sleep — a state known for its vivid dreams — but its exact effect is not entirely clear. When the body moves from other stages of sleep into REM sleep, acetylcholine production — which had been suppressed — increases, so there is a rise in the level of acetylcholine. Dreaming also increases in REM sleep, but there is mixed evidence that it is the acetylcholine itself that causes the dreams. Some researchers say acetylcholine causes dreams, some say it causes REM sleep, some say it’s the other way around, and some say it’s all just coincidence. For now, I’ll just point out that while it’s true that all three situations (REM sleep, vivid dreaming, high levels of acetylcholine) exist at the same time, correlation does not equal causation. I’d give Narcosis a mixed grade on this (if the acetylcholine gets to the brain, it may cause increased dreaming which may cause nightmares) except for one thing:

The bigger problem with Narcosis’ use of acetylcholine in his gas is the effects of the neurotransmitter on the other parts of the body. Sure, it might cause nightmares, but who cares when you’re having severe cholinergic symptoms (salivation, urination, lacrimation, defecation, nausea, vomiting), uncontrollable muscle convulsions, and cardiac symptoms. Frankly, nightmares are the least of your worries.

Click on the image for the full ad

This week’s public service advertisement theme is “nature” — a fairly common theme among DC Comics’ PSAs. In this ad, a trio of boys are stopped from throwing junk in a river by a fly fisherman, who then goes on to tell them at great length about sewage treatment facilities, power plants, and agricultural chemicals. In an effort to get him to stop talking, the teens agree to clean up the river.

Click on the image for the full ad

The teens walked all the way to the river carrying a large empty box, a bottle, and a tin can just so they can throw them in the water? There have got to be easier ways to litter — or better yet, recycle.

I’m not big on “organic foods” — for the most point I think they’re vastly overpriced for the alleged benefits — but that crop scene make me want to reconsider.

“keeping sewage from having to go into nearby rivers and bays…” is an awkwardly worded, yet frightening, line.

This is one of the few PSAs where the title doesn’t end in an exclamation point.

For more nature PSAs, check out Get A Box Seat to Nature’s Wonders!, Nature’s Prize Pupil!, Nature Loves a Nature Lover!, and Teddy Roosevelt – Guardian of Nature

This PSA appeared in DC comics from September 1965. The script and art were by frequent collaborators Jack Schiff and Sheldon Moldoff.

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Tags: comics psa nature river jack schiff sheldon moldoff

It’s refreshing to see a villain who cares enough about his work to actually take the time to get a patent on his schtick. Given the speed with which the patent office works, that means he probably applied about five years before he finally got the chance to go on his crime spree. (Of course, in this case, it’s a nightmare-inducing gas, so you’d think Scarecrow and Hugo Strange might have somthing to say about prior art).

Another Maxwell Lord psychic-nosebleed cover. Enough already — this “Maxwell Lord is evil and psychic and his nose bleeds” theme has played itself out, at least as far as visuals go. Time to move on.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed maxwell lord justice league

Superman #701 “Grounded, Part One”
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Eddy Barrows, artist

Kevin does a good job discussing the meat of Superman #701. There’s not much that I can add, other than to take a more in depth look at one particular scene — you know which one I’m talking about — from a medical perspective.

Yes, you read that right. Superman just told an elderly man that he has a serious heart condition, and then runs off, leaving the man to fend for himself. Wasn’t this journey across the country supposed to help him reconnect with the little guy?

One of three things is likely going on with the elderly gentleman:

1. The gentleman is suffering from angina (severely decreased blood flow to the heart due to narrowed or blocked arteries) or an early heart attack (a complete blockage of blood flow in one or more of the arteries supplying the heart). The pain and the man’s slumped position in the chair fit this diagnosis, but Superman’s comment doesn’t.

2. The gentleman has a dangerously irregular heart rhythm. Brief episodes of an irregular rhythm are fairly common — everybody has them — and generally nothing to worry about. But when you combine an irregular rhythm with chest pain, then there is something more serious going on (ventricular tachycardia or an advanced heart block would be my guess).

3. A combination of 1. and 2. An irregular rhythm could be cutting blood flow to the heart, leading to angina or a heart attack.

In any case, all of these situations qualify as a medical emergency — as in call 911 or proceed immediately to the nearest emergency room. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. This is not the time for you to scrounge for the doctor’s phone number; this is when you need to be calling 911. Or better yet, Superman could spend 2-3 minutes flying you to the emergency room. If he has several hours to spend talking a suicidal girl off a ledge, he can spend a few minutes saving an old man’s life (remember, not saving a man’s life is what led Superman into this predicament in the first place.)

And if it is angina or a heart attack, the last thing Superman needs to due is give the guy an adrenalin rush, increasing the blood requirements of the heart even more. Nice going, Superman.

As I discussed last time, while Superman has the ability to detect medical abnormalities, I am not convinced he has the skill to be able to interpret what he finds. It’s easy to misread heart rhythms, for better or for worse. If you haven’t had appropriate medical training, it’s also easy to miss the potential complications of certain diagnosis. For instance, Superman might diagnose the man with atrial fibrillation — a type of abnormal heart rhythm — but due to his inexperience, he wouldn’t know to look for a blood clot in the heart, a potentially fatal complication of atrial fibrillation.

True story: I had a case a few weeks ago, where a patient of mine was in a minor fender bender. The EMTs at the scene ran a rhythm strip and told him that he had an irregular heart beat and needed to see his doctor right away. First thing the next morning, the patient was in to see me, panicked, rhythm strip clutched tightly in his hand. He was convinced something was seriously wrong with his heart. A brief look at the rhythm strip quickly showed nothing was wrong. He had respiratory sinus arrhythmia, which means that the heart speeds up and slows down as the patient breathes in and out. It’s a completely normal finding and is nothing to worry about at all; the poor patient had been panicked, and undoubtedly lost a night’s sleep, for no reason. Thankfully, this story had a happy ending, but it shows that having the ability to check the heart rhythm is not the same thing as knowing what it means.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #77 “Arwin’s Theory of Devolution”
Alan Grant, writer
Mark Buckingham, penciler

Streptomycin, a potent antibiotic, will indeed kill off the bacteria E. coli — and it’s particularly effective in a Petri dish, where you don’t have to worry about nasty side effects such as kidney damage and deafness commonly seen with such antibiotics.

However, the description of how the bacteria evolve resistance to the antibiotic is a little off:

The mutation in question (resistance to Streptomycin) occurred before the antibiotic was ever added. It may be a recent mutation, or it may be an old one, but when it occurred isn’t important — all that matters is that some bacteria in the dish have the mutated gene and are resistant to the antibiotic.

Once the Streptomycin is added to the dish, the non-mutated bacteria — those susceptible to the antibiotic — die off, leaving only the mutated bacteria to reproduce.

The surviving bacteria don’t “mutate rapidly” to pass along the gene because simply being one of the few bacteria that survived guarantees that their genes will be passed to the next generation. In other words, the mutation has already occurred, no more is required for survival¹.

In all fairness to the writer, these words are spoken by a college professor who is clearly more than a little nuts. So it is likely the character who misstates the science, and not Grant.

Notes:
1. There will of course be the usual random assortment of new mutations that may occur within any generation of bacteria.

This week’s comic book public service ad is more apropos than ever with the recent surge in popularity of the “staycation.”

Throw in a little country mouse/city mouse and what more do you need? Perfect PSA.

Click on the image for the full-sized ad
This was one of the later — and in my opinion, uninspired — PSAs that appeared in the tail end of DC’s monthly PSA program. Written by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff, it can be found in DC comics published in August 1965.

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Tags: comics psa summer vacation city country jack schiff sheldon moldoff

In X-Men Unlimited #41, a young mutant has unknowingly developed the power to release emotion-controlling pheromones. In this scene, his viewing of a horror movie has unanticipated affects upon his fellow moviegoers.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed x-men unlimited pheromeone

Even space aliens are no match for the power of…Psychology!

from Tales of Suspense #15 (March 1961)

How to tell if you’re not cut out for a career in Super-villainy in five easy steps, courtesy of the Human Flying Fish:

1A. Your partner is named after plankton.
1B. He claims to be an “Aquamanologist.”

2A. He’s a surgeon and an expert in marine biology, but thinks crime is the best way to make money.
2B. You cheerfully agree to be a guinea-pig

3. Your lungs are converted to gills, yet the oxygen and anesthesia during the operation are still being fed to your lungs. Oops.

4. Same theme: the operation replaced your lungs with gills, so why are still breathing air?

5A. Your costume consists of yellow hood and leggings and a purple and white tunic.
5B. You think “The Human Flying Fish” is a good name.

Images from the original appearance of the Human Flying Fish in Adventure Comics #272

A comic book public service ad that start’s out with a pun in the title? Can that be a good sign?

No, not really. It’s not a bad PSA, just uninspired, and the morose penciling of Bernard Baily doesn’t help either.

Click on the image for the full ad

For your edification, here are the take home points from this PSA. Print them out and carry them with you at all times:

This PSA appeared in DC comics published in May 1961. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Bernard Baily.

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Tags: comics psa eye fireworks rocket jack schiff bernard baily

Mickey Mouse Magazine, Vol 4 #10 (July 1939)

Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball, takes on Tsung, who has the “mutant gene for murder” and a handy supply of virtual bullets. Sam’s own mutant blast field protects him from the virtual bullets, but the feedback causes its own share of problems.

Why yes, this is from the Warren Ellis era of X-Force, why do you ask?

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed x-force cannonball sam guthrie warren ellis

Just as much of Marvel continuity is based on characters trying to rediscover the Super Soldier Serum, a large chunk of DC history is based on people trying to reinvent or otherwise improve upon the wonder drug Miraclo. This, frankly, is a mistake. It’s not that Miraclo is a bad drug — it’s not — it’s just that there’s a much better option — the original deus ex machina drug: Solution Z.

Solution Z was the secret drug the villain known as Mr. Who used to bedevil Dr. Fate back in the Golden Age.

Mr. Who was a 98-pound weakling who was constantly bullied by the other kids. Once he got to college, he spent his time learning biology and chemistry so that he could develop a drug which would allow him to turn the tables and bully those who used to pick on him*. Thus was born Solution Z.

So what can Solution Z do? Pretty much anything:
In Mr. Who’s first appearance, drinking Solution Z gave him increased stamina, strength, and invulnerability. It also improved his looks and shaved a good twenty years off his age. Later in the same issue, the drug allows Mr. Who to turn invisible and then grow to 15 feet tall.

In the next issue, Mr. Who uses Solution Z to grow gills and replace his hands with fins so that he can swim faster. Later, the solution allows him to become paper-thin and two-dimensional so that he can fit through a thin crack. After that, he uses the drug to change his face and appearance to look just like the city’s mayor.

In his third appearance, Mr. Who uses Solution Z to escape from custody by growing again, this time to 120 feet tall. He also uses the drug to shrink down to a mere 1 inch tall so he can escape a police manhunt. Solution Z also allows him to become intangible and pass through solid walls.

So once again, why waste time with Miraclo, which only does a fraction of what Solution Z does, and only for an hour at a time?

*but you’ll notice he didn’t spend enough time to actually earn an advanced degree, so he stays poor “Mr.” Who.

Source: More Fun Comics #73 (Nov ‘41), #74 (Dec ‘41) and #79 (May ‘42)

Here’s a nice bit of useless historic trivia brought to you by More Fun Comics and Dr. Fate (in his ludicrous “half-mask” period):

Dr. Fate finally manages to track down master criminal (and I use the term loosely) “The Clock” to his hideout, a clock store. Fate realizes it is a fake clock store because the clocks aren’t all set at 8:20.

I don’t know if this is accurate or not, but it has the ring of truth to it. This story was published in the 1940s, before electrical clocks became commonplace. The clocks of that era needed to be wound regularly to work — and it would be a full day’s effort for a clock store owner to wind every clock in the store — so it makes sense that they would just leave the clocks all set to the same time. As for 8:20 — why not? (Though it makes me wonder what they set the clocks for before April 15, 1865 — and what time they were set for in other countries).

Another swimming theme for this week’s comic book public service ad — the second this month — basically because it’s summer and “summer = swimming”. Unlike the lighthearted antics of Buzzy and Wolfie, and the loose linework of Win Mortimer, this PSA features the more moody art of Bernard Baily.

Click on the image for the full ad

I think Bill needs lots more swimming lessons if he finds himself stuck just 20 feet from shore.

This PSA appeared in DC comics from September 1959. The script — as always — was by Jack Schiff with art by Bernard Baily.

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Tags: comics psa swimming water jack schiff bernard baily

In this scene from X-Man #63, Mr. Glass, a murderous telekinetic, tries to take on Nate Grey, the eponymous X-Man. Things don’t go so well for him.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed cable psychic blast

In Superman #700, Superman is devastated when a woman accuses him of letting her husband die because Superman didn’t use his powers to cure his fatal brain tumor. She believes that Superman could have used his x-ray vision and heat vision to identify and safely eradicate the tumor.

Now, assuming Superman’s heat vision could cure the tumor without any significant side effects* and he wants to make sure no one else dies of a brain tumor:

There are expected to be 62,930 new primary brain tumors diagnosed in the United States in 2010.
If Superman were to work a 24 hour day, 7 days a week, he would have a little over 8 minutes to spend on each brain tumor patient.
If he were to work a slightly more humane 18 hour day (6 hours for sleeping, eating, bathroom breaks, and saving the world), then he would have 6 minutes to spend on each patient.

But why just stop at brain tumors? Why shouldn’t Superman use his abilities to treat all cancers? In that case, there are expected to be 1,539,560 new cancers diagnosed in the United States this year alone (and that’s not counting non-invasive tumors and certain skin cancers that account for another 2+ million cases).
Now Superman has just 20 seconds to see each patient (or 15 seconds if he wants to sleep).
And why not go worldwide? Then Superman would have just 2 seconds per patient.

(And these numbers all assume the patients with cancer have already been identified before Superman even sees them. If you add some sort of screening program into the mix, then the time-per-patient drops even lower.)

I think it’s also important to remember that for all his skills and smarts, Superman is not trained in medicine — particularly radiology and surgery. How many false positives (he thinks it’s a cancer but it’s not) or false negatives (he misses a cancer) will there be? Is a single treatment of heat vision enough? Is 8 minutes, let alone 15 seconds, enough time to correctly diagnose a patient and treat them?

The Bottom Line: The plotline you thought was ridiculous gets even worse when you take a minute to look at the numbers.

*Which I seriously doubt, but that’s another post.

This ad certainly didn’t age well, unless Luden’s still endorses:
1. The shooting of an endangered species (in the back, no less).
2. Bringing drugs to school.
3. Sending young kids on picnics with strange men who carry guns and provide them with drugs.

Ad found in Action Comics #166 (May 1952)

The inhabitants of the Lost Valley of the Bird-Men have learned how to surgically attach giant wings to humans, allowing them to fly. All it takes it a few stitches and a large supply of the miracle drug Serum Alpha. Unfortunately, the evil Gravio family has cornered the market on Serum Alpha so they are the only ones in the Valley who can fly, a fact they use to their advantage by raiding and robbing from the remaining ground-bound populace.

All hope is not lost! A dissident member of the Gravio family has smuggled out enough Serum Alpha for one person. The villagers decide that Batman is their best chance, so they kidnap him and bring him to the Lost Valley.

He agrees to the surgery and a large pair of bat wings is grafted onto him.

He proceeds to take on the Gravios and defeats them all by executing an undeniably awesome plan which consists of: 1) divebombing with giant bat wings, and 2) gas capsules from his utility belt. In the end, it really wasn’t much of a fight — but then, this is Batman we’re talking about. In the end, the villagers thank Batman, surgically remove his wings, and return him to Gotham City.

“The Flying Batman” by David Vern and Sheldon Moldoff, from Batman #82

In today’s comic book public service ad, Binky lectures his younger brother Allergy — and by default us — about how to be a good team player (and, ironically, manages to get in a little ego-stroking of his own — making sure everyone knows that he scored the winning basket in the big game against Beaverville).

Click on the image for the full ad

As for Allergy’s teammates, they seemed to have missed the obvious answer: stop giving him the ball (and no, I don’t for a minute believe that he’s the quarterback).

You’ve got to admire Allergy’s style: even playing football he’s sporting the bow tie.

Hokey or not, this should be required reading for all professional athletes.

This PSA appeared in DC comics from March 1952 — this particular copy comes from Action Comics #166. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Bob Oksner.

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Tags: comics psa binky allergy team sports jack schiff win mortimer

Flying through space, Krypto is exposed to the radiation from two strange meteors. One is Kryptonite, but the second is emitting some weird rainbow rays. Together, these two exposures cause him to develop Super-Rabies.

Super-Rabies is fatal, and progresses through three stages:
Stage 1: Uncontrolled super-growth.

Stage 2: Uncharacteristic anger and aggression.

Stage 3: Permanent muscle rigidity.

Once Krypto reaches stage two of the disease, Superboy realizes he’ll have to put him down. He works with the Army to develop special Kryptonite artillery shells. They knock Krypto down, but he’s not out. He tunnels out of range of the missiles, and then uses his super-heat vision to destroy the Army base. It’s at this point that the third stage of the disease strikes and Krypto is paralyzed. Realizing the end has arrived, Superboy then sets up a shrine to Krypto — using the permanently rigid giant dog as his own shrine’s statue (which is wrong in so many ways).

Heartbroken, Superboy flies into space to grieve. He stumbles across the strange meteors Krypto was exposed to and realizes what has happened. Exposing himself to the emanations of the meteors, he gains the same super-growth and increased super-powers Krypto developed. Before the disease can progress, he turns his now more-powerful x-ray vision on Krypto, and it miraculously cures him. Using a pair of mirrors, he then uses his own x-ray vision to cure himself. Both boy and dog live happily ever after, at least until Ma Kent rented Old Yeller.

“The Colossal Superdog” appears in Adventure Comics #262 (7/59). Script by Otto Binder, art by George Papp.

Previous posts on Rabies.

In this story, Namor’s kingdom is ravaged by a plague that can only be cured with radium. Unfortunately, according to Namor, there is no radium available under the sea, so he swims up to the surface world to find some. At the same time, a group of Nazi spies has stolen all the radium from the (one and apparently only) New York hospital. Namor captures the thieves and hands them over to the authorities, but keeps the radium for himself.

This story was written back in the days when radium was believed to a wonderful drug and a cure for just about anything. It was added to creams, lotions, ointments, toothpastes, and other medicines to make them “healthier” and “better for you.” As marketing, that may have been genius, but medically, it was disastrous. Radium could certainly certainly cure some medical conditions (and it has limited uses in medicine today), but back in the day it was just as likely — if not more likely — to cause cancer or a painful death of one sort or another. By the 1940s, when this story was written, the truth about radium was finally starting to become known, but it was still felt by many to be a wonder drug.

As for the doctor, he is wearing his head mirror more or less correctly. It’s just pushed up out of place a little, but one can easily assume he nudged it up when the telegram arrived so he could read it better.

Scene from Sub-Mariner Comics #1 (1941). Story and art by Bill Everett.

Tags: comics medicine head mirror namor radium namor

Things have been tough for Buzzy and he’s had to take a job as a baby-sitter (I guess he got fired from his job at the grocery. Who knew there were continuity concerns in Public Service Ads?) He turns to his girlfriend Susie to learn how to be a good sitter.

Click on the image for the full ad

Sadly, Buzzy was in such demand as a baby-sitter that he never had time to go out with Susie again — not that she’d date him anymore, since all her baby-sitting clients switched to Buzzy.

This PSA appeared in DC comics from February 1956, credited to PSA stalwarts Jack Schiff and Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa buzzy susie baby-sitter safety jack schiff win mortimer

In this scene from Cable #105, Cable is fighting in an underground mutant fight club when he gets a little overzealous with his psychic blast. He not only K.O.s his opponent –and the referee — but he also manages to take out most of the audience that was sitting behind them. Oops.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed cable psychic blast

Good call Batman.

Exelon (rivastigmine) is a drug that is used to treat dementia when it is associated with Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. It is not a miracle drug by any stretch of the imagination, but it has shown some modest success at delaying the progression of dementia, and some patients experience significant improvement of their symptoms.

Note that Exelon is only approved for Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s dementia, not for other causes of dementia. This is not to say that it isn’t being prescribed for other kinds of dementia, it is, but these uses are strictly off label and not approved by the FDA.

So not only is the head mirror worn wrong (as usual), but:

1. The doctor is a psychiatrist, so why does he need a head mirror anyway? (Other than peering into the deep recesses of the human soul, that is).

2. The head mirror is unexpectedly giving off light (Remember a head mirror only reflects light, it does not generate light itself. Anyway, the mirror focuses light, so any light reflected would be narrowed, not spread out. And even if the head mirror was flipped over so the convex side was showing, while that would almost explain the spreading light, that side’s not reflective).

And yes, that is Batman in a straitjacket — but that’s a story for another day (basically, one of Batman’s villains rigged the bat-radio to give Batman bad enough nightmares to make him think he was going insane. Insane in that goofy 1950’s way, that is: laughing maniacally. It only took two days in the asylum for the “world’s greatest detective” to figure it out. Read it yourself if you can track down a copy of Batman #84. On the other hand, don’t — it’s not a very good story. In fact, the Batman of the late ’40s/early ’50s had very few good stories).

A mysterious Sleeping Sickness strikes Gotham City, yet strangely it is affecting only the contestants in the “Queen for a Day” beauty pageant. The doctors who examine the patients confidently declare that the women have contracted a “rare but harmless” disease that will cause them to sleep for three or four weeks before recovering. They place each victim in a glass case so that the “medical profession can observe this rare malady.”

Batman is instantly suspicious as the first victim was none other than Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman. He believes she is faking the illness, but the guard watching over her case swears she has been asleep the whole time.

With all the contestants asleep, it looks like no one will win the Queen for a Day contest, but luckily, Selena Kyle manages to recover from the sleeping sickness in time to win. Batman stops her just before she is about to claim the prize – a bottle of perfume that just happens to be full of smuggled diamonds

It turns out that Catwoman was behind the Sleeping Sickness (I know, quelle suprise!). She had discovered a chemical that caused the Sleeping Sickness; she gave herself a small dose, and then in a display of pure Scooby Doo science, she rigged a couple of movie projectors in her case to make it look like she was still inside when she sneaked out to give the other contestants larger doses of the chemical. Her convoluted plan was to win the Queen for a Day contest so she could claim the perfume bottle where her overseas associated associates had hidden stolen diamonds.

Batman, of course, was too clever for her.

Me, I wonder what kind of quacks they have in Gotham City: they can’t identify a disease (but are quick to claim it is “harmless”), never realize their prime patient is faking (or even absent!), and yet voyeuristic enough to place their patients in glass cases. My advice: never, ever seek medical care in Gotham.

“The Sleeping Beauties of Gotham City” from Batman #84 (June 1954)

Tags: comics medicine head mirror batman catwoman sleeping sickness

With summer officially here in the United States (thank you, Memorial Day), it seemed the perfect time for a summer-themed public service ad. Today, Buzzy, his girlfriend Susie, and his “friend” Wolfie teach readers about water safety.

Click on the image for the full ad

It seems to me that a big flaw in Wolfie’s plan is that few women would find the “ability to almost drown” a positive.

TRUE STORY: It was at this point that Buzzy stated administering a battery of tests to those who wanted to be his friend –no more of this having to rescue a drowning acquaintance. Subsequently, all his previous friends moved over to the Binky strip, except for Wolfie, who was able to grandfather in as Buzzy’s only remaining friend.

This PSA appeared in various DC comics from September 1952, and then was reused 10 years later in comics from September 1962. The script and art are by PSA stalwarts Jack Schiff and Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa buzzy wolfie water safety jack schiff win mortimer

A comic-book cover psychic nosebleed this week. As far as I know, this is only the second time a psychic nosebleed has been considered cover worthy (and the first time was Maxwell Lord too, go figure)

I finally got around to listing all the psychic nosebleed posts I’ve done — and the numbers were more than I expected: so far, I’ve cataloged 140 different instances. You can find the list here (it’s a little sloppy because it’s such a long list. I’ll clean up the CSS in the next day or so when I get a chance)

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed maxwell lord justice league

Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1 “Ghosts, Part 1″
Jim McCann, writer
David Lopez, Penciler

Hawkeye’s not the only one who’s confused. I’m not entirely certain what Bobbi (Mockingbird) is up to in this scene and why she punctured the wounded man’s chest with an arrow shaft. As I see it, there are three possibilities, with the last being the most likely:

1. Bobbi actually meant to say “Cricothyrotomy.” The victim could have had his upper trachea or mouth injured and be unable to breathe through it, so she performed an emergency cricothyrotomy (an excision through the cricothyroid membrane to establish an emergency airway). Of course, the only injury we saw the victim sustain was to the chest, the tube is in the wrong place for a cricothyrotomy, and that arrow shaft is way to long and narrow to be effective for air exchange (as I’ve discussed before).

2. The victim could have developed a tension pneumothorax — this is a type of collapsed lung (pneumothorax) where the air trapped in the chest cavity is under pressure and starts pushing against the other organs in the chest — including the heart, the other lung, trachea, etc. It is considered a life-threatening condition.
In the field, one way to treat a tension pneumothorax is with a needle thoracostomy. A small needle is inserted into the affected side of the chest, just below the mid-section of the collarbone. This will relieve the pressure, but bear in mind that it actually doesn’t fix the pneumothorax, it just converts it from the life-threatening tension pneumothorax to the less dangerous open pneumothorax. Some kind of seal needs to be placed on the end of the tube because all it’s doing now is letting more air into the chest cavity.

3. The most likely scenario is that the victim developed a hemothorax (or a hemopneumothorax) from the bullet wound — the chest cavity is filling with blood on the injured side causing the lung to collapse. Bobbi has inserted a make-shift chest tube (a “tube thoracostomy”) to drain the blood. I give her full credit for improvising in the field and using the hollow shaft of an arrow for a chest tube is clever. However, there are some flaws in her technique:
The tube needs to be positioned so that the blood can easily drain out. With the tube straight up in the air, there’s no way the blood can drain, even with whatever meager positive pressure the patient can provide.
Placing a chest tube is a risky procedure at the best of times. Placing it at the top front of the chest is just asking for problems as there quite a number of important structures in that area (trachea, aorta, multiple large arteries and veins, etc.) that could be easily injured during the procedure — especially one using an improvised rigid chest tube. The best place for a chest tube is on the flank, about 1/3 of the way down.
Even if she has managed to drain the blood, she hasn’t sealed thetube so the chest cavity remains open to the air, leading to a pneumothorax. Water seals are the most common as they allow trapped air to escape, but nothing to enter.

Ivy’s daughter Lulu has been very sick. She ultimately received an antibiotic that managed to knock out the infection, but also knocked out her hearing as well.

Unfortunately, hearing damage is a common side effect of one particular class of strong antibiotics: the aminoglycosides. These drugs are infamous for causing ototoxicity (ear damage) and nephrotoxicity (kidney damage). Generally, very careful monitoring of the dosing can avoid these side effects, but not always. It turns out that there is a genetic mutation in about 1-2% of the population that makes them more susceptible to these side effects. The damage from aminoglycosides usually affects the higher frequencies of hearing, but can cause a total hearing loss. The damage is frequently permanent though sometimes — after many years — partial hearing can be regained.

Many of the early aminoglycosides are not used anymore except in a very limited capacity because they had an extremely high rate of these side effects. These included Neomycin (now seen primarily in topical ointments that aren’t absorbed by the body, such as Neosporin) and Streptomycin (used only for treatment of tuberculosis).
Gentamicin is the most commonly used aminoglycoside (in the hospital, anyway). It causes vestibular problems (inner ear damage resulting in dizziness and balance issues) more commonly than hearing loss, though there are some reports that children tend to be resistant to the vestibular problems.
Other similar drugs include Amikacin and Tobramycin.
There are other non-aminoglycoside antibiotics that can cause ototoxicity (however these just cause a temporary hearing loss), but for a hospitalized child as sick as Lulu, an aminoglycoside antibiotic seems the most likely culprit.

Ever wonder what happens to all the sick and injured fish in the ocean? It turns out that Aquaman has a medical clinic where he treats them all¹. A whale with bruised ribs? A swordfish with a broken nose? Come see Dr. Aquaman!

Aquaman is called when a sick sea-lion is spotted. He immediately diagnosis it with “Fish Scurvy” because of its glassy eyes². He mentions that this is a highly contagious disease³ and then brings the sea lion down to his clinic⁴ and places him in a glass isolation cage. He posts a sign⁶ on the cage which says “Warning! If opened will infect area of 100 yards!”

Meanwhile the coast guard informs him that a gold smuggler has been seen nearby. The smugglers try to outsmart Aquaman: they find his clinic and break open the cage, releasing the sick sea lion. The entire area, for 100 yards in every direction⁷, is under quarantine. They quickly speed away, knowing that Aquaman would never break quarantine and risk infecting more fish. But this is Aquaman we’re talking about, and he never lets the bad guys escape. With the help of his finny friends, he hides the signal lantern the smugglers are following (with squid ink and blow fish) and has them follow a fake one (a lantern fish), leading them right back into the quarantine area where he captures them⁸.

NOTES:
1. There are at least ten doctors in my town of 30,000 and we’re nearly always booked solid. How can one man, even if he is Aquaman, treat every fish in the sea? Maybe he franchises.
2. Aquaman of all people should realize that a sea lion is not a fish.
3. Nor is scurvy contagious, it’s a vitamin deficiency.
4. The sea lion is pretty isolated already, why not treat him there, rather then bring a contagious animal down to the clinic in the middle of the ocean?
5. As mammals, sea lions need to breathe air regularly. Keeping him in an underwater glass case would not be conducive to his survival.
6. Who is the sign for? The fish can’t read – the sign is only there to hand the smugglers an escape plan on a silver platter.
7. Apparently the ocean currents flow 100 yards in every direction, and then suddenly stop.
8. I never had any doubt that Aquaman would catch the smugglers, but what about the sea lion? Did he survive? Did Aquaman cure him? Were other “fish” infected as well? This would have made a better end to the story then a few tied-up smugglers.

Last Thoughts: Scurvy
I’m sure the writer was just trying to come up with a clever sounding name when he chose “Fish Scurvy,” but it turns out to be an actual disease. And a cleverly named one at that, being scurvy that occurs in fish.
Scurvy is caused by a severe deficiency is Vitamin C. Symptoms start with appetite loss, poor weight gain, diarrhea, and tenderness and discomfort in the legs. Bleeding, especially of the gingiva (guma) and eyes, is common. Bone and cartilage deformity occur. Scurvy is fatal is not treated — and the treatment is simple: lots of Vitamin C.
Most animals make their own Vitamin C so are not susceptible to scurvy. Only a relatively few do not produce Vitamin C and need to eat some regularly in their diet. These animals include bats, guinea pigs, and certain primates (including humans). Some fish and birds also need Vitamin C to survive.
On the other hand, sea lions make their own Vitamin C, so can’t catch scurvy. In fact, they have plenty of Vitamin C and seal and sea lion meat was eaten by Arctic explorers to treat scurvy.

Calling Dr. Aquaman is from Adventure Comics #188. The writer isn’t listed, but the art is by Ramona Fradon.

Click on the image for the full ad

A second of a series of old comic book ads featuring famous detective Sam Spade selling out for advertising Wildroot Hair Tonic. Clearly written in the era of “It’s the Commies!”

From Adventure Comics #147 (December 1949)

For today’s comic book public service ad, we welcome back Binky and his younger bow-tied brother Allergy. Today’s lesson deals with not being afraid of innovation, and Binky compares his brother’s soap box derby car to the Wright Flyer. (Though I’m not sure that’s a good idea because if Allergy gets airborne in his car something is seriously wrong….)

Click on the image for the full ad

Further Reading: Soap Box Derby Scandals

This PSA appeared in DC comics from August 1955 — this particular copy comes from Adventure Comics #215. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa binky allergy jack schiff win mortimer

scene from All-Star Comics #8

Despite having superior medical skills and technology, it seems the Amazons suffer the same inability to wear head mirrors correctly as the rest of the comic book world.

Diagnosing a patient is hard enough in the real world (that headache, is it a tension headache? migraine? meningitis? Strep? brain tumor?). Just imagine how much more difficult it would be in the world of comics, where psychics, aliens, strange drugs, and mutations all come into play.

Still want to be a comic book doctor? Here’s your chance, with four more comic book medicine case studies:

The previous case studies and a bit more an explanation can be found at Dr. Scott’s Case Studies of Comic Book Medicine

Another scene with psychic nosebleed king Maxwell Lord, this time from Justice League: Generation Lost #1 (Winick, Giffen, Lopresti).

All previous Psychic and Superpowered Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed maxwell lord justice league

Black Canary is on a mission to rescue Katy, a five year old girl who has been kidnapped. It turns out there’s a slight medical complication:

Katy suffers from a ventricular arrhythmia. In other words, her ventricles — the lower chambers of the heart — are beating abnormally. This can be a real problem because the ventricles are the workhorses of the heart: they do most of its work by pumping blood through the lungs (right ventricle) or throughout the body (left ventricle). If something is going wrong with the ventricles, it’s not good.

In particular, Katy has ventricular tachycardia (i.e. “V-Tach”), a condition where the ventricles are beating independently of the atria (the top of the heart) and beating way too fast. This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons: first, the ventricles are pumping so fast that they don’t have enough time to fill up before contracting, so blood is not getting moved around the body efficiently which can lead to heart failure (which probably explains why Katy is having shortness of breath. Well, that and being out in the freezing cold in her pajamas). Second, and more important, is that ventricular tachycardia is an unstable rhythm and can quickly degenerate into ventricular fibrillation or asystole (flatline). These rhythms, as my old cardiology instructor used to say, are “not compatible with life.”

So how do you treat ventricular tachycardia? If it comes on suddenly, like in a code blue situation, then you bring out the defibrillator paddles and shock the heart back into a normal rhythm (hopefully). For long term control, antiarrhythmic drugs are often used. As the name suggests, the medications keep the heart in a normal rhythm and out of arrhythmia. They can be nasty drugs with many side effects (including, ironically, causing arrhythmias) so they aren’t used unless absolutely necessary. In this case, Katie is on Flecainide to prevent her tachycardia from recurring.

Tags: comics medicine black canary birds of prey arrhythmia ventricular tachycardia flecainide gail simone

We’re in the middle of National Nursing Week and I’ve been saving this Careers in Nursing public service ad for just such an occasion.

I’ve always made it a point to get along well with nurses. They’re fellow medical professionals, and as a physician, they can make your life easy, or they can make it a living hell. Personally, I always preferred easy — and it always just seemed common sense to never antagonize the nursing staff.

Here’s a quick true story from residency to prove my point: As a first-year resident, we spent a month working in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). When we were the NICU resident on call, one of our responsibilities was to manage the ventilators many of the newborns were hooked up to. (It was a big hospital, with probably 30 to 40 babies at any given time, with at least half of them intubated and on the ventilator.) To do this, a lab known as a blood gas would be drawn, and based on the results, you’d adjust the ventilator settings. This probably occurred forty times during a night of call. Generally, the nurses were very helpful and would wait until they had about a dozen blood gas results before giving you a call. This was to allow you time to catch some sleep in the call room.

However, one of my fellow residents did something that annoyed the nursing staff, and then when called on it, acted very arrogantly. This was not a good idea. In retaliation, when it was his night to be on call, they would page him every single time a blood gas came back instead of holding on to the resultsand calling every few hours. In eight hours of call, he would receive forty pages (or about one every twelve minutes) from the nursing staff alone. The poor idiot never got any sleep on call. Sadly, I don’t think he learned his lesson, and continued to have problems with the nursing staff all the way through residency.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA appeared in DC comics from April 1957. The script is by Jack Schiff and the art is by Ruben Moreira.

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Tags: comics psa buzzy nurse jack schiff ruben moreira

Maxwell Lord is back, and he’s here with one of the biggest psychic nosebleeds ever. Really, what more can I say (except that I’m glad I’m not cleaning up the mess)?

All previous Psychic and Superpowered Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed maxwell lord blood

Back in her third appearance ever, Wonder Woman fought Dr. Poison, the Chief of the Poison Division for Nazi Germany. The doctor’s plan? To pour the drug Reverso into the water supply at the local Army base. As the name suggests, the drug causes all who are under its influence to act the exact opposite of how they were commanded. This would turn Army training into chaos, rendering the U.S. military powerless, and eroding the nation’s morale.

Of course, it’s the Bizarro style of “opposite” we’ve come to expect from comic books (though this story predates Bizarro by a good 16 years).

In the end, Wonder Woman triumphs (no surprise there) and manages to reverse the Reverso. Dr. Poison is captured, but managed to make a few more appearances during the ’40s before being forgotten. An interesting change of pace is the Dr. Poison was actually a woman disguised as a man, making her one of the first female super-villains who wasn’t just a femme fatale. A new Dr. Poison, the granddaughter of the original, showed up about ten years ago in the Wonder Woman comic and has been seen sporadically since.

According to the new Dr. Poison, the original Dr. Poison’s death can be blamed on Reverso. In creating the drug, the good doctor somehow reversed her aging process and grew too young to remember to take the antidote.

Tags: comics medicine wonder woman reverso drug dr poison

Once again, Buzzy is starring in a public service ad, and as is common (at least for his PSA appearances), he’s sticking his nose into other people’s business. This time it’s Jeff, who seems to be getting a little over excited. Luckily, Buzzy is there to set him straight and convince him to talk to the school counselor who miraculously solves his problems in a single visit. Way to go, Buzzy! Way to go, Mr. Adams.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA appeared in DC comics from May 1951. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa buzzy chest jack schiff win mortimer

Sue Storm (well, Ultimate Sue Storm) is using her forcefield powers to protect her and her friends from harm — with mixed success — while fighting one of the nameless antagonists from Ultimate Enemy #3.

All previous Psychic and Superpowered Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed sue storm ultimate

The SHIELD #8
Eric Trautman, writer
Cliff Richards, artist.

The SHIELD is surprised to find that one of his enemies, the mind controlling Brain Emperor, has been assigned to his team. He is understandably upset and wondering if mind control is involved. His computerized suit reassures him: “Confirmed: No hostile action detected. Baseline EKG readings normal.”

I’m not sure who the SHIELD’s suit is referring to — are the “baseline EKGs” normal in the Brain Emperor or in the rest of the military staff?

It does strike me as unusual that an EKG — a heart test — is being used to detect mental influence; wouldn’t an EEG — a brain test — make more sense? (On the other hand, it does open up some interesting plot possibilities. For instance, if using mind control causes heart damage, then how far are you willing to push it?)

A nitpick: The term “baseline EKG” has a specific meaning, and it doesn’t fit here. When a patient is diagnosed with conditions that have an increased chance of heart disease (high blood pressure or diabetes, for instance), we will often obtain an initial EKG. This is their “baseline EKG” that we keep on file to compare against any EKGs obtained later to see if anything has changed. So someone having a normal baseline EKG just tells us that when the EKG was originally obtained, everything was fine. It tells us nothing about the current situation.

After a big fight, the SHIELD suit’s healing mechanisms kick in: “Nanotech regrowth engaged. Priority reconstruction: bronchial puncture and tearing, shattered third and fifth vertebrosternal ribs.

This is correct, it’s just too wordy. The vertobrosternal ribs are the first seven pairs of ribs, also known as “true ribs”, that start at the spinal column and wrap around to the breastbone (sternum). The remaining five pairs of ribs are known as the false ribs because they don’t attach to the breastbone.

If you haven’t figured this out by now, in medicine we like to convey as much useful information as possible in as few words as possible. This is especially true in emergency and trauma situations. That’s why we like abbreviations and acronyms so much.
There is nothing in the phrase “shattered third and fifth veterbrosternal ribs” that can’t be conveyed simpler by just saying “shattered third and fifth ribs.” (Though which ribs was fractured –the left or right — would be useful to know.)

I’d say this one can probably be blamed on whatever computer techie programmed the suit. In terms of medical programs, I’ve noticed you can tell which ones were written by doctors (good medicine, sloppy code) and by programmers (sloppy medicine, good code). I’m still looking for a program that does both well.

All bad doctors and purveyors of pseudoscience and woo will be taken care of appropriately (though probably not this severely).

I’ve head many times that most comics of the 1950s and ’60s were targeted at twelve year-old boys, and with most of the stories I’ve read, that doesn’t seem far from the truth.

However, if that’s the case, then why do so many of the public service ads focus on an older audience? Did they really think a twelve year-old cared that much about laws? Or were they assuming that twelve year-old boys would remember this PSA four year in the future? (Or maybe they were hoping that one of Dr. Wertham’s delinquents would pick up the comic, read the PSA, and veer away from his life of crime. Personally, that’s the answer I’m going with).

Hauled before the judge that same day they were caught? And no lawyer or parent in sight. I’m hoping this is one of those “Scared Straight” things and not a huge violation of due process (which would be ironic, coming from a judge who’s lecturing them about the law).

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA appeared in various DC comics from March 1958. Jack Schiff, as always, did the script. The art this time was by Bob Brown, who only seemed to collaborate on a few other PSAs — which is a shame, because he brings more lively action in this PSA than in any other PSA I can remember. Check out panels 3, 4, and 5 — his art ads so much the story. It’s a pity more PSAs weren’t this animated.

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Tags: comics psa law joyriding jack schiff bob brown

The two most common themes in the old DC Comics public service ads seem to have been “Stay in School” and “The United Nations is Good!” A close third, however, was the “Be Nice to Old Folks” theme. This PSA is one of those.

Apparently in the DC Universe, the elderly just sit at home doing nothing and slowly pining away — that is unless some youngsters deign to stop by. Then, magically, their life is better.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA appeared in DC comics from March 1964 and the script is by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff. Like other recent PSAs I’ve posted, this is another PSA from later in the program; from the time when the quality really begins to suffer, in my (humble) opinion.

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Tags: comics psa toys old folks jack schiff sheldon moldoff

Thor #602 “Uncertain Destinies”
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Marko Djurdjevic, penciler

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander; or in this case, what’s good for the gander is good for the goose. I’ve picked on Donald Blake enough for now, so I think it’s time to pick on Dr. Jane Foster.

Myocardial arrhythmia, while technically true, is horribly redundant. Saying someone has an “arrhythmia” implies the heart (i.e. “myocardium”) — there really is no other part of the body that has arrhythmias. This would be the same as Foster driving her car to the dealer and telling them she needs her “automobile transmission” repaired. What she says is accurate, but nobody talks that way.

EKGs don’t “fall.” An electrocardiogram (called an “EKG” after the original German, though some do say “ECG”) measures electrical flow in the heart towards and away from the skin electrode. Movement towards the heart gives an upward bump; movement away gives a downward bump. In either case, the EKG tracing always eventually returns to baseline; there is no way for it to fall. Remember, a bad EKG is known as a flatline, not a slope.

Another public service ad featuring an eavesdropping and overly righteous Superman. This time it’s nice to see that it’s not just schoolchildren that Superman flies around the world at the drop of a hat. For once it’s two old bench warmers — apparently Harry Truman and Red Skelton — that Superman takes along for the ride.

Superman has x-ray vision, so he can easily what the kids are studying in the fourth and fifth panels. But what about Harry and Red — how are they seeing in those rooms? Is Superman just describing what he sees (in which case, why bring the two of them along), or is he somehow showing them what’s occurring? I can just picture Superman and the two old guys furtively peeking in the window like a trio of peeping toms.

For once, it’s not an “America alone will save the world” theme, though all but one of the panels do seem to imply that interpretation.

“Durned” — I think that’s the harshest word I’ve seen in any of these Public Service Ads.

I wonder if people intentionally say stupid things around Superman so he’ll give them a free trip around the world.

I think one of the old guys is Mr. Stanton who Superman schooled in the classic PSA “Hop on the Welfare Wagon.”

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA appeared in various DC comics from November 1951. This particular copy was scanned in from Adventure Comics #170. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa superman exchange student jack schiff win mortimer

I never realized that bowling alleys were such a hotbed of weight loss — good thing I signed up for the spring league. Click on the image for the full ad.

There something unsettling about the sea captain in this public service ad. Maybe I’m just being cynical — or it’s the effect of living in this day and age — but was it ever proper for a grizzled sea captain to lead a group of pre-teens through town?

In that last panel, you just know the captain is thinking, “There’s no place you can go Johnny that I haven’t been. God help me.”

Is it just me, or does this PSA remind anyone else of the opening to SpongeBob SquarePants?

Click on the image for the full ad

This was a double duty public service ad, appearing in both December 1963 and June 1966 DC comics. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

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Tags: comics psa trip world sea captain jack schiff sheldon moldoff

Continuing the classic Polite Dissent Easter tradition:
the Peep Lantern Corps wish you a Happy Easter!

(And here’s the Blackest Night version)

Among the heroes and villains resurrected at the end of Blackest Night #8 is Maxwell Lord — and apparently the evil scheming Maxwell Lord, not the less-evil-but-still-scheming Lord from his earlier appearances. I don’t know what his reappearance portends story-wise, but I bet dollars to donuts this means there will be more psychic nosebleeds in the DC Universe.

All previous Psychic and Superpowered Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed maxwell lord guy gardner

My favorite parts of Blackest Night #8?

Read more…

In addition to having his right arm amputated by Prometheus, Arsenal also seems to be suffering from Too Many Tubes and Wires Syndrome. Let’s count:

4 chest leads , 2 each on the right and left. Which is unusual because the heart is situated on the left, and those right heart leads aren’t doing much good.
2 nasal canulas, one for each nostril. How are they supposed to stay up there unless someone jammed them in really hard. Ouch!
1 IV going to the tourniquet around his arm, which is unusual. Air bladders are common in medical equipment (like a blood pressure cuff for instance), but water bladders? (Or maybe the tourniquet is an air bladder and hooked up the machine next to it, but then the IV must be one of those mysterious stealth IVs that start but never end).
1 blood transfusion going into the stump of his right arm. I’m no expert on the treatment of amputations (thankfully), but that seems like a strange set up. Maybe they’re trying to keep the brachial vein open by forcing blood into it. Personally, I’ll just accept that Dr. Mid-Nite knows what he’s doing here.

Other observations:
I think that’s supposed to be the cephalic vein (or maybe the lateral thoracic vein), but either way, the anatomy is screwy. More importantly, how does Arsenal ever raise his arm without ripping that vein in half?
Apparently Prometheus not only cut off Arsenal’s arm, but he cut off his nipples as well.

Script is by Eddie Berganza with pencils by Scott Clark and Ardian Syaf. I don’t think we can really blame them for these images though as I’ve seen scenes of Arsenal in the hospital, with a set-up just like this, in a number of comics well before this one came out. We’ll give them a point for continuity, but dock them a point for medical errors, so it’s a wash.

Tags: comics medicine arsenal amputation titans

Finally, the rights of the vertically-impaired are addressed in a comic book public service ad. Long have we shorter-than-average individuals struggled, smashing our heads against doorways, sitting uncomfortably in compact cars, and having to pay extra for shirts that fit — oh wait, that’s taller-than-average individuals. Never mind.

This is another ad from the latter portion of DC’s PSA program and I think it’s fair to say the ads from this era seem less inspired than the earlier ones.

I like how the message is “names hurt,” yet the writer manages to get in a final dig at short people in the last panel. Sure, it’s a put down of Jim, but it’s still phrased as a joke at the expense of short-people. Way to go, Schiff.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA can be found in DC comics from May 1964 such as Action Comics #320, where this copy originated. The script, as always, was by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

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Tags: comics psa short names jack schiff sheldon moldoff

For your Friday reading, allow me to suggest Awesome Hospital, by (non-doctors, but still all around good guys) Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Matt Digges, and Josh Krach.

It is the most over-the-top, yet medically accurate, webcomic that features doctors, dirtbikes, and guitar solos.

Do I really need to say any more?

This image from a recent issue of Green Arrow has a mistake or two — at least one that is painfully, humorously bad (to me, at least). Can you find it?

If you can’t read the text, it says:
“Why this man is alive is as big a mystery as I have seen in my twenty years of treating brain injuries. The blade perforated the orbital cavity, embedding itself deep within the parietal lobe. He’s not in any pain, as near as we can tell — the brain has no pain-sensory nerves. Most people with this level of traumatic penetration die instantly of central dysregulation.”

Previous picture quizzes

This image was sent to me by another physician/comic book fan since I am about six months behind on my Green Arrow +/- Black Canary issues.

With a title like “The Right to be Different!” I was expecting a stirring public service ad about goths holding a protest parade downtown, marching to “Fascination Street,” but instead I ended up with this anemic little PSA about collecting rocks.

Sure, the message is admirable, but it doesn’t really argue that being different is a “right” as much as that respecting others is the nice thing to do.

See the second panel, where Sam is playing with the dog? To my knowledge, that’s the only time some extraneous action has been inserted into a DC comics public service ad. Clearly the artist also understood this was an underwhelming ad and needed some help to be interesting.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA can be found in DC comics with a cover date of September 1961. The script was by Jack Schiff (which surprised me. I know he seems to have written them all, but this one seemed so uninspired I figured it was somebody else). Art is by Bernard Baily, who drew most of the 1960 and ‘61 PSAs.

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Tags: comics psa different right jack schiff bernard baily

scene from Hulk #21 (Loeb/McGuinness)

I had hoped we were done with the whole pyschiatrist/pyschologist thing, but apparently not.

Leonard Samson has long been established as a psychiatrist with an MD, not a PhD. There have been numerous mentions of his attending medical school, including multiple references in Loeb’s own Hulk series.

Heh, heh. Nice one, Foster. Use his “mallet” indeed.
Oh wait, you were being serious? Damn.

In all her appearances, did Jane Foster perform any actual nursing?

Sorry Doc, but you don’t treat a black eye by putting some sort of cream on it. Think of it this way: a black eye is essentially a bruise around the eye — and when do you put anything on a bruise? The real treatment of a black eye is easy: ice, and time. That’s it. Nothing fancy needed.

(Now in his defense, I guess the skin around the eye could have been broken open by the punch, and Blake might be putting some sort of antibacterial ointment on it, but that’s still a stretch).

The internet is only coming through in fits and starts tonight, so I’m going to have to put off my annual best of/worst of comic book medicine until tomorrow.

Here’s a scene from the first story in Moonstone’s Airfighters #1. The setting is the Normandy beaches on D-Day, and one American commander is running into more resistance than expected. What’s wrong this panel?

HINT: If you really need a hint, Google “United States Army Officer Rank Insignia”

Previous picture quizzes

Tags: airfighters d-day picture quiz

Valkyrie was on the cover of this comic, yet there is no Valkyrie inside. Where is my Valkyrie?

With spring just around the corner, this week’s public service ad features young Allergy Biggs wondering why no birds have moved into his birdhouse. His family offers their advice, and then their help, to make Allergy’s birdhouse a success.

Despite being the title character, Binky seems to leave most of the work to the others — though he does offer some unhelpful platitudes. Everyone else in the family actually contributes something meaningful. (Well OK, Binky’s holding a hammer in one scene, but what exactly is he hammering? Binky has the birdhouse, Dad is sawing the roof, and Mom is working on the perch. I bet he’s just smashing some walnuts to munch on while the others work).

It seems pretty clear where poor Allergy inherited his looks. I would consider this a good argument for adoption.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in DC comics from November 1955, including Action Comics #206 and Adventure Comics #214 (the source of this ad). The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

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Tags: comics psa binky allergy jack schiff win mortimer

A bigoted World War II soldier is gravely wounded, and only a transfusion from an African-American can save him. Sound familiar? It should: it’s the defining scene of the justly classic “What’s the Color of Your Blood?” from Our Army at War #160, by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (Nov 1965).

Only it turns out, this isn’t the first comic with this scene. Sgt. Fury #6 (March 1964) features a similar scene.

Of course, the stories couldn’t be more different:
Sgt. Fury #6, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, features Lee’s typical bombastic storytelling. Fury and his squad take on Rommel’s entire North African Division, and were actually winning when they were stopped by the British Army — because the British had found out Rommel had to a part to play in a plot to assassinate Hitler and wanted him to follow through with it.

“What’s the Color of Your Blood” is more down to earth, featuring two former boxing champions meeting on the battlefield to decide once and for all who is the champ. (If you’ve never read it, the entire story can be found here, and is well worth your time).

The Brave and the Bold #31 “Small Problems”
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Chad Hardin and Justiniano, pencilers

The Atom is called to Arkham Asylum to treat a neurological problem the Joker is having. He has to shrink down to microscopic size, enter the brain, and release an “experimental chemical” at a specific location to cure the Joker.

There are many, many problems with this comic. I’m all for Fantastic Voyage homages, but it is obvious that Straczynski has no understanding of how the brain or nervous system actually functions. A twelve year old with access to Wikipedia and five minutes to spare could write a more accurate — and no less engaging — story.

The main stumbling block is Straczynski’s misunderstanding of synapses — the junctions between nerve cells*, where one cell passes a signal to the second cell. These synapses can be either chemical (a message molecule known as a neurotransmitter carries the impulse from the first cell to the second cell), or electrical (the two cells are connected by channels which allow an electrical signal — ions, really — to be passed from the first cell to the second cell).

I’ll just touch on a few of the bigger errors here:

What the doctor here is describing is not particularly rare at all. When too many synapses fire off, you have a seizure. If it involves part of the brain, it’s a partial seizure; if it involves most of the brain, it’s a generalized seizure. If the seizures happen repeatedly, then it’s considered epilepsy. If it is a seizure that cannot be stopped, then it is called status epilepticus, and yes, it can lead to brain damage and death (but it’s not rare: 42,000 deaths a year). • If the Joker really were in status, he’s be dead long before the Atom ever got there.

This is some horrible, horrible technobabble. I know everyone uses “the brain = a computer” metaphor, but it’s just that: a metaphor; a figure of speech. The brain is not really a computer — it is orders of magnitude more complex and you can’t “reboot” it. For one thing, I’d want my brainstem to keep working no matter what, since it controls such things as the heartbeat and breathing. • “Synaptic array at the microscopic level” is redundant. All human synapses are microscopic.

Straczynski seems to think that all synapses are electrical in nature, but that is not true — in fact, chemical synapses are much more numerous; electrical synapses only show up in certain pathways where speed is important — reflexes, for instance. He spends most of the issue confusing the two types of synapses. “Synaptic gaps” occur in chemical synapses; electrical synapses are tied together by ion channels. Chemical synapses are involved in the higher processes, like memory. Electrical synapses transmit ions from one nerve cell to another through channels in the cell membrane — there is no “electrical pulse” or lightning bolts (as drawn in the comic) between the nerves. The rest is just more technobabble.

For a better “The Atom in somebody’s brain” story, I recommend The Brave and the Bold (original series) #115, where the Atom controls a brain-dead Batman to solve his murder.

*There are also synapses between nerve cells and other cells, such as between a nerve cell and a muscle cell.

In all my years of reading comics, I’ve read my share of bad stories, but none have approached the the sheer level of vileness and pointlessness* of Justice League: Cry For Justice. It is, without a doubt, the worst comic series I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading.

*Unless the point was to make me dislike a writer and characters I’ve previously enjoyed; in which case: mission accomplished.

To cleanse the palate, here are some puppies as an antidote:

As I do every now and then, I’m going to take a throwaway line from a recent comic and use it for some idle speculation. This time, the comic in question is The Indomitable Iron Man, more specifically, “Brainchild,” the story by Duane Swierczynski and Manuel Garcia.

In the story, Pepper Potts granddaughter mentions:

“Five years ago I was one of the millions who caught G7N1. A Stark ubi-vaccine – something you were playing around with years ago – well, it saved my life.”

To me, G7N1 sounds like an influenza virus, so let’s run with that.

A little background:
Influenza A is the most pathogenic flu virus in humans. All known flu epidemics have been caused by it. Influenza A mutates rapidly, so new strains are developing all the time. The subtypes of Influenza A are named for two proteins coded by the virus: hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Different strains of Influenza A have different versions of these proteins. So the H1N1 virus codes for hemagglutinin #1 and neuraminidase #1, H3N2 virus has hemagglutinin #3 and neuraminidase #2, and so on. So far, nine different Hs and 16 different Ns have been identified. Luckily, most strains are not pathogenic in humans — the main ones that are now are the H1N1 (swine flu), H3N2 (Hong Kong flu), and H5N1 (bird flu).

Influenza B is not as common as Influenza A. It does not mutate as quickly either, so it is not divided into subtypes. Because of the slower mutation rate, and the fact that it is can only infect a few distinct species of animals (humans, ferrets, and seals), Influenza B has never caused large epidemics.

Influenza C is even less common than Influenza B. Like Influenza B, it does not occur in more than one subtype. Generally, it causes mild disease in children, but occasionally Influenza C can cause a local outbreak, but never large epidemics.

Back to the speculation:
G7N1 — the name doesn’t fit an Influenza A virus (no “H”), but it is similar. Given the fact that the virus causes epidemics, it’s unlikely to be Influenza B or C. So it is most likely a new genus of influenza. As I mentioned, the naming pattern sounds similar to Influenza A, so maybe it started as a major mutation of A, or is suspected to have been derived from A at some point.

Also note that it is “G7” so there have been at least 7 subtypes of this heretofore unknown virus identified in about sixty years — a high mutation rate.

Another Buzzy public service ad, this one dealing with voting — well, more or less.

An unintentionally ironic title to this PSA, as both anecdotes actually concern people not voting.

With the introduction of his father, it seems clear Buzzy inherited his stick-my-nose-in-other-people’s-business tendencies. Let’s hope he didn’t also inherit the “incapable of writing things down in calendars” gene.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in DC comics from November 1952. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by partner in crime Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa buzzy vote jack schiff win mortimer

Here’s Magneto working hard, oblivious to the rest of the world, trying to save the life of a certain X-Men. I suspect his nose is bleeding from the effort of breaking the laws of physics –more than usual, that is. Magneto is using his power to affect an object so distant in space that his power his is traveling faster than the speed of light — which considering that his power involves generating electromagnetic waves is pretty damn impressive.

All previous Psychic and Superpowered Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed magneto x-men

scene from The Web #6 (Sturges/Robinson)

I’m pretty sure the pictures and words are supposed to agree. For someone who has no heart rate or respiration, the monitors show surprisingly normal readings in both.

Smallville is having a hobby contest with the winner receiving a trip around the world. The contest looks for the person in town who has the largest coin, rarest stamp, most valuable mineral, and most unusual autograph. Spoiled rich kid Orville Orville plans on winning by using his money to buy the best specimens. Superboy decides to help the other kids beat Orville by using his power to find specimens that will beat out Orville’s.

For the most valuable mineral contest, Orville enters an uncut diamond worth a million dollars. To help Teddy beat him, Superboy returns with a large boulder of pitchblende for him to enter.

Pitchblende, or uraninite, is a uranium ore that is also a source of radium.

Uranium and radium? Doesn’t that mean Ted’s boulder is radioactive and potentially dangerous?

Yes.

Exactly how dangerous is the rock Superboy has brought to class?

Small samples of uranium ore are not particularly dangerous if handled with care, but Superboy has a very large sample, and he’s not being careful at all.

Now for some quick and dirty math: assuming the chunk of rock he is holding is about 4 feet (1.2m) in diameter, then it weighs around 21600 pounds (9800 kg — uranium ore is very dense and heavy). Since Superboy is holding it in his hands, he is being exposed to about 19.5 million millirem (mrem) per hour. For Teddy and the teacher, in the few minutes they’re standing a few inches from the ore, they’ve probably received on the order of 406,000 mrem of radiation — the equivalent of 400 abdominal CT scans (or 40,500 chest x-rays) all at the same time. This puts them in the range of “acute radiation poisoning” which has at least a 60% fatality rate. [here's the math, if you're so inclined]

The rest of the class is about four times farther back from the boulder than Teddy is, so they’ve only received 1/16th of the same dose, or about 25,400 mrem (which is equal to 25 CT scans at the same time). A dose of this magnitude usually causes a temporary decrease in white blood cells, but is not fatal — well, except for recent studies which suggest that it increases the person’s lifetime risk of cancer by a several percentage points.

Nice going Superboy. You won the contest, but gave Teddy and the teacher acute radiation poisoning and increased the risk of cancer in the rest of the class. I think I’ll hang out with Lex Luthor instead: it’s safer.

(Seriously, even in 1947 they had to know a boulder of radioactive material was a bad idea)

Scenes from the Superboy story “The Great Hobby Contest” in Adventure Comics #121

Thanks to his super-powers, Clark could fake being sick better than anyone else in high school. And I mean anyone else.
Read more…

This week’s comic book public service ad celebrates the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. With 32 competing nations, it was the largest Winter Olympics to date, as well as the first to be televised.

Click on the image for the full ad

So what happened to the 1956 Winter Olympic athletes mentioned in this PSA? Most continued in their sport, in one form or another, or went on to bigger, better things:
Anton Sailer Still considered one of the best alpine skiers, ever. Did a little acting and a little politics after retiring from skiing.
Renee Colliard The 1956 Olympics seems to have been her shining moment (at least as far as this non-French speaker can tell).
Boris Shilov Became a renowned skating coach after retiring from competition.
Antti Hyvarinen A broken hip ended his competitive career, became a coach.
Hayes Alan Jenkins After retiring from skating, earned a Harvard law degree
Tenley Emma Albright Earned a medical degree from Harvard and became a famous surgeon

And for comparison, the winning time in this year’s 5000-meter speed skating was 6:14.60.

This PSA was found in DC comics from February 1957 (Action Comics #225 in this case). It was written by Jack Schiff, with art by Ruben Moreira.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa winter olympics jack schiff ruben moreira

Yet again, I am here to take on the question of Brother Voodoo: psychologist or psychiatrist?

This time, I’m turning to a new source, MU1 – Gamer’s Handbook to the Marvel Universe (Volume 1 – Abomination through Dreadnought). This was the eight volume encyclopedia of Marvel characters published for the Marvel Super Heroes Game, published by TSR in the mid- to late-80s. In the guide, Brother Voodoo gets a page and a half (and for the record, that’s a little less than American Eagle — who at this point had only appeared in one comic).

On his entry, his profession is listed as “Ex-Psychologist (M.D.), now Houngan (voodoo priest).”

So once again, Marvel (with some help from TSR in this case) reveals that they are unclear on the pyschologist/psychiatrist divide.

Click here to see the entire Brother Voodoo entry

Tags: comics medicine brother voodoo psychiatrist psychologist

In this scene from the Gen 13 (current series) #33, Void uses her teleportation powers to dispose of a bomb — only it’s such a powerful bomb, she has to send it high in the atmosphere, resulting in a classic pushing-powers-to-the-max nosebleed.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed gen 13 void bomb

You know you’re reading an old comic when the doctors are all sitting around smoking:

scene from Doctor Tom Brent, Young Intern #1 (Charlton, 1963)

To be fair, the comic was published a year before the Surgeon General’s report first condemning cigarettes came out, and three years before warning labels were added to cigarette packs.

Of course, it wasn’t just comic books that depicted doctors smoking, cigarette ads did too:

click on the image for the full-sized ad

For those of you wondering how many doctors smoked in the past compared to how many smoke now, I don’t have a good answer for you. The best I have is a short paper that takes a look at smoking rates among Rhode Island physicians from 1963-1983. It is over twenty years out of date, so I suspect the numbers have fallen even more, but I think it gives a good idea of the trend. Here’s one of the charts from that paper.

Back when I was in residency, I had the opportunity on several occasions to serve as the in-house doctor for the local symphony orchestra. There was no pay per se, but I got two tickets to the show (cheap date!) and the chance to hear some great performances. It was easy: I just showed up on my assigned night and introduced myself to the head usher. I was given a pair of seats in the back of the theater and the staff would come and get me if there were any sort of medical emergency. I attended a little over a dozen symphony performances during my residency and never had any real medical emergency — however, every show without fail, at some point I would be called to examine a little old lady who had tripped on the theater steps. It was never a serious injury, just some bruising or maybe a sprain (and for the record: it was a different lady each time; those were some tricky steps).

All of the residents took turns attending the symphony, and no one else was ever called away for any sort of medical problem — except for Gerry. He was summoned once, only it wasn’t for a little old lady, but for the visiting marquee-name soloist. He later told me it was for a very minor issue and he got to hang out after the show with the star.

As I become bitter in my old age, I like to pretend his experience was more like Dr Landon’s in this back-up story from Nurse Betsy Crane #20:

Click on any of the images for the full story

Dr. Landon went on to co-star in his own brief comic book series, The Young Doctors. In past years, I have looked at issues The Young Doctors #4 and The Young Doctors #5.

Tags: comics medicine landon charltonbetsy crane young doctors

With the Vancouver Winter Olympics in full swing, I thought now was a good time for “sportmanship” public service ad, courtesy of Batman, Robin and Action Comics #141.

Though this PSA is ostensibly about sportsmanship, the main focus is actually on prejudice, with a little patriotism thrown in for good measure. Still, it’s a good PSA, even if the title is somewhat misleading.

Click on the image for the full ad

For some good reading on good sportsmanship and the Olympics, check out this article on the Pierre de Coubertin medal (the “True Spirit of Sportmaship” medal).

This PSA was found in DC comics from February 1950. Written, as always, by Jack Schiff, with art by frequent PSA collaborator Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa batman robin sportsmanship olympics jack schiff win mortimer

And I’m enjoying my first three-day weekend in forever

Pluto gets some lovin’
(Mickey Mouse Magazine, February 1939)

Yesterday marked the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and to commemorate the occasion, here’s a Boy Scouts of America public service ad from Worlds Finest #46 (June/July 1950).

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa superman batman boy scouts

William Tenn passed away this weekend. He was one of the last of the great Golden Age science fiction writers. He was also the first writer I ever saw at a convention. I was about twelve and had convinced my father to take me to Rovacon, a small science-fiction convention in the neighboring town of Roanoke, Virginia, where William Tenn was the guest of honor. I was having fun exploring the con and I only made it to the last ten or fifteen minutes of his talk, but immediately wished I had heard the whole speech. In the portion I heard, he was talking about the difficulties of time traveling. Not the scientific or technological hurdles, but the social ones. He mentioned how a man from just one hundred years ago would find it extremely hard to function in today’s society, and vice versa. Think of all the differences between now and 1910: Technology, certainly. Health and sanitation, too. But think of societal attitudes and how they’ve changed: Women’s lib. Civil rights. The U.N. Non-isolationist policies. A person traveling back to 1910 could quickly find themselves in trouble just mentioning some commonly accepted modern beliefs. At the age of twelve, I found this fascinating, and I still do. Now more than ever I wish I had made it the entire talk.

My favorite of Tenn’s stories is Time in Advance. In the future, criminals are shipped out to harsh frontier worlds to serve out their sentences performing the back-breaking work of terraforming the planets. Few survive more than a few years, let alone their entire sentence. There is also the option of serving time in advance. In this case, you haven’t committed any crime yet, but you are planning to. By serving your sentence first, with a hefty fifty-percent reduction in length, you are entirely free to commit your crime upon your return to Earth — if you happen to survive. As the story begins, two convicts have just returned after serving their time in advance for murder. This is a big story for the media — only rarely does a single time-in-advancer survive, let alone two arriving on the same day. However, the two convicts find that having the freedom to commit a murder of their choice open up doors and exposes secrets they weren’t expecting. It’s a great story, with a nice undercurrent of dark comedy.

Time in Advance, along with 32 other stories can be found in Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 1. If you haven’t the story before, or Tenn at all, I recommend picking up the book, or (more economically) at least encouraging your library to do so.

Supergirl #49 “Death & The Family”
Sterling Gates, writer
Matt Camp, artist

Lana Lang has been found down and bleeding profusely. She is rushed to the emergency room for resuscitation.

There’s a few things wrong with this scene:

First, they’re shocking a flatline. I’m sure I’ve mentioned at least once before that this is not how to treat a flatline.

How should they proceed? Asystole (the fancy, medical word for a flatline) is tough to treat, and the odds are against you from the start, no matter what television tells you. The key to treating asystole is to correct the underlying cause. One concern: Lana’s lost a lot of blood — there’s at least two panels of her laying supine in large puddles of blood and the staff is splattered with blood. As far as the ER staff is aware, this blood loss is a possible cause of her condition, yet they’ve done nothing to treat it. There’s no blood being transfused — in fact, there’s not even a single IV line, which are important in any resuscitation. (As an aside, the defribrillation paddles are also reversed: the upper paddle should be on Lana’s right, and the lower on the left)

Second, as fancy as that face mask is, it’s not going to be any good at getting the air she needs down into her lungs. I appreciate the fact that Cage at least added a breathing tube entering her mouth, but it’s too narrow to be any use (it needs to be about the width of a thumb to work). Plus, if she’s got a breathing tube in place, why does she need a mask?

Third, Lana is bleeding from her mouth, nose, and eyes. If you were the ER staff, what’s one of the first things that would cross your mind? Hemorrhagic fever (Ebola, Marburg, and for the comic-inclined, the Clench). Sure, none of them are endemic to the US, but in this day and age, who’s to say Lana hasn’t been traveling, or exposed to someone who has? The ER staff would be wearing a lot more protective gear.

On the positive side, fzzCHOOMPH is the best sound effect I’ve seen in quite a while.

Tags: comics medicine lana lang supergirl resuscitation sterling gates matt camp

Once again, Wolfie learns the hard way not to move in on Buzzy’s girl. Poor Wolfie. Sure, he’s a jerk, but he has some of the worst luck in comics.

Or does he? I think this scenario was really a plot by Buzzy and Susie:

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in Adventure Comics #154 as well as the other DC comics from July 1950. The ad was written by Jack Schiff, with art by Bob Oksner.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa buzzy wolfie jack schiff bob oksner

Volume Four of Apothecarius Argentum moves the action from Beazol to the neighboring kingdom of Navara, a poor and starving country with a widespread wasting disease brought on by overuse of a toxic pesticide. Princess Primula and her companions, including friend/love-interest/Royal apothecary Argent and his rival, Lorca, third Prince of Navara.

The storyline revolves primarily around royal intrigue, including a sequestered king, a kidnapped heir, and stirrings of rebellion.

There is not as much medicine in this volume as previous ones, which makes sense as Argent does not play as large a role in this storyline. Several medical errors crop up in this volume, which is unusual, because author Tomomi Yamashita, a pharmacist by training, is usually very careful about his medical references.

There’s probably a spoiler or two in the annotations, so consider yourself warned.

Belladonna
The young prince has been suffering from seizures and was given belladonna to treat them.

Belladonna is a plant that has a long history of use in traditional medicine and continues to be used, to some extent, in modern medicine as well. The plant is very potent and must be used sparingly because of the high potential of adverse events, especially death. This is especially true for children (especially sickly malnourished ones like the prince). Let me put it this way: the more common name for belladonna is Deadly Nightshade.

Historically, while belladonna has been used to treat a variety of different ailments, it has not been used to treat seizures. The only mention I’ve even seen of the use of belladonna for seizures comes from homeopathy, which is not traditional medicine — or really any sort of medicine at all (despite what its practitioners would like you to think); homeopathy can best be described as a delusion combining sympathetic magic, wishful thinking, and an early-19th century understanding of science.

Belladonna contains several potent chemicals, most notably atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine — all drugs that are used today. Belladonna extract itself is still used in a few modern medicines, Donnatal (a stomach medication) is probably the best known.

Dandelion
The prince has been given an overdose of belladonna, and Argent gives him dandelion extract to correct it.

Argent is correct that belladonna is excreted almost entirely through the kidney, so increasing kidney function should get rid of the medicine faster. Diuretics (drugs that increase urine output) are one way of doing this. Dandelion has long been used as a diuretic. While I have seen no recent studies or reports that confirm its benefits in this regard, I’m willing to give the plant the benefit of the doubt because the effects of a diuretic are hard to miss (if you pee a lot, it’s a diuretic).

Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is used again to treat the chronic wasting disease that is common in Navara. I covered this in depth in the Volume 3 annotations.

Cochineal
The cochineal is a tiny insect (Dactylopius coccus) that grows on cacti in Central and South America. When the females of the species are collected, dried, and crushed they produce the brilliant red dye carmine which is used for coloring fabrics, cosmetics, and food.

It takes 70,000 insects, all collected by hand, to make a pound of dye, which is worth about $36 in today’s market.

Prince Lorca mentions several times that the insects grow on citrus, but they don’t — they can only live on certain species of cactus. I wonder if this might be a translation error, either in the translation of the manga, or from the author’s original sources. (There is a similar insect known as “Polish Cochineal,” and while it doesn’t grow on cacti, it doesn’t grow on citrus either.)

Marijuana
The story mentions a link between marijuana use and psychiatric disease. There haves been several studies that have looked at this very subject, but the results have been unclear. Can marijuana use lead to psychiatric illness, or do people with pre-existing psychiatric disease tend to use marijuana more? Studies have suggested both results, so just leave this one as “undecided.”

Is it possible to die from a marijuana overdose? Again, sources vary, but almost all seem to agree that it would take an incredibly high level of exposure to be fatal, and many experts suggest that it would be physically impossible to achieve this high a dose. (On the other hand, with incense burning in a sealed room with heavy curtains, I suspect the king suffocated to death when the incense used up all the oxygen).

Another DC Comics Public Service Ad teaching about science — this time the topic is “The Atom” — more specifically radiolabeling (using radioactive isotopes to mark certain chemicals, which can then be traced), since that is what most of the vignettes depict.

As usual when dealing with these science PSAs, I have some questions and concerns:
Did the Brazilian doctor use radiolabeling to find the tumor (such as a bone scan or PET scan), or did he use radiation to treat it?
By 1959, there was already a Yellow Fever vaccine available, which would probably do more to eradicate the disease than making radioactive mosquitoes (wasn’t that a SciFi SyFy movie?)
The fourth panel is what really worries me. I think they’re using radioactive fertilizer in Canada to grow mutant tobacco plants.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in Batman #128 as well as the other DC comics from December 1959. This ad was written by Jack Schiff. There is some debate about the identity of the artist, but most sources list Lou Cameron.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa atom isotope mosquito jack schiff lou cameron

In retrospect, I should have realized that a motherboard crash was imminent when my computer had trouble recognizing the new memory I added.

Oh well, I needed to update the computer anyway…

Subtitle: Scott Talks About Aphrodisiacs

Apothecarius Argentum is a manga series written by a trained pharmacist, so while the setting is a fairly generic medieval kingdom, the medical aspect is well done and based on both Eastern and Western medical traditions. Volume Three covers chapters 9 through 12 of the overall story. Volume One (part 1 and part 2) and Volume 2 annotations are also available.

Beazol is a small prosperous kingdom ruled over by a wise but very stern king. His only child, the princess Primula, is slowly coming into her own as a leader. Her closest companion is Argent, the royal apothecary (healer). He is a basilisk, a member of a secret society who has been purposefully exposed to various poisons since an infant. This renders him immune to toxins, but his skin also excretes a deadly poison, so he cannot touch anyone else.

In this volume, Lorca, the youngest son of Navara, the next kingdom over, comes to Beazol to woo Primula. He is sickly, but very devious -– quite the contrast to the straightforward Primula and Argent. Just as Argent is an expert on medicinal plants and herbs, Lorca is an expert on insects, especially beetles. The volume starts in Beazol, but then the action moves to the famine-ridden country of Navara.

Read more…

Stories from the Golden Age of comics generally had a great deal more death than comics today where super-heroes have their vows against killing. More often than not, Golden Age villains died at the end of the story (especially if they were mad scientists or crime bosses), often in a poetic manner. Even Batman and Superman, while they usually didn’t kill the villains outright, often did nothing to stop their easily preventable death.

However, of all the Golden Age heroes, Doctor Fate had the highest body count. Here’s a quick tally of all the opponents he killed in just his first year of appearances:

Appearance	Comic	Body Count
1	More Fun Comics #55	1 mad scientist
2	More Fun Comics #56	(no one)1
3	More Fun Comics #57	1 sorcerer
4	More Fun Comics #58	1 sorcerer + “thousands” of fish
5	More Fun Comics #59	large alien spaceship
6	More Fun Comics #60	medium-sized enemy spaceship2
7	More Fun Comics #61	an entire planet3 + 1 mad scientist
8	More Fun Comics #62	1 mad scientist
9	More Fun Comics #63	1 sorcerer
10	More Fun Comics #64	1 Mayan god + 1 unfortunate explorer
11	More Fun Comics #65	underwater city
12	More Fun Comics #66	1 criminal

Notes:
1. While not killed outright, Wotan was chained to a rock for eternity within a hidden cavern deep in the earth — like Loki, only without the venomous snake.
2. It was piloted by tiny men, so that counts double, right?
3. An entire inhabited planet destroyed, forty years before Phoenix was essentially put to death for the same actions.

While almost all of DC Comics’ public service ads show their age in one way or another — they were published 40-50 years ago, after all — there are a handful that are truly, hopelessly outdated:

And now we can add one more to the list: a PSA that celebrates adding the 49th star to the American flag.

To be fair, it does mention that “next year” Hawaii will become the 50th state, and it gives a nice quick history of the flag. Still, there’s something a little depressing about this PSA in that it was written knowing it would be irrelevant in a year.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in Adventure Comics #266 as well as the other DC comics from November 1959. This ad was written by the king-of-PSAs Jack Schiff, with art by Bernard Baily.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa flag alaska hawaii jack schiff bernard baily

A recurrent controversy on this blog has been whether Dr. Jericho Drumm (better known as Brother Voodoo) is a psychiatrist or psychologist. In various stories over the years, he’s been referred to as both (sometimes within the same comic). Calling him a psychologist occurs the most frequently, and that seems to be generally accepted. But is it true?

With the recent release of Doctor Voodoo: The Origin of Jericho Drumm, which reprints Brother Voodoo’s first appearance, the question can finally be answered.

So which is Brother Voodoo?

Here is his first appearance (as Dr. Jericho Drumm) and he is clearly identified as a “noted psychologist.” So that answers the question, right?

Not so fast. Here is Dr. Drumm a page later whipping out his stethoscope and tending to his dying brother. He even pulls out a syringe and medication to administer to him.

It seems that Brother Voodoo’s first appearance only complicates the debate. He is clearly identified as a psychologist, yet he is practicing medicine just a page later. I think it can be chalked up to yet another writer confusing psychiatrist and psychologist, an all too common occurrence. However, given that Drumm’s use of Western medicine is key to his character at this point in the story, I suspect the writer fully intended for him to have medical training, and therefore be a psychiatrist.

All scenes from Strange Tales #169 (reprinted — and it appears re-colored — in Doctor Voodoo: The Origin of Jericho Drumm). Written by Len Wein (though Roy Thomas had some input into the creation of Brother Voodoo as well) and penciled by Gene Colan.

Tags: comics medicine brother voodoo psychiatrist psychologist

It’s a lot harder to weasel your way out of bad blind dates now.

From the “Jerry Jitterbug” story in Adventure Comics #171 (December, 1951). Click here for the rest of the strip.

Since it’s the first week of a new year, tonight I’m posting a comic book public service ad concerning New Year’s resolutions. Actually, the PSA deals with safety (at least the “don’t leave things on the ground/floor” aspect of safety) and Johnny’s New Year’s resolution is just used to frame the lesson.

Discussion Questions:
1. Where in the U.S. would Johnny be raking up leaves in January?
2. Do resolutions not count unless you write them down?
3. Where is the other skate?
4. Is the soap actually a sloppy attempt on Johnny’s life by his much derided “Sis?”

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in Action Comics #298 as well as the other DC comics from March 1963. A black and white ad appeared in some of the comics. This ad was written by Jack Schiff, with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa safety new years jack schiff sheldon moldoff

It’s that time again: time to look back on the past year and find the best — and worst — that comic book medicine has to offer.

Previous “Best of the Year”: The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2008 The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2007 The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2006 The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2005 The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2004

Previous “Worst of the Year”: The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2008 The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2007 The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2006 The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2005 The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2004

The internet is only coming through in fits and starts tonight, so I’m going to have to put off my annual best of/worst of comic book medicine until tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy this ridiculously easy Picture Quiz from Psylocke #2 (by Yost and Tolibao). What’s wrong with this picture, the opening panel from Psylocke #2?

Previous picture quizzes

scenes from New Avengers #60 (Bendis/Immonen)

I’m sure Neilalien will be all over this, but let me just quickly point out that — despite what the New Avengers seem to think — over forty years of continuity has firmly established that Dr. Strange is a neurosurgeon, not a heart surgeon.

For example, here’s how his biography on Marvel’s own site reads: “His talent was unaffected, though, and he became a wealthy, celebrated neurosurgeon before he turned thirty.”

Apparently candy is good for you — at least that is according to the well-known peer-reviewed scientific journal Adventure Comics (in this case, issue #211).
It may have something to do with our old friend dextrose.

There’s a little (very little) snow on the ground here in southern Illinois, so I thought I’d go for a snow-themed PSA this week.

Peter Porkchops — one of DC Comics premier “funny animal” characters from the 1950s (and later a super-hero in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew) — is back for another public service ad. This time, he’s teaching the readers to stand up for what’s right, even if it’s unpopular (a good choice for a PSA topic actually).

Wolfie seems to be a common name among antagonists in DC humor comics.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found in Action Comics #203 as well as the other DC comics from April 1954. This ad was written — as always — by Jack Schiff, with art this time by Rube Grossman.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa peter porkchops wolfie jack schiff rube grossman

Batman #5

see also: “Anesthesia? Batman don’t need no anesthesia!”

Christmas Day is finally here! And to celebrate the final day of Scott’s 2009 Comic Book Cover Countdown Advent Calendar I bring you the Christmas Story as never seen before — in New Super 3Dimension!

The First Christmas
(Fiction Housue, 1953)

Click on the cover for larger view

Christmas Day!

Read more…

It’s Christmas Eve! Only one last day until Christmas, and this year’s penultimate Advent Calendar Comic Book Countdown cover tries to take over the world!

Pinky and the Brain Christmas Special #1
(DC Comics, January 1996)

Click on the cover for larger view

1 Day until Christmas!

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Betsy Crane’s friend and fellow nurse Diane has met and fallen in love with a Jeff, a widower with a young daughter. He saved her from drowning a few weeks before and she has fallen head over heels in love with him.

One day though, Jeff is uncharacteristically brusque to her and Betsy when encountering them on the street. The two nurses head over to Jeff’s house to figure out what is wrong. Jeff is angry that Diane has appeared on his doorstep, but it doesn’t stop him from complaining of a severe headache and eyes that are very sensitive to light. He also suffers a seizure while Diane is pleading with him. Meanwhile, Betsy is talking to Jeff’s young daughter, who mentions that her dog Shag has been hiding from her lately and doesn’t want to play. She also mentions that her father won’t take her swimming anymore because he is afraid of the water. Betsy puts two and two together and realizes that Jeff has rabies, and that he must have gotten from the dog Shag.

Betsy calls her boss Dr. Kiel and he rushes an ambulance out to collect Jeff and admit him to the hospital. He is given daily rabies injections and suffers “sleepless nights and momentary spasms” but “Dr. Kiel and Betsy were always there giving their medical skill and tireless sympathy.” Three weeks later, Jeff is released from the hospital, completely cured, and he and Diane (and Jeff’s daughter and her new dog, Little Shaggy) live happily ever after.

Even by the low standards of a fifty-year old romance comic, this is a horrible and misleading story medically:

Tags: comics medicine rabies nurse dog

With just two days to go until Christmas, today’s cover features a common theme on this years Advent Calendar Comic Book Cover Countdown: funny animals. And this cover feature one of the most famous funny animals of all time: Bugs Bunny (I’m guessing he’s probably in second place behind Mickey Mouse).

Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #2
(Dell, November 1951)

Click on the cover for larger view

2 Days until Christmas!

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Only three days left until Christmas, and what would a Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar be without a visit from Santa’s rebellious daughter, Jingle Belle? This year, issue #3 of her Dark Horse series is featured.

Jingle Belle #3
(Dark Horse Comics, February 2005)

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3 Days until Christmas!

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The second of two Superboy Christmas-themed public service ads, and definitely the weaker of the two.

I haven’t read too many Superboy stories, but does he come across as smug and condescending in the comics as he does in these PSAs?

For those of you paying attention last week, this week has even more instances of Superboy’s cape mysteriously flying out behind him and seeming to defy gravity. I think I have to go with the Kryptonian flatulence theory.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA was found Adventure Comics #160 as well as other DC comics from January 1951. Just like last week (and pretty much every Superboy PSA), the script is by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa superboy christmas charity jack schiff win mortimer

Only four days remain until Christmas, and today’s Advent Calendar Countdown Comic Book Cover is another Golden Age funny animal title. This one features hippos, monkeys, snow, and palm trees.