Polite Dissent

I’ve been sick with a nasty sinus infection most of this weekend (and there’s nothing more pitiful than a sick doctor), so I’ve been watching a lot of movies on tape and DVD. On Friday, I mentioned the worst science-fiction I’ve ever seen (Robinson Crusoe on Mars). Despite what I said on Friday, it’s probably not the worst one ever made, but certainly the worst I’ve seen.

Since I had too much time on my hands and couldn’t get up enough energy to move, I decided to compile a list of my favorite films and the worst ones I’ve seen in 3 different genres. I’m sure there are worse movies than the ones I mention, but thankfully I haven’t seen them. My definition of “favorite movie” doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best in that genre, but it’s the one that speaks to me most.

The worst science-fiction movie I’ve seen: Robinson Crusoe on Mars. They stole the plot from Dafoe and still couldn’t make a decent script. Bad acting, bad effects, and horrible science (don’t forget to take your “oxygen pill”).

My favorite science-fiction movie: Logan’s Run. Considering that it came out in the same year as Star Wars, the special effects are pretty bad (especially that robot in the freezer scene). However, there’s something about this movie that just grabs me (besides Jenny Agutter). The premise is clever, and carried off well. This was the first movie I bought on DVD. (Forbidden Planet is a close second to Logan’s Run)

The worst fantasy movie I’ve seen: Legend. There are simply too many incomprehensible special effects, an unintelligible plot, a day-glo bad guy and wooden acting by Tom Cruise. It all adds up to a big bleah!

My favorite fantasy movie: Excalibur. Still the best King Arthur movie ever made. Gotta love Merlin’s metal skull-cap.

The worst super-hero movie I’ve seen: Supergirl. Even Helen Slater couldn’t save this one, and I was a big Helen Slater fan at that time.

My favorite super-hero movie: The Phantom. It was fun. The script was a little pulpy at times, but the characters and acting was good. True to the source. (Loved the Phantom Cabbie in the last issue of Smax. “Slam evil, not doors.”)

My favorite movie of all time? Easy, that would be The Thin Man. Made in 1934 and starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, it’s the great-granddaddy of today’s detective comedies. It’s still funny (and suspenseful) all these years later.

Nothing much to say about Hector Reeder’s article on comics blogging at Ninth Art that hasn’t been said elsewhere better. Overall, I found the column to be lacking because it’s fluff; there’s no substance to it. While vaguely amusing, nothing new or specific is said and old stereotypes are rehashed. It’s not offensive because there’s no weight to it.

I’ll just point to my response to Heidi McDonald’s comic blogging column from a few months ago, and shut up:
10 Reasons I Like Comic Blogs

Here’s the complete list my friends and I were able to come up with for the Justice League Unlimited:

Aquaman, Atom, Atom Smasher, Aztek, Batman, Big Barda, Black Canary, Blue Devil, Booster Gold, B’wana Beast, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Commander Steel, Creeper, Crimson Avenger, Crimson Fox, Demon (Etrigan), Dove (the first one), Dr. Fate, Dr. Light (the second one), Elongated Man, Fire, Firestorm, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Gypsy, Hawk, Hourman (the robot one), Huntress, Ice, Johnny Thunder and the Thunderbolt, Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho, Mr. Mircle, Mr. Terrific (the current one), Nemesis, Obsidian, Orion, Power Girl, Question, Red Tornado, Rocket Red, Sand, Shining Knight, Starman, Star-Spangled Kid and S.T.R.I.P.E., Steel, Supergirl, Superman, Vibe, Vigilante (the cowboy one), Vixen, Waverider, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Zatanna.

One of the more unusual diagnoses I have seen as a physician is delusional parasitosis. In this condition a person is convinced that they are infested with parasites such as insects, spiders, lice or worms. As the name of the condition suggests, no such infestation exists; it is all a delusion of the patient.

This is an extremely difficult condition to treat. The patient is absolutely convinced that they are infected and there is nothing a physician can do to convince them otherwise. These patients go from doctor to doctor trying to find someone who believes them and can cure their infestation. They have repeatedly sprayed and bug-bombed their house in an attempt to get rid of the insects. They have had several exterminators inspect and treat their house. Often, they will scrub themselves raw with harsh chemical such as bleach or cleanser in order to get rid of the bugs.

A common aspect of their delusion is the “matchbox sign.” The patients will bring the doctor “proof” of their infestation. They will show the physician their evidence convinced that it shows insects, worms or eggs. In reality, their proof is nothing more than flakes of dried skin and other normal detritus. This is known as the matchbox sign because the evidence is usually carried in a matchbox or other small container. The last patient I saw with this condition brought in a zip-loc bag with a couple pieces of sweater lint convinced that they were “cocoons.”

Another interesting feature of delusional parasitosis is folie deux, or shared delusion. Not only is the patient convinced that they are infested, but they’ve managed to convince their significant other of the infection as well. Therefore both people share the same delusion that the patient has parasites. So not only do you have to convince the patient of the truth, but their spouse as well.

Rarely, delusional parasitosis is due to an underlying physical condition such as low thyroid or vitamin deficiency. In these cases, correction of the underlying condition is the best treatment. In most cases, however, delusional parasitosis is a purely psychological condition. Because of this, and because the patients refuse to believe that it is psychological and not physical, treatment is very difficult. Psychiatric counseling is key, as are antipsychotic medications.

What does this have to do with comics?

I was re-reading some of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, and came across this lovely picture by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben from Saga of the Swamp Thing #29.

These panels are the perfect example of delusional parasitosis. Abby is convinced that she is infested with bugs, and has scrubbed herself raw and bleeding with wire brushes and nasty chemicals. She’s even tried to burn her clothing.

Admittedly, her situation goes a little deeper than just delusional parasitosis because she is having olfactory hallucinations (the smell of burnt insects) and a sensation of being unclean, but her main condition is still delusional parasitosis. (In this case we know what the inciting cause was: sleeping with your husband who was really your back-from-the-dead evil uncle).

More information on delusional parasitosis can be found here.

Dave Barry is the only author who consistently makes me laugh out loud.

His weekly column and his books are always good reads and a great way to pass the time.

A particular favorite is Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs, which includes such delightful chapter titles as “Weenie Music”, “Songs Women Really Hate” and “Teen Death Songs”.

His first novel, Big Trouble, was brilliantly plotted and hilarious. The movie it was made into, with Tim Allen and Renee Russo was only so-so, but don’t let that scare you away from the original book, it’s well worth your time and money.

Finally updated the blogroll, adding some blogs that were long overdue.

I finally added a second medical blog, the Lingual Nerve. This is a group blog by a variety of physicians from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. At times pretentious and at times self-deprecating, it’s always an interesting read.

Speaking of medical blogs, Michelle at the Underwear Drawer now has her Scutmonkey mini-comic available.

When I was a wet-behind-the-ears medical student, a wise intern taught me the Four Rules of Medical School. The genius of these laws is not limited to medical students or residents, but can easily apply to everyday life. I now share these words of wisdom with you:

1. Eat when you can
2. Sleep when you can
3. Pee when you can
4. Don’t screw* with the pancreas

*originally this rule contained a more colorful verb. Use your imagination.

Stories and novels about alternate history have always intrigued me. They have what I call the “what if” quotient. What if this happened, or what if that happened? What if Robert Kennedy had not been assassinated? What if England won the Revolutionary War? What if Alexander the Great had not died young? What if Al Gore had won Florida?

Alternate histories tend to raise a lot of questions that cannot easily be answered. A small divergence in the facts can lead to massive changes years later. For this reason, I prefer novels to short stories in this genre. Short stories tend to only tackle the deviation itself or give a superficial “history.” Novels, on the other hand, can address the changes in more detail or show the outcome years later.

The Civil War seems to be a favorite source of inspiration. There are several collections of short stories just about alternate Civil Wars, and Harry Turtledove has written an extensive series starting with the South triumphing in the Civil War and continuing for many years after.

I find that my favorite alternate history novels are those that are set many years after the divergence. The change in history is used to set the stage rather than being the center of the story. I recommend Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and S. M. Stirling’s The Peshawar Lancers as good alternate histories of this variety

The written word is not the only source of alternate history. Comic books are a unique forum for alternate history stories because they can involve either a divergence from actual history or a deviation from comic-book history. Comic book alternate histories are an extensive topic and deserve an entire post of their own…come back tomorrow.

UPDATE: How could I forget H. Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, another excellent alternate history. It ties into his Paratime series of short stories which deal with an entire system of alternate histories.

Given that the majority of comic books exist in fictional worlds, it can be difficult to define what constitutes an alternate history and what doesn’t.

I define alternate history as a deliberate retelling of established historical fact, not counting retcons.

There are two important variables in comic book alternate histories. First, what history does the story deviate from? Second, is it part of continuity?

Alternate history can exist as a deviation from actual historical fact or as a divergence from the history of that particular comic universe.

In Ex Machina, only one of the twin towers was destroyed on September 11, so it is an example of an alteration of actual history. On the other hand, in the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, history diverged when Charles Xavier was killed. This was a change in the historical facts of the Marvel Universe, but not a change in actual history.

Secondly, alternate histories can occur as part of continuity or outside of it. When the Sphinx remade the world in the image of Ancient Egypt in New Warriors #47-50, that was a retelling within continuity. Rarely, events in these alternate histories can effect continuity in the originating universe but usually “time resets itself”. In contrast, the Elseworlds and What If ? comics occur outside of continuity.

Over at the Howling Curmudgeons, there is an interesting discussion going on regarding Atlas Comic’s list of the 25 All-Time Greatest Covers of American Comic Books. I agree with the many of the comments that the list shows a decidedly Golden Age bias. (I for one am upset that Uncanny X-Men #141 has been overlooked. That is a great cover.)

There is a better way to define the greatest comic book covers, and that is: Which covers have been imitated and copied the most?
Those are the greatest covers because they are the ones that readers are expected to recognize offhand.

Here’s a few off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are many more:

• Fantastic Four #1 (Craig Shutt lists 9 imitators in his book Baby Boomer Comics)
  
• Crisis on Alternate Earth #7
  
• Dark Knight Returns #1
  
• Amazing Fantasy #15
  

NOTE: I’m not counting covers within the same titles or a family of titles that are imitations of each other, such as Tom Strong #1 and #20, or the various covers of the Justice League America/Europe/International that show the group staring out at the reader.

Sources: several of these cover scans were obtained from the Grand Comic Book Database.

How much have things changed in the past twenty-plus years I’ve been collecting comics? How much has stayed the same? And were the changes good, bad, or useless? Decide for yourself…

When I started collecting comics:

1. Comics cost 35? or 40?.
2. Trade paperbacks were few and far between. I think Origins of Marvel Comics, Son of Origins, and Bring On the Bad Guys were the only choices.
3. There were not may independent comics, and the ones available were hard to find.
4. There were no limited-series or mini-series.
5. Covers routinely featured dialogue.
6. There was no direct market.
7. In the back of each comic was a letter column with a catchy name.
8. Chris Claremont was writing the X-Men.
9. Stan Lee was editor in chief of Marvel Comics.
10. There were no creator credits on the cover.
11. Jean Grey was still alive (the first time).
12. Three words: Ben Day dots.
13. Dick Grayson was Robin.
14. There were no extravagant multi-part super-crossover “event comics”.
15. Micronauts was a popular comic.
16. Comics were purchased in pharmacies, grocery stores, and bookstores.
17. Gwen Stacy and Bucky were dead.
18. There was no e-Bay.
19. The Fantastic Four cartoon featured Herbie the robot instead of the Human Torch.
20. There were no multiple covers or gimmick covers.

Since I’ve graduated from Medical School:

1. Rezulin, Baycol, Hismanal, Seldane, Trovan, and any drug containing phenylpropanolamine have been withdrawn from the market.
2. Powerful new threrapies for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes have become available.
3. Federal laws have been enacted limiting resident work hours and restricting pharmaceutical company gifts to physicians.
4. Several new diseases have emerged worldwide including SARS, Avian Flu, West Nile, Hanta, Ebola, and Necrotizing Fasciitis.
5. Antibiotic resistance has increased.
6. Medical education on bioterrorism is common.
7. Hormone replacement therapy has gone out of vogue.
8. Three new childhood vaccines have been introduced.
9. The number of herbal “medications” available has sky-rocketed.
10. More woman have been graduating from medical school.
11. Fewer people have been opting for primary care (including Family Practice) as a career.
12. The target value for cholesterol has been lowered twice.
13. Prescription drugs can be advertised on television.
14. The average lifespan of a patient with AIDS can no longer be counted on just one hand (in the US and Canada, anyway).
15. The blood supply is tested for Hepatitis C.

The Polite-Wife is back from her trip out west to visit her family. In addition to spending some time visiting with friends in Las Vegas, she spent several days at the beach (I should point out that she traveled to California to go to the beach as Nevada is not known for its good coastline).

While relaxing on the beach, she finally read some books I’d been suggesting to her for about five years: The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron, both by Lloyd Alexander. She is an elementary school teacher and always looking for good books for her classroom. Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series was one of the highlights of my childhood (find the editions with the Jody Lee covers).

Here’s my list of good fantasy or science-fiction for elementary age kids. I admit to being several years out of the loop, so feel free to add any other good ones:

• Harry Potter series by Rowling (you know the books; I’m not listing them)
• Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King.)
• The Hobbit by Tolkein
• Harper Hall of Pern by McCaffrey (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragon Drums)
• Wrinkle in Time, A Wind Through the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters by L’Engle
• Tom Swift series by Appleton

Now that she’s back in town, the Polite-Wife and I will be heading over to Indianapolis sometime late Saturday or early Sunday for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. We haven’t decided when to leave yet, but I know we need to get there early. I used to live about a mile from the Speedway and I learned not to leave the house on race weekends unless it was a dire emergency.

And for those of you who think NASCAR and comics don’t mix…

Not only are comic books advertised on NASCAR vehicles, but there have been comic books about NASCAR:

Vortex published a series of NASCAR titles in the 1990’s. The longest was Legends of NASCAR, which ran for 16 issues between 1990 and 1993. Each issue featured a biography of a particular driver, told in comic book format.

Simultaneously, Vortex also published NASCAR Adventures in 1991. The series ran for 2 issues, then stopped. It was revived a year or so later for its third issue (inexplicably numbered #5) then stopped again. A final issue was published some months later, #7 of course. So the four issues of NASCAR Adventures are numbered 1, 2, 5, 7. Like Legends of NASCAR, each issue featured a biography of a famous racer.

Vortex also published The NASCub Adventures (sometimes titled Adventures of the NASCubs). This children’s comic featured the “Official Mascots of NASCAR”, and Richard Petty too. The cover shows a bear, a koala, a panda, a female racoon, and (I think) a lion (or it may be a beaver with a birth defect). This comic lasted for a single issue in 1991.

Despite NASCAR fans being collectors of over-priced merchandise, these comics can still be found for cover price or (usually) much less.

While here at the Brickyard 400, I’ve uncovered some exciting new comic book news!

From MARVEL Comics, the publisher of such exciting sports titles as NFL Super-Pro, MLB Super-Pro, Jai-Alai Super-Pro and Synchronized Swimming Super-Pro comes a new exciting comic book:

NASCAR Super-Pro

Click here for a preview of the first issue!

The Comic Treadmill may have the best air force, and ACAPCWOVCCAOE may have the sheer numbers (and longest name), but we at BWA-HA-HA (Bloggers With A Home Address in Heartland America) have the fastest cars:

The Red Green Show is a Canadian import shown on PBS. It concerns Red Green, a usually inept handyman with a fondness for duct tape, his nephew Harold and all the other members of Possum Lodge. Set in a small town in rural Canada, the show covers everything from fishing to appliance repair to forest fires and everything inbetween. The show consists of about seven or eight skit-like scenes connected with an underlying backstory. Sometime in every show, Red tries his best to build a useful contraption out of discarded junk and duct tape. Always duct tape.

Like many of the shows on PBS, the Red Green Show is only carried by the whim of the local stations. Luckily, our local station shows it (unlike the station in Las Vegas), but at seemingly random times.

Given the storyline in Identity Crisis #1 (and Michael Hutchison wondering about “pregnancy-related threats” in his excellent annotations to the story), it seemed like a good time to post the updated list of Pregnancies in Comics.

Any additions are welcomed!

Heroes:
ADAM STRANGE
Alanna dies during childbirth.

AQUAMAN
Dolphin and Garth (Tempest) had a son, Cerridan. Mera’s pregnancy happened “off camera”.

AVENGERS
Scarlet Witch’s pregnancy was shown in the Scarlet Witch and the Vision mini-series, though her twins were later ret-conned out of exsistence.

BATMAN COMICS
Spoiler was pregnant and gave her shild up for adoption in Robin.
Francine (Man-Bat’s wife) was pregnant in Batman in the 1970’s.

KILLRAVEN
Carmilla Frost discovered she was pregnant in a Killraven graphic novel.

FANTASTIC FOUR
Sue Richards had Franklin, then lost her second pregnancy. A magical/time-stream induced third pregnancy recently gave the Richards a daughter, Valeria.
Lyja Storm was pregnant and gave birth to an egg.
Crystal and Pietro (Quicksilver) have a daughter Luna.

INCREDIBLE HULK
Betty Banner was pregnant, but miscarried.

IRON MAN
Pepper Potts was pregnant, but miscarried.

FLASH
Iris was pregnant with twins at the time that the silver age Flash (Barry Allen) died.
Linda West lost twins recently in the current Flash.

INFINITY INC.
Hippolyta Hall was pregnant a *long* time, and ultimately gave birth to Daniel.

MIRACLEMAN
Liz Moran gave birth in Miracleman #9.

ANIMAL MAN
Annie was pregnant and gave birth in the last issues of the series.

JLA
Sue Dibny was pregnant when she dies in Identity Crisis #1

JSA
Hawkgirl was pregnant as a teenager and gave the child up for adoption.

SABRE
Melissa Siren was pregnant and gave birth in Sabre.

STARMAN
Jack fathered children with the Mist (see below) and his significant other, Sadie.

LOSH (1)
Garth Ranzz (Lightning Lad) and Irma Ranz (Saturn Girl) had twins. (Twins are the usual on Garth’s home planet Winath; however, twins are determined maternally and Irma come from Titan. Plus are the twins fraternal or identical? Both have been shown on Winath in the series.)

LOSH (2)
In the “five years later” Legion, Night Girl was not only married to Cosmic Boy, but also pregnant.

LOSH (3)
Apparition (Tinya Wazzo) and Ultra Boy (Jo Nah) have married and had a child (Cub).

L.E.G.I.O.N.
Stealth had a child by Vril Dox.

MR. MIRACLE
Beautiful Dreamer was pregnant and gave birth.

AVENGERS
Ms. Marvel was pregnant*

TEAM TITANS
Donna Troy was pregnant at the beginning of this series. Her husband and child died in a car accident, then she died in Graduation Day.
Mirage was pregnant at the end of the series.

X-MEN
Madelynne Prior was pregnant with Scott Summer’s child (and gave birth to him) in the Uncanny X-Men.

Villains:
Punch & Jewlee
They showed up in Hawk & Dove toting a toddler, but I don’t know if the pregnancy was ever mentioned or shown in Suicide Squad or elsewhere.

Chesire
Gave birth to Lianne, fathered by Speedy/Arsenal (Roy Harper), but I don’t know if the pregnancy was shown.

Mist
Had a child by Jack (Starman). Do not recall if the pregnancy was shown.

Non-Super-Hero:
STRANGERS in PARADISE: Francine recently miscarried.

ELFQUEST is chock-full of pregnancies and births. I’m not conversant enough with the series to comment.

Characters UNABLE to become Pregnant:
1. Black Canary – Sustained tortue injuries in Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters that rendered her sterile. Her recent dip in a Lazarus pit may have reversed this.
2. Firestar – Using her powers will cause her to become sterile.

*Explanation per Matt Rossi: “Ms. Marvel was impregnated originally by Immortus’ son, who used the devices of Limbo to draw her to him, make her fall in love with him, and then implanted himself into her via some freaky Limbo technology. She then was sent back to Avengers mansion where she gave birth in an extremely short amount of time and the baby was Marcus, Immortus’ son (the one who impregnated her, remember) and then the baby, too, grew up rather remarkably quickly while time itself went ape because Marcus, concieved and born in Limbo, was a being out of time and his mere presence, not to mention the twisted nature of his self-conception into our world and the rapid time displacement, was shattering causality. Eventually Marcus agreed to go back to Limbo but pledged his love for Ms Marvel and asked her to come with him to Limbo, which she agreed to do and the Avengers let her (this was later pointed out to have been a really dumb move.) …I’ve simplified this immensely.”

Thanks to Laura, Johanna, Matt, Shane, Marc Laporte and Kevin for their assistance in adding to the list. All help is appreciated!

In the Giffen/De Matteis Justice League, Guy Gardner’s personality changed from unpleasant to Mr. Sensitive after a bump on his head that knocked him unconscious.

Looking under the monitor desk in the Justice League cave for his ring, Guy instead encounters a mouse. Startled, he jerks up, striking the back of his head on the underside of the desk and knocking himself out. In the next issue, he’s humming Debbie Boone songs and reading an issue of Cosmopolitan. He remains this new sensitive character until another head injury restores his original personality.

Head injuries can certainly cause changes in personality. The brain is made up of different lobes and each lobe has several different functions. Among its duties, the frontal lobe controls personality. Therefore, a substantial frontal lobe injury can cause a significant change in personality.

NOTES:

1. Unlike Justice League, a change in personality due to a head injury is anything but light-hearted. It is caused by brain damage – damage that is nearly always permanent. Additionally, the new personality is almost always an unpleasant one. Changes in personality are not an on-and-off switch that can be reset by another head injury.
2. Even though Guy struck the back of his head, he had to have injured his frontal lobes. This is consistent with a mechanism of injury known as contre coup. As the back of the head hits the counter, the brain keeps moving until it smashes against the inside of skull, damaging the back of the brain (the coup injury). The brain then rebounds inside the skull and moves forward, impacting the front of the skull and damaging the frontal lobes (the contre coup injury).

With the addition of David Lawson, the ranks of midwestern bloggers known as BWA-HA-HA (Bloggers With A Home Address in Heartland America) has swelled to two! Soon we shall be mighty enough to take on even Milo’s squirrel army.

I am on vacation this week and until next Wednesday! No big plans, I just needed to burn some vacation. I’ve been here in Central Illinois almost one year and had some vacation I needed to use. That means it’s also time to start thinking about future plans. I signed a two-year contract with the option to buy into the practice after two years. I like it here, but the Polite-Wife is not entirely certain she does. I’m a small town Midwest boy, so I feel comfortable here while she is Las Vegas born and bred.

While she may be ambivalent about the town, she loves our house. We moved into this two-story house a year ago, and it’s now three years old. I call it the 90% house because it’s clear that the previous owner ran out of money when the house was almost completed. The front porch is primed, but not painted. The light post by the driveway was never collected to electricity. The hallway and room light fixtures cannot support any bulb stronger than 40 watts. There are two piles of rocks by the front culverts, but they were never cemented into place. The foyer and front hallway have some nice tile, but the kitchen floor is this awful linoleum that matches nothing.

Since moving in, most of my effort has been in fixing the remaining 10%. I installed ceiling fans and new light fixtures in every room. I installed the porch and garage lights (wired, but never installed). The Polite-Wife has done a remarkable job on landscaping and working on the yard.

Monday, I finally got the chance to tackle the back porch. Never let anyone tell you that power washers are not fun…they are! I power washed the back deck and discovered that what I thought was weathering was in fact a grime-encrusted cheap wood varnish. That became a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the re-finished porch will look a lot better than I ever expected, but the bad news is that it’s now going to take about three times as long because I need to sand all the old coating off. So far, this project has taken three days just for the washing and sanding. It’ll look nice, right? Right? (I better finish soon though, the Polite-Wife is becoming less-than-polite about the barbecue grill now residing in the kitchen).

Friday we head up to Chicago for the weekend for the Wizard World Chicago. I haven’t been there since 1991 when it was called the Chicago ComiCon and held at the Rosemont/O’Hare Ramada Inn but I’m looking forward to it.

Plans for the rest of the vacation include:
1. Re-finish the back porch.
2. Cement the rocks around the culvers.
3. Spackle the nail holes in the front porch.
4. Enter this month’s and last month’s comics into Comic Base (I not usually this much of a procrastintor, I just haven’t decided whether to use Comic Base 9 or stick with version 8).
5. Finally getting around to reading some review comics (sorry, Larry).
6. Sit down and play Beyond Good and Evil on the X-Box.
7. Read this month’s Comic Buyer’s Guide (Hush, Best Story? grumble grumble) and the first issue of the new Amazing Stories.
8. Finish reading A College of Magics by A Scholar of Magics by Carolyn Stevermer.

I’ve found the “Sub Diego” storyline in Aquaman to be one of the better arcs in recent memory. I know I’ve questioned some of its science a few times, but that’s only because the story is actually making me want to think about it, a rare commodity. The characters are interesting and Arthur is truly acting like a ruler for the first time in years.

The art is quite nice and detailed and full of lots of fun little bits in the panel backgrounds. I particularly like the big fish eating the medium fish eating the small fish picture on the page with the TSCO (Top-Secret Conspiratorial Organization).

I still have concerns about some plot points, though…
1. Are dogs the only animals (beside Man) who converted? Surely other animals were fed tap water too.
2. I just realized that all the health-freaks drinking bottled water would have died. Only those people who actually drank tap water would have survived. Is that selection good or bad though?
3. Can all of the denizens of Sub Diego communicate with sea-life now too? The end of the issue seems to suggest that.
4. The electric eel is a freshwater fish, not salt water.

(In repsonse to Tim’s concern last month about Lorena’s top staying on:

Does is not seem that if someone were really swimming that fast their skimpy yellow tube top would, um, slide off?

He’s absolutely right. It was originally her headband.)

The Polite-Wife and I should be on our way to Chicago now (or there already, depending on when you’re reading this.) Like Rick Geerling, I find myself enjoying the information parts of the con, but I do plan on some shopping as well (I need to track down some Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare comics).
The Polite-Wife will probably take root in the Anime room, emerging occasionally for food, sunlight, and the swimming pool.

I’ll bring the laptop and try to blog while there, but my dial-up experiences have always been spotty. We’ll bring back some good pictures though!

Everyone have a good weekend!!

I. Arriving at WizardWorld
Despite a slight delay to our starting time, Polite-Wife and I crawled into our rental car and made the 3-hour drive to Chicago. Our room was at the very nice Hotel Sofitel, conveniently connected to the convention center by a covered walkway.

As it had been over a decade since my last visit to Chicago ComiCon (or WizardWorld), I was impressed by the fact that the show had at least quadrupled in size. The Exhibitor Area was large and DC, Marvel, Aspen, WizKids, Dark Horse and Tokyo Pop all had large displays (though Marvel’s was very plain). The Dealer Room was impressive and Artists’ Alley was large enough that I was able to see both familiar and new names and faces.

The “freebie bag” handed out to advanced-ticket holders had special editions of Ultimate X-Men #50 and Humankind #1. It contained a free Hero-Clix, but it was the ubiquitous Checkmate Agent (#009). There was also a TokyoPop sampler and a Mighty Beanz trading card game sample pack in the bag.

We circled the exhibition area first, deciding what booths to hit when the crowd died down. In the back row, Gil Gerard, Erin Gray and Lou Ferigno were signing autographs. I don’t think they were very busy because they kept announcing overhead that they were “available for autographs.” Marc Singer was back there too and I just had to laugh, well, because it WAS the beastmaster (unlike this guy).

Next we ventured into the dealer’s room and began hunting for comics missing from my collection. Demo #7 and #8 were found easily (thank you Mostly Independents), but Spider-Girl #50 and my missing issues of Xombi took longer to find. I found some nice copies of Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare, but unfortunately they were too nice (and too expensive) as I’m pretty much just looking for reading copies.

II. The Cup O’Joe Panel
We had intended to go to the Phil Noto art demonstration but it had been canceled, so we decided to stroll into the main ballroom and see what Joe Quesada and Marvel Comics had in store for us.

Quesada took center stage and went through a brief slideshow of some of Marvel’s comics, both old and new. There was a brief Q&A session, and then he introduced the “young gun” artists of Marvel. Finally, there was a second Q&A session. All told, the Marvel session lasted about an hour and a half.

In the slide show presentation, Quesada talked about the Marvel Knights line, the Ultimate line, the Supreme Powers universe (alternately referred to as the Supreme-verse and the Supreme Power-verse) and other Marvel titles. My favorite comment was when he stated that the Ultimates and Supreme Power were the “best team books” being published by Marvel. This seemed ironic given that there hasn’t been a new Ultimates issue published in the past year and there is no team in the Supreme Power book (unless you count Hyperion and naked-woman, or Doctor Spectrum and undersea-naked-woman as a team.)

He showed some finished pages from the Frank Cho illustrated issue of Marvel Knights Spider-Man and all I could think was “Look – Brandy with red hair! (Oops, it’s Mary Jane.)” They also showed a Shanna splash page and the Polite-Wife was amazed by the way the contents of her bikini top defied gravity.

The pages from Darrick Robertson’s Nightcrawler series looked spectacular and I hope the writing is as good as the art.

Quesada did announce a new series of What If? Specials. This will be a series of seven comics done as a fifth-week special in December. Regular readers will know that I am a fan of alternate histories, so I look forward to these books. While previous What If? tales often suffered from poor writing and art, it seems they’ve got it planned right this time with the regular writers and artists of the books involved on the specials. Titles include What If Jessica Jones joined the Avengers? (by Brian Bendis), What if Karen Page Had Not Died? (by Bendis and Kevin Smith – and Bendis promises to finish writing whatever Smith cannot.), What if Thunderbolt Ross became the Hulk? (by Peter David), What if Aunt May has been killed instead of Uncle Ben?, What If Magneto and Xavier Formed the X-Men Together? , What if Victor von Doom Became the Thing? and a special comedy issue.

Quesada was generally well-spoken, though Dan Buckley seemed to detract from the presentation as a behind-the-scenes comedian. The “young-guns” are all good artists, and many I enjoyed at CrossGen and DC, but I wondered if Marvel was putting as much emphasis on their “young gun” writers?

III. The Bendis Panel
After the Cup O’Joe panel, I meandered next door for Brian Bendis’s panel. He is the only comics creator I have seen who brought his own “posse” with him to his panel. I believe they were members of his online board, but they pretty much just sat or stood behind him on the stage and contributed next to nothing.

There has been a great deal of internet discussion regarding Bendis’s approach to writing dialogue. Let me just say that he talks exactly like he writes: short bursts of phrases with pauses in-between. Listening to him was like reading one of his comics.

As undoubtedly reported elsewhere, his “big announcement” was more of a statement of intent than anything else. He says that he would like to do a Daredevil/Batman crossover in a “noir” style. He states that he has lined up other big-name writers and artists for the project. He says that when he mentioned his idea to Marvel they said “fine.” The initial people he talked to at DC also agreed, but when it got to Paul Levitz he vetoed it, essentially saying that DC would not agree to another Marvel/DC crossover as long as Joe Quesada remained Editor-in-Chief of Marvel. Before you think this is just Bendis hyperbole, DC VP Bob Wayne showed up at the panel unannounced, reiterating that DC would like to do crossovers with Marvel, just not if Quesada is still at Marvel. In the military, we called what Bendis was doing “going outside the chain of command” and it was a good way to accomplish nothing other than peeve people off. I’m not sure it accomplished anything worthwhile here either.

Otherwise, he answered questions about his upcoming plans including what’s in store for Powers, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Daredevil. He spent more time on his plans for the Avengers and going over the new Avengers line-up. He also talked about the upcoming What If? specials and a possible Nick Fury series.

Arriving early for the second day of WizardWorld, the Polite-Wife and I were amazed at the incredible number of people who had clearly gotten there much earlier than us. Given the sheer size of the line for the “special event” tickets, we decided to forgo obtaining a ticket to Joss Whedon’s Q&A session (and we had no intention of attending Kevin Smith’s sessions). Instead of wasting time in line, we got a head start in the dealers’ room and were able to scour the 50-cent boxes before the crowd arrived and I managed to fill out my runs of Fate and Hourman. We also found a single not-too-expensive nice condition issue of Dr. Kildare I was missing and picked up some Christmas presents for the Polite-nephews.

At eleven, we settled into our seats for the DC Universe talk and watched DC VP Bob Wayne emcee a show highlighting a variety of ongoing and new DC projects. The biggest announcements were a new ongoing Hal Jordan Green Lantern series and a new Demon series by Pfeifer and Byrne. Many DC creators were there as well. Jeph Loeb and Geoff Johns provided comedy relief, but the highlight was Brian Azarello who had a wonderfully dry sense of humor and deadpan presentation. There were several quips about Bendis, with Wayne at one point saying they would need to remove an introduction he had penned for an upcoming trade paperback. The last portion of the DC presentation involved David Goyer who discussed his role in writing the upcoming Batman Begins film. It was also announced that a “special guest” in regards to the Batman movie would be at the Green Lantern panel later in the afternoon. Due to this, a special wristband would be needed to attend the panel and this band could only be obtained at the DC booth. At the end of the DCU panel, we swung by the DC booth, snuck through the mob, and escaped with two prized green wristbands.

After lunch (and a trip to Artists Alley to obtain a copy of Forsaken signed by its creators – extremely nice people), we attended the Marvel Universe panel. Hosted by Joe Quesada, the panel included Mark Millar, Brian Bendis, Robert Kirkman, Dan Buckley, Sean McKeever, Brian K. Vaughn and others. The news was essentially a repeat of the previous day’s Joe Quesada panel but seemed to focus more on the Ultimate line. An announcement was made of Peter David’s upcoming Hulk mini-series, though Quesada deftly avoided the question when asked about a new ongoing Hulk series. There was a pause when Bendis’s birthday was celebrated and the members of his board presented him with a gift: a grammar guide.

Immediately following the Marvel Universe panel was what was originally scheduled to be the Green Lantern panel. Now, however, it was a Green Lantern/Batman Begins panel. Due to the Batman Begins aspect, the audience had to be severely limited and so only attendees who acquired a special wristband from the DC booth were admitted. Unfortunately, this was a late decision and not noted in the program; the only way to find out was to have attended the DC Universe panel earlier in the morning. This led to quite a few upset Green Lantern fans who found out much too late about the wristbands.

Dan Didio, Peter Tomasi, Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Carlos Pacheco and Alex Sinclair each spoke about either the upcoming Green Lantern Rebirth or the new ongoing Green Lantern series. Johns was fairly close-mouthed, telling the audience that the Rebirth mini-series would “explain everything”. He did mention that the Green Lantern Corps would be reborn (including Killowog, though he seemed reluctant to admit anything regarding G’Nort); John Stewart would remain with the JLA; Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner were all said to “play an important part” in Rebirth, though nothing was said about any role in the ongoing series.

Van Sciver was more open, sharing other information about the Rebirth mini-series such as the involvement of Batman as “almost a villain” (much to the chagrin of Johns). Pacheco gave a moving speech about how important Green Lantern was and how much he looked forward to doing the series with Johns.

After a brief Green Lantern Q&A session, the doors were locked and Paul Levitz took the stage. The Batman Begins teaser trailer was shown. He introduced the three special guests: David Goyer, writer of Batman Begins, director Chris Nolan and Heidi Thomas, one of the producers. Nolan spoke about the film and all the thought and work that went in to getting Batman right. A good Q&A session followed, with surprisingly good questions and some excellent answers from Nolan before he had to leave to return to the film set currently shooting in Chicago. Next, the teaser trailer was shown again (third time today) and some “never before seen” clips from the movie were shown. Goyer stated that the scenes shown were just randomly collected clips, but they seemed a little too polished to me and I was wondering if we were shown an early cut of the next trailer.

The scenes shown included several training scenes, mostly of a martial arts nature. There was one involving training with Liam Neeson (Qui Jon?). There were several scenes showing a battle with a couple of thugs inside a warehouse. One scene showed overhead lights being put out by batman-symbol shaped darts. Another scene had Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) riding inside a military prototype vehicle with military style camouflage. Lucius turns to Bruce and asks him if he likes it. “Does it come in black?” replies Bruce and there was an immediate segue to scenes of the Batmobile racing through the city streets. There were several scenes of Katie Holmes, the last involving her chracter being knocked out by gas blown in her face by the Scarecrow (in a good scarecrow-style mask – but no hat). The movie clips looked very well done, and the eloquence of the director spoke well for the future of the film.

We arrived early again for the final day of WizardWorld as we learned that was the best time for hitting the Dealers’ Room and Exhibition area. I picked up some copies of Invincible and had Robert Kirkman sign them at the surprisingly small Image Comics booth. I also gave him two words of advice regarding his upcoming Marvel Team-Up series: Brother Voodoo.

We swung by the NC Soft booth and I managed to win a copy of City of Heroes and the accompanying strategy guide by proving that I know way too much about Black Goliath (thanks to a misspent youth of reading Marvel Two-In-One). I had been hinting that I wanted the game for Christmas, but now I get to play it sooner. We also picked up some Love Hina and Princess Ai at the TokyoPop booth for the Polite-Wife, and Planetes for me.

The first panel we attended today was the Marvel X-Men panel. Joe Quesada was emceeing and most of the X-creators were there including Mark Millar, Chris Claremont, and Joss Whedon. There were no real surprises at the panel: Wolverine is everywhere and Phoenix is returning. There was a promise that inter-universe continuity will be stressed more not only in the X-titles, but the entire Marvel Universe.

The Vertigo panel was fairly brief, since much of it was taken up with an extended clip from Constantine and a Q&A session with its director. There was mention of a new Grant Morrison Bollywood-based mini-series to be illustrated by Philip Bond. Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere story will be out as a nine-part mini-series adapted by Mike Carey. Lucifer will apparently end at issue #75, with the third of three “acts” just starting now. Issue #30 of Y: The Next Man will explain why Yorrick survived the plague, and then the characters will travel out of the United States. Several Hellblazer projects were announced to coincide with the February release of Constantine, including a Papa Midnite miniseries and an original graphic novel.

In terms of Constantine, the movie definitely has style. The clips certainly intrigued me, and Keanu Reeves actually held his own. The only part I really didn’t like was the scene when Constantine was shooting a combination cross/shotgun at a roomful of demons; the Constantine in the comics would never get his hands dirty in actual combat and the scene was too reminiscent of a first-person shooter. Otherwise, the clips mostly focused on his encounters with demons, conversations with Papa Midnite and his coping with the realization that he has lung cancer. In addition to the variety of demons shown (including one composed of swarming insects), there was also a scene with a slightly-feminine-but-mostly-androgynous archangel (I don’t remember which one. Michael? Gabriel? Airwolf?). While there were a few too many instances of monsters popping into the screen suddenly to startle the audience, there was a genuine feeling of dread and suspense instilled by the movie. It surprises me to say that I am now looking forward to seeing this movie, but I don’t think it will be for everyone.

Overall, we had a very good time at WizardWorld. I was able to find some hard-to-find comics and meet some nice people. I wish the panels had been more mixed and topically diverse rather than company presentations and I wanted to see more independent publishers in the exhibition room and on the panels. Still, it was a well-spent weekend and we’ll undoubtedly be back next year.

With apologies to Johanna, WizardWorld Chicago Panel Chick Check:

• Cup O’ Joe Panel – none
• Bendis Panel – none (sure, some of his “Bendis Board” entourage was female, but that hardly counts)
• DC Universe Panel – none
• Marvel Universe Panel – none
• Green Lantern/Batman Begins Panel – Heidi Thomas, one of the producers of Batman Begins was on the movie half of the panel. No comic professionals on the Green Lantern half.
• X-Men Panel – none
• Vertigo Panel -none

Panels not attended: Wildstorm Panel , Avengers Panel , Devil’s Due Panel .

True Story: At the Cup O’Joe panel, one of the audience asked about female creators. The reply: Fiona Avery is writing a book (Amazing Fantasy), and Samm Barnes is writing Doctor Spectrum and co-writing Strange. Another panel member chimed in: The cover artist of Runaways is female – and she illustrates manga covers too! (what does that have to do with Marvel?). Buckley added “7 of our 15 assistant editors are female; that’s half ” (and he was aware he was rounding up). Finally someone on the panel mentioned that Jill Thompson had worked for Marvel at one point, and so had Gail Simone. Examples given for Thompson’s work: Scary Godmother, and Death: At Death’s Door (hardly Marvel books). No examples were given for Simone’s work.

Was it only me, or were Marvel’s Quesada led panels all too remniscient of frat-boys discussing “booze and broads”? I thought I left all that behind in college.

And if I failed to mention it earlier, make sure to check out Steve Pheley’s (day 1, 2, and 3) tales of WizardWorld too!

The Tomorrow People was a British science fiction show that ran in the UK from 1973-1979. It was later shown in the US on Nickelodeon (long before they became a popular cable station); I remember watching the show daily after school in 1984-5.

The show was about a handful of young men and women who were the next step in evolution from Homo sapiens (hence the Tomorrow People name). They had mental abilities such as teleportation, telekenesis and telepathy. They lived in a secret undreground hideout run by a sentient robot named Tim. They had adventures not only on Earth, but across the galaxy as well.

The Tomorrow People was similar to Dr. Who in that each storyline consisted of a handful of 25-minute episodes. Each episode tended to have a cliffhanger ending. The production values were much worse than Dr. Who. There was one particular episode where the Tomorrow People were dealing with alien ambassadors — one looked like a cheap rubber bug suit and the other looked like a giant ice cream cone.

Most of the episodes were simplistic and full of science-fiction cliches, but still fun to watch in that automobile accident kind of way. There are two episodes that I remember best. The first dealt with the Tomorrow People traveling back to the Roman era to stop another time traveler from teaching the Romans steam power. Time paradox tales are always fun, and very hard to screw up (and they did OK here). Another episode dealth with the return of Hitler, who convinced British school boys to start a new Nazi party in England. Turns out that Hitler was really a mind-controlling alien. Thankfully the Tomorrow People stopped him (whew!).

Nickelodeon started their own version of the Tomorrow People in the mid-90’s, but I was in medical school thenand free time was just a dream to me (I once read an article that reported that the average third-year medical student gets 20 minutes of sunlight a day, and I remember thinking “When?”)

A new flier came in the mail today from the Science Fiction Book Club. Flipping through it, I see that S.M. Stirling has a new book out: Dies the Fire. It is the first book in a projected trilogy. Three of his previous books (Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Sea of Time and On the Oceans of Eternity) deal with the Island of Nantucket, which has been thrown back in time to 1250 B.C. Dies the Fire is set in the world that Nantucket left behind when it slipped back in time.

Stirling’s books are always fun reads, particularly those that utilize an alternate history. His plots are always complicated but historically sound. While I recommend all of his books, I particularly recommend The Peshawar Lancers and Conquistador. The Peshawar Lancers taked place in a world where the British Isles were destroyed by a meteor and India has become the heart of the new British Empire. The plot deals with the British Heir Apparent, the Royal Princess and her French suitor. The main characters, though, are an aristocratic brother and sister. He is a captain in the Peshawar Lancers and she is a brilliant research scientist. Together with the Royal Heirs, plus friends — both savory and unsavory — they ateempt to save the Empire from a Russian plot and assasination attempt.

Conquistador takes place in two worlds. The first is essentially identical to ours (except Pocohontas lived to bear children to John Rolfe). The second is an uninhabited Earth discovered by a member of the Rolfe family after World War II. This family and their friends have been slowly increasing their wealth by using the resources of the second world. Two game wardens stumble onto the secret of the alternate earth and are kidnapped to it, only to find themselves in the middle of an armed rebellion on that world.

Stirling has an informative, if bland, website here.

As it’s the last night of my vacation (sigh), I’m going to take it easy by watching the Olympics and reading some of the books I bought at Wizard World (Invincible, Planetes and Princess Ai for starters).

This weekend I’ll tackle City of Heroes so that I can add my name to list over at Ringwood.

And remember if anyone talks or corresponds with Robert Kirkman: Brother Voodoo. If Bendis can start his own grass-roots movement, then so can I!

Family Matters collects issues #1-4 of Invincible, published by Image Comics. Invincible is an unapologetic super-hero tale. It doesn’t aim to take the genre in a new direction. It makes no pretenses of deeper meaning. It simply aims to tell an exciting and compelling super-hero tale, and in that it succeeds brilliantly.

Invincible takes place in an already populated super-hero universe. The world is protected by several groups of heroes such as the multi-national Guardians of the Globe. The most powerful single superhero is Omni-Man, who just happens to be the father of Mark Grayson, the protagonist of Invincible. Mark is a high school senior; he does well academically and flips burgers after school because his father tells him that it builds character. Then one afternoon his super-powers kick in unexpectedly while taking out the trash at work. This is no real surprise to him as his father talked with him years before about this (in a hilarious scene where his father explains not only super-powers but also puberty to a young Mark).

Mark takes to the streets and breaks up a robbery. Chuckling at his son’s costume, his father takes him to a special tailor to get a better costume made (a costume that he wants to be “iconic”). Soon after, he encounters the Teen Team and helps them break-up a robbery (in another good scene where he’s wearing only his pajamas).

Teaming up with his father, he defeats an alien invasion. Later, working with Teen Team members Atom Eve and Robot, he succeeds in discovering who has kidnapped students from his high school and turned then into living bombs.

Writer Robert Kirkman understands the conventions of the genre and uses them to his advantage. While his story will appeal to all readers, it is tailored to the experienced super-hero readers as they will get the most from the unspoken aspects of the story.

There are no unnecessary long explanations or expositions. When Mark’s father realizes he has to write a book for his publisher during the weekend, he tells his wife to pick up some extra keyboards. The reason is never explicitly stated; it is left up for the reader to understand why. (Imagine if Claremont had written that bit of dialogue: “Given that my typing my best-selling novels at super-speeds wears out and breaks ordinary computer keyboards, I will need you to journey to Best Buy and purchase a dozen keyboards that can withstand the blazing speeds of my powerful fingers!”)

Kirkman writes excellent dialogue. Each character speaks in a unique voice. He captures the voice of teen-agers without coming off as an adult trying to sound hip. Mark’s parents speak like parents when talking to each other as well as when speaking to Mark. My favorite is the high school principle at the student assembly who sounds just like my high school principle as he explicitly enumerates where everyone is to go after the assembly.

The art is simple, clean and bright and complements the story perfectly. Cory Walker’s pencils are accented by the bright colors of Bill Crabtree. Watch for character cameos in the background, including Charlie Brown and Bill (from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure).

The extras included in the trade paperback are nice. There are pages and pages of preliminary sketches, all nicely annotated by Kirkman.

Eight is Enough, the second volume of Invincible, continues with some story threads started in the first volume (and has another title based on an old TV show). In the first story, Mark heads to space to defeat a menacing alien as his father is tied up with another mission. In succeeding, Mark shows that his brains are at least as good as his brawn.

Next, after a round-the-world game of catch with his father, Mark and his friend William visit a nearby college they are considering attending. At the Teen Team headquarters, Robot has been invited to try out for a bigger team, and Atom Eve makes an uncomfortable discovery about her boyfriend, Rex Splode. We are introduced briefly to the Guardians of the Globe, a transparent copy of the Justice League. My favorite is Aquarus, the fish-headed hero of Atlantis.

The art changes in the third issue of the collection. It is noticeable, but fits in well as a different artist draws the pages for each member of the Guardians of the Globe. A new penciler takes over in the final issue, but the transition is smooth.

Like the previous volume, Kirkman’s strengths as a writer of dialogue and master of understated action are apparent here. The only major weakness of this collection is that it is “all middle.” There is no underlying storyline connecting these issues, in fact most of them are clearly setting up events to come later. Even with that flaw (readily acknowledged by the writer), this is remains good book to read. I look forward to Book 3: Perfect Strangers.

And remember, everyone tell Robert Kirkman: Brother Voodoo in Marvel Team-Up!

Starjammers is a surprising fun comic that does a good job of telling a classic space opera tale. There is the beautiful and determined princess, the evil royal advisor and the brash young space cadet. There is the splendor of the royal courtiers contrasting with the rough and tumble Starjammer pirates. In traditional space opera style, battles are fought with swords and side arms and erupt across the entire ship. While battle and political intrigue run rampant, a loyal retainer does whatever she can to save the princess’s life. As I said, classic pulpy space opera.

Kevin Anderson’s script, while not spectacular, is fun in a B-movie kind of way. The art does a good job of conveying the action and is well drawn, if a bit two-dimensional. Ale Garza’s art on the first issue is superior to Jorge Lucas’s in the second (due mostly to cleaner inking in the first issue). While Raza and Ch’od are present, they are the only Starjammers I recognize; the rest of the pirate crew are sentient plants known as Thorns.

If you enjoy old-style space opera, you’ll find much to like in Starjammers. If this sort of science fiction romp is not your style, then it wouldn’t be worth your money…borrow the trade from a friend or library.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 “Down Among the Dead Men, part four”
Mark Millar, writer
Terry Dodson, penciler

In Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4, Peter Parker is lying bruised and beaten in his hospital bed as an enraged Vulture stalks toward him. Peter starts hallucinating and his subconscious, in the form of Aunt May, tells him “This is just the Midazolam the doctors prescribed inducing mild hallucinations.”

Midazolam (also known as Versed) is an injectable sedative in the same family as Valium. It certainly can cause hallucinations, though the narcotic painkillers that Peter is on would be a much more likely cause of his hallucinations (or they could be due to the head injury he suffered). However, he should not be on Versed in the first place. It is a strong drug that is only indicated for sedation during surgical procedures and in patients being carefully monitored in the ICU. It requires continuous oxygen monitoring, frequent vital sign checks, and an IV drip. Peter is not in the ICU and is not undergoing a procedure. The only IV in the room is running blood. Though there was a nurse in the room, there is no indication that Peter’s vitals and oxygen levels are being checked. If sedation is required, there are much better choices in his situation than midazolam.

As a nitpick, I would point out that hallucinating a person who isn’t there talking to you is not a mild hallucination; it’s a pretty significant one.

Later in the same issue, the Owl and his “associate” Dr. Winkler have captured Electro. The Owl informs Electro that the doctor has injected him with haloperidol in order to neutralize his shocks. He also informs Electro that the drug has neutralized all his motor functions but that his brain can still register pain.

Haloperidol (also known as Haldol) is an antipsychotic drug in the phenothiazine family; it is also a major tranquilizer. I have no idea how it would affect superpowers, but it seems reasonable that a drug acting on the brain would could suppress them. In the correct dosage, haloperidol can certainly slow down – if not entirely arrest – voluntary motor function. Note that this is voluntary muscle movement, as opposed to all muscle movement; the patient will still have involuntary muscle motions, such as breathing and a beating heart. The Owl is correct that patients on haloperidol can still feel pain. But if Electro has been injected with haloperidol, then why is he able to not only turn his head but also speak? Talking is an entirely voluntary motion utilizing several muscles. Doctor Winkler better re-check his dose.

I also take issue with Dr. Winkler shining a light in Electro’s eyes and saying “His eyes are reacting to the light, Mister Owl. I think he’s waking up.” First it’s way too obsequious. Second, it’s just plain wrong. A person who is asleep or unconscious will still have normal pupil responses unless they’ve suffered neurological damage. Pupils reacting to light have nothing to do with “waking up.” The Owl definitely needs a new doctor.

A previous medical review of Marvel Knights Spider-Man issues #2 and #3 can be found here.

The panels featuring the Owl and the fawining (and apparently incompetent) Dr. Winkler can be found below:
Read more…

Realizing that Image’s Invincible is using TV show names as the titles of its trade paperbacks (Family Matters, Eight is Enough and the upcoming Perfect Strangers), I started pondering what other TV show names would make good titles for comic trade collections.

Here’s the names I came up with. Some are serious, most are less so (I only used sit-com titles):

• The 70’s Show – Marvel’s new Phoenix Returns mini-series.
• Everybody Loves Raymond – perfect for a collection of the new Firestorm series.
• Taxi - Moonknight .
• Cheers - a good title for the final issues of Invincible (suggested by Chris Galdieri).
• Bosom Buddies - Emma Frost , particularly if you include those Greg Horn covers.
• The Honeymooners - The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix .
• Growing Pains - The Atom .
• According to Jim - Any book published by Marvel when Jim Shooter was Editor-in-Chief.
• Family Affair - Strangers in Paradise .
• Just Shoot Me - What better name could there be for the Cable/Deadpool collection?
• My Wife and Kids - Animal Man (the Grant Morrison run).
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? – Any book with dialogue by Bendis.
• Amen - A perfect title for the last collection of Preacher .
• Boy Meets World - The Ray mini-series.
• Gene Rodenberry’s Andromeda – That’s not a comedy? Never mind then…

Isn’t the music that NBC is using as it goes to and comes back from commercials the theme from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr? Not the actual Olympic theme; I’m talking about the other piece they’re using. It sounds suspiciously familiar to me.

(For wonderful Olympic news and views, make sure you check out Tom the Dog here and here . While I too find dressage boring and pretentious, I still prefer it to pair synchronized swimming which is pretentious, boring, and interminable.)

I have been conned into giving volunteered to give a talk at the hospital health fair tomorrow. It’s only a 30-minute talk, so hopefully it won’t be too bad. I’ll be talking about summer-related medical conditions, including sunburns, poison ivy and bug bites. I have lots of nice pictures of spiders and mosquitoes to show (heh, heh).

I hate long boring medical talks because presenters tend to talk slowly and monotonally and drag everything down to a horrifying end; I’m usually asleep halfway through (once they dim those lights, I’m in trouble!) I like to keep my talks light, so I usually throw in some good pictures of classic comic book covers. I teach a little bit about the history of comics in addition to whatever medical topic I’m discussing. (Given the probable age of the audience tomorrow, I think I’ll stick to the Golden Age. Who knows, maybe someone will have a copy of Action Comics #1 in their basement that they don’t want…)

I gave a long talk to a national pharmacists convention last year, peppering my PowerPoint slides with both Golden Age and Silver Age art. When I was done, I asked for questions. I got asked about 4 question in regards to the topic (Deployment Medicine) and at least 15 comic book questions. There are more individuals interested in comic books out there than most people realize, they just need a little push to know there are others like them.

UPDATE (21 Aug, noon): Well that was a bust. The whole health fair was sparsely attended, maybe forty or fifty people. My talk, which they held in the basement, attracted 3 people. Yep, three. Not enough to form a hockey team. That averages out to about 2 hours of prep per person. Frustrating to be surem, but not a total loss as it’s a good speech, and one I’ll be able to reuse later.

I was looking forward to this episode of JLU as I am a huge Hawk and Dove fan in all their incarnations (well, except that awful Mike Baron mini-series a few years ago). This episode stars a peeved Wonder Woman* who is sent along with brothers Hank and Don Hall (i.e. Hawk and Dove) to a small war-torn country. It turns out that the war god Ares has been inciting each side against the other, along with providing a super-powerful god-forged combat robot to cause massive death and destruction.

At first it struck me as unwise that the JLU would send such relatively low powered heroes like Hawk and Dove into such a dangerous area. Certainly more uber-powerful heroes such as Superman or Captain Atom would do better in a war zone. However Hawk and Dove are not in the story to provide power, but instead to act as foils for the whole concept of war. In this, they hold true to their original Ditko creation: Don is the liberal peacenik while Hank is the right-wing umm…hawk. While Dove ultimately saves the day by defeating the robot through peace, the ending makes it clear that the war is not over, just delayed.

While I prefer the male/female Hawk and Dove written by the Kesels, the original brother concept works better in this episode by adding more weight to the Hank-Don, Hawk-Dove, War-Peace conflict. I hope to see more Hawk and Dove in the JLU, but preferably as super-heroes next time instead of just metaphors.

*NOTES:

• Actual quote from the Polite-Wife, “Is Wonder Woman PMS-ing?” Tell me, how does a loving husband answer that question? (My answer: “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, dear.”)
• To the producers: Please stop using that horrible generic rock-opera music in the title. Thankfully, I didn’t notice it as much as incidental music this episode. Please go back to the original musical score.

Pica is one the more interesting medical conditions a physician can encounter. Technically, pica is the eating of non-food items such as paint chips, dirt, soap, and other similar substances. Eating ice is one of the more common types of pica. Not the casual crunching on ice after finishing a drink, but instead purposefully eating ice as a meal. I also consider severely abnormal eating habits and bad food cravings a form of pica as well. A doctor who looks just for “non-food items” instead of unusual eating habits will miss a lot of patients with this diagnosis.

While pica can be associated with many medical conditions, there is no single clear cause. I have seen it associated with iron deficiency anemia most commonly, but it seems to be a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. Did the pica lead to the anemia, or does the anemia lead to the pica? I’ve seen it both ways.

While seeing patients in a military hospital during medical school, I was introduced to a very nice elderly lady who was in the hospital for hip-replacement surgery. When she was in the hospital, it was discovered that she had a significant anemia. On careful questioning (a medical student specialty), she admitted to eating iceberg lettuce, three meals a day, because it was a vegetable and therefore “healthy.” Never mind that iceberg lettuce is the nutritional equivalent of cardboard. In this case, her anemia was certainly caused by her pica.

Several years later during residency, I was having a discussion about nutrition with a patient. It was just a general discussion that I like to have with patients about healthy eating. She mentioned that about twenty years ago in an effort to gain some weight she had started eating starch. I pictured her eating spoonfuls of cornstarch, but she helpfully dug in her purse and came up with a box of laundry starch. For the past twenty years she had been eating laundry starch two meals or three meals a day. I checked a blood count on her and found the lowest levels of hemoglobin I have ever seen in a living person. It was one-third the normal level, well below the usual transfusion threshold. She had been living comfortably at this level for years and her body had become used to it. Another case of the pica causing the anemia, and a difficult case as well because she refused to stop eating the laundry starch.

About six months ago, I was having a routine visit with one of my patients to follow up on her high blood pressure. In the middle of our discussion, she reached into her purse and pulled out a jar of Vlassic pickles. She opened it and started munching on them in the exam room right in front of me. This struck me as bizarre and definitely not a normal eating habit. She mentioned that though she ate three good meals a day, she had been craving pickles “something fierce” for the past several months. Since I was drawing some blood anyway, I checked her hemoglobin and found a serious anemia. In this case, I didn’t feel that the pica alone could explain her anemia. The most common causes of anemia are nutritional deficiency and blood loss. Since she had normal eating habits (other than the pickles), blood loss seemed a more likely reason for the anemia. Because the gastrointestinal tract is the most common source of blood loss, I arranged a colonoscopy for her. And there was the answer. She had a large bleeding colon cancer, which has since been successfully removed surgically. In this case, the anemia seemed to be causing the pica instead of the other way around.

I bring this topic up because this patient came back to see me for a six-month follow-up. She’s not eating pickles now. Instead, she’s drinking carrot juice three meals a day – often instead of eating a normal meal. Now I have to wonder all over again is this pica or just poor nutrition?

More information on pica is available here.

Paizo, publisher of the Dragon, Dungeon, and Undefeated magazines, has started to publish a new version of the venerable Amazing Stories magazine. The numbering takes up where previous volumes left off, so #603 (September 2004) is their first issue, and #604 (October 2004) is their second. This new take on Amazing Stories aims to cover every aspect of the “stories” of fantasy, science-fiction and horror.

The magazine is standard sized, 82-86 pages long and square-bound. Each issue sports a photo cover and $5.99 cover price. The presentation is up to Paizo’s usual high production standards with full color pages and plenty of original illustrations. The ads are kept to a minimum and most are house ads for other Paizo magazines.

There are a few typos and editing errors in both issues, but nothing serious except in the Robert Silverberg interview in the premier issue where the graphics obscure entire words in several places.

Each Amazing Stories issue is divided into four sections. The first section deals with previews of upcoming movies, books and TV shows. The second section contains a variety of original articles. The third section contains a handful of short stories and the last section of the magazine contains reviews of a variety of media.

The previews are well-written and informative, but there are several that are about shows or movies long passed. This doesn’t matter as much in terms of books or music, but what is the sense of reading a preview of a television mini-series that aired two months ago? This problem is cleared up greatly by the second issue. The first portion of the magazine also contains a letter column as well as some mostly forgettable cartoons, though John Kovalic’s Redshirts looks promising.

The original articles in the magazine cover a wide rand of topics. The first issue contains articles on the new Batman movie and another about super-hero movies in general. There are two outstanding articles in the first issue. The first is about the Twilight Zone radio show and the second concerns Dabel Brothers Productions converting fantasy novels into comic books, focusing primarily on the Hedge Knight. This section ends with a reflective interview with Robert Silverberg.

The second issue has articles about R.A. Salvatore’s contributions to a new Forgotten Realms video game and a look at Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The best articles in this issue are the interviews. One is a discussion with Ray Bradbury and the second is about Richard and Wendy Pini, creators of ElfQuest. There is also a lengthy look at the fantastic and science fiction shows in the upcoming TV schedule.

The weakest part of the first issue was the short stories. The authors are just not able to do much with 3-5 pages each. The best is Timothy Zahn’s story about a future prison; it has some intriguing ideas but a clich餠ending. Each story features a page of opening art of varying style. Unfortunately, the illustrations hinder several of the stories (particularly the ones by Bruce Sterling and Gene Wolfe) rather than allow the reader to draw their own conclusions. The final story of each issue is based on a clever idea (for short stories, that is; it’s an old idea in comic books). A well-known author is given a picture and must write a short story based on the illustration, rather than the other way around. The first issue contains a 200-word story by none other than Harlan Ellison. It is an ambitious story given its obvious limitations. Far better is Neil Gaiman’s introduction to Ellison’s story.

The stories in the second issue are much better. Patrick Weekes writes an enjoyable narrative exploring the fantasy clich頯f the talking sword and Mike Resnick has a clever tale about the perils of dealing with aliens. The third story by Larry Tritten is the weakest of the stories, but still an enjoyable read. It reminds me of some of Spider Robinson’s Callahan tales. In this issue, Joe Haldeman tackles the final story and concocts a fascinating tale based on an image by David Rankin.

Both issues contain a wide collection of reviews. Many different media are considered including books, comics (single issues and collections), DVD collections, movies and music. There are some problems with timeliness again as some movies are reviewed long after they’ve left the theaters. The reviews seem mostly accurate (to my taste anyway – your mileage may vary) and are long enough to give the reader a good taste of the piece without giving too much away. As an added bonus, each review is appended with a suggestion of three other similar works the reader may also enjoy. It’s a clever idea and has opened my eyes to several books I might have otherwise missed. The magazine also contains special reviews of some older and more obscure genre movies that have probably never been examined elsewhere.

The new Amazing Stories magazine is an ambitious project. It aims to cover all aspects of fantasy, horror and science-fiction. Each issue is a pleasant evening’s diversion, but not much more than that. By attempting to cover so much, some areas of the magazine seem very superficial. This is particularly true in regards to the short stories, which is unfortunate as that is what Amazing Stories has built its reputation on. The magazine certainly has some clever ideas and excellent production values, but may be too shallow for the casual fan at its current price and page count.

It was brought to my attention recently that Tenzil Kem (Matter-Eater-Lad) surely suffers from pica. This made me wonder what other medical conditions occur members of the Legion of Super-Heroes might suffer from. Looking closely ath the membership roster, I noticed a few physical diagnoses. However, what surprised me was the sheer number of pyschiatric disorders within the group. It certainly brought certain characters behaviors into a new light…

"Classic" Legion (not otherwise covered above)

"Five Years Later" Legion

Selected Villains and Supporting Characters

There’s so many medical issues that it’s no wonder that poor Dr. Gym’ll needs four arms.! It also makes me realize that the Legion of Super-Heroes would be the perfect setting for an after school special (”Oh, Ayla, I can’t go outside. All the boys will laugh at me!”). But that’s a topic for another day….

One of my guiltiest reading pleasures is Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. These stories take place is a world nearly identical to ours except that vampires, werewolves, and other such creatures exist and have their full share of legal rights. In her day job (or night job in her case), Anita is an Animator – someone who can raise the dead. This is mostly done for legal reasons (contested wills, for instance), but some of her clients have more nefarious purposes. In addition, she is also one of the few legally sanctioned vampire hunters, and she has killed more vampires than any other hunter. She frequently works for the police on supernatural crimes. Ironically, she finds herself taking the vampire’s side more often than not. Recently, Anita has found herself siding with the vampire Master of the City in certain political intrigues. This has ultimately led to a romantic relationship with the city’s head vampire. She also finds herself in a relationship with the alpha-male of the local werewolf pack (who just happens to be a high school teacher by day). Who said romance was dead?

The series took a few books to get started, but by the third book (Circus of the Damned) it was in full swing. Unfortunately, the last several books (Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, and Cerulean Blue) have veered too much toward soap opera and cheap thrills while ignoring the best aspects of the stories.

One of my favorite aspects of the books is that they mostly take place in St. Louis, a city I am intimately familiar with, having attended both college and medical school there.

You know that motorized scooter retailer that advertises on TV? The one that tagets it’s advertising to frail older people? The one that says they’ll help you get a scooter no matter what insurance you have?

I’m sure the patient’s love them, but they’ve moved to the top of my list (right above Barney, the Power Rangers, and people who talk on cell phones in the theater.)

The son of one of our patient called them about a scooter for his mother. Now, she doesn’t want one. She thinks she gets aroud just fine with her cane (and she does). But this this scooter place has been calling every day for the past two weeks. Three times a day.
SHE. DOES. NOT. WANT. A. SCOOTER!

Just a brief note on the Ultimate Fantastic Four. I find myself enjoying the Doom story arc more than I thought I would (though now I keep a close eye on my MP3 player).

I like the fact that writer Warren Ellis has acknowledged some of the medical aspects of the team’s powers. For instance, the Thing doesn’t seem to breathe or sweat. Reed doesn’t have set internal organs, just a malleable bag of bacteria. It shows Ellis has put some definite thought into an often overlooked aspect of the team.

Plus any book that can use the phrase “ninja rubber-band death attack move” with a straight face has my attention.

Remember those cheesy morality plays ABC called “After-School Specials“? (though my school taped them and played them during the day). Trying to figure out the neuroses of the Legion of Super-Heroes made me realize that they’d be perfect for one of those specials. So, here is the Legion of Super-Heroes After-School Special. Cue theme music! Cue overly-sentimental message-heavy plot! Cue teen actors! Roll it!
Read more…

It’s near the end of the month and I’m feeling lazy after last night’s PhotoShop session. Instead of a real post I thought I’d just list some of the funnier searches that have led people to Polite Dissent over the past month. They are presented in no particular order…

super pubic catheter My most common search from month to month. I should never have shared my story about the foley catheter. Anyway people, you’re looking for “suprapubic catheter” – big difference.

zatanna culottes Somehow I’ve become the number one Google search for “zatanna culottes” (and the only one too). I’m not sure how that happened. Anyway, I’ve included a picture of Zatanna in culottes to keep everyone happy.

black canary huntress adult art There’s none here, but when you find some, let me know.

tusky the walrus Thanks to S.P.L.A.SH., this is another one of my most common searches. Even have Laura beat on this one…

in the movie better off dead what was the name of lanes younger brother? Badger.

eating laundry starch Not recommended.

brisco county olympic music See, I wasn’t the only one to notice.

post flatline vitals There are none.

wildcat jsa Hmmm…somebody’s searching for wildcat? Who could that be?

crack knarly mazes Knarly Mazes is a fun puzzle game available here. It’s not hard to beat; you don’t need a crack. First, remove all the “0” tiles, followed by any “2” tiles in the corners and any “1” tiles along the edges. Place a wall wherever any “3” tile touches another “3” tile. That should give you more than enough to finish the puzzle.

dr strange symbol window Check out Neilalien, they’re all over the place.

sweating housewives in latex I’ve used the word “in” on several occasions, but I’m not sure the other words have ever been used on this blog (well, until now).

marvel comics nfl super pro Heh, heh, heh. Somewhere, somebody is seaching for every sucky comic. (Got several searched for “Vortex comics” too).

graeme mcmillan in the wee I don’t know which is stranger: that someone would be searching for this, or that the search led them here. (Don’t worry Graeme, I’ve destroyed all the negatives.)

UPDATE: If you search for “zatanna culotte” instead of “zatanna culottes” you get…yes, you guessed it: porn!
Can you even have one culotte? Isn’t that like wearing a short?

Yesterday, I was up in the front part of the clinic using the copier while a patient I had just seen was checking out. She had her 4 year-old daughter with her who was very excited to get back to pre-school so she could play with her friend Apollonia.
“Apollonia,” I said. “Wasn’t that the girl in Purple Rain?”
Everybody just looked at me blankly.
“You know, the Prince movie, Purple Rain.” No response; not even a flicker of recognition. I slunk back to my office realizing once again that my junor high and high school memories are no longer even considered culturally relavent. I Love the 80’s needs to become required watching for all high school students.(I’m just grateful I didn’t mention Grafitti Bridge…)

UPDATE (5:15pm): Came home after work, turned on the TV, and there was Purple Rain, on VH1 (better known in my house as the Grease Channel)

I was going to write a cutting and insightful critique of the Marvel Comics mini-series Witches. But then I read it. So instead, I think I’ll just sum up my thoughts about the comic by simply listing the important things I learned from Witches:

• The fewer clothes you wear, the better a witch you are (the opposite holds true for males, where the more clothes the better).
• Your worst enemies are always relatives.
• By quitting the team and striking out on your own, you’ll manage to stumble upon a major plot point before anyone else.
• Reading books is dangerous.
• Tattoos are cool.
• People named Illyana have common Russian last names like … Kale.
• Capes and scarves do not need to obey the laws of gravity.
  (Or: Sorcerers and Witches always have a wind blowing from behind them.)
• You can shoot someone dead by just pointing a finger at them.
• Satan’s first name is Lou (though anyone who watched Angel Heart should already know this).
• Evil magic is pink. Good magic is yellow. Lesbian magic is purple.
• Condescension never goes out of style.
• Monsters breathe loudly.

“This Little Piggy” was an enchanting and light-hearted episode of Justice League Unlimited. Batman, Wonder Woman (more or less) and Zatanna were the stars, with an assist from Bwana Beast and cameos by Red Tornado, the Elongated Man (in his is silver/purple costume) and the original Crimson Avenger.

As the story begins, Batman and Wonder Woman flirt a little on a stakeout, then stop a prowler who is actually the immortal sorceress Circe. Circe has a grudge agains Wonder Woman’s mother, but promised never to harm her, so instead turns Wonder Womann into a pig (imagine Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web, but with bracelets). Batman seeks mystical help from Zatanna. The show hints that there was once a romance between these two, but no longer. Zatanna looked was in her top hat and fishnet outfit and her backwards-speaking magic survived the translation to television well.

As Zatanna casts a spell, the Wonder Pig escapes and Batman enlists Bwana Beast (who sounds too much like Joey Buttafuoco) to help track her down. There is other help as well. In the show’s funniest scene, Red Tornado is walking down the street calling “Sooee” in his mechanical non-inflected voice. The Elongated Man and the Crimson Avenger go door to door (or window to window in Ralph’s case) looking for the pig as well.

I’s love to discuss the rest of the plot, but can’t without giving too much away, so watch it yourself. This episode is good for several days’ worth of chuckles.

The good news is that Doctor Spectrum has twice as much plot and action as an issue of Supreme Power. The bad news is that at least half the story has already been told there.

Travel Foreman’s art is clean and attractive; it is inked and colored well. He’s not Gary Frank, but he certainly holds his own.

The story by Samm Barnes retells the events when Corporal Joe Ledger first begins using the alien crystal. It also shows what happens when the crystal bonds to him, both physically and mentally. There is a distinct flavor of Deep Space Nine’s first episode (Emissary, for any other DS9 geeks), where Commander Sisko is trapped inside the crystal orb. Like Sisko, Ledger’s consciousness is trapped inside the crystal and confronted by his own memories and by the crystal communicating through figures from his past. This serves as an effective way of telling some of Ledger’s backstory without getting bogged down in too many momentum-destroying flashbacks.

Overall, the art was quite attractive and the story good if not ground breaking. The pace is a little slow, particularly given that most of the plot has been covered almost identically in Supreme Power. Hopefully later issues will provide the reader with more original storytelling. If you liked Supreme Power, you’ll like this. If you didn’t, then you probably won’t.

A few nitpicks:

• Ledger’s Rank of corporal has always bothered me. That’s a low rank, especially for someone of his age and someone entrusted with a top secret weapon (remember that Radar O’Reilly was a corporal). In one flashback he is referred to as “Sarge”, which suggests he held a higher rank at one point and has been demoted. Again, not behavior one commonly rewards with classified weapons. I’m optimistic that this will be explained sometime in this series.
• The medics who respond to an emergency at a classified military weapon test are civilians? This is most likely a miscue on the part of the artist, as the comments of one of the EMTs suggests that he is actually a military medic bucking for promotion. The doctor that is there, while not military, is clearly associated with the government; more evidence that the medics are supposed to be military.
• The medical scenes are good for the most part. I do quibble that the medic who is reporting the vitals is not the one taking them, and referring to a pulse of 170 as “rapid” is redundant. There is also one scene in the back of the ambulance where Ledger’s oxygen mask is hooked up to the IV bag (it’s fine the rest of the time).

Smaller Countries Do Poorly In Olympics
Ash Sutton, reporter

ATHENS , Aug 29 (Independent News Channel) — The Olympics are an important symbol of peace not only to the large powers of the world, but also to the smaller nations. While everyone knows that the United States, Russia and China dominated the medals in the Athens Olympics, how did the smaller, more obscure countries fare? Intrepid reporter Ash Sutton traveled to Athens and beyond to get INC this exclusive report.

“Clearly things did not go as well as we had hoped at the Olympics this year,” said Latverian spokesman Boris. “But that is no real surprise given the turmoil in our country this year. Our rightful ruler has disappeared, the Fantastic Four unlawfully usurped power, and now we’re under the control of the United Nations.” As an afterthought, he added, “Frankly, Latveria hasn’t done well in the Olympics since the Peasant Toss was dropped as an event.”

Khandaq’s sole athlete easily won the gold medal in the men’s 105 kg-class weight lifting, but later was stripped of the medal after it was determined that the athlete had benefited from utilizing the Strength of Ammon. “Mystical enhancements are not allowed,” said IOC spokesman Dr. Stephen Strange. “It doesn’t take the Wisdom of Zehuti to know that.” Ruler of Khandaq (and the athlete in question) Black Adam appealed to the Olympic committee but was resoundingly rebuffed. He gave reporters a terse “no comment” before flying off back to Khandaq.

Surprisingly, the desert nation of Bialya was able to win a gold medal in men’s kayaking. Conversely, the Bialyan soccer team was trounced 13-0 by Luxembourg’s three man team and later disappeared from the Olympic Village. Rumors are evenly split over whether they defected or were executed.

Despite bringing a full complement of athletes, Zandia was not able to participate in the Athens Olympics after 100% of their team tested positive for illegal substances.

Another force missing from the Olympics this year was the strength of the underwater empires of Atlantis and Poseidonis. Aquaman, when reached for comment at his current headquarters in San Diego stated that although his nation would normally have attended, recent events along the west coast of North America have made that impossible this year.

Namor, ruler of Atlantis, stated that his people did not attend as they were not invited. He went on to say that this was just another smear on the good name of Atlantis and a further example of the disregard the surface dwellers show for his sovereign kingdom.

Finally, Grodd, ruler of the legendary Gorilla City contacted this reporter shortly before this article went to press. “We are grossly insulted that the denizens of Gorilla City were not invited to this year’s Olympics. Clearly it is because the nations of mankind fear that our Gorilla athletes would put them to shame, if not eat them.” Grodd then added that he hopes to see Beijing in four years.

Somewhere in my years of attending conventions, I began to enjoy filk music. I’m picky about my filk and won’t listen to just any singer. I like clever lyrics and memorable melodies. A sense of humor helps as well.

Heather Alexander is my favorite filk/folk singer. She does a good mix of classic songs plus original compositions. The Polite-Wife and I attended her first Las Vegas show in a small restaurant known as the Iowa Caf鮠 There were at least three times as many people in attendance as seats; thankfully no fire marshals stopped by. Favorite songs include Wanderlust (off the album of the same name), Neverland (also off Wanderlust), Life’s Flame (off Life’s Flame), and Heather on the Moor (the best version is off her cassette-only album Heather Alexander Live!).

Tom Smith is another favorite. His concert is the highlight of our annual trip to Millennicon (for the Polite-Wife, at least. My favorite part is the Anime Room where I can catch up on several months’ worth of fan subs). His newest album (And They Say I’ve Got Talent) is soon to be released, but if you pre-order it you can download the MP3 tracks now. I’ve listened through it a few times tonight, and I can say that the presentation and recordings are more polished than previous albums. The album seems more cynical than previous recordings and a little more political. That being said, the songs are still first class and great to listen to. Highlights include the title song, The Illuminati Polka, Trans Poly U Fight Song (for all you Girl Genius fans), Rock Me Amidala and the Talk Like a Pirate Day Theme.

Urban Tapestry is another great filk group. A female trio from Canada, their songs are cleverly written and great to sing along with. Myths and Urban Legends was their first album, and their second album, Sushi and High Tea, is a live concert album. My favorites are I Love the Morning and Leftovers, both on the first album.

Finally, Bedlam Bards is another great filk band. What they may lack in polish they make up in enthusiasm and spirit. They sing my favorite version of Bedlam Boys, a folk standard. Furious Fancies is their best album.

What are you reading this for? Run over to Cognitive Dissonance and enter Johanna’s Fallen Angel contest. Fallen Angel is a wonderful comic: dark setting, intriguing characters and dry humor all mixed into a fascinating read. If you haven’t read it yet, pick up the trade (or enter Johanna’s contest).

As a sobering fact, the rightfully maligned and critically-panned mini-series Witches sold more than twice as many copies per month as Fallen Angel. If you bought Witches, read it, or even know someone who did, your only chance to redeem your karma is to purchase and read Fallen Angel.

Speaking of contests, the International Comics Art Association is having a raffle for a more Spider-Man goodies than any one person could want. Tickets are available by mail or PayPal and go to support a good cause.

With most doctors in comic books, it is unclear what they are actually doctors of. Some seem to be an uber-doctor, such as Reed Richards or Henry McCoy, who are capable of doing anything vaguely medically- or scientifically-related. On the other hand, there are several who call themselves doctor who never seemed to have earned the title.

Of those doctors with declared specialties, the most common seems to be a “doctor of the mind.” In this situation, I’m using the term to refer to both psychiatrists and psychologists. A psychologist is an individual with a degree in psychology (a doctoral degree if they claim the title doctor), while a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in the diseases and conditions of the mind. Unfortunately, many comic books have used the terms interchangeably, making for unclear origins of some characters.

Why the fascination with psychiatrists and pyschologists? First, they fit well into the super-hero mythos. With most villains — and many heroes — neurotic if not psychotic, there’s a good fit for these doctors. Dr. Samson, Dr. (Hugo) Strange, and Dr. Quinzel all started out as professionals and then became heroes/villains later. Second, there remains a negative stigma to “shrinks” that gives an instant (albeit superficial) depth to their characters. This is a real-life stigma in that no one likes to admit that they are seeing a “counselor” lest others think poorly of them. More importantly, it is a stigma left over from too many B-grade movies, soap opera plots, bad books and pulp magazines where the nefarious psychiatrist always has an agenda of their own. By having a character be a psychiatrist or psychologist, the writer warns the reader that “this character is up to something.”

The following is a list of prominent comic book psychiatrist and psychologists:
Psychiatrists:
Dr. Leonard Samson Gamma-endowed green-tressed adventurer and doctor.
Dr. Psycho Wonder Woman villain and all around…umm…psycho.
Dr. Wolper Deluded psychiatrist from the Dark Knight Returns.

Psychologists:
Dr. Blink Shrink to the Super-Heroes, featured in Dork Stork Press’s FCBD book.
Scarecrow Jonathan Crane, former Gotham University professor turned super-villain (and soon to be a movie star in Batman Begins)

Unclear:
Brother Voodoo Generally understood to be a psychologist (his entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe reads that way), but he has been referred to as a psychiatrist as well. Brother Voodoo is the only one on this list (with the possible exception of Dr. Blink) who doesn’t have some underlying psychiatric disorder.
Dr. Harleen Quinzel Better known as Harley Quinn. She has been referred to as a psychiatrist, graduate student, psychologist, psychoanalyst, and intern. Part of this confusion is due to the multiple versions of Harley including Batman: The Animated Series, the regular DC Batman family of books, and the Birds of Prey television show.
Dr. Hugo Strange A Batman villain described variously as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychoanalyst. Whatever, he’s nuts.

*Nope, Dr. Wolper and Dr. Samson both have decidedly Narcisstic personalities, and Samson has some significant Histrionic traits as well.

What commentary could exist on pyschologists and psychiatrists in comic books without touching on two real-life doctors who significantly influenced the history of comic books?

Dr. Frederic Wertham, writer of the infamous (and flawed) book Seduction of the Innocent, was a psychiatrist who was convinced that comic books were directly responsible for juvenile delinquency. His outspoken views led to congressional hearings, the fall of E.C., and the institution of the comics code. An excellent article on Wertham can be found here.

Dr. William Moulton Marston was a psychologist and an educational consultant for Detective Comics in the 1940s. Concerned that their were no female super-heroes, and thus no role models for female readers, Marston created Wonder Woman, who debuted in All Star Comics #8. An interesting article from the August 14, 1942 issue of Family Circle concerning Marston can be found here (link courtesy of Wonder Woman Online).