Polite Dissent

Despite being published in 2012, this is definitely a ’90s book. There are frequent splash pages — even a two page splash — and most of the pages are nothing but three panels of brawling. Just the sort of thing you’d expect in a stereotypical comic from the ‘90s.

But more than that — remember how in the ‘90s whenever a new hero was introduced, he’d travel around to all the big guns to get their approval and be anointed a real hero? The same thing happens here, with Hawk and Dove traveling to Gotham City and Batman giving his blessing to them — effusively. It’s really out of character for Batman and frankly kind of creepy.

For the second month in a row, an issue of Hawk & Dove starts with a rooftop chase. This time, Hawk is being chased by c-level Batman bad guy Blockbuster. The two have been sparring and fighting all the way from Washington DC to Gotham City (on foot, apparently. Just how close are those two cities?). Blockbuster stole an amulet from the Smithsonian and Hawk managed to wrest it from him, but now Blockbuster wants it back. The fight is brutal, and Blockbuster is winning. Dove shows up and the momentum shifts, but Blockbuster still manages to win and takes the amulet from around Hawk’s neck. The duo prepare to chase after him, but run afoul first of Robin, and then Batman. They learn that several mystic relics have been stolen by a sorceress known as the Necromancer and they decide to team up to stop her.

Once Hawk, Dove, Batman, and Robin arrive at the Necromancer’s hideout, the fight begins (again). Batman and Hawk take down Blockbuster while Dove and Robin battle the sorceress and manage to nab the stolen relics, breaking her mystic circle. The villainess disappears in a puff of smoke (literally), but not before spewing out villain defeat line #9: “I will see you pay for your trespass!” After an awkward pep talk from Batman, Hawk and Dove head back to Washington DC.

The art is significantly better this month. It may be that since Liefeld is now writing the comic himself, he can write to his own strengths as artist (and weaknesses too – cut out the two page splashes!). Art continuity is still an issue: Blockbuster rips the amulet from the defeated Hawk’s neck – an amulet never shown on the previous six pages, where every panel depicted Hawk. The Necromancer’s helmet varies from panel to panel. Liefeld’s Robin is surprisingly good – if he were drawing Dick or Tim; for Damian, the character looks several years too old. His Batman is quite good as well and he makes the new seamed costume look believable – if only his Batman didn’t have such a penchant fro uncomfortable poses.

On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 2.5 deformed Captain Americas.

Overall, this was a mostly enjoyable done-in-issue of Hawk and Dove. The writing is not as sharp as when Sterling Gates was writing the comic (or the Kesels or Skeates or Kane), but this is by no means a bad comic. The art is greatly improved over past issues. Liefeld does need to stop using the Hawk narration, it’s too wordy for the character — or at the very least, stop marking it with a stylized “H” to signify Hawk. I kept trying to read the H as the first letter.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove batman robin rob liefled

cover, Star Comics #12 (May, 1938)
Sometimes, you just need to be more aggressive with anesthesia.

Time for a classic post:

Tags: groundhog comics

Click on the image for the full PSA

I’ve got nothing negative or snarky to say today, I think the Special Olympics are a great organization and I’ve had a great time every time I’ve helped them (and apparently I helped Superman as well).

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa superman special olympics

The Mayor of Metropolis summons Superman because he needs his help. It must be some major problem, right? Like a failing dam, a fire at a hospital, or an orphanage perched atop an EPA super-fund site, right?

Nope. The mayor has the measles, yet still wants to attend the City Council meeting. Truly a problem requiring all the abilities of the Man of Steel (sorry, orphans, try to enjoy the searing pain from the toxic waste).

This is Superman, so he must have a brillaint plan to “beat those measly measles,” right? Wrong again. No shrinking down and battling the evil virus and its zombified cells. No jumping forward a few years in time, grabbing a measles vaccine, then jumping back in time to before the mayor was infected. None of that. Instead, Superman visits a glass factory and makes a giant glass globe.

Then he plunks the mayor in the sphere, along with his desk, some papers, and what looks like a very limited supply of air, and flies him off to the City Council meeting.

Mission accomplished.
This was truly a job for Superman.
Join us tomorrow when he helps City Councilman Adams take an old couch to the curb for trash pickup.

Scenes from Action Comics #282 (November, 1961). “Superman’s Toughest Day!” by Bill Finger and Al Plastino.

The doctor is working hard to “pull them thru” by…doing what, exactly? Putting a warm washcloth over their eyes? Tucking them in?

Now, I’m no expect on knockout gases, but I think I could do better than that.

Scene from The Three Eccentrics from Batman #21, (February-March 1944).

I like the way there’s a list of rules on the back wall. I can only imagine what they say: “No roughhousing,” “No running with scissors,” “Wash your hands before returning to work”

This week, Hogan and jwsellers took first with 13 points. Nextsundayad, vivalavida, and wkmaier were close behind with 12 points.

Overall, James H and Nextsundayad share the lead with 39 points. wkmaier moves into second with 38 points while Dr. R drops to fourth with his 37 points. Yerkietand mbrigdan are tied for fifth with 35 points. If you have 31 or more points, then you are in the top 10%.

Click here to see the full scoreboard.

To the best of my knowledge, Demerol has never been considered a truth serum. That is a term usually reserved for certain barbituates (sodium pentothal, amobarbital) or anticholinergic drugs (scopolamine). Demerol (generic name meperidine or pithidine), on the other hand, is a very potent narcotic pain killer. Admittedly, unlike most narcotics, Demerol does have some anticholinergic effects, but these don’t kick in except in very high doses, and the poor victim would be unconsciousness and probably dead from a Demerol overdose long before the effects became clinically useful.

More Comic Book Truth Serums

I’m sure they weren’t the first villains to use fear inducing drugs, but the Scarecrow and Mr. Fear are undoubtedly the best known villains who make use of them. I thought I’d take a brief opportunity to look back and see when they first started using their concoctions.

Scarecrow’s first two appearances were in the Golden Age and, frankly, were not terribly imaginative or exciting. Jonathan Crane was little more than a thug (albeit an over-educated one) who used a scarecrow motif. The only fear he caused was by threatening and shooting victims with a run of the mill pistol. It wasn’t until the Scarecrow’s first Silver Age appearance in Batman #189 that his fear gas was seen, and even then it was fairly underwhelming and only seen in one panel. The gas was just one of several techniques used by Crane to instill fear in Batman and Robin.

scene from Batman #189 (by Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff. February 1967)

Mr. Fear and his fear gas pellets appeared in Daredevil #6 and predated Scarecrow’s use of fear gas by two years. Zoltan Drago was slightly mad chemist who ran a failing wax museum. His brilliant plan was to devise a serum that would bring his wax figures to life, giving him an unstoppable army. Yet somehow, despite his genius, he was unable to get his experiments to work. Then one night, his cat jumped up on his work bench and spilled some of his chemicals onto a Bunsen burner. The smoke it gave off induced terror, and Drago decided to use his accidental discovery to become Mr. Fear.

scene from Daredevil #6 (by Stan Lee and Wally Wood. February 1965)

Puerto Rico,
You lovely island
Island of tropical breezes
Always the pineapples growing
Always the coffee blossoms blowing

Click on the image for the full ad

Interesting how the PSA claims the citizens of Puerto Rico have full rights and privileges of U.S. citizens, right before enumerating which rights they don’t have.

Apparently people living on Hawaii lack certain rights as they are not “mainland” citizens. (For the record, this PSA was published several years after Hawaii became a state.)

Back when I was a doctor in the Air Force, about a hundred of us were returning to the States after a several month deployment to Haiti. We had an overnight stay in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before flying the rest of the way back to Nevada. As we were getting off the plane, one of the airmen asked if he needed to exchange his money for “Puerto Rican money.” I calmly reminded him that Puerto Rico was part of the United States and his regular money would be just fine. I may have rolled my eyes a bit, too — sources vary. Looking back, I missed a great opportunity: I should have taken his $20, told him I’d exchange it, and then given him back a $5 telling him it was local currency.

This PSA can be found in DC Comics from April 1963. The script, warts and all, was written by Jack Schiff with art bu Sheldon Moldoff.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa puerto rico citizen jack schiff sheldon moldoff

Q: You need to x-ray Superman, but a normal x-ray won’t penetrate his Kryptonian skin. What technique should you utilize?

<

A: You use a Super XXX-ray, of course!

Daredevil/Matt Murdock believes Hogman to be innocent because there was no change in his heartbeat when he declared his innocence. According to Daredevil lore, Hogman must be telling the truth because Matt can detect lies by hearing the increase in the heart rate (discussed in depth yesterday).

However, after he’s been acquitted of the charges, Hogman admits to Murdock that he did indeed kill Flapper. How did he get this lie past Daredevil?
I’ll let him explain it:

Oops. How could Matt have missed that?

Actually, I can’t blame Matt for missing it, because it makes no medical sense.

Pacemakers only affect a slow heart rate — they do not affect a rapid heart rate. In other words, pacemakers are used to speed up a heart that is beating too slowly, or one that skips too many beats. They do not stop a heart rate from rising and would not have prevented Hogman’s heart rate from increasing when he lied on the stand. Matt should still have caught him in his lie.

(To be fair, Hogman could have an underlying heart condition such as sick sinus syndrome which causes his heart to be beat too slowly and not respond to stimuli — hence the need for a pacemaker — but that is not what is implied by this scene.)

scenes from Daredevil #183 and #184 by Miller and Janson.

From his very first appearance, Daredevil has had the ability to tell if someone is lying by listening to their heartbeat. It’s a skill he’s used numerous times over the years, and continues to use to this very day. Other heroes, such as Supergirl, have demonstrated a similar aptitude (I don’t know if Daredevil was the first to show this skill – you’d have to ask Waid, Busiek or Shutt about that — but he’s certainly used it the most.)

But is it true? Does someone’s heartbeat speed up when they’re lying? Daredevil presents as a certainty (“I can hear his pulse rate. It’s speeding up, indicating he’s lying!”), but is it? I have my doubts.

Certainly there’s a grain of truth there. When someone is stressed — and lying is generally stressful — their heart rate will speed up. But the heart rate is a very non-specific sign, and there are many, many things that affect it, causing a faster or slower heart rate on a moment’s notice. For a lowlife thug, just seeing Daredevil and realizing he’s soon going to be receiving the beating of his life would be enough to cause his heart rate to skyrocket, no matter whether his answers to Daredevil’s questions were true or false. Or maybe the person has Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, or a similar condition which causes rapid heart rate. Or maybe he just took a decongestant, or used his asthma inhaler, or had too much caffeine at lunch. Or maybe he just saw a pretty girl walk by. The point is, there are too many things that can cause a sudden increase in the heart rate to know for sure if the person is lying.

There’s also the question of whether lying always raises the heart rate. I expect it usually does, at least in big lies — but what about little lies or white lies? When my kids ask about Santa and I assure them he will be coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve, does my heart rate rise? What if I’m an accomplished liar? Would a long time criminal like the Fixer actually care enough about “Battling Jack” Murdock for his pulse rate to rise when talking about his murder? I doubt it. Just like there are conditions and medications that can cause an elevated heart rate, there are similar causes of a slower than normal heart rate. How does Daredevil know the people he questions aren’t on beta-blockers or similar drugs that slow the heart rate and blunt any rise in the pulse?

Finally, remember that the polygraph — the “lie detector” — which is generally considered unreliable at actually determining whether someone is telling the truth or not, uses the heart rate as just one part of its lie detection. If the polygraph as a whole is unreliable, why would just one part of it be any more reliable?

(In other words, to believe that Daredevil could actually detect a lie, I’d need to be convinced of two things. First, that a liar’s pulse rate always increases when he’s lying. Second, that lying is the only thing that could account for the increased heart rate. Similarly, to believe that Daredevil could detect that someone was telling the truth, I’d need to be convinced that a liar’s pulse rate always increases when they lie, and that there’s nothing else that could explain away the normal heart rate. Don’t worry, I accept the rapid pulse = lying for the purposes of the story — just like I accept that people can fly and lift buses — I just don’t like the “science” behind it.)

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: this was a disappointing issue on many levels, and an underwhelming end to Hawk & Dove’s first storyline.

Using an imprisoned Deadman, Condor and Swan escape through a doorway to the “War Realms.”

Desperate to find Deadman (in Dove’s case) and Condor (in Hawk’s), the pair contact Madame Xanadu who sends them to Salem (Massachusetts, I presume, though maybe Oregon or Illinois) to squeeze the information out of a demon. What they learn leads them back to a theater in Washington DC that holds an entrance to the War Realms.

Once they enter the Realms, Hawk and Dove are confronted by a monstrous Condor who drones on once again about the War Circle and finding and killing all the Avatars of War. He shrugs off an attack by Hawk then goes after Dove, taunting her about the uselessness of an Avatar of Peace. He slices her across her belly with his claws, just like Swan did in issue three, and then, just like Swan, falls prey to the same golden light issuing forth from her wound. Bathed in this deus ex machina light, Condor dissolves away into nothingness, defeated. It’s not all happiness and sunshine for our heroes though, as Deadman decides this is the perfect moment to break up with Dove.

The art this issue is Rob Liefeld assisted by Marat Mychaels. There are a number of baffling artistic choices (many noted below), but overall, the art is no better or worse than last issue. Backgrounds are still a crapshoot with Liefeld, more often missing than present, and his understanding of anatomy and perspective remains unique.

On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 4 deformed Captain Americas.

Five issues in, and we still haven’t learned more about what puzzled me back in issue #1. How much of the pre-NüDC history of Hawk and Dove still is relevant? Some of it clearly is, but much isn’t — and what is and isn’t seems to shift from issue to issue. Long running mysteries are all well and good in Batman or Superman, when you know the comic is going to be around for the long run to answer them, but let’s be honest: at this rate Hawk & Dove will be lucky to last a dozen issues and I’d rather not have them end up on the ever increasing pile of comic story arcs that will never be completed.

This series has too many important scenes happening off camera. This issue, it’s the death(?) of Swan and the meeting with Madame Xanadu.

Two pages of conversation without either party actually opening their mouths. Ventriloquist’s dummies speak more realistically than Hank and Dawn.

The mysterious War Realms are…a city rooftop and a city skyline? Shouldn’t they be, I don’t know, more war like?

For all Dawn’s professing of her love for Deadman, we sure haven’t seen it in the series to date. All the more important as the pair barely seem to tolerate each other is Justice League Dark. The mooning after Deadman doesn’t fit in with what we’ve seen of Dove before, and after, the Nü52 reboot.

A sideways two-page spread? We really are back in the ‘90s. But surely a waste of pages such as this must be an awesome scene, right? Wrong — just another page of Hawk and Dove leaping from building to building with yet another gratuitous (and anatomically improbable) butt shot of Dove.

The demon Hawk and Dove are chasing is wearing pants? I guess it gets cold in Salem and you don’t want to go commando. Notice how he isn’t wearing a shirt except for the once scene where Hawk has to grab him by one, then suddenly, there it is!

I will give bonus points for the Dark Crystal shout out — and from Hawk, no less.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove condor swan sterling gates rob liefeld

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a reading copy of the relative obscure comic, Captain Nice #1. The comic, and the TV series it is based on, appealed to me the minute I discovered that it 1) features a pharmaceutically-enhanced super-hero (a particular interest of mine); and 2) stars William Daniels, probably better known — depending on your tastes — as Dr. Craig in St. Elsewhere, the voice of KITT in Knight Rider, or John Adams in 1776.

Never heard of Captain Nice? Well then, let me educate you.

A product of the era when camp was the name of the super-hero game (at least on TV), Captain Nice lasted half-a-season in 1967. The series featured Carter Nash, a quiet, overly-polite police chemist who still lived at home with his parents. One day, Carter discovered a foul tasting elixir that turned him into the super-hero “Captain Nice” when he drank it. Captain Nice had the standard assortment of super-powers: strength, invulnerability, and flight, but didn’t have the skill or experience to use them well — plus, he was scared of heights, which made flying a challenge. The series was mostly a slapstick style of humor and hasn’t aged all that well. There are some nice touches, though — I like the way he wears his glasses over his mask.

But why not decide for yourself? Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, 45 years after the show was broadcast, you can still get your chance to watch it, or at least one episode of it:

Theme song

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Though only fifteen episodes were produced, Captain Nice still lasted long enough to earn a comic series, if you count a single issue as a series. The front cover is a photo cover, and the inside front cover sports a few small black and white photos and a quick synopsis of the show: Carter Nash is the kind of son every red-blooded American mother wants, quiet, polite and obedient. And when there’s trouble in Bigtown, he’s a son to be proud of because he’s Captain Nice, enemy of the wicked, Champion of the Weak, Hero of The Month, Son of the Year! (Unusual capitalization in the original.)

Next comes four brief comic stories featuring the good Captain. First is Fowl Play, concerning a villain known as the Rooster that Captain Nice captures by fooling him into crowing at dawn. Second is The Big Flood, where Captain Nice tries, and fails miserably, to stop a dam from breaking and a town from flooding — but it ends up OK because the town’s citizens all wanted lakefront property. Third is a day-in-the-life story called Good Deed Indeed where every good deed the Captain performs ends up back firing. The final story is Think Mink, where Captain Nice pits his abilities against the cat burglar Slymme Fatale, and loses. In addition to the stories, there are a couple of generic humor pages, a PSA about bridges, and then photos from the show on the back cover.

The art is competent, but not outstanding. The main character barely looks like William Daniels, but that way, at least we don’t run into the same statted image of the actor showing up repeatedly like in the licensed Ben Casey comics. Again, I’ll let you decide for yourself as I’ve scanned in the third story in its entirety.

Monster Mayhem Mystery

Reading this comic, I realized I had seen the fill-in humor pages before. The one about monsters I particularly recognize. I know I read it sometime when I was a kid, and I remember it well enough to know I must have owned the comic it was in, but I have no idea when I read it or in what comic. It must have been in a reprint or an old comic because I hadn’t been born when this comic came out. I looked it up on GCD, and I don’t recognize a single comic listed as containing the page in question. Damn, now I have to figure this out!

click to embiggen

Birds of Prey #4 “Absolutely Mental”
Duane Swierczynski, writer
Jesus Saiz, penciler

Reading the otherwise excellent Birds of Prey #4, I ran across a common misconception about the AMA (the American Medical Association):

The American Medical Association is a no more than a professional organization of physicians — essentially a large powerful lobbying group. They are not a government agency and have no official sanction. The AMA has nothing to do with drugs, or side effects to drugs. They certainly have no power over patients taking drugs — even for unapproved purposes — so would be no concern to Black Canary. Additionally, the AMA has no authority over any doctor’s medical license — they cannot award them or suspend them (not an issue in this comic, but an even more common misconception about the AMA in general).

So this new “experimental stroke treatment drug” has an annoying mind control side effect? Who should handsome young Dr. Cahill report his concerns to? The FDA. They’re the ones in charge of approving (and in some cases, unapproving) drugs and keeping track of reports of side effects. The pharmaceutical company should also be tracking the side effects of their drugs, though recent reports have shown that they’re not always as enthusiastic about that as they should be.

Or this all could be a really lame pick-up attempt by Dr. Cahill.

Another post dealing with AMA misconceptions, the Beast, and Dr. Mid-Nite.

Tags: comics medicine black canary birds of prey american medical association

Of bandaging the head over the costume?

scene from Daredevil #164 (by McKenzie, Miller, and Janson)

As 2011 draws to a close, it’s time to take my annual look at the best — and worst — comic book medicine from the past year.

Previous “Best of the Year”: The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2010 The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2009 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 2010 The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2009 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

As this season of rampant commercialism (and some holiday or other) draws to a close, I thought it would be time to post this public service ad about international trade. Of course, this ad suffers from the same over the top optimism that all of these international-themed PSAs seemed to have. You won’t find a mention of any of the terms we commonly think of nowadays when we hear about international trade; no mentions of trade deficits, tariffs or embargoes. Or sweatshop. Or child labor.

Click on the image for the full ad

That sure is an interesting Greek vessel. I wasn’t aware that they even had crow’s nests.

I need to get me one of those “modern” American automobiles.

This PSA can be found in DC Comics from march 1962. The script is by Jack Schiff with Lou Cameron identified as the artist by the GCD. This particular image is from Adventure Comics #294.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa inernational trade automobile jack schiff lou cameron

Christmas Day is finally here! I thought this cover featuring Donald Duck, his nephews, and the “Golden Christmas Tree” was the perfect way to end this year’s Christmas tree themed Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. Merry Christmas!

Four Color #203
(Delly, December 1948)

Click on the cover for larger view

Christmas Day!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar.
One year ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #388.
Two years ago, the cover was The First Christmas (in Panoramic 3D).
Three years ago, the cover was A Christmas Journey Through Space.
Four years ago, the cover was Hellboy Christmas Special.
Five years ago, the cover was The Vampire’s Christmas.
Six years ago, the cover was Saved By The Bell Special Holiday Issue.
Seven years ago, the cover was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

It’s Christmas Eve! And it’s a return to super-heroes — and Marvel super-heroes at that — for the penultimate cover of this years Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar.

Marvel Treasury Edition #8
(Marvel Comics, December 1975)

Click on the cover for larger view

1 Day until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Little Audrey #16.
Two years ago, the cover was Pinky and the Brain Christmas Special #1.
Three years ago, the cover was Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #1.
Four years ago, the cover was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #1.
Five years ago, the cover was Jingle Belle #1.
Six years ago, the cover was Santa Claus Funnies #1.
Seven years ago, the cover was Christmas With the Super-Heroes #1
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

As an early Christmas present, I’m going to provide everyone with the secret formula for an invisibility serum, thanks to Lex Luthor and Adventure Comics #286:

Did you get all that? The ingredients of Luthor’s invisibility serum are:
1) Mouthwash (brand not specified), 2) Orange Juice, and 3) two aspirin.

Chemicals AND acids! And here I thought acids were a type of chemical.

Now Luthor takes two radio parts he had hidden in his shoes, and heads out to the prison yard…

So: Mouthwash + orange juice + aspirin + “amplified” vibrations from the prison siren = invisibility. Genius!

Casper’s back for another cover in this year’s Advent Calendar, and he’s doing a lot better with the Christmas tree this time around.

The Friendly Ghost, Casper #250
(Harvey Comics, March 1990)

Click on the cover for larger view

2 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was The New Archies #12.
Two years ago, the cover was Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #2.
Three years ago, the cover was Fawcett’s Funny Animals #2.
Four year ago, the cover was Jingle Belle #2.
Five years ago, the cover was Chrissie Claus #2.
Six years ago, the cover was Tomb Raider #2 (alternate cover).
Seven years ago, the cover was Alf Holiday Special #2
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Tom and Jerry are back for today’s Christmas-tree themed cover, and this time Tom has the upper hand.

Tom and Jerry Comics #90
(Dell , January 1952)

Click on the cover for larger view

3 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was The Kilroys #21.
Two year ago, the cover was Jingle Belle #3.
Three years ago, the cover was The Batman and Robin Adventures #3.
Four years ago, the cover was Geeksville #3.
Five years ago, the cover was Archie’s Christmas Stocking #3.
Six years ago, the cover was Batman: The Long Halloween #3.
Seven years ago, the cover was The Goon #3
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Superman and his son understand the downside of invisibility* in this scene from Superman #166, a topic generally ignored in comics (as far as I recall, only Warren Ellis in Planetary has addressed the issue, though I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s been some Marvel-style pseudoscience handwaving sometime during the Fantastic Four’s run.)

*The problem being that in order to see, a person requires light hitting their retinas. If they are invisible and “light passes through” them, then it can’t strike the retina, rendering them blind)

A mere four days remain until Christmas. Today’s tree-themed Christmas cover shows Richie Rich’s deep dark secret: he’s clearly a misogynistic serial killer who keeps heads a trophies. I always knew there was something wrong with that kid — the way he threw money around showed some deep seated insecurities.

Richie Rich and His Girlfriends #13
(Harvey, February 1982)

Click on the cover for larger view

4 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Fawcett’s Funny Animals #254.
Two years ago, the cover was Funny Picture Stories #4.
Three years ago, the cover was Generation X #4.
Four years ago, the cover was Batman Family #4.
Five years ago, the cover was Fantastic Four #4 (creepy variant cover).
Six years ago, the cover was Jingle Belle #4.
Seven years ago, the cover was Street Fighter #4 (variant cover)
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Tags: comics advent calendar christmas tree richie rich

You’d think that by now, stunts like Dennis jumping out of a (strangely hollow) Christmas tree wouldn’t faze his parents, but they sure seem surprised. “Dennis? Rambunctious and misbehaving? Never!”

Dennis the Menace Giant #10
(Halldan, Winter 1961)

Click on the cover for larger view

5 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Jingle Jangle Comics #24.
Two years ago, the cover was Famous Funnies #5.
Three years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade #5.
Four years ago, the cover was Comic Cavalcade #5.
Five years ago, the cover was Holiday Comics #5.
Six years ago, the cover was Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies.
Seven years ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace #5
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

…or at least the twist endings of pre-Code horror comics.

• Though by 1952, when this story was published, smallpox was all but wiped out in the industrialized nations. Of course, the story does mention that the ship in question is a “dirty old tramp” and it looks like her sailors weren’t much on healthcare…or personal hygeine.

From Hand of Fate #22. You can find the whole story over at The Horrors of it All

Back to super-heroes for today’s cover for the Advent Calendar with Superman #166 featuring the “sons of Superman,” Jor-El II and Kal-El II.

(And they never do mention who the mother is, she’s always shown in shadow, like on the cover.)

Superman #166
(DC Comics, January 1964)

Click on the cover for larger view

6 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #6.
Two years ago, the cover was Judge Dredd #6.
Three years ago, the cover was The MAZE Agency #6.
Four years ago, the cover was Top 10 #6.
Five years ago, the cover was Hot Wheels #6.
Six years ago, the cover was Love Hina #6.
Seven years ago, the cover was Heathcliff #6
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Just one week remains until Christmas!

Today’s cover probably features the most disgusting (or, if you prefer, “least pleasant”) of all the Christmas trees in this year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. It also includes the only title in the calendar with an exclamation point.

Slimer! #11 (Now Comics, March 1990)

Click on the cover for larger view

7 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Famous Funnies #113.
Two years ago, the cover was Evil Ernie #7.
Three years ago, the cover was Marge’s Little Lulu #7.
Four year ago, the cover was Sparkling Stars #7.
Five years ago, the cover was Dell Junior Treasury #7.
Six years ago, the cover was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #7.
Seven years ago, the cover was X-Mas Comics #7
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

It’s not a Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar without a visit from Bugs Bunny, so here he is in a Christmas tree themed cover from 1955, with a little help from Elmer J. Fudd (millionaire, I own a mansion and a yacht).

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #159 (Dell, January 1955)

Click on the cover for larger view

8 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Jingle Dingle Stocking Comic #1.
Two years ago, the cover was Star Ranger #8.
Three years ago, the cover was The Sensational She-Hulk #8.
Four year ago, the cover was Star Comics #8.
Five years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade #8.
Six years ago, the cover was Mary Marvel #8.
Seven years ago, the cover was Richie Rich #8
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Back to super-hero action with today’s entry in the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar.

Three super-hero covers, and three instances of Robin being in trouble. Coincidence? I think not. You always need to keep an eye on Robin.

The Batman and Robin Adventures #3 (DC Comics, December 1995)

Click on the cover for larger view

9 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Daisy and her Pups #16.
Two years ago, the cover was King Comics #9.
Three years ago, the cover was Battle Vixen #9.
Four years ago, the cover was Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #9.
Five years ago, the cover was Richie Rich Fortune$ #9.
Six years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade #9.
Seven years ago, the cover was Christmas Calvalcade #9
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Just ten days left until Christmas, and today’s Christmas tree themed cover is from Little Lotta #63 — the name and cover really say it all; there is little subtle about Lotta.

Little Lotta #63
(Harvey, January 1966)

Click on the cover for larger view

10 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #382.
Two years ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace Giant #10.
Three years ago, the cover was The Trouble With Girls #10.
Four years ago, the cover was Richie Rich and Casper #10.
Five years ago, the cover was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #10.
Six years ago, the cover was Tiny Tot Comics #10.
Seven years ago, the cover was Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #10
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Hawk and Dove #4 is another issue where the majority of the story is just people sitting around talking; there is little actual action. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, except that it’s clearly not one of Liefeld’s strengths. It also means that two of the four issues have been primarily conversation instead of action (I know last issue I complained about it being an issue-long fight scene. I’m not being contradictory: I think good comics require a solid mix of both action and non-action scenes; not one or the other).

After collaring Condor last issue, Hawk and Dove are questioning him at the local police station. Despite various threats from Hawk, Condor is refusing to talk.

Meanwhile, Dove thinks back to her fight last issue with Swan. You remember that fight, right? It’s the one we didn’t get to see. Well now, an issue after the fact, we finally learned what happened. During the tussle, Dove zaps Swan with beams of light shot from her hands and then starts really pounding her, all the while telling Swan about how hard she’s had it in life. Swan manages to cut Dove with her sword, but then mysteriously vanishes when struck by the light released from the wound.

Now, suddenly, Condor agrees to talk. He reveals that he is two hundred years old and he drops some comments about the “War Circle” and how its numbers are finally getting low. He expects Hawk to be aware of the Circle and seems amused when he isn’t. He informs Hawk that he plans to cut out and eat his avatar and casually mentions that he wants to kill Dove simply because he’s not sure what she is. He ends by telling the team that Dove’s association with Deadman makes them easy to track.

Conveniently, Deadman shows up, and Condor shares an important fact: Swan didn’t die, but instead became immaterial, just like Deadman. Right on cue, Swan shows up, grabs, and subdues Deadman. At the same time, a helicopter arrives outside the police station and a squad of evil scientist/anarchist Quirk’s zombie-men show up and bust Condor out. In the ensuing melee, Hawk is knocked unconscious from a shot to the back and Dove is left alone fighting the zombies.

Liefeld’s art, by itself, is no worse than it was last issue. There’s the same bizarre posing, mismatching planes, and missing backgrounds I’ve come to expect. What is worse this time is the panel-to-panel continuity. Here’s two quick examples: first, the fit of Dove’s mask changes frequently, from sitting at her hairline, to crossing the middle of the forehead, to everything in between — and this changes from panel to panel on the same page. A second example: when first shown, Condor is wearing heavy manacles, then a page later, he has normal handcuffs on, then toward the end of the issue, he’s shown with his arms strapped to the chair.

On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 4 deformed Captain Americas.

Light beams from the hands? Those are new powers for Dove. as for her injury, light has come from her wounds when she was cut previously (in the later issues of the last Hawk and Dove series), but never like this.
There seems to be a new backstory for Dawn. “Fighting other people to eat,” and “dealing with scum.” It will be interesting to see where this goes.
The covers aren’t working. The posing, even on the fight scene covers, is uninteresting and the colors seem flat.
Stop with the “Kaaia!” please.
Would Judge Hall really pull strings to allow Hawk and Dove to question Condor. That is very unlike the pre-nu52 Judge Hall, who was a strict follower of the rule of law and fairly anti-vigilante. And how much pull would a federal judge really have at the level of a local police department, or even the SCU?
Condor and Swan have a point: why is Dove being so aggressive and physical?

My main problem with this issue, and the Hawk and Dove reboot overall, is that they’re not very heroic. I don’t necessarily need my heroes to always win, but I want them to at least be competent — to act like heroes — and I’m not seeing that here. I know that being a super-hero is clasically all about reacting: the villains enact a plot and the heroes react. But that’s not what’s happening. Certainly Hawk and Dove have been taking the fight to Quirk, but it was always clear he wasn’t the major villain, Condor was. And against Condor they’ve accomplished nothing. They’re been led along like lambs to the slaughter and they seem none the wiser. Everything we’ve learned comes from infodumps from the villains; the heroes haven’t learned anything on their own — they’re just flailing at shadows. This is frustrating to read in any comic, but especially in a comic I had such high hopes for.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove condor swan sterling gates rob liefeld

Today’s Christmas cover features Casper, Tuffy, Little Dot and a bunch of other Harvey-Toon stars that I’m sure everyone remembers. And a Christmas tree, in keeping with this year’s advent calendar theme.

Harvey Hits #29 (Harvey, February 1960)

Click on the cover for larger view

11 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Funny Stuff #30.
Two years ago, the cover was Slimer #11.
Three years ago, the cover was Yogi Bear #11.
Four years ago, the cover was The Maze Agency #11.
Five years ago, the cover was Pogo #11.
Six years ago, the cover was Adventures of the Mask #11.
Seven years ago, the cover was Critters #11
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Just twelve days to go until Christmas! Even though you starred in a painfully unfunny movie, we still love you Yogi and are happy to have you in this year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar.

Yogi Bear #11
(Gold Key, January 1963)

Click on the cover for larger view

12 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Supermouse #29.
Two years ago, the cover was Tick Tock Tales #12.
Three years ago, the cover was Funny Folks #12.
Four year ago, the cover was Popular Comics #12.
Five years ago, the cover was Chip ‘n’ Dale #12.
Six years ago, the cover was The New Archies #12.
Seven years ago, the cover was Beavis and Butt-Head #12
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Today’s Christmas tree themed cover presents what must be the most frightening version of Archie Andrews I’ve ever seen. It’s as if Archie and Jack Elam had a child. What kid would want to read this?

Little Archie Digest Magazine #5
(Archie Comics, date ?)

Click on the cover for larger view

13 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Popular Comics #35.
Two years ago, the cover was Richie Rich and His Girlfriends #13.
Three years ago, the cover was Oni Double Feature #13.
Four year ago, the cover was Howdy Doody #13.
Five years ago, the cover was Comic Cavalcade #13.
Six years ago, the cover was Captain Atom #13.
Seven years ago, the cover was Teen Titans #13
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Just two weeks until Christmas…

On today’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar, Popeye and friends arrive, bringing an extra-large Christmas Tree along with them…

King Comics #9
(David McKay, December 1936)

Click on the cover for larger view

14 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Dell Giant #39.
Two years ago, the cover was Heathcliff #14.
Three years ago, the cover was Archie 3000 #14.
Four years ago, the cover was Shanda the Panda #14.
Five years ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun #14.
Six years ago, the cover was Sable #14.
Seven years ago, the cover was Bloodshot #14
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Today’s Christmas tree themed cover for Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar comes from Batman #33, where Robin demonstrates those vaunted acrobatic skills he is known for. Or not.

Batman #33
(DC, February-March 1946)

Click on the cover for larger view

15 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was X-Mas Comics #7.
Two years ago, the cover was Archie Giant Size Magazine #15.
Three years ago, the cover was Calling All Kids #15.
Four years ago, the cover was Funny Pages #15.
Five years ago, the cover was Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #15.
Six years ago, the cover was The Ren & Stimpy Show #15.
Seven years ago, the cover was Classics Illustrated #15: The Gift of the Magi
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

More Little Dot…

…and another good example of what I like to call the “x-ray gag” [q.v. Richie Rich, Atomic Bunny, and Hot Stuff]

Naughty or nice? Little Dot is drawing on the wallpaper, which is certainly against the rules, but she’s drawing a Christmas tree, so Santa can’t be too mad, right? Not to mention, that’s a pretty good freehand tree…

Little Dot #41
(Harvey Comics, February 1959)

Click on the cover for larger view

16 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Walter Lantz New Funnies #155.
Two years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #16.
Three years ago, the cover was Sonic the Comic #16.
Four years ago, the cover was Daisy and Her Pups #16.
Five years ago, the cover was The Funnies #16.
Six years ago, the cover was More Fun Comics #16.
Seven years ago, the cover was Little Audrey #16
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

That’s a very uncomfortable looking tree. Look how they’ve essentially gagged Morty and Ferdie with candy canes so they won’t be screaming, “Get off my back, Goofy!”

Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade #9 (Dell, December 1958)

Click on the cover for larger view

17 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was March of Comics #325.
Two years ago, the cover was Scooby Doo #17.
Three years ago, the cover was Richie Rich Dollar$ and ¢ents #17.
Four years ago, the cover was The World Around Us #17.
Five years ago, the cover was Andy Panda #17.
Six years ago, the cover was Famous Funnies #17.
Seven years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Mickey and Donald #17
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Today’s Christmas tree themed cover is Tom & Jerry Comics #66, where Jerry and Tuffy are opening their own Christmas tree lot (well, artificial Christmas tree lot)

Tom & Jerry Comics #66 (Dell, January 1950)

Click on the cover for larger view

18 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer #1.
Two year ago, the cover was Walt Disney Comics Digest #18.
Three years ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun #18.
Four years ago, the cover was Little Lulu #18.
Five years ago, the cover was Funny Stuff #18.
Six years ago, the cover was Casper the Friendly Ghost #18.
Seven years ago, the cover was Green Lantern #18
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Our first super-hero comic on this year’s comic cover advent calendar features the original (or is that now the original original original) Teen Titans, long before Wolfman and Perez ever got their hands on them.

Teen Titans #13 (DC Comics, January/February 1968)

Click on the cover for larger view

19 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #3.
Two year ago, the cover was Shade, The Changing Man #19.
Three years ago, the cover was Pinky and the Brain #19.
Four years ago, the cover was The Strangers #19.
Five years ago, the cover was Captain Marvel #19.
Six years ago, the cover was Comic Cavalcade #19.
Seven years ago, the cover was Batman and the Outsiders #19
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

Poor Casper just can’t catch a break, even when dealing with Christmas trees.

Fcover, The Friendly Ghost, Casper #230 (harvey, March 1987)

Click on the cover for larger view

20 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Four Color #172.
Two years ago, the cover was Archie Giant Series Magazine #20.
Three years ago, the cover was Tip Top Comics #20.
Four years ago, the cover was Little Lotta #20.
Five years ago, the cover was Mutt and Jeff #20.
Six years ago, the cover was Archer and Armstrong #20.
Seven years ago, the cover was Hawk and Dove #20
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

This Maxwell Lord/psychic nosebleed is way past cliched and is well into the realm of completely ridiculous. I’d say that out of all the recurring comic book contemporary villains, Maxwell Lord is the most one-dimensional. Maxwell Lord equals evil mind controlling nosebleeder, end of story. He was more interesting when he barely appeared in Justice League International.

All scenes are from recent issues of Justice League: Generation Lost. The first two are from issue #9,
the next two from issue #13, the third pair from issue #14, and the final two from issue #20.

My annual Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar continues — this year’s theme: Christmas Trees. In this nice cover from Marge’s Little Lulu #90, the title character is also the Christmas tree.

Marge’s Little Lulu #90 (Dell, December 1955)

Click on the cover for larger view

21 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #147.
Two years ago, the cover was Sgt. Rock #21.
Three years ago, the cover was King Comics #21.
Four years ago, the cover was The Kilroys #21.
Five years ago, the cover was Donald Duck Adventures #21.
Six years ago, the cover was Justice League Europe #2a.
Seven years ago, the cover was The New Archies #21
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

In the dystopic future Captain Atom encounters in Justice League Generation Lost #14, there are only a few super-heroes left alive. With the exception of Power Girl, all of them are legacy heroes — based on, or descendents of, current super-heroes. There is a Batman, a Red Hood, and descendents of Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, and Hawk and Dove.

Meet Black Canary:

She is identified as a “descendant of Hawk and Dove,” but her name — and her fishnets — suggest she may have a connection to Black Canary as well.

Sadly, after appearing (mostly in the background) for a total of six pages, she gets turned into an OMAC and dies.

Black Canary is not the first descendant of Hawk and Dove introduced. Back in the Hawk & Dove Annual #2, part of the unfortunate “Armageddon 2001″ event, the reader is introduced to Dr. Arsala, a neurosurgeon who also happens to be the daughter of Hank Hall and Dawn Granger. When she speaks the word “Unity” she is transformed into Unity, a super-heroic amalgam of Hawk and Dove.

Just 22 days until Christmas, and today’s cover for Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar presents nothing other than Christmas anarchy! Occupy the North Pole! (Will this joke even make sense next year?)

Famous Funnies #17 (Eastern Color, December 1935)

Click on the cover for larger view

22 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Hot Stuff, The Little Devil #95.
Two years ago, the cover was Sabrina #22.
Three years ago, the cover was Fat Albert #22.
Four years ago, the cover was Calling All Kids #22.
Five years ago, the cover was The Best of DC #22.
Six years ago, the cover was New Adventure Comics #22.
Seven years ago, the cover was Hitman #22
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

For a supposedly advanced culture, the Krytponians sure have brutal methods of dealing with mental illness.

Also notice that they call it the “Psycho Observation Ward” — not “Psychiatric Observation Ward”, or even “Psych Observation Ward”. They’re not mincing words and have all but diagnosed you before therapy even starts.

scene from Superman #189

The second of December, and a second Christmas tree themed cover. Today, Woody Woodpecker is trying to figure out what happened to the top of his Christmas tree…

Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker #34 (Dell, December 1955)

Click on the cover for larger view

23 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Famous Funnies #53.
Two years ago, the cover was Nightmare #23.
Three years ago, the cover was Polly Pigtails #23.
Four years ago, the cover was Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #23.
Five years ago, the cover was Wendy Witch World #23.
Six years ago, the cover was The ‘Nam #23.
Seven years ago, the cover was Card Captor Sakura #23
Don’t miss Yet Another Comic Blog’s annual advent calendar

It’s time for my Eighth Annual Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. For each day from today through Christmas Day, I will post the cover of a comic book with a Christmas theme. This year’s advent calendar theme is “Christmas trees.” That means that every day’s cover will prominently feature a Christmas tree…

For this year’s first cover, here is Richie Rich #42 where Richie, as always, shows that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing to excess.

Richie Rich #42 (Harvey, February 1966)

Click on the cover for larger view

24 Days until Christmas!

This year’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar (so far).
One year ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #124.
Two year ago, the cover was Beavis and Butt-Head #24.
Three years ago, the cover was Tick Tock Tales #24.
Four years ago, the cover was Jingle Jangle Comics #24.
Five years ago, the cover was Liberty Meadows #24.
Six years ago, the cover was Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #24.
Seven years ago, the cover was The Sensational Spider-Man #24
Check out Dave’s annual advent calendar over at Yet Another Comic Blog

If his “brain had left his body,” he wouldn’t have a pulse — because after all, the brain controls the pulse (not to mention there’d be a big hole in his head and quite a mess on the floor).

I think Batman’s actually referring to the victim’s “higher consciousness*” (however you wish to define that term), though what pupil response had to do with “higher consciousness” is a mystery to me (and how can Batman even judge the pupil’s response when he’s behind the patient?).

“Murder in the Night” from Detective Comics #481 by Jim Starlin with assist by P. Craig Russell)

*Yes, this becomes one of those mind-downloaded-into-a-computer story. And a giant ape is involved as well.

Dashford Dartwell. With a name like that, you’re destined for soap operas – or super heroics.

One night there is an explosion in the lab of Dr. Moss, chemistry professor and father of Dash’s girlfriend. Dash rushes in and the professor tells him that he has successfully invented a Metabo-Catalyst.

He tells Dash: As yet, I don’t know it will do. It might give extraordinary speed-strength-ANYTHING!
I must make human tests!

To which Dash replies: How about some lab testing, or at least animal studies before human studies. Have you talked to the IRB? How about making them on me?

That’s right, Dash has just witnessed the metabo-catalyst cause a lab explosion, yet volunteers to test the chemical concoction – a mixture even the inventor admits he doesn’t know what it will do – on himself¹.

Of course, this is the Golden Age, so Dr. Moss’ Metabo-Tablets grant him super-strength, super-speed, and super-agility. So Dash uses his newfound powers to stop crime and right wrongs – right? Well, not exactly, first he uses his chemically-enhanced abilities to set four world records and help his college (Dravrah) defeat its rival (Elay)^{2, 3}. Then, only when personally threatened by gangsters, does he decide to use his powers to fight crime.

NOTES:
1. It could be that Dr. Moss can’t stand Dash and this was all an elaborate ploy to kill him.

2. It’s bad enough that Dash uses his chemically-enhanced powers to gain an unfair advantage in the game – after all, the Flash did essentially the same thing in his first appearance – but the coach knows what he is doing and does nothing to stop him or even tell him that it’s unethical.

3. Dravah and Elay. Really. Are they in Yvi Eugael?

4. Admittedly, he does spend two of his next — and final — three appearances fighting crime (the third is a reprint of his origin).

The Human Meteor first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #21 (March 1941)

Other Dangerous Origins
1. Hydroman	3. Steel Sterling
2. The Comet	4. The Human Bomb

Precognitives have never had it easy have they? Ask Cassandra, or ask poor Asher Cobb here:

scene from The Sixth Gun #14
All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed sixth gun cullen bunn tyler crook

The Spectre #6 (Sept/Oct 1968)
Watch out for those Pilgrims!

scene from Superman #201

No, this public service ad is not about the possibility of an NBA season this year, but about how famous athletes overcame their physical handicaps to become champions.

Of course, these athletes are being used as examples by a minimum-wage soda jerk lecturing school students about studying harder, so I’m not sure they’re really the best choices. Maybe something more to do with math and science, and less to do with inborn athletic potential.

Click on the image for the full ad

Never trust a guy who uses the word “fellers.”

Maybe if you spent more time studying and less time at the soda fountain, you’d pass.

After Vic’s lecture, all the kids gave up on math and science and instead worked hard at athletics, where they failed and had to take a job under Vic as junior soda jerks, allowing Vic to be promoted. Soon he ran the pharmacy, and then in a few years, a whole chain of pharmacies. He retired a rich man thanks to his devious plan of giving school children unrealistic expectations.

This PSA can be found in DC Comics from January 1967. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff. This particular image is from Superman #193.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa school test athlete jack schiff sheldon moldoff

Batwing #2 “We Have Blood On Our Hands”
Judd Winick, writer
Ben Oliver, artist

Batwing rushes to the hospital with a severely wounded victim. The emergency department team begins treatment immediately:

A good start to the resuscitation. Blood pressure of “eighty-palp” means that the patient’s systolic pressure is 80 (the top number in blood pressure, usually at least 100), and the diastolic pressure (the bottom number, usually around 80) can’t be read by the machine, but can be felt (hence “palp” for “palpable”). Placing two large IVs, one in each arm, is standard of care for emergency treatment. The large IVs allow fluid and blood to be given quickly. “Four units of O-neg” means to give the patient four units (roughly 2 liters) of O-negative blood (the universal donor; the patient needs the blood now and they don’t have time to test for the exact blood type match). This comic does follow what I call the “Final Thought Intubation Rule” — do not intubate the patient until they can deliver a final confession or clue.

The patient is in ventricular fibrillation (v-fib), a dangerous and usually fatal heart rhythm. Nice to see them starting CPR. Defibrillation is key in the management of ventricular fibrillation (the name should be a clue), so shock the patient fast and often while they remain in ventricular fibrillation. 200 joules is the usual starting setting, followed, if unsuccessful, by 300 and then 360 joules. If more shocks are required after that, the setting stays at 360 joules.

There are a few slightly different treatment algorithms for ventricular fibrillation — some recommend giving Epi (epinephrine) early, some recommend waiting to give it until after three unsuccessful shocks. (A nitpick: would they really use the term “Epi” here? The name epinephrine is only used in the U.S., everywhere else in the world they call it “Adrenalin”.) Amiodarone is used in treating ventricular fibrillation, but is generally not recommended until later in the algorithm if the patient is not responding to the usual treatments.

Did you notice that the patient apparently slipped into asystole (flatline) or PEA (pulseless electrical activity) after the first shock — notice how they keep saying “no rhythm.” If this is indeed the case (and there’s just text and a generic resuscitation scene in the comic; we don’t get to see the actual monitor), then the patient no longer shows a “shockable rhythm” and they should have stopped treating for v-fib and switched to treatment of asystole. (In other words, don’t shock a flatline — but bear in mind this patient is likely dead no matter what they do, he was just too severely injured to survive.)

scene from Amazing Spider-Man #673

Clint, the appendix is on your right side, not your left.

Hawk and Dove #3 is a disappointment. It’s no more than a book long fight scene. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — if the art and writing are up to the task — but sadly that’s not the case in this comic.

Most of the issue focuses on Hawk’s battle with Condor. Dove and Swan are relegated to a few pages – and the denouement occurs off screen. Deadman makes an appearance as well, saving Judge Hall and the President (yes, that was supposed to be President Obama last issue) and then helping Hawk in his fight. Along the way, a few meager clues about Condor and Swan (and Hawk and Dove) are doled out and there’s a last page reveal – literally – but it’s not really worth the wait.

The art takes a step back in this issue. Certainly Rob Liefeld can generally draw exciting fight scenes, but only if they’re fairly short battles. He has a limited number of stock fighting poses in his arsenal, and the list is quickly exhausted in this issue of nothing but battles. Backgrounds appear and disappear at random, and even when present, don’t always make sense (why are there port holes in the kitchen?) Other problem scenes include one Condor where bites the head off of a secret service agent — but somehow manages to sever the head in a completely straight horizontal line– and the climactic return of Dove, with a strike that, as drawn, is clearly superficial — not the near fatal blow it’s supposed to be. For a quick preview of the problems with the art, just take a glance at the front cover. While Dove and Swan are imaginatively posed, their planes of intersection don’t work at all. Swan is missing her cape, and her right arm. And look: nobody has feet.

On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 3.5 deformed Captain Americas, meaning each issue has been worse than the one before.

Swan makes a big deal of singing her “swan song” — apparently misunderstanding the metaphor and not realizing that a swan song is something you perform just before you die. And no, you can’t sing a swan song for someone else, that’s not how it works.
This issue provides more evidence that Hawk and Dove are more-or-less human under their costumes, a change from their pre-New 52 incarnation.
Rob Liefeld should not draw Deadman again. Ever.
With the conclusion of the Dove and Swan fight happening off panel, I’m just assuming it’s really Dove at the end and not some subterfuge. She sure talks like Dove, but I’ve been fooled before.
Meanwhile, Deadman and Dawn are also appearing over in Justice League Dark. Even though it’s only a few scenes, it’s more satisfying — artistically and emotionally — than either character’s appearances in Hawk and Dove.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove condor swan sterling gates rob liefeld

Can you solve the “Mystery of the Million-Dollar Briefcase?”

Honestly, it’s not really that much of a mystery — reading between the lines, I think it’s really about a lonely guy with an unfortunate name, unfettered imagination, and too much time on his hands. And the neighbor he decides to stalk. Sounds like a FOX sit-com.

Click on the image for the full ad

Libraries were one of the more popular themes in the DC Comics’ public service ads of the 1950s and ’60s. Others include:
Get YOUR Ticket to the Treasury of Books!
Your Free Trip Around the World!
The World of Adventure in Books
Your Pass to New Worlds!

Remember, tomorrow’s super-villain is today’s stalker.

This ad is from 1967, making it one of the last PSAs of DC’s program. It also provides more support of my contention that most of the later PSAs were boring and lame.

This PSA can be found in DC Comics from June 1967. The script, like most of DC’s PSAs, is by Jack Schiff. Once again, frequent collaborator Sheldon Moldoff provides the art. This particular image is from Superman #197.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa library mystery briefcase jack schiff sheldon moldoff

A couple of scenes form Fear Itself: FF where Sue Storm tries to use her forcefield powers to separate Angir (the Thing) from the enchanted hammer that has taken him over. Her results are less than succesful.

Xylazine is a real drug — an animal tranquilizer. If memory serves, Voodoo writer Ron Marz raises horses, so it makes sense that he’d be familiar with the medication, and it would also explain the reference to Clydesdales (as opposed to the more common “elephant” when animal tranquilizers are discussed).

It does raise a question, though. Why would they expect Xylazine (or any other human or veterinary drug) to work on an alien? In the case of Xylazine, it targets a very specific receptor, the α2-adrenergic receptor, so unless the alien has an identical receptor used for the same purpose, the drug isn’t going to work. (This isn’t a problem unique to Voodoo, I’ve seen it in numerous super-hero and sci-fi stories.)

Back to the scene pictured: Since you’re basically just guessing, why choose an animal tranquilizer instead of a human one? Xylazine may work wonders on animals (certain animals, anyway), but it’s not a particularly good human tranquilizer. Since Voodoo looks more human than equine, wouldn’t a drug known to work better in humans be a better guess (or go with ketamine, which works well for both humans and animals).

The more I think about it, for all intents and purposes, Jor-El was a mad scientist. He espoused scientific theories well outside the accepted norm and performed numerous unauthorized scientific experiments of questionable ethics.

Superman #83 starts with Jor-El inventing a longevity serum. To test it, he proceeds straight to animal trials — well, animal trial, really. He only tests it on one animal. Now, he doesn’t start small and test it on a rat, monkey, or even a guinea pig — but instead he heads out to a nearby Kryptonian nature preserve and elects to test his serum on a Snagriff, a large dragon-like creature¹. Almost immediately, he notices side effects — the Snagriff’s hide turns metallic and it starts eating all the metal in sight. The creature escapes Jor-El’s lab and runs rampant through the city. Finally, Jor-El captures it and maroons it on one of Krypton’s moons² — but a metallic one, so at least it has something to eat.

When Krypton explodes, the Snagriff is hurtled into space, where — of course — it eventually lands on Earth^{3, 4}. Immediately, the creature starts eating all the metal it can find. The police and army try to stop it, but they have no success. This is a Kryptonian creature on Earth after all, so it has all the standard Kryptonian powers including invulnerability and heat vision. Superman intervenes, but even he has a tough time battling the Snagriff. Things go from bad to worse when an alarmed scientist informs Superman that the monster has just eaten six nuclear bombs. Superman tries a different tactic now. He stretches his cape until it is large enough to contain the Snagriff⁵. He then ensnares the creature in his cape, and flies it up into outer space, where it explodes harmlessly, the nuclear explosion contained by Superman’s cape.

Notes:
1. It’s not clear what Jor-El’s experimental plan was, or if he even had one. Was he just going to watch the Snagriff until it died – or didn’t die – of old age?
2. The KSPCA has a long file on Jor-El.
3. Why do all things Kryptonian end up on Earth?
4. At least this is proof the longevity serum worked – the Snagriff lived long enough to travel from Krypton to Earth. And the serum apparently protected him from the rigors of travel through space as well.
5. No, I have no idea how he was able to stretch out his cape so large, and then unstretch it later.

It’s United Nations Day! If you’re a long time reader here, you probably recall that the United Nations was one of the favorite topics of DC Comics’ public service ad program. What you may not realize is how many United Nations PSAs they published.

In honor of the day, here’s a sampling of DC Comics’ United Nations PSAs (click on the image for more information about that PSA):

Maxwell Lord is back with a psychic nosebleed, but this time he’s immortalized in plastic as psychic nosebleeds emerge in a new medium: Heroclix.

In this scene from Hondo City Justice (from Judge Dredd Megazine), Inspector Inaba gets taken out by her mind-controlled trainee, Cadet Judge Asahara.

Later, Cadet Asahara suffers her own pyschic nosebleed when taking on the head villain.

In order to be proclaimed “Crimeteer Chief” of the far off planet of Zarria, Zunial travels to Earth to kill Superman. His first few attempts are laughable, and Superman just shrugs them off. Eventually, though, Zunial hooks up kryptonite to a radio tower and somehow broadcasts kryptonite into Superman, killing him.

Zunial returns to his home planet with Superman’s body to prove to the rest of the criminals there that he killed Superman. A quick scan by their life detection rays confirms that Superman is dead.

Luckily, there is a Superman robot on Zarria (the one Zunial used for practice) and he invents a machine that sucks the radio waves out of Superman. No, not the kryptonite itself, just the radio waves — the waves that somehow remained in his body — but the effect is the same, and Superman is brought back to life. Without any more kryptonite, Zunial is caught and Superman returns to Earth in much better shape than when he left it.

Binky and his outrageously attired younger brother Allergy are back in this public service ad, which really hearkens back to a bygone era when the kids plead their case in front of the Neighborhood Council.

Click on the image for the full ad

If nothing else, this ad shows that peer pressure works on adults too. “C’mon, Mr. Jones, you know you want to let the kids play basketball. All the cool neighbors are doing it…”

I think Mr. Jones acquiesces just so Allergy and his hideous bowtie will get out of his face. Perspective or not, it looks like Allergy has a head twice the size of Mr. Jones.

This is one of the rare PSA titles that doesn’t end in an exclamation point.

This PSA can be found in DC Comics from March 1953. The script, like most of DC’s PSAs is by Jack Schiff. Frequent collaborator Win Mortimer provides the art.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa neighbor binky allergy jack schiff win mortimer

No sir, psychologists agree that you’re full of bunk.

The brain is an extremely specialized organ — in other words, different parts of it are used for different tasks. One part is used for reading, another for writing, a third for short term memory, yet another for hearing, and so on. So while it is true that only a relatively small portion of the human brain is in use at any one time — or at any one task — over the course of a day, all of the brain is used. There is no dormant 90%.

Also, there already is a term for someone who has all of their brain activated at once: an epileptic.

As a final side note, the brain is full of billions of cells, no millions.

scene from Strange Adventures #69, “The Man with Four Minds,” by Edmond Hamilton and Carmine Infantino.

This week, lectio had the high score with 10 points. Ansa was second with 8. Alex51, Christoph, Indyfrick, and squeaky all tied for third with 7 points.

Overall, Yerkiet retains the lead with 20 points. jwsellers is second with 18 points and Nextsundayad is third with 17 points. mbrigdan is in fourth with 16 points, and numerous players are tied for fifth with 13 points. If you scored 11 points or higher, you are in the top 10%.

Click here to see the full scoreboard.

It’s time once again for the world’s preeminent Hawk-and-Dove-ologist to review a Hawk and Dove comic — this week, Hawk and Dove #2, the second issue of the “New 52″ series.

As the issue begins, a new avatar, Osprey, is introduced. Unfortunately, things aren’t going well for him. He’s been severely beaten and tied to chair. Soon the villain Condor, the Hawk look-alike who showed up in the final panel of last issue, emerges and taunts Osprey. Condor refers to himself as a “self-made man” and tells Osprey that he knows his secrets. He then introduces Osprey to his partner, a young woman. Speaking ritualistic words, she stabs Osprey, killing him, and absorbing all his powers — transforming her into a new “avatar” Swan. Condor and Swan decide now is the perfect time to hunt down Hawk and Dove.

Speaking of Hawk and Dove, they’ve managed to find one of mad scientist/anarchist Alexander Quirk’s secret labs, and are cleaning it out of his “Monsters of Mass Destruction” (i.e. zombies) with a little help from the Washington DC SCU. Both Hawk and Dove allude to the fact that they have plans for later that night, much to the surprise of Dove’s boyfriend Deadman.

As the evening rolls around, Hank grouses about having to get all dressed up in a tuxedo, even if it is for an award dinner in honor of his father. He’s in for a nasty surprise when his father reveals that he invited Hank’s ex-girlfriend, Ren (last seen in Hawk and Dove #28, and since then she seems to have gained six inches — in height as well as in bust), as well. Dawn arrives and everyone settles down to dinner. Ren excuses herself to use the facilities, but when she hasn’t come back in quite some time, Dawn becomes concerned. When she and Hank go to investigate, they sense danger and transform into Hawk and Dove just in time to discover that Condor and Swan have arrived — and taken hostages, including Hank’s father.

Since much of last issue was spent on exposition, this issue is able to focus more on action. Though only the second scene is traditionally “super heroic” in nature, writer Sterling Gates does a good job of keeping the storyline moving briskly. Despite introducing several new concepts (other avatars, “self-made” avatars), he doesn’t allow the story to bog down. Even the awards dinner scenes are interesting, which is more than I can say for any awards dinner I’ve attended.

Rob Liefeld’s art, initially, is improved. He had an inking assist on several of the pages, and there’s no doubt that those pages are better. Unfortunately, the art in the second half of the book really begins to suffer. It is especially unfortunate because almost all of these pages feature little more than conversation, and Liefeld has never been particularly good at the non-super hero scenes. His doesn’t-like-to-draw-backgrounds laziness is back as well. For instance, look at the diners sitting awkwardly at the awards dinner – diners who lack silverware, glasses, or any sort of table decoration. Also take a look at the scene where Judge Hall is kissing Ren’s hand – she’s missing a thumb and maybe a couple of fingers as well. My sense, from talking with friends and reading reviewed online (which, admittedly, is not an unbiased sample), is that Liefeld’s art is scaring away more readers than it is attracting.

On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 3 deformed Captain Americas, worse than last issue.

Notes:
Hank is right to question Dawn’s fashion sense. That dress she was wearing to the awards dinner – that one with the plunging neckline – is not what one should wear to a Presidential dinner. What happened to the conservatively dressing Dawn from before?
Apparently the avatars are more or less human under their costume, at least that’s what we see with the wounded Osprey. Previously, Hawk and Dove’s quasi-divine nature would show through any damage in their costume (thick hair for Hawk, light for Dawn).
What’s up with Dove and Swan’s capes and the way they stick straight out from the shoulders? They look less like capes and more like Murphy Brown era shoulder pads.
I hope that’s not supposed to be President Obama held hostage in the final panel because it looks nothing like him.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove condor swan sterling gates rob liefeld

If you’re a super-secret organization that no one is supposed to know exists, isn’t it a really bad idea to have your logo displayed prominently on your vehicles?

Even with the incorrectly worn head mirror and his unique take on taking Elmer’s temperature, Bugs is still doing better than most comic book doctors.

If he’s stone deaf, how did he hear what the lady said?

In addition to one-shot comics that address special concerns, every once in a while a comic will show up in the regular run of the title that is clearly a public service comic. There was the issue of Robin dealing with suicide and the infamous anti-drug run of The Amazing Spider-Man that brought changes to the Comics Code. Then there is this comic, The Adventures of Superman #474, which deals with drunk driving.

Sadly, this is not a great comic. It’s not even a good comic. The art is good; the writing, not so much. It all comes down to characterization: if you ever thought Superman was a dick, just wait until you get a load of Clark Kent in this issue.

Back in Smallville High School when Clark Kent was a student, there was a sharp divide between the town kids (the haves) and the farm kids (the have-nots). Despite their differences, Clark was able to become friends with Scott Brubaker, one of the town-kids on the football team with him. One night, Scott invites Clark, along with Pete and Lana, to a “townie” New Years Eve party. Desperate to appear cool, Pete starts drinking beer and browbeats Clark into joining him. A few hours later, the party is over and Clark, Pete, and Lana need a ride back home. Scott offers to give them a lift and the three of them agree, despite knowing that Scott is drunk. On the way home, Scott starts driving erratically. First he runs a stop sign, causing another car to crash, and then he drives into the wrong lane, right into the path of a semi, which sends Scott’s car and its occupants crashing into a tree.

Clark, uninjured, pulls himself out of the car. Luckily Pete and Lana only suffered mild injuries and Clark is able to free them from the car. Scott, however, is not so lucky, and has already slipped into a coma from his injuries.

A bit heavy handed, but since when have comic book public service stories ever been subtle? The problem with the story is the framing sequence, which takes place in the modern day, fifteen or so years after the drunken crash. In the intervening years, Scott has never recovered and has been in the hospital in a coma the entire time. His parents have finally won a court judgment allowing them to remove life support from Scott and let him die. They are holding a vigil at their son’s bedside for his last night when Clark shows up and blusters his way into the room.

He admits he hasn’t been to see Scott since the accident, yet he has no problem bursting in unannounced on Scott’s parents, on one of the most painful nights of their life when they want nothing more than a few last quiet hours with their son. He then proceeds, unasked, to relate the events of that night and how tough it’s been on him the last few years. In the end, Scott’s parents have to comfort Clark — rather than spend time with their dying son, they have to take time to absolve Clark of his guilt. Nice going Clark, way to make the night about you rather than poor, dying Scott. Any puppies you want to kick on the way out?

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa clark kent smallvlle drunk driving

Continuing the character biographies from the 2008 Fringe Convention Exclusive comic. Here’s four more, including a couple characters who’ve died (more or less):

Back in the summer of 2008, before the first season of Fringe, special “Fringe Convention Exclusive” comics were published and available at the summer comic book conventions. These contained a brief comic story, mostly an ad for the upcoming Fringe comic, but they also contained biographical pages for each of the major characters. These pages contain some interesting personal details that — to my knowledge — have never been mentioned on the show.

Here’s the first four, I’ll post the other four later today (click on the thumbnail for the full image):

I thought we had this one licked: psychiatry ≠ psychology

One does not earn a degree in psychiatry because it is medical specialty, not a field of study per se. Having a “PhD in Psychiatry” would be like having a degree in Family Practice, or Surgery, or Rheumatology. That’s not how medical education works.

A PhD would be in Psychology – a related, though distinctly, different field.

(For the record, Leonard Samson, MD, is a psychiatrist. He may also have a degree in psychology, but if so, it’s never been mentioned)

Panel 1: I have yet to called in by law enforcement to assist on any case. On reflection, this is probably a good thing for all involved.

Panel 2: You cannot diagnose hypertension (i.e. high blood pressure) from across the room. There are generally no symptoms in hypertension until it is too late, and the patient is suffering a heart attack, stroke, or hypertensive crisis — that’s why it’s called “the silent killer.” And let’s not forget that it’s impossible to diagnoses high blood pressure without actually checking the blood pressure!

Panel 3: “Jim, this man is a Klingon!”

Panel 4: A pulseless patient makes the original diagnosis of high blood pressure all the more ludicrous, doesn’t it doctor? You can’t have high blood pressure if you don’t have a pulse. Also, it appears that not having a pulse is a crime in this town.

scene from Strange Adventures #58, “I Hunted the Radium Man,” by Dave Wood and Carmine Infantino

A straightforward public service ad for this week with the basic message of “follow your dream.” However, reading the PSA, it becomes clear that the message is actually addressed to the parents and not to the kids. So it’s a PSA in a kids’ comic addressed to their parents — I wonder how that went over: “Dad, read this ad, it says that I should be able to do what I want!”

Click on the image for the full ad

I like how the band director is able to conduct the band, while sitting in the audience holding a conversation with another teacher.

Due to the poor economy, we can only afford yellow paint for school this year.

This PSA was only published once and can be found in DC comics from January 1959. Jack Schiff, as always, wrote the script. Art this time is by Bob Brown, who only did a handful of these PSAs.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa music jack schiff bob brown

In this scene from the final issue of the overwhelming treacly mini-series Heroic Age: One Month to Live, reformed banker Dennis Sykes uses his recently acquired powers to stop the villain Hammerhead from crushing his family with a car. The series had a rotating cast of writers and artists, but this issue is courtesy of Rick Remender and Jamie McKelvie.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed heroic age remender mckelvie

I would love for somebody to explain this picture to me.

From the pulp Uncanny Stories (April 1941), found over at Golden Age Comic Book Stories

In Red Robin #26, the final issue of the series, Red Robin distracts the guards at S.T.A.R. Labs by dosing their coffee with Ipecac.

Like Bromide, Ipecac is what I like to call a time capsule drug: it’s familiar to readers of a certain generation, but not as familiar to modern readers because time, and medical therapy, have passed it by.

If you were a parent in the 1960s, ‘70s, or ‘80s, you probably remember the drug Ipecac (and if you were a child of that era with certain bad habits, you may be familiar with it as well). Ipecac was once considered one of the most important drugs for conscientious parents to keep at home. Parents of newborns were sent home with a bottle of it, and at every routine office visit the pediatrician would make sure you still had your Ipecac.

What was so special about Ipecac? Simple: it is an incredible effective emetic. In other words, it makes you vomit. Ipecac works by directly irritating the stomach as well as stimulating the CTZ (the puke center of the brain). About thirty minutes after taking the drug, the vomiting will start.

Why was this thought to be a good idea? Ipecac was felt to be a very effective treatment for poisoning. If Junior swallowed down some of Grandma’s pills, or downed a bottle of Grandad’s Old Grandad, you could feed him some Ipecac and have him throw up the offending substance before it could cause problems.

Over time though, opinions about Ipecac began the change. Though many physicians had an anecdote or two about patients saved by the drug, recent studies demonstrated no real benefit in using the drug over other treatments. Additionally, like many pediatric drugs, overdoses by frantic parents were common. (This is the same reason that many children’s cold medicines have been pulled off the market: there’s no evidence they actually solve the problem, and there’s documented risk of overdosing).

Ipecac also provided a couple of other problems. First, there are many poisons you don’t want to throw up — including a number common household chemicals. For example, caustic cleaners or gasoline burn and scar the esophagus when swallowed and would do the same thing again if vomited back up. Second, Ipecac was often too effective and patients would continue to vomit for hours, including throwing up the treatments given by hospital personnel. Third, because Ipecac was easy to obtain and very effective, it was often abused by bulimics. Meanwhile, over the same period time, advances in emergency response and hospital treatment of poisoning meant that victims can receive definitive treatment for poisoning in the same time it would take for Ipecac to take effect.

Given all these factors, Ipecac is no longer recommended for treatment of poisoning and — though it is technically still available over the counter — it has become harder to find.

Personally, I remember that my mother kept a small brown bottle of Ipecac in the medicine cabinet, but never used it and eventually threw it away, unopened. In medical school, I was taught about the drug during Pharmacology class and briefly during an Emergency Medicine rotation. It was never mentioned during any Pediatric rotation. During residency, we instructed parents to have a bottle of Ipecac at home, but only to use it when directed by the poison control hotline; they were never to use it on their own. Since starting private practice, I have never mentioned the drug or discussed it with parents – though admittedly I live and practice in an area with an abundance of hospitals and an excellent ambulance service.

Make damn sure you take Undead Medicine as one of your fourth year electives during medical school — you never know when it will come in handy.

As the internet’s preeminent Hawk-and-Dove-ologist, there is no way I’d let a new Hawk & Dove series appear without the chance to comment. As hopefully everyone is aware, Hawk & Dove #1 came out today and it is one of the titles making up DC’s “New 52” universe. It features the Hank Hall and Dawn Granger team of Hawk and Dove, first introduced in the 1988 Hawk & Dove miniseries.

First let’s deal with the elephant in the room: Rob Liefeld’s art. Liefeld’s art is…Liefeld’s art. Either you like it — or at least tolerate it — or you hate it. Nothing I say is going to change anyone’s mind about Liefeld, but let me at least throw in a little context. When Liefeld first appeared on the scene, his art stood out, and not in a bad way. Sure, it was in the style of times (now known as “the Image Style”), but there was something captivating about it. In the intervening decades, comic art has changed and evolved, but Liefeld’s art hasn’t. Actually, that’s not quite true: his art has progressed, but only to the level of self parody. As the years have passed, Liefeld has taken the things which made his art stand out — the distorted anatomy, the bad hair, the metal limbs, the grimaces, just to name a few — and emphasized them, not just once, but over and over and over again. Now his art is nothing but a shallow lampoon of what his penciling once was. So when you’re reading the new Hawk & Dove, remember that what you’re seeing is an unintentional parody of his original Hawk & Dove art. (The art does get significantly better from the second page on. Unfortunately, the worst art is one the cover and first page, potentially driving interested readers away).
Liefeld is one of those pencilers who should never ink his own work; he needs the mitigating effects of a solid inker like Kesel or Hana. Yes, he inks himself here.
On a scale of 1 to 5 deformed Captain Americas, with 1 being good and 5 being execrable, this art on this issue rates 2.5 deformed Captain Americas.

The first words of the issue highlight what is likely to be the theme of this iteration of Hawk and Dove: balance. This is a good start. Hawk and Dove have always been about balance. Originally, Dove was an avowed pacifist, while Hawk was the aggressor. Though the two balanced each other out, the pacifism severely limited Dove’s character because once a fight started — and they always did — his role was over. When the characters were re-imagined in post-Crisis continuity, Hawk and Dove now represented Chaos and Order. I liked this approach: it kept them balanced, it tied them in to DC’s greater Chaos/Order mythology, and it allowed Dove to take a more active role in conflicts. When the team was resurrected as part of Infinite Crisis and Blackest Night, they now took on the roles of the Avatar of War and the Avatar of Peace. This interpretation has carried over into the “New 52.” It’s not a bad interpretation, but I worry that once again Dove’s role may be limited.

As for the plot: Alexander Quirk, “science terrorist” and anarchist, has sent his Monsters of Mass Destruction on a small cargo plane to Washington DC to sow chaos. Hawk and Dove have managed to board the plane and defeat Quirk’s men and monsters, but not without incurring some significant property damage while trying to land the aircraft.

After the battle, the pair are met by Washi Watanabe, an agent with the Washington D.C. SCU (Special Crimes Unit). He warns them that they’ve made an enemy of Quirk, and also suggests they all work together in the future to capture Quirk.

The rest of the issue is spent with the two of them reminiscing about the past, and sharing worried of the future — though just not with each other. Hank talks it out with his father (and it would have been nice to remind readers he’s a high ranking federal judge, and not just some crotchety old man), while Dove talks it out with Deadman. She hints at some connection between her and Don, the original Dove, that would be disastrous for Hank to discover.

Writer Sterling Gates has a tough job. He needs to show what parts of Hawk and Dove remain in continuity, while also letting readers know what parts have changed. And he has to tell a good story while doing it. In short: so far so good. While I don’t necessarily agree with all the changes in the characters (but why should I? It’s his story, not mine), Gates’ story keeps the action and intrigue flowing, but it also allows time for a retelling of the origin (or an origin, at least), while allowing some character development.

So what changed and what remained the same? Here’s what I’ve come up with from this issue:
Hank and Dawn have been paired up as Hawk and Dove for about three years, so this places it after the events of the 90s series. This is reinforced by the fact that Hank’s father knows that he is Hawk, something he only discovered at the end of the final issue of the 90s series.
On the other hand, Hawk and Dove’s relationship is nowhere near as settled as it was in the 90s series — or even at the end of the 1988 mini-series. Hank still carries a lot of anger towards Dawn for replacing Don.
Either Hank has some serious rose-colored glasses on about his adventures with Dove, or the original Hawk and Dove in this continuity had way better adventures than those in the original continuity.
The setting is once again Washington D.C. and Dawn is back at Georgetown, though it remains to be seen whether Hank will go back to school.
It appears the pair will be working, though likely reluctantly, with the SCU again.
Captain Arsala is still alive (though not in the comic).
One of Dove’s comments suggests the automatic “return to civilian identities once the danger has passed” rule may still be in effect (“The danger here’s been contained and passed now. We need to leave.”), though later she’s seen flying alongside Deadman in costume with no apparent enemies around.
She needs to quit saying “Kaiiw!”
Kestrel is back, though the coloring made it hard to tell it was him at first. [Update: Per Sterling Gates, that's NOT Kestrel. "Stay tuned," he says.]
The logo is rather unimpressive.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove sterling gates rob liefled

Superman’s back for another public service ad, this time to teach us what it means to be a good citizen — and apparently it’s not as tough as you might think.

Click on the image for the full ad

Somewhere two dozen kids are crying because Superman stole their bikes.

Certainly “being a good citizen” can mean different things to different people, but I doubt gum wrapper littering and careless bicycle laying are high on any list. Wouldn’t “Be Considerate” or something similar seem a better title. (On the other hand, “I’m sorry Billy, we’re going to have to deport you because we caught you littering again,” has a certain ring to it.)

Speaking as a cyclist, I’m more concerned about how Billy left his bike more than where he left it.

This PSA can be found in DC comics from October 1962. The script, as always, is by Jack Schiff, with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa supermancitizen jack schiff sheldon moldoff

Two more recent syringe covers. I think this syringes must be the most common modern-era medical cover theme (as opposed to older eras, where the standing x-ray cover gag was the most common).

Streets of Gotham #28

Victorian Undead II #5

My internet was down last night, so I didn’t get the chance to post the magnum opus I had planned.

Instead, in the spirit of the day, here’s my favorite Justice League panel ever:

from JLA #3 (by Porter and Morrison)

OK, it’s two panels actually. If I had to choose just one panel, it would be the inset of Superman with his little knowing smirk.

Here’s one more to add to the list of common medically-based cover themes (previously I’ve covered x-rays, nurses, and syringes, just to name a few).

Uncle Scrooge #28

Looney Tunes #194

Panic #8

Published in 1986, this is the second Supergirl public service comic teaching about seatbelts. Like the first one, it was sponsored by American Honda and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Safety Belt Campaign.

In this story, Linda Danvers is driving two kids and their pet dog home. (No, I don’t know who the kids are, or why she’s driving them home – that’s never explained.) During the ride, the kids and dog fall asleep and dream they are in Motorville, a town home to all the famous characters of nursery rhymes and fairy tales, all driving cars or trucks – and most driving badly. Supergirl arrives and the three of them decide to catch a show while they’re in town, and they want to see the most popular show in town, The Crash Test Dummies (not those Crash Test Dummies, but these Crash Test Dummies).

Supergirl and the kids first catch a ride with the taxi-driving Humpty Dumpty, but he gets cracked in a minor fender bender because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. (Never is it explained why Supergirl doesn’t just fly them across town to the show).

Next, they hitch a ride with the Little Old Lady and her kids that live in a shoe, but the Little Old Lady’s car gets a flat when it’s rear-ended by a truck-driving Big Bad Wolf (luckily there were no injuries because everyone was wearing their seatbelts).

The Three Little Pigs offer Supergirl and the kids a ride, but they get hit from behind by the Big Bad Wolf’s little brother C.C. and Supergirl has to catch the two pigs which weren’t wearing seatbelts.

Finally, the Crash Test Dummies themselves pick up the trio and take them to the show. In the end, the kids wake up back in the car with Linda driving, wondering if it was really a dream.

In addition to the story, the comic also contains a letter from Elizabeth Dole (Secretary of Transportation at the time), an page on how to design a poster encouraging others to wear seatbelts, and “The Great Motorville Auto Race” game.

The comic was primarily written and drawn by Andy Helfer, Joe Orlando, and Barry Marx, with help from Jose Delbo, Dave Hunt, Bob Oksner, and Bob Rozakis.

Oh no! Will Flash run again? Will his leg somehow be saved? Don’t ask me — ask the doctor with the strange head mirror since he seems to know what’s going on.

This panel presents a nice view of outdated medicine:

scene from Worlds of Fear #8 (1953)

For the better part of the twentieth century, bromide (potassium bromide) was a common treatment for anxiety and other “nervous afflictions.” Potassium bromide was first used medically in the 1850s as a successful treatment for epilepsy¹. By the turn of the century, its beneficial effects in treating anxiety were also noted — most of which were probably due to its sedative effects. Extremely common, bromide was found not just in prescription medications of the time, but in over the counter remedies as well.

In the Merck Manual, 7th Ed., published in 1940, potassium bromide was listed as the preferred medication for treating anxiety and hysterics. Here’s more of what the Merck Manual listed under Potassium Bromide²:

Over time, the use of bromide became less and less common. Newer, more potent medications with fewer side effects were developed. Chronic bromide toxicity (bromism) was also recognized as a very real problem. By the Merck Manual, 11th Ed. (1966), the drug isn’t even mentioned. In 1975, potassium bromide was withdrawn from the medicinal market in the United States³.

 

Remember last week when I remarked how strange it was that so many people in Superman storylines seemed to come down with incurable tropical diseases? Here’s another good example: actress Lyrica Lloyd. Clark Kent falls in love with Llyrica and reveals his secret identity only to learn she’s dying from a fatal disease she picked up at a film shoot in Africa.

Superman vows to help, promising to scour the universe to find a cure, but instead we see that he’s constructed a “super oxygen tent” that does little to help Lyrica, and she dies…another victim of the Superman writers and their fondness for tropical diseases.

scenes from Superman #196, “The Star of Steel,” by Al Plastino and Otto Binder.

I always like to post non-Big Two comic book public service ads when I run across them, and here is one I stumbled across recently from Comico in 1987.

A simple one-panel anti-smoking PSA from Justice Machine #2, the Comico years. For those of you unfamiliar with the Justice Machine, the character shown is Talisman, who has luck/karma based powers, hence the “Don’t Press Your Luck” tagline.

Mike refers to Mike Gustovich, the artist and creator of the Justice Machine — who apparently is really opposed to smoking — and Tony refers to non other than recent blogging convert Tony Isabella, who was writing the comic.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa justice machinemike gustovich tony isabella

Apparently, lighter-than-air cargo (of radioactive gases, at that) = speedy trip to the moon

A hospital x-ray machine has more than enough penetrating power to send x-rays all the way through the skull and brain. (In fact, you could argue that the x-ray machines used in 1961, when this comic was published, were more powerful than modern equipment. Today, we worry about radiation dose so we focus on finesse and minimizing exposure, while in years past the issue was one of raw power, radiation exposure be damned.)

The problem with locating the glass fragment has nothing to do with the range of the x-rays, it’s the fact that glass is radiolucent — invisible to x-rays. It doesn’t matter how strong the x-rays are, glass simply won’t show up on them.

It could be that Superman was referring not to range as in distance, but range as in the wavelengths of x-ray beams used. However, stray from x-rays on the electromagnetic spectrum and you either get ultraviolet radiation (no penetrating power), or gamma radiation (good penetration, but only if you are a fan of radiation sickness). Neither would help with the glass fragment.

Final Note: Not all glass is radiolucent, but the great majority of it is. For example, it is my understanding that the glass used in automobile windows is purposefully designed to be visible in x-rays (radiopaque). Personally, I’ve had numerous patients come in to the office complaining of a stepping on a splinter of glass, and only once has it ever showed up on x-ray — and that was a piece of lead crystal.

Scene from Action Comics #282, “Superman’s Toughest Day,” by Bill Finger and Al Plastino

Mr. Malverne, the father of Supergirl’s boyfriend Dick Malverne, has come down with a deadly tropical disease¹. As his condition worsens, the doctors decide they have no choice but to try the experimental “miracle” serum Spracolicin².

Meanwhile, Supergirl is having problems of her own because she has been exposed to six red kryptonite meteors. As every fan of Silver Age wackiness remembers, exposure to red kryptonite causes bizarre, but temporary, changes in Kryptonians. Each meteor has affected Supergirl in a different way, but luckily, like bad ninjas, she only has to deal with one at a time. The first meteor caused her to become morbidly obese³. The next turned into a wolfman (or wolfwoman, rather). When she turned back to normal, she used her x-ray vision to check on Dick and learned about how sick his father was.

The third red kryptonite meteor causes her to shrink down to microscopic size. Seeing the opportunity to help Mr. Malverne, trial-sized Supergirl flies across town to the hospital and enters his bloodstream by flying down a conveniently open transfusion bottle^4,5.

Once in his body, she locates the bacteria⁶ causing the tropical disease and pummels them into submission, then allows the body’s natural defenses to take over.

The doctors, of course, credit Mr. Malverne’s miraculous recovery to the Sparacolicin serum. But unfortunately: “What a shame our supply was the only amount of it in existence and the formula has just been destroyed in a fire!⁷”

Notes: 
1. What is it with the Superman writers and tropical diseases? Remember that in Silver Age continuity, Ma and Pa Kent died of a tropical disease. (Personally, I’m guessing this allowed the writers leeway with the symptoms by claiming it’s a “tropical disease” and nobody can argue otherwise.)
2. Or Sapracolicin. It’s mentioned twice in the story, and spelled differently each time.
3. At which point she disguised herself as a giant parade balloon. Seriously.
4. An infection requiring a transfusion? How unusual. Oh, it’s a tropical disease.
5. An open transfusion bottle? This couldn’t have been a good idea, even before our current era of acronym-laden health and safety regulations.
6. Forget those microscope photographs you saw in biology class — they’re wrong. What you see here is exactly what bacteria really look like.
7. Great planning there, guys. (No great loss though as the serum didn’t actually do anything.)

Story from Action Comics #283, “The Six Red K Perils of Supergirl,” by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. I wasn’t sure where to file this one, was it a Forgotten Medicine of the Silver Age, Transfusion Confusion, or just general Supergirl Silver Age Wackiness?

It’s the first week of school, here in Southern Illinois anyway, so this is the perfect time for a public service ad about bus safety.

Sadly, it’s not that exciting a PSA (but honestly, could a school bus PSA be exciting?), but as I’ve mentioned before, those from later in DC’s monthly PSA program tend toward the uninspired. There’s nothing wrong with it other than the fact that even Bernard Baily’s art can’t stop it from being dull.

Click on the image for the full ad

It’s interesting that of the six panels, only one features an actual school bus. I don’t know about 1961, but fifty years later, I’d be surprised if one percent of children rode non-school-bus public transportation to school, let alone 5 out of 6, as suggested (loosely) by this PSA.

Nobody draws a disapproving adult better than Bernard Baily, though his buses could use a little more work.

In lieu of any actual deep insight into PSAs or school buses, here a couple of interesting school bus-related links:
Why are there no seatbelts on school buses?
The Chowchilla school bus kidnapping.
Why are school buses yellow? (And more than you ever wanted to know about “school bus yellow.”)

This PSA can be found in DC comics from November 1961. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Bernard Baily.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa busjack schiff bernard baily

An prison escapee uses her psychic powers to rob a bank, much to the detriment of the bank manager, resulting not only in the classic psychic nosebleed, but also psychic eyebleeds (oculorrhagia?)

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed hercules oculorrhagia

…always coming to Earth with their ultra-medicine and stealing our patients! And making a profit to boot!

(From an imaginary tale in Superman #230-231, where Jor-El is Lex Luthor’s father, and they both come to Earth from the dying Krypton. Meanwhile Clark is the biological child of Jonathan and Martha Kent, criminals in the style of Bonnie and Clyde. )

The really bizarre medicine in this story comes not from Kryptonian ultra-medicine, but from Dr. Markem, a good old Earth mad scientist (go Earth!):

From this we learn that:

1. Criminality is inherited.
2. There are evil genes — and chromosomes.
   • Are the chromosomes evil because they contain evil genes, or are they evil on their own?
3. These genes and chromosomes can be implanted in the brain where they will eventually take root.
   • Do these evil genes make an evil protein or evil enzyme?
   • Are these genes only important in the brain?
4. The scientist apparently didn’t trust that Clark would inherit his parents “evil genes” on his own.
   • Which, by my quick math, would be a 75-100% chance per gene, depending on his parents genotype.

Superman using his x-ray vision to look at x-rays.

scene from Superman #291 by Bates, Swan, and Oksner.

Throughout the Contagion storyline, a number of different terms are used to refer to the proposed cure Batman hopes to make for the Apocalypse Virus.

First, it is called an antibiotic. I’m certain everyone reading this knows that antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections, so is the wrong term to use on a treatment for a viral infection.

Next, it is repeatedly called an antidote. Antidotes are good for poisonings or toxic exposures, but not so much in infections.

Third, throughout most of the story, Batman calls it a vaccine –- but what he’s proposing isn’t a vaccine.

Finally, an antiviral cure is developed (and the correct term “antiviral” is used) — after Azrael suddenly remembers after a dozen chapters that the people who released the virus might also have a cure. Why couldn’t he figure this out on the fourth or fifth page of the story, right after he told Batman about the virus? It’s a miraculous cure too, as everybody who receives it becomes instantly better, even those on the brink of death. I wished the anti-infectives I gave worked that fast and that well.

(Of course, the cure ends up not being so effective in the follow-up storyline, Legacy, but that one is an even more convoluted mess than Contagion, after all, it has a SCRUBS score of 32, much higher.)

Basically, this is a technobabble explanation why Batman and his cohorts cannot use antibodies obtained from survivors of the Apocalypse virus to protect others. You see, inside the body the antibodies are extra strong, but outside the body (and don’t ask me how the antibodies know they’re in a tube of blood outside the body) the antibodies become very weak.

It’s not clear if the pathologist is talking about all the survivor’s antibodies, or just those to the Clench.
Mutations occur at the genetic level, not the cellular one — though the effects may be seen at the cellular level phenotypically, and this may be what she is referring to…
Except that antibodies are not cells, but instead complex proteins produced by cells and released into the bloodstream.

Like much of the storyline, this whole aspect of the plot gets abruptly abandoned later when Batman announces that the survivors of the Clench weren’t actually survivors per se, but instead people who never were infected in the first place. To me, this would seem to be setting up a further line of inquiry: what prevented these people from getting infected, and can it be used to protect others? But then again, I’m not Batman.

For the first part of my look at Batman: Contagion, I want to take a close look at the cause of all the trouble: the Apocalypse Virus.

A viral plague has come to Gotham City: the Apocalypse Virus — unleashed upon the city by the Order of St Dumas. Azrael, once a member of the Order, warns Batman of the impending pandemic.

Azrael describes the Apocalypse virus as a Filovirus.

Batman goes on to state:

Filoviruses are a family of pathogenic viruses which cause a particularly nasty type of infection known as a viral hemorrhagic fever. Not all Filoviruses are infectious to humans, but those that are have extremely high fatality rates. At the time the story was written, there is no known cure for any Filovirus.

Ebolavirus is one of two genera in the Filovirus family, and there are five known species of Ebola (and none of them are Ebola Gulf-A, it’s a fictitious virus). Despite what Batman says, the Filoviruses are all from Africa, and none have been found in Central America. There is no Ebola Honduras, so your flesh is safe.

A short time later, Batman breaks into an Army germ warfare center and learns:

Initial flu-like symptoms are commonly seen in Ebola infections. Airborne spread is likely, but not conclusively proven. Blood has been shown to transmit the infection.

A key part of viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola is the bleeding (hence the “hemorrhage” in the name). Under normal conditions, the liver makes the proteins that prevent our blood from hemorrhaging. The Ebola infection attacks the liver, stopping the production of these proteins, which ultimately leads to heavy bleeding from pretty much every orifice in the body, including the eyes.

While I appreciate the visual of the misshapen victims of the Clench, the reasoning makes little sense. If the muscles are shrunken and desiccated (dried out), then how would they have the strength to break bones?

I give the writers credit for creating a truly alarming disease. Ebola is frightening enough in the real world, let alone the enhanced version seen here. Both the “Clench” and the “Apocalypse Virus” are nicely evocative names, even if the latter sounds like something that should be found in an X-book. Their underlying science is a little shaky and their geography suspect, but that does little to undermine what they’ve accomplished in creating the “Clench.”

As a final note, there have been some very promising work on both Ebola vaccines and anti-Ebola drugs recently, but none of these were around when the story was written, so it would be unfair to hold that against the writers.

I’m off to San Diego for the rest of the week for a medical conference and a little family R&R.

As I’ve done several times previously when I’m out of town, I’ve written a close medical look at a “‘90s comic event” to post while I’m gone. In the past, I’ve written about Batman: Knightfall and The Death of Superman. This year’s topic is Batman: Contagion. Unlike previous years, this is going to be a multi-post review.

I’ll start out with a brief Spoiler Warning, but really — this is a fifteen year old storyline — if you haven’t read it by now, you have only yourself to blame:

The Plot: Through the machinations of the Order of St Dumas (the quasi-religious cult that churns out Azraels), a highly contagious Ebola virus is loosed in Gotham. There is no known cure, but there are rumors that three people survived a previous outbreak in Greenland, so Robin, Catwoman, and Azrael head out of Gotham to track them down, hoping that they may yield a clue to a cure. Back in Gotham, Batman scowls and glares. Huntress appears and gets scowled at. Nightwing appears, but only for a few panels, because apparently he’s got better things to do. In the end, Azrael deduces that if the Order of St. Dumas created the virus, then they probably have a cure. He busts a few heads, finds the cure, and Gotham is saved.

It’s not quite a deus ex machina ending, but close. The cure is found with only Azrael breaking a sweat, and just a little one at that. There are twelve chapters in the storyline, but the center ten could easily be cut out without affecting the outcome one bit. Neither Batman’s, nor Robin’s, nor Catwoman’s, nor Huntress’s actions in anyway hasten the finding of the cure. Their actions have no effect on the plague whatsoever. Only Azrael is important in finding the cure, and frankly, he should have figured it out in the first chapter.

It’s a Batman event, but, like I said, he contributes little, if any, to the solution. Sure, it can be argued that he kept the rioters in check — but this is Gotham City, the populace riots at the drop of a hat. The anarchy on the streets of Gotham has been done many times before and since, and while this is a decent interpretation, it’s not the best (which would be No Man’s Land).

It’s not that I don’t like Batman: Contagion — I do — it just has its share of flaws, including an ending that effectively renders most of the previous issues pointless.

For those of you who’ve been around long enough to remember the S.C.R.U.B.S. system, Batman: Contagion has a SCRUBS score of 22.

Avengers #240 is a veritable treasure trove of comic book medical cliches:

From the errant tubing on the cover:
Why is the air conditioner hooked to her cheek?

To the precordial thump:
A poor choice because her collapse wasn’t witnessed; she was just found down

To the doctor-with-a-head-mirror (and in the hospital lobby, no less):

scene from Rom #2 (by Mantlo and Buscema)

Dr. Peters comes all the way out to the Clarks to make a house call — a rare thing, even back in 1980 — and gets all but called a quack by his ungrateful patient. Note that he never calls Brandy a liar or tells her she was imagining things¹, just that she has a case of shock. He may actually believe her: if she actually saw an alien robot shoot and kill townspeople, that in itself would be enough to cause “a mild case of shock.”

1. Admittedly, it is strongly implied.

New Avengers #11
Brian Michael Bendis, writer
Mike Deodato, penciler

Mockingbird has been badly injured and is rushed to the nearest emergency room. When she is found to be pulseless, she is shocked (defibrillated). Is this appropriate?

Shocking a patient without a pulse may be a good choice — it all depends on why they’re pulseless. Remember, the pulse is a finding on physical exam; it is not read from a monitor or display.

There are many reasons a patient could not have a pulse:

1. They could have an abnormal heart rhythm, such as atrial fibrillation or ventricular fibrillation, which causes the heart to beat so fast there is not enough time for it to fill with blood and pump it throughout the body. In this situation, defibrillation is the correct treatment.

2. The patient could be in asystole (flatline) or PEA (pulseless electrical activity– some electrical activity in the heart, but not enough to cause the heart to beat.) These are signs of a dead or dying heart. Defibrillation is not appropriate.

3. The heart could be beating normally — or almost normally — but there is some systemic reason there is no pulse. For example, there could have been so much blood loss that not enough force can be produced to generate a pulse. Other reasons would include vascular damage from trauma, or abnormally hardened arteries that don’t transmit a pulse well. The treatment in this situation is to correct the systemic problem, and hopefully that will be enough.

4. Finally, you could have an incompetent doctor who can’t find the pulse. (Admittedly, trying to find a pulse in a crashing patient, let alone one with significant trauma, can be quite challenging). Treatment? Keep trying.

If Mockingbird falls into the first category, then defibrillating is a good choice. However, every sign points to her being in the second category, where shocking is not appropriate.

Her initial heart rate shows bradycardia (a slow rhythm) with no signs of fibrillation. If anything, it appears to be slowing down. It also make the official flatline sound of “beep beep beep beep beeeeeeee—“

The doctor reports that she has “no readable pulse.” As I mentioned earlier, you don’t read a pulse — you palpate (feel) it. This suggests he is looking at the heart monitor and reading the heart rate, not the pulse. A heart rate of zero is a flatline, and as I’ve discussed many times before, you don’t shock a flatline.

Final thoughts:
Kudos for at least acknowledging the need for an airway.
For a patient with a chest wound, they’re futzing with her abdomen an awful lot.

First of all, “a thousand gigawatts”? Why not just call it “terawatt”? (I know, a thousand gigawatts sounds bigger, but then why not go with “one million megawatts”?)

I’m not surprised that Maul’s brain is short circuited: a terawatt (oops, “one thousand gigawatts”) is a huge amount. In an entire year, mankind uses just under 16 terawatts of power. That means that Maul is being subjected to 1/16th of the world’s total energy consumption. Or to look at it another way, all the wattage produced by every nuclear reactor in the world is now flowing through him. Ouch.

That’s one hell of a taser.

Or if you prefer a more Hollywood explanation, one terawatt would provide Marty McFly and Doc Brown 826 trips in their Delorean.

Please Dr. Heath: a brain embolism is a stroke.

(Technically, a brain embolism is a type of stroke. Broadly speaking, there are two types of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic. In ischemic strokes, one of the blood vessels supplying the brain has been blocked. This blockage could be due to a clot formed in the brain [thrombus] or a clot or other blockage from elsewhere in the body that has traveled to the brain [embolism]. On the other hand, in hemorrhagic strokes, one of these blood vessels supplying the brain has started to bleed out. )

Ordering an MRI to determine which type of stroke is appropriate, since they’re treated in very different ways.

A rare treat here, a doctor who knows how to wear a head mirror: it’s over an eye instead of in the center of the forehead, and the hinge is drawn correctly off-center.

On one hand, you’d think technologically advanced Thanagar wouldn’t need head mirrors — but then again, it’s clear we are dealing with the Thanagarian underclasses here. It still doesn’t explain why an Ob/Gyn doctor needs a head mirror, though.

What’s the error in this scene from WildC.A.T.S. Annual #1? (On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest, I rate this quiz a ½.)

Previous picture quizzes

This is another in a long line of DC Comics public service ads telling kids how best to spend their summers.

According to their PSAs, it seems DC Comics didn’t want their readers just to fritter away their summers — they wanted them to work, or go to museums, help others, or spend their time (gasp!) reading. Even the light-hearted funny animals “Tips for Summer Fun” PSA exhorts kids to spend time at their library.

Click on the image for the full ad

Previous Summertime PSAs:
Tips on Summer Fun!
How to Spend a Summer Week!
Summer at Home Can Be Fun!

This PSA is one of the last ones from DC Comics PSA program and can be found in DC comics from July 1967. The script is by Jack Schiff with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa summerjack schiff sheldon moldoff

Let’s not even talk about how this doctor is sharing the bad news (not too poorly, actually), or how accurate his information about leukemia is (greatly oversimplified), let’s just look at the horrendous blocking of this scene:

scene from Extreme Justice #0. Click to embiggen.

Panel 1
Outside view of doctor’s office

Panel 2
Doctor: Leaning against counter, reading long printout of labs
Ron Raymond: Sitting on exam table.

Panel 3
Doctor: The shadow obscuring the left half of his face has somehow turned his lab coat gray.

Panel 4
Doctor: Appears suddenly behind Ron. Lab coat is white again.

Panel 5
Doctor: Now he’s behind a desk; on top of which there is apparently a hobbit skull.

For the record, on the next page, the doctor remains behind the desk, though his lab coat flips between white and gray – maybe the room is lit like a bad disco? His top shirt buttons also are now undone — he opened them out of compassion, I suppose.

scene from Fear Itself: Spider-Man #3 by Yost and McKone

Once again, you don’t shock a flatline (”Why?” you ask — I’ll make it simple: defibrillators are used to stop a dangerous heart rhythm; they cannot “jump start” a heart).

And what’s especially frustrating is this comic got it right just a few pages before.

Last day of vacation, sigh.

It’s been nice — lots of relaxing, reading, swimming, and eating. Tonight though, time to head back to the Midwest just in time for a heat wave.

Here’s what I’ve learned this vacation:
Strange Tales 130s-150s — does it get any better than this? The original — and still best — Nick Fury and SHIELD storylines, introducing among others Hydra and AIM. Also, some of the best Dr. Strange stories: Eternity, the Living Tribunal, Umar — just to name a few (though Zom was pretty stupid).

Extreme Justice — is there a more ’90s comic that this? First, the name: “Extreme.” The art is full of splash pages and mullets, and the artist is trying to channel Bart Sears’ version of Captain Atom without the skill to pull it off. Also, Monarch. Finally, easily some of the worst blocking I’ve ever seen in a comic — there’s a particular scene I’ll post tomorrow, once I’m home and have access to a scanner again.

I know it’s summer time, and the last thing anyone wants to think about is studying — but tough — today’s public service ad teaches about study skills.

Click on the image for the full ad

Other than the fact that the kids are taking advice from a scruffy stranger at the local diner, there’s nothing really objectionable about this ad; the advice is quite reasonable.

I just wonder about the PSA-verse (is this one of DC’s 52 world multiverse? I hope so.) where it is perfectly acceptable to eavesdrop on anyone’s conversation and interject at anytime. Kidnapping of children by random superheroes is normal and accepted as well.

This PSA can be found in DC comics from both November 1965. The script is by Jack Schiff with art credited to Sheldon Moldoff.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa schoolstudying jack schiff sheldon moldoff

This is the second of two old autograph pages from the 1991 Chicago Comic-Con I ran across while cleaning out some old boxes.

Click on the image for a larger image. It’s large enough it may take a second click to expand to full-size.

Once again I recognize most of the autographs, but there are several I don’t remember who they’re from

On this page, in the upper left is William (Bill) Reinhold, though I don’t remember who he’s sketched (Badger, maybe?). Beneath him is Danny Fingeroth. I don’t recognize the signature in the lower left.

In the right upper corner is another one I don’t recognize, but at least it’s made out to me. Beneath that is Ron Frenz, and he sketched Thor’s hammer as well. Under the hammer is another one I don’t remember. The autograph and sketch in the lower right are from the late, great Mark Gruenwald,

While cleaning some boxes in the closet, I ran across a pair of autograph pages I obtained during my trip to the Chicago Comic-Con back in 1991 (twenty years ago, geez!).

Click on the image for a larger image. It’s large enough it may take a second click to expand to full-size.

While I recognize most of the autographs, there are a couple on this page (and more on the second page, which I’ll post tomorrow) that I can’t identify. I’m sure I knew who they were twenty years ago…

On this page, there’s Phil Foglio (well prior to Girl Genius; I think was during Xxxenophile, I was a fan of his from What’s New with Phil and Dixie?), Fabian Nicieza (during his run on the original New Warriors; that’s his version of Spedball), Kim Yale (one of the nicest people I’ve ever met at a convention), and Hillary Barta.

I’m not sure who the signature is beneath Foglio’s. Ah Ha! Figured it out! It’s John Ostrander, which makes sense since Kim Yale is on the same page. And I don’t know who sketched and signed Ghost Rider (though twenty years later, the gold metallic ink it’s written is still looking good, so two thumbs up for metallic ink).

Amazing Spider-Man #661 “The Substitute, Part One”
Christos Gage, writer
Reilly Brown, penciller

Isoflurane is an inhaled anesthetic used for both induction of anesthesia (knocking patients out) and maintenance of anesthesia (keeping them out). It also works as an analgesic (pain killer) and a bronchodilator (opens up constricted airways — useful for people with asthma).

The original inhaled anesthetics used in surgery were flammable and had the unfortunate tendency to cause explosions. Sure, the anesthesia was good, but does that really matter when the entire operating room in on fire? A new generation of non-flammable anesthetic were developed — this included isoflurane and its close relatives enflurane and halothane. Over the past several years, the use of isoflurane has been gradually phased out in favor of an even newer generation of anesthetics that have a faster onset, though it is still commonly used in veterinary medicine and many third-world nations (because the newer anesthetics are ungodly expensive).

Invincible Iron Man #503 “Fix Me, part 3: Fear Itself”
Matt Fraction, writer
Salvador Larroca, penciler

Pepper Potts needs to find a better doctor for her employees:

I’ve heard this statement time and time again, and I’m regularly asked about it, so let me put it simply: wrong, wrong, wrong.

This advice generally comes in one of two forms, either “don’t let someone with concussion fall asleep” or “wake-up a patient who suffered a concussion periodically to check on them.”

The first advice is just plain wrong. To put it bluntly, someone who has suffered a concussion has had a bad day. They’ve been in a car crash, played a losing game of football, been beat up, fallen off something, or had some other sort of accident. They’re going to be cranky and they’re going to be in pain. The last thing they need to be is kept awake because it will only make the pain and the crankiness worse. Study after study has shown that sleep is good for healing, particularly healing from head injuries. Let the poor patient sleep!

The second bit of advice is a bit harder to pin down. There have been a few studies done and they showed no benefit from repeatedly waking the patient up to check on them, but they didn’t show any harm in the practice either. I can’t claim to be innocent in this regard: when I was a resident on my Neuro ICU rotation, I regularly wrote orders for “neuro checks every 4 hours,” though more out of habit and tradition than any particular concern. Today, I don’t recommend regular waking and neurological checks to my patients with concussions because I think they’ll heal faster (and certainly be less cranky) if they can get a good night’s sleep¹.

As a rule of thumb, I’d say that if a patient is examined by their primary care doctor or an ER doctor after a head injury and admitted to the hospital for observation, then waking them up to check on them at regular intervals is reasonable. On the other hand, if a doctor has examined the patient and sent them home, then there is no need for repeatedly waking up the patient — let them sleep!²

Notes:
1. My practice is almost entirely outpatient these days, so I don’t tend to see the more severely injured patients. If I did see one in the hospital, then I might order regular checks depending on the situation. Bottom line: if the patient is healthy enough to be released from the hospital, then they’re healthy enough to get a good night’s sleep.

2. If I have a patient with overly anxious parents, then I would assent to them waking up the patient for a quick neuro check now and then. There are some fights you just can’t win, and overly anxious parents are behind most of them. Remember, no harm is done by the practice (other than poor sleep), it’s just that no benefit is gained either.

UPDATE/FINAL THOUGHT: I should have made this point clearer: Up until about 10-15 years ago, “wake-them-up-to-check-on-them” was the advice commonly given by doctors in regards to all head injury patients. Your parents weren’t just doing it to be mean. But then doctors started looking at the situation scientifically, and not just as a matter of tradition. At this point, it was determined there were no clear benefits to waking up patients, and it was also realized that sleep is very important for healing. Over the next several years, the advice began to change, pushing for more sleep and less — if any — checking. Of course, as in most things medical, especially where “tradition” is concerned, some doctors are more resistant to change than others. Though well intentioned, the advice is outdated — and the advice given to Pepper Potts is even more outdated (you’d think Stark Industries would use more cutting edge physicians).

Avengers Academy #14 “Disaster Response”
Christos Gage, writer
Sean Chen, penciller

Small electrical currents directed through the heart can cause ventricular fibrillation, a dangerous heart arrhythmia that can quickly degenerate into a fatal rhythm.

As suggested in the scene above, larger electrical currents can damage the heart enough to completely stop it. Throw even more current at the heart and you’ll fry it (which, admittedly, would be a subset of “stopping the heart”).

It’s not just the heart which is susceptible to electrical shocks, but the entire body –- especially the brain and muscles because they are organs that, like the heart, rely on electrical current to function.

This panel also offers a nice reminder of why “you don’t shock a flatline.” In a nutshell, a defibrillator works by — just for a split second — stopping the heart, allowing a healthy rhythm to reassert control. You don’t shock a flatline because there’s no benefit to stopping an already stopped heart.

A reckless pharmaceutical researcher has developed an ultrapotent antihistamine. He wants to speed up FDA approval, so he decides to start human testing right away — but only on one test subject. The victim subject is injected with the drug and instantly keels over, dead. Or is he? A short time later, the plant-human hybrid Goldenrod appears, hunting down the researcher and killing him by allergy-ing him to death.

There is so much wrong in this story that it hurts my head to think about it. FDA approval works nothing like that; everything the researcher did actually made the FDA more likely to turn him down. Even if his plan works perfectly, he has nothing to gain from it, other than prison time. Even an amoral scientist running an illegal drug trial knows it takes more than a single subject. Why would an antihistamine turn someone into a plant? Did they really think Goldenrod was an good name for a villain?

Despite all this bounty to work with, what I want to focus on is the name they gave the antihistamine: Nuevafed.

A brand name like Nuevafed is not selected until after the drug is approved for sale, and even then the final name is in the hands of specially trained medical marketers (who, you’ll notice, seem to be inordinately fond of the letters Z and X). At this point in the story, the drug would be called by its generic name, which, because it’s an antihistamine, should end in -ine (e.g. cetirizine [Zyrtec], loratadine [Claritin], or diphenhydramine [Benadryl].)

I can’t think of any other drug sold in the U.S. that has Spanish prefix in its name. There’s some Latin inspired names (Paxil, for instance), but I can’t name a single one with a Spanish (or French, or Italian, or German, or Swahili, etc) name.

The “fed” suffix is used for drugs that contain decongestants (such as Sudafed and Actifed) because it is short for pseudoephedrine, a common decongestant (admittedly, since the crack down on pseudoephedrine a few years ago, you’ll now find phenylephrine in most of these meds instead, but it’s still a decongestant). A pure antihistamine, even a potent one like Nuevafed, wouldn’t contain any decongestant.

Last thought: If your antihistamine is actually “hyperallergenic” then you’re doing it wrong.

scene from Captain America: Hail Hydra #2

Two observations, and a couple of explanations — and recommendations — for artists drawing IVs:

1. Two IV catheters going into the same site — ouch! If two IVs are needed, either piggy-back them, or use a Y-connector to link their tubing. Only one catheter per site.

2. A third IV with its tubing dragging the floor. The same IV tubing is generally used from bag to bag, so when a bag is empty, the IV tubing is just switched to another bag and not left to hang. If it’s an IV bag that hasn’t been used yet, then there would be no tubing attached. (It’s possible that it’s an old IV bag from a site that was discontinued, so the tubing wasn’t going to be used again — in that case, hanging it like that is just tacky and unclean.)

An environmental public service ad today, courtesy of Adventure Comics #346 from July 1966.

Click on the image for the full ad

Starting with an LBJ quote potentially limited how many times this PSA could be used, though it didn’t end up being important as DC has finished their monthly PSA program before he left office.

The use of quotation marks makes me think that almost all the text of this PSA is from a speech or proclamation by LBJ, though a quick internet search doesn’t turn up any matches.

This PSA can be found in DC comics from both July 1966. The script is by Jack Schiff (with significant help from LBJ) with art credited to Sheldon Moldoff (though I’m a little suspicious that credit is incorrect as it doesn’t look like typical Moldoff to me).

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa nature lyndon johnson jack schiff sheldon moldoff

A few thoughts on this scene from Daken #6:

1. The EMT speaks truer than he intends — if the heart stops, you CAN’T resuscitate someone by defibrillating it. It falls under that whole “don’t shock a flatline.” In other words, it’s a defibrillator — it stops fibrillation (i.e. bad heart rhythms) — it’s not a jump-startinator.

2. That being said, removing all extraneous metal — like a handcuff and metal briefcase — before defibrillating is a good idea.

3. It’s all a moot point though, as it’s not a real resuscitation, it’s a sting.

The Spirit #15
David Hine, writer
Moritat, artist

Honey Steel, the protagonist/villain of The Spirit #15 has decided to commit suicide by starting a fire and then taking a handful of pills.

Which pills did she take? Conveniently, the artist provides us with a panel showing two nearly empty bottles of carbamazepine 100mg tablets.

Carbamazepine (brand name Tegretol) is a drug with three official uses: seizure prevention, treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (chronic pain of nerves of the face), and treatment of bipolar disease. It has a number of unofficial “off label” uses as well including treatment of depression, attention deficit disorder, restless leg syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and neurological pain conditions.

Drowsiness is a common side effect of carbamazepine at normal doses, and can be quite severe — up to and including unconsciousness — in an overdose situation. It is entirely believable that the overdose would cause Honey to pass out. Of course, in real life, it wouldn’t happen quite so quickly and there’d be other nasty effects of the overdose such as nausea, vomiting, slurred speech, ataxia, blurred vision, tremors, and seizures.

Would the carbamazepine overdose alone be enough to kill Honey? Quite possibly. High levels of carbamazepine cause some nasty cardiac effects including AV blocks and arrhythmias.

Looking over the prescription bottles, we can glean a few more facts.

First, since 60 pills were prescribed, this tells us Honey is taking carbamazepine 100MG twice a day for a total of 200MG a day. That’s a tiny dose of carbamazepine – not high enough for seizures or bipolar. Trigeminal neuralgia takes a lower dose than the other two condition, but even it requires more than 200MG/day. I’ll admit I don’t know the doses for the off-label uses of carbamazepine since I don’t prescribe it for them.
The prescription is from Dr. Cobra, one of the Spirits archenemies, and the villain who “killed” Denny Colt, giving birth to the Spirit.
Dr. Cobra fails my Quack Doctor test:

Look at the picture — you know the doctor’s trying to subtly slip his stethoscope on so he can’t hear what’s going on behind him.

Another waste paper public service ad from the World War II era, this time starring the World’s Finest team: Batman, Superman, and Robin.

Click on the image for the full ad

There is supposed to be a similarly themed Wonder Woman PSA from the same year, but I haven’t had any luck in tracking it down so far.

This PSA can be found in DC comics from spring 1944. This particular image came from Batman #22, cover dated April/May 1944. The Grand Comics Database credits Jack Schiff as the writer and Jerry Robinson as the artist.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa waste paper superman batmanrobin world war ii

In my experience, science fiction comics — particularly those at least partially dystopic in nature — tend to have the best thought out and most entertaining fictional drugs.

Example #1: Transmetropolitan
Example #2: American Flagg
Example #3: Smileezys from the Flesh stories in recent issues of 2000AD

Secret Hearts #133

Sadly, I’ve never been chased down a hospital hallway by a cute blonde.

But I can always hope.

scene from Uncanny X-Men Annual #3 by Asmus and Bradshaw

First off, this is one of the better drawn hospital scenes I’ve seen in quite a while. The bed and medical equipment are drawn well and it is clear that the artist did his research.

That being said, there are few nit-picks worth mentioning, purely as teaching points (a few of them are even classics that I mentioned in my needs-to-be-updated common medical errors posts [1][2]):
1. While I congratulate Bradshaw on the correctly drawn nasal canula, it shouldn’t go under the bandages.
2. There should be no bubbles in IV bags — they are closed systems.
3. Speaking of IVs, the IV in the left arm goes to different places in the two panels.
4. Blood and other IV fluids require gravity and fluid dynamics to work right — they flow down from the IV bag to the IV canula and into the patient. The fluids won’t be able to flow up the length of vertical tubing seen here.
5. I applaud Dr. Rao for counting the ulnar pulse, but most people use the radial pulse (on the thumb-side of the wrist) as it is stronger and easier to find.

Thanks to a succesful polio vaccination program — and let’s hope it stays that way — so ads like these don’t make a come back. [1][2][3][4]

an old comic book ad about polio

I’m featuring an old comic book public service ad today, from spring 1944 — five years before DC started their monthly PSA program.

In this era, deep in the middle of World War II, waste paper PSAs were very common in comics. For example, here’s one by Batman and Robin, and another with Captain America.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA can be found in DC comics from both April and May, 1944. The art is by George Roussos, but it is unclear who wrote the script (though some suggest our old buddy and frequent PSA author Jack Schiff).

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa waste paper superman world war ii george roussos

Apothecarius Argentum was a manga published by DC imprint CMX. The story takes place primarily in the quasi-medieval kingdom of Beazol and features the Princess Primula and her Royal Apothecary, Argent.

Argent is something of a contradiction, being both a Basilisk and an apothecary. An apothecary is simply another name for a physician. Basilisks are rare individuals who were fed increasing doses of various toxins as children until they became immune to all poisons. Unfortunately, this process turns the Basilisks themselves toxic to anyone who touches them. Thus Argent is both a healer and a killer.

The initial volumes of the story took place in Beazol, but later volumes have had the characters travel to other countries. Recently, Argent has traveled to Castoria, looking for a fabled gem that is said to cure a Basilisk of their toxic nature.

Most of the medical scenes are found in the first third of the book; the last two thirds contain stories focusing on political maneuvering and rescue missions.

1. Anesthetics
The anesthetic used by Lulu for the dental extraction mad is made by “mixing minerals or metal with nitric acid.” She also mentions that some people “deliberately inhaled the fumes to become intoxicated.” What she is describing in Nitrous Oxide (i.e. laughing gas). Traditionally, it was produced by pouring nitric acid over iron filings. It can be used as an intoxicant – in fact it was used in such a way long before its anesthetic properties were discovered.

She mentions another anesthetic gas that is both stronger and more dangerous than nitrous oxide. This could be either chloroform or ether (she’s probably referring to ether, as that was mentioned in the previous volume).

2. Claviceps
Lulu keeps some moldy rye, which she tells Argent she uses to treat migraines. This mold is the fungus Claviceps pupurea, which contains the potent chemical ergotamine. Until about twenty years ago, ergotamine was the primary treatment for severe migraines. While it is still used a little today, most migraine patients now take the safer and more reliable Triptan drugs (Imitrex, Zolmig, Maxalt, etc.). Ergotamine can also cause uterine contractions, and has been used since the Middle Ages to induce abortions. For this reason, it is a Category X drug, and should not be taken during pregnancy.

3. Placental Abruption
An abruption occurs when the placenta pulls away from the wall of the uterus. This can be life threatening to both mother and child. The placenta is literally the lifeline for the baby, so if it is injured in any way, the baby’s life is at risk. An abruption can also cause a severe hemorrhage and lead to the mother bleeding to death. Mild abruptions can be treated with bed rest and observation, but severe cases require an immediate caesarean section.

Previous Apothercarius Argentum annotations
Other manga medical annotations

What’s the error in this scene from Firestorm #3, featuring the origin of of the villainess Killer Frost?

Previous picture quizzes

Once again celebrating the head mirror, an artifact seen more often in comic book depictions of doctors than in real life. Now available in 4-D.

This anonymous — and soon to be a casualty — doctor is not only r