Polite Dissent

Since it’s the first of December, Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar returns for its second year starting today. Just like last year, each day will feature a different Christmas comic book cover, and the issue numbers will count down the days until Christmas. For example, today starts with an issue #24, tomorrow will feature a #23, and so on.

The entire Advent Calendar can be found here, but covers will only be revealed one day at a time.

To start things off right, here’s the world’s most famous Scrooge (OK, maybe second-most famous Scrooge) reminding us that the holiday season is a time for giving, and apparently keeping your donations safe. Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #24, published by Dell in December, 1958.

A fascinating article about an idea that was before its time: Lego Mindstorms: What Went Wrong?

For those of you unfamiliar with Mindstorms, it was a series of kits released by Lego in 1988 1998 that allowed users to build robots out of Legos and program them with their computers. It was a brilliant concept, but one that went nowhere fast. Lego stopped supporting the line (except for the starter kit), and despite an avid online community, it’s hard to find parts or information now.

I thought Mindstorms was a clever idea, and saved up to purchase one. I couldn’t find any sets in the local stores, so I had to get it from the online Lego site. I bought the starter set plus two expansions back in ‘01 and, to be honest, they’ve been gathering dust on my shelf since then.

Why did such a clever product go wrong? The article lists some key reasons, here’s a few of my own:

• Co$t. Those kits were expensive.
• Scarcity. The kits were hard to find, even on eBay where they cost an arm and a leg (and a second leg for shipping).
• No useful project ideas came with the kits. There were some silly project instructions, but nothing remotely useful. When you build a robot you want it to do something neat, not just go around in a circle. The online community has built some incredible robots from Legos (like one that solves Rubik’s Cubes), but I’m nowhere near that smart. I want something I can build that does something at least a little useful, but doesn’t take an engineering degree to build.
• Sloppy programming. The Mindstorm software automatically installed in an upper level directory (an easy to fix annoyance, but why shouldn’t they default to the Program Files directory, like every other program on the planet). The directory name was all caps too (/LEGO_MINDSTORMS). Plus, it automatically started every time I booted Windows. Yes, these are all easy to fix default settings, but I shouldn’t have to fix them. Any competent programmer knows better.

I think it was those last two that are the main reason the kits are sitting undisturbed on my shelf. I want to build something neat, not useless, and I don’t want to have to wade through sloppy programming to do it.

One of these days I’d love to dig out Mindstorms and build something to be proud of. If I could just find the time (maybe after I finish my latest project: a shelving unit designed to hold 50 long boxes* — now that’s something useful!)

*No, I don’t have quite that many (yet). I’m planning for the future.

Day Two of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. With 23 days left until Christmas, we need an issue #23, and here it is…because as far as I’m concerned, nothing says Christmas like a comic about Vietnam. The ‘Nam #23, published by Marvel in October, 1988.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Green Arrow #51 “The Return of Anarky”
James Peaty, writer
Eric Battle, penciler

Following the trail of some bank robbers, Green Arrow and Anarky stumble upon a dead body in an apartment.

Anarky: Rigor’s set in, he’s been dead for at least a day.

Anarky may be right — but if so, it’s nothing more than pure luck. His science and understanding of rigor mortis is flawed.

Under normal conditions, rigor mortis starts 3-4 hours after death with the facial muscles and then spreads to rest of the body. Full rigidity sets in at about 12 hours. Depending on conditions, rigor mortis lasts for 24-72 hours.

Cold conditions slow down the process, warm condition speed it up.

To understand how rigor mortis works requires a very basic understanding of calcium ions and muscle cells: The concentration of calcium ions is higher in the fluid surrounding muscle cells than inside the cells themselves. Nature likes concentrations to be equal, so calcium slowly leaks into the muscle cells. These increasing levels of calcium ions inside the muscle cells cause the muscle to contract. To counteract this and allow the muscles to relax, calcium is pumped out of the cells using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to provide energy for the pump. After death, the supply of ATP quickly runs out and calcium begins to build up in the muscle cells. This leads the muscles to contract and become rigid because there is no way to pump the calcium back out. This is what causes rigor mortis. Eventually digestive enzymes within the cells become active and start breaking down proteins. This leads to a softening of the muscles and breaks the rigor mortis.

Anarky usually hangs out in Gotham City, so he probably learned his bad science from Batman.

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Why don’t comic book detectives ever mention algor mortis or livor mortis?

Algor mortis is the cooling of the body that occurs after death. It is a slow, steady decline until the body reaches temperature room temperature. The body’s temperature can be used to indicate the time of death, though environmental factors can affect the result.

Livor mortis is the discoloration of the body that occurs as the blood settles to the lower areas of the body following death. This can also be used to suggest the time of death.

Day Three of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. Only 22 days left until Christmas!

Today we head back to the early Golden Age with a visit to New Adventure Comics #22, from December 1937. This is the same title that would eventually drop the “New” and become just plain Adventure Comics and feature the original adventures of both Sandman and Starman. In issue #23 here, two children have arrived in the far north in a dog sled, holding a letter addressed to Santa at the North Pole. A local Eskimo is shrugging his shoulders as if to say, “Who?” I figure the kids have either arrived at the North Pole (which would be an impressive feat, given the state of their gear) and are asking a local where Santa is (not that anyone actually lives at the North Pole) — or more likely, they’ve just crossed the border into Canada — or maybe upstate New York — and are asking the nearest person where the North Pole is (because it’s a well known fact that everyone in Canada is an Eskimo).

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Day Four of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. Only 21 days left until Christmas!

What is the holiday season without shopping? Lots and lots of shopping according to a noted expert (my wife). No comic captures this better than Justice League Europe #21 from December 1990.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

UPDATE: Advent Calendar image problem fixed.

Day Five of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. Only 20 days left until Christmas!

I have nothing snarky to say about Archer & Armstrong #20 for fear that the six remaining die-hard Valiant Universe fans would somehow band together and hunt me down.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

I donated blood today, and as usual in this situation, my thoughts turned to blood and comic books.

Radiation, in the Marvel Universe, is a blood-borne disease. Peter Parker donated blood to an anemic Aunt May and gave her radiation poisoning. Jennifer Walters received a blood transfusion from her gamma-irradiated cousin, Bruce Banner, and became the She-Hulk.

So my question is: how much blood does it take? Does it have to be a full transfusion for these effects to occur, or will it take less? A cupful? A mere ounce? Just a thimbleful? What if just a few drops of blood were enough?

Let’s face it: fighting crime as a super-hero is a brutal occupation. Blood is spilled, literally and routinely, on both sides. What if this blood was lethal? Would villains facing irradiated heroes (or vice versa) stop fighting if they noticed their opponent was bleeding? Especially if they had open wounds too?

Just food for thought.

After we moved into this house in August, I decided to build a shelf in the basement to hold all my comic books. It had to be big — I wanted it to hold 50 long boxes — and it had to be sturdy — the weight from all those comics accumulates quickly.

Despite working at the clinic both days this weekend, I was able to find time to build the shelves. They’ll hold at least 50 long boxes (51 I think) and they’re very strong. I added extra support and braces throughout. Each shelf can easily support the weight of a grown man.

The frames are constructed of 2″ x 4″ studs and the shelves are ½” OSB. Everything’s held together with 2½” deck screws, except for a few pocket screws on the facing that are 2″ washer-head screws. The shelf is just over 100″ (8′4″) long, 3 feet deep and the top shelf is 68″ (5′8″) off the ground.

Here’s the shelf empty:

And here’s the shelf full:

There’s 34 long boxes, 2 short boxes up top (though 1 is empty, I bought it just for the cats to play in so they’d stay out of my comic boxes), and 12 Diamond-shipping boxes full of comics on the bottom shelves. I’ll find time to put them into long boxes some day.

Yes, my long boxes are beat up and covered with tape. I’ve moved three times in the past four years and the moving men do love to tape those boxes tight. As far as I’m concerned, the boxes are doing their job. They’re storing and protecting my comics. Looking pretty is not a requirement.

If you look closely at the boxes, you’ll notice the remnants of several old filing systems. When I just had a few boxes, I wrote the contents on each box. That system gave way to a numbered box system. That was followed by a letter code system. I still use a variant of that system today. Each box has a letter code and I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me in which box each comic series is located.

Day Six of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. It’s 19 days until Christmas, and here’s Comic Cavalcade #19 from 1947, featuring Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, as well as a “jolly old elf” appearing as himself.

This cover does bring up a couple of questions though…
1) Why can they only afford one pair of skis?
2) Why aren’t they skiing towards the village?. I suspect that they’ve stolen the gifts and are making their getaway (recall that last year we caught those same three “heroes” stealing presents from a young boy.)

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

No episode of House tonight; instead there’s some sort of awards show. To pass the time, I’m making a prediction of which diseases will be the culprit in future episodes of House (or at least contributing factors). You read it here first!

• Porphyria. Blood diseases are nearly always interesting. Some “experts” believe that tpeople suffering from porphyria gave rise to the vampire legend.
• Ventricular Parasystole. My first rotation during residency was Cardiology. The cardiologist I was supposed to be working with took a few weeks off to attend Boy Scout camp with his son. I was passed from cardiologist to cardiologist awaitinghis return. For a few days, I shadowed Dr. F-, a cardiologist who specialized in conduction abnormalities. He gave me a stack of EKGs to review one night. Were they EKGs of common abnormalities I might find useful to know as a Family Practitioner? No. They were EKGs of the rare and bizarre abnormalities he had obtained in twenty years as a specialist. At one point, he held an EKG in front of me, cackling in glee. “You know what this is?” he asked. I shook my head no. “It’s ventricular parasystole! You’ll never see that again!” he shouted. Umm, then why show it to me? Teach me something useful please.
• Kuru. Every medical student has encountered this disease on a test or board exam at one point or another, but will never actually see it. It’s passed among the tribesmen of New Guinea by eating human brains. So, if we can’t have Kuru, maybe another prion based disease such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) or BSE (i.e. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or “Mad Cow Disease”).
• Herpes Encephalitis. Nasty Stuff.
• Kawasaki Disease. Not the motorcycle.
• Delusional Parasitosis. I’ve mentioned this one before.
• Tularemia. Zoonotic diseases are all the rage and bunnies are so cute…this is their revenge.
• Post-pregnancy Eclampsia. “Toxemia of Pregnancy” just without the pregnancy part.
• Dengue Fever. You just can never have enough “breakbone fever.”
• Toxic Shock Syndrome. Deadly, and frighteningly fast.
• Strep Throat (and its rare but serious sequelae). A common disease that can have some serious consequences if not treated in time.
• HIV. There’s a lot more to said on this topic.
• Orf. Just a cool name for a disease.
• Anthrax. Speaking of sheep diseases.
• Hanta. And now it’s time for the mice.
• Oleander poisoning. Beautiful and deadly.

Day Seven of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. Just 18 days until Christmas, and to celebrate here’s Casper the Friendly Ghost #18 from 1953.

Some people think mistakenly that ghosts only celebrate Halloween, but Casper shows us that even the returned souls of dead children enjoy Christmas. I suspect this cover is where Tim Burton got the idea for Nightmare Before Christmas.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Flash #226 “Down Time”
Stuart Immonen and Kathryn Kuder, writers
Steve Lightle, artist

Flash #226 is an excellent combination of the medical and the super-hero. The story’s not perfect — the ending is too much of a metaphysical deus ex machina — but the synthesis of the super-heroic and the medical is well done. In a clever twist, it is the Flash’s own powers (or more correctly, his use of his powers) that lead to his downfall.

Wally West (the Flash) and Piper have joined a mountaineering expedition to climb some unnamed Himalayan peak. A group of rich folks are paying a couple of guides to get them to the top of the mountain and back down. It’s not a quick trip; the team will be going slow so that everyone can become acclimatized to the altitude:

Guide: We’ll be here a few days, get you used to the air.

Wally soon develops a near constant cough. As the group starts to climb to higher elevations, he notes that his feet are swollen. He develops confusion, blurred vision and then coughs up a bunch of frothy sputum and blood.

Wally has developed a severe type of altitude sickness known as HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). Altitude Sickness is common at altitudes above 8,000 ft (2500 m); up to 25% of people at that altitude will develop the mildest form of altitude sickness known as Acute Mountain Sickness. It has been described as a horrible hangover sensation: headache, nausea, dizziness and dehydration. Given enough time, it will resolve and the climber can continue to higher altitudes.

Sometimes altitude sickness can progress to its most severe forms, HAPE and HACE. High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, what the Flash has, is caused by fluid backing up into the lungs. Symptoms include fatigue, breathlessness (even at rest), chest congestion, and cough. Frothy and blood tinged sputum are common (though not usually the frank blood the Flash was coughing up). Untreated, HAPE can lead to death.

HACE, or High Altitude Cerebral Edema, is caused by an altitude-induced swelling of the brain. It can lead to confusion, lethargy and changes in behavior. Coma and death can occur in a matter of hours.

The treatment for HACE and HAPE are the same: descent. The use of oxygen will buy some time, and some medications are thought to help (nifedipine and dexamethasone), but the best treatment is still going down at least 500-1000 meters as soon as possible.

As usual, prevention is the name of the game. Slow acclimitization to elevation is the best way to prevent altitude sickness. That is one of the reasons climbing the Himalayan peaks takes so long. The climbers arrive at camp. They spend several days to a week getting their body used to the new altitude. There may be some day hikes up the mountain, but the climbers always sleep down in camp. After the team is acclimated, they move on to a higher base camp and repeat the process.

Wally never bothered to acclimatize. While the rest of the group was getting used to the altitude, he was running off visiting his wife or stopping crime back in the U.S.. He never gave his body the chance to get used to the altitude and so it’s no surprise when he develops altitude sickness.

As an aside, swollen feet like Wally’s are common at higher altitudes as well. I’m not sure what the writers are suggesting is wrong with his vision, maybe snowblindness or corneal frostbite.

This comic is one of the best of the year in terms of realistic use of medicine and its ingenious way of tying it in to Flash’s super powers (not to mention the excellent Lightle art).

I can’t think about the phrase “deus ex machina” in relation to comic books without being reminded of Deus Ex Machina Man, from the What’s New (with Phil and Dixie) strip in Dragon Magazine #75. What’s New was a hilarious comic by Phil Foglio (best known today for Girl Genius). The strip in Dragon #75 dealt with super-hero role playing games and Deus Ex Machina Man was one of the throw-away gags in the comic.

Speaking of comics, Deus Ex Machina Man was the comic Sam Simeon was illustrating in 1991’s Angel and the Ape mini-series, also written and drawn by Phil Foglio.

Day Eight of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. Only 17 days remain until Christmas and for today we have the oldest comic in the countdown, Famous Funnies #17, from 1935. It’s a fun cover with a nice old-time look to it, like Dr. Seuss’s Whoville combined with Winsor McCay.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

This is news to me. Not only is Spider-Man still radioactive (and how many years has it been since that spider bite? How much venom did that spider inject anyway?), but apparently he is actually emitting radiation of a particular wavelength. Furthermore, if this wavelength is somehow absorbed, Spider-Man will lose his powers.

Wow. This is one of those explanations that just makes things worse. It poses more questions than it answers… here’s just a few that popped in my head:

• I wonder why no other villain has thought of that. Isolating that wavelength would sure make it easy to track him. Or just get a Geiger counter. Maybe wrap him in lead.
• Will Spidey permanently lose his powers?
• Emitted radiation can often have strange effects on unprocessed film — and yet he’s an award winning photogtapher who develops his own film.

This image is from New Thunderbolts #14, art by Tom Grummet and story by Fabian Nicieza.

Day Nine of the Christmas Cover Advent Calendar. With only 16 days remaining until Christmas we’re staying in the Golden Age with More Fun Comics #16 from December 1936.

Does the cover look familiar? It was the basis for several covers in the 1950s, such as Panic #1, reproduced below. Those covers seemed to have a more sinister take, but I guess catching Santa’s foot in a bear trap is sinister no matter how it’s drawn (particularly if it’s his left foot*).

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar (and Contest).

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

*Sorry, bad Latin pun.

Revisiting the super-hero themed What’s New…With Phil & Dixie strip from Dragon Magazine #75. Here are a couple more scenes from the mind of Phil Foglio (co-writer/artist of Girl Genius).

1. Gazebo Boy

   

2. Captain Greedle and Boo-ga

   

What’s New was a hilarious strip and the best thing about the early years of Dragon Magazine. Collected editions can be found at the Studio Foglio Online Store.

Tags: comics phil foglio what’s new dragon gazebo boy captain greedle booga.

Day Ten of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. With only 15 days remaining until Christmas, we jump from the Golden Age to a more recent (though no less sinister) comic, where we find Ren and Stimpy laying in wait for Santa in The Ren & Stimpy Show #15, from 1994.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest (and notice who won yesterday)

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Day Eleven of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. That means that there’s only two weeks left until Christmas! Have your shopping done? I sure don’t — I need to hunt down a few more presents myself.

Speaking of hunting, today’s cover is Sable #14, from April 1994. Looks like this game-warden-turned-mercenary-and-children’s-author has taken out a contract on Santa. Bet it was Mrs. Claus and we’ll be seeing it on A&E sometime soon (City Confidential: The North Pole).

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

More deus ex machina, this time from Nightcrawler #10 (story by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, pencils by Darick Robertson):

I don’t know what it is about Nightcrawler. I like the character, I like the artist, and I like the work Aguirre-Sacasa has done on Marvel Knights 4, but Nightcrawler just isn’t working for me (or most anyone else it seems).

• Having a character admit that it’s a deus ex machina does not excuse including one in the storyline.
• There are entirely too many captions. Seriously — this book puts Claremont to shame. As a rule, if you have a parenthetic aside in your caption, then you’re writing way too many.
• Nightcrawler works best when he’s a fun swashbuckler. A few darker stories here and there are OK, but this entire series has been way too dark.

Day Twelve of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. Only thirteen days left until Christmas…

Returning to super hero comics, from Captain Atom #13 (March 1988) here’s an entire bar wishing you “Merry Christmas!”

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

In my humble opinion, the worst Christmas song ever is Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys.
Why? For starters, it’s overplayed — every store and radio station that believes itself to be hip plays it — and it’s even in a Coca-cola ad now (and don’t those penguins realize that polar bears eat penguins?). But most of all, it’s for that fact that it contains the most banal line in any Christmas song, ever:

Christmas comes this time each year

No duh.

My favorites?
I’m partial to the Boss’s version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Burl Ives’s Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. My favorite is the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet of Little Drummer Boy. While it’s a cleverly written duet, I just love the juxtaposition of the ultra straight-laced Crosby (remember that SNL sketch “The Crosby Show”?) singing with Ziggy Stardust himself.

UPDATE:
Chris takes on another horrible Christmas song, Christmas Shoes, over at his blog. I had totally forgotten that one, but he’s right, that song’s sugary enough to cause diabetes in listeners. Thankfully it’s not played as much as Little Saint Nick.

Scene from OMAC #4, by Greg Rucka and Jesus Saiz

Unlike other denizens of Gotham City, Sasha Bordeaux gets time of death right (and you’ll notice she doesn’t even mention rigor mortis). Score one for the girls.

Day Thirteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. Only twelve days left until Christmas so we need an issue #12 with a Christmas theme. From February 1989, here is The New Archies #12, letting us know that if you’re good enough, you can pretty much get anything you want in your stocking…

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

The latest edition of Grand Rounds has been posted over at In The Pipeline. A collection of the best medical blogging of the week, Grand Rounds is always a fascinating read. As always, there are some interesting articles , so stop by and check it out.

In The Pipeline is an excellent blog and has been on my daily read list for quite a while now (and yes, I promise to update my sidebar one of these days).

This medical review of House contains many spoilers, so don’t say I didn’t warn you…

While House is at an Off-Track Betting parlor, a customer named Anica has a sudden seizure. House stops a passerby from starting CPR and notices that the patient has some discolored stretch marks on her abdomen. He advises the bystander to call for an ambulance and have her sent to the hospital.

Anica is admitted to the hospital and she is noted to have an anemia as well as a low platelet count. The labs also show an elevated blood alcohol level. House is suspicious that she has Cushing’s Disease. The other team members suspect lupus or Familial Telangectasia. Foreman believes that she is an alcoholic and has alcohol-related DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation).

House mentions Cushing’s Disease to Anica and she informs him that she had it last year because of a pituitary tumor that was secreting the hormone ACTH. She tells him that the tumor was removed surgically. An MRI shows no recurrence of the tumor. House thinks it may be a microadenoma (a microscopic hormone-secreting tumor) and performs a lumbar puncture. His poor technique, intentional or otherwise, ends up causing the patient’s blood pressure to rise dangerously high; House takes this as proof of the pituitary tumor but the others disagree. Chase mentions that there may be a tumor elsewhere causing the Cushing’s. A subsequent whole body scan shows a mass in the pancreas, but a biopsy shows it is not cancerous.

Cameron suspects Anica has Munchausen’s Syndrome, a psychiatric condition where patients fake being sick to gain attention. They do this by injuring themselves, faking lab tests, or taking medication to fake symptoms. To prove her diagnosis, Cameron “accidentally” leaves some medicine behind in the room. Anica believes this medicine will cause seizures so she takes it, but instead it turns her urine orange and proves that she has Munchausen’s.

House refuses to believe that Munchausen’s is the only diagnosis. He now deduces that Anica also has aplastic anemia, a disease where the bone marrow stops producing any kind of blood cell. Foreman won’t let him draw any more blood from the patient, so House tries to pretend someone else’s test results are Anica’s. Foreman catches on and she is discharged with a diagnosis of Munchausen’s.

House meets Anica outside, still convinced that she has aplastic anemia. With her consent, he injects her with insulin and colchicine. The insulin will cause a blood sugar low enough to cause a seizure, and the colchicine will cause a low white blood cell count. She is readmitted to the hospital because of the seizure, and the low WBC convinces Foreman that Anica does indeed have aplastic anemia. Dr. Wilson is consulted and he begins radiation therapy to kill off her bone marrow so that a bone marrow transplant can be performed. Meanwhile, House is reclining in Anica’s room and he notices a sickly-sweet smell. At the last minute he realizes that she doesn’t have aplastic anema but instead has a Clostridium perfringens infection. He stops the radiation and starts her on an antibiotic to cure her infection.

The medicine was dismal this time around. House is convinced Anica has Cushing’s — and the symptoms did support it — but never checked a cortisol or ACTH level: the tests that prove the condition, no matter the size of the tumor. Rifampin was a poor choice of drug for Cameron to fool the patient with as it has some nasty side effects. There are safer drugs to use to turn someone’s urine orange. Even more damning was the fact that Anica was started on radiation without a bone marrow biopsy to prove that she had aplastic anemia in the first place. In reality, the actual medicine was all just hand waving to set up the patient versus doctor Muchausen’s scenario and the Foreman versus House ego showdown.

The ethics and economics were poor as well. I hope I don’t have to tell anyone that helping a patient fake an illness is a bad thing. And the idea that House hasn’t dictated any notes in a year is frightening. At any reasonable hospital, he would have had his privileges revoked long ago and no insurance company would pay the hospital for billing that old (ninety days if you’re lucky).

The main theme of this episode was the conflict between Foreman and House, and I found it disappointingly tame. After last episode’s disciplinary committee, House has to serve under the supervision of another physician for a month — and Cuddy chose Foreman to be that physician. House tries all kinds of tricks to irk Foreman, and Foreman tells House that nothing he does will change Foreman’s mind. Repeat this about six times. Foreman was right at the end though: House came closer to killing the patient than saving her.

This episode earns a C for the mystery, another C for the solution, and a C- for the medicine overall. The soap opera earns only a C as well. This is an episode that could have been so much more, but ended up being disappointingly average.

• Previous House reviews

Day Fourteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. A mere eleven days remain until Christmas, and to celebrate: here’s The Adventures of the Mask #11, from November 1996.

“Rooftop scenes” appears to be one of the themes of this year’s countdown…

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Today, a couple of brief looks at real drugs as used in comic books. First, it’s back to 2003 for a look at The Ultimates (but remember, two-and-a-half years is only six months in Millar-time) then a look at some of the events in a recent issue of Nightwing.

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First up is The Ultimates #11. The Wasp has been captured by the Skrulls and their leader informs her that they have been adding Gamma-butyrolactone to the American water supply as a mood supressant.

Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL) is an industrial solvent used in such compounds as stain removers, paint strippers and floor cleaners. It is also a chemical precursor of the infamous date rape drug Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB).

GBL can be converted to GHB chemically by strong bases. The human body itself also converts GBL to GHB. Please note that GHB is a federally controlled substance, and GBL has similar restrictions in almost every state.

GBL has similar properties to GHB, but it is stronger and more toxic. There have been multiple case reports of death and injury from GBL in the US.

At low doses, GHB (and GBL) induce euphoria and a feeling of intoxication. At higher doses, they cause dizziness, nausea, amnesia, unconsciousness and even death.

Adding GBL to the water supply as a mood stabilizer wouldn’t work for several reasons.

1. GBL has a strong odor and a bad taste. It is an irritant to the gastrointestinal tract. There’s no way it could be added to the water supply undetected.
2. It acts as a euphoric and an intoxicant, which is pretty much the opposite of how a mood stabilizer works.
3. It is an unsafe drug with little difference between effective doses and deadly doses. Because people consume vastly different amounts of water, it would be impossible to have the drug be strong enough to work without killing people.

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In the more recent Nightwing #114, Nightwing and Rose Wilson crash a LexCorp party to divert a shipment of Nandrolone Decanoate, a component of the drug Venom.

Nandrolone Decanoateis an injectable anabolic steroid closely related to testosterone. Anabolic steroids are a class of drugs that promote cell growth, leading to increases in muscle size and strength. There are both natural and synthetic anabolic steroids.

Nandrolone is made by the human body in small doses, but synthetic nandrolone is commonly injected at much higher doses by athletes looking for a competitive edge; it is fairly easily detected by urine tests. Like most anabolic steroids, Nandrolone is a federally controlled substance.

Most newer anabolic steroids are derivatives of older ones. This is done to boost the strength of the drugs, to minimize the side effects, and in an attempt to make the drugs harder to detect.

It is logical that the drug Venom, known to be some sort of super-potent anabolic steroid, would be a derivative of Nadrolone.

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The Ultimates #11 is by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch
Nightwing #114 is by Devin Grayson and Phil Hester.

Day Fifteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Only ten days remain until Christmas, which I’m having trouble accepting (and I should really be finishing my shopping).

For this comic, we go back to the post-war years for Tiny Tots Comics #10 from December 1947.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

1. Nothing short of surgery is going to increase the size of any God-given organ (or organs) you have. No creams, no pills, and no patches.
2. Nobody ever died of baldness.
3. All medications have side-effects. This includes over the counter medications and prescription drugs, as well as herbal medications. If someone tells you that their medication doesn’t have side effects, then they are either lying or selling you water (see #5 below)
4. If you’ve been sick for several days, it’s going to take you at least a couple more days to get completley better. If you get better immediately, it’s unlikely to be the medicine you just started taking.
5. Homeopathy doesn’t work any better than a placebo or water, and it’s a lot more expensive.
6. There is no such thing as “Generic Viagra,” “Herbal Viagra,” or “Viagra Patches.” There is just prescription-only brand-name Viagra. And really, where exactly would you put those patches?
7. Losing weight comes down to simple math. If the calories you burn during the day are more than the amount of calories you eat, you’ll lose weight. If they’re more, you’ll gain. That’s it — there’s no magic involved. All weight loss comes down to a combination of diet and exercise. No over-the-counter pill, liquid, tape or patch will help…unless you use the patch to seal your mouth shut.
8. Real drugs aren’t spelled with punctuation.
9. Kevin Trudeau is a con man. All he wants is your money. He doesn’t give a damn about your health.

Day Sixteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Christmas is fast approaching, with only nine days remaining until the big day.

Speaking of nine, here is Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade #9, from December 1958. It is the second Disney cover of this year’s countdown.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Day Seventeen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Only eight days left until Christmas.

With a return to Super-Hero comics, today’s cover is Mary Marvel #8, from December 1946.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Day Eighteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Just one week left until Christmas.

Other than Santa Claus himself, no one represents a child’s Christmas better than Rudolph. Here is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #7, from 1956-1957.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Day Nineteen of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Six days until Christmas.

To prove that I’m not entirely stuck in the Golden and Silver Age and that I’m actually conversant with current comic trends, today’s cover is a manga cover. Sure, it’s a few years old, but Christmas-themed manga covers are hard to find (and this title remains my wife’s favorite manga, so that’s a bonus).

Love Hina #6, from October 2002, reminds us of the few days remaining until the holiday.

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

I’ve noticed that the Fox Movie Channel has been showing some good classic science-fiction movies Friday night. OK, that’s an overstatement: the movies aren’t always good, but they’re always watchable.

Last week it was Fantastic Voyage, which was the second science-fiction movie I ever saw (Star Wars would be the first). For those of you unfamiliar with the plot: After an assassination attempt, a famous diplomat has developed a clot in his brain that will soon prove lethal. A team of scientists are miniaturized and they have one hour to pilot a microscopic submarine through the man’s body to reach and destory the clot. And there’s Raquel Welch in a bikini.

• Looking at the IMDB article (linked above), I notice that the story for Fantastic Voyage was written by Jerome Bixby, probably best known for one of the creepiest Twilight Zone episodes ever, “It’s A Good Life.”
• Further trivia: both Fantastic Voyage and “It’s A Good Life” have been parodied in the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror (XV and II, respectively)

This week it was Damnation Alley. I was flipping through the channels, and as soon as I saw the armored RV with the triangularly-stacked triple wheels I knew what movie it was. What more could you want in a movie? There are bad special effects (a “green sky” which ends a few inches above the scenery), armor-plated man-eating cockroaches, a pre-Airwolf mullet-haired Jan Michael Vincent, George Peppard (affecting a horrible southern accent), and Paul Winfield (who of course dies, as Winfield always does in any sci-fi movie or TV show). It’s definitely not a great movie, or even a good movie, or probably even a mediocre movie. It’s a bad movie. But it revels in its badness and that’s what makes it so watchable (and the man-eating cockroaches). You want a plot? Survivors of a nuclear attack on the US make their way from the west coast to the east coast in an armored RV.

• My wife, born and raised in Las Vegas, wanted me to point out that the scenes supposedly filmed in Las Vegas were instead filmed in Prim, Nevada. This is evident when you notice the slot machines the guys are playing all say “Primadonna Casino.”

Sunday, I settled in to watch the Midsomer Murders marathon on the Biography Channel. Midsomer Murders is one of the better British mystery series that pop up from time to time on PBS or A&E. All the episodes take place in the same part of the English countryside and all follow a fairly similar plot. There’s a flashback showing a murder years before, then the story picks up in one of the small Midsomer towns. There’s a slow build: a murder, another murder, and then a third. Usually, there’s some sort of sexual theme underlying the story, from adultery to incest, and then at the end of the episode, there’s a race in time to stop the murderer from killing again. The writers understand this formula, and play against it often enough to keep the stories interesting.
The second episode yesterday was one I hadn’t seen before, “Judgement Day.” In addition to the usual cast, one of the cast was Orlando Bloom. This of course interested my wife immensely, so I had to laugh when he was quickly skewered on a pitchfork — guess it prepared him for the critical reaction to his last two movies.

Day Twenty of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Just five days until Christmas.

Back to 1954 for this #5 cover: Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #5.

Last year, the final comic was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special. What comic book can possibly top that? In just five more days you can find out!

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

The latest edition of Grand Rounds has been posted over at Med Pundit. Grand Rounds is a collection of the best medical blogging of the week and is always an intriguing read. There are some particularly interesting articles this week, so stop by and check it out.

Tonight’s House is a repeat from last season. Just like Fox repeated the baseball player episode during the playoffs, the week leading up to Christmas seems to require the episode featuring the nun.

Reposted below is my original review of the episode. It’s a great deal shorter than the reviews I do now, but on the other hand, it does little to spoil the story. I’ll post a more extensive re-review later tonight.

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I wasn’t as enthralled by this week’s House as I have been previous episodes. It was still an engrossing medical mystery; the character elements just seemed superficial this week. First, I was misled by the TV schedule which suggested that the mystery was going to involve stigmata. That sounded intriguing and I was looking forward to discovering what diagnosis Dr. House would pin on bleeding palms. Unfortunately, the episode did not deal with stigmata, although it did focus on a nun. This particular nun had a wide variety of puzzling symptoms which some of the other nuns at her monastery (and I always thought monks lived in monasteries while nuns lived in convents) thought she was simply a hypochondriac. For the second week in a row, lessons learned in previous episodes were forgotten as the solution to this week’s mystery involved two separate and unrelated diagnoses — which violates the principle of Occam’s Razor.

The main character moment involved Dr. Chase, who was revealed to have been studying for the priesthood at one time. Other than that, the character moments were few and far-between. Sure, there were nuns, but that was pretty much a shortcut the writers used to suggest a deeper meaning to the episode instead of actually writing a deeper meaning. On the plus side, there was at least one Sound of Music joke.

originally posted 14 December 2004

This episode of House, “Damned If You Do,” is a repeat of one of the early episodes from last season. My review at the time was fairly brief. I stand by it, but I thought I’d take a second look at the episode, particularly the medicine. As usual, there are some significant spoilers in the review…

House’s final clinic patient of the day is Sister Augustine, a nun complaining of a rash on her hands. He diagnoses her with contact dermatitis and recommends an over-the-counter antihistamine and a topical steroid cream. Shortly after taking the antihistamine, Sister Augustine develops severe wheezing. House gives her a shot of epinephrine; it restores her breathing, but unfortunately it knocks her into cardiac arrest. Epinephrine is the medical name for the hormone adrenalin. Sister Augustine is successfully resuscitated and admitted to the hospital.

The team considers the diagnoses of cellulitis and vasculitis, particularly Churg-Straus Syndrome. Cellulitis is a type of skin infection and vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels. Labs are drawn and Sister Augustine is started on high dose steroid therapy. The tests come back normal but Sister Augustine develops olfactory hallucinations, religious visions, and seizures — signs of brain injury. She is subsequently diagnosed with herpetic encephalitis, an infection of the brain caused by the herpes virus (though the diagnosis is forgotten halfway through the show).

The team next suspects that Sister Augustine has Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder. The usual treatment for this condition is steroids, but since they will also worsen her encephalitis, the steroids cannot be used. Steroids work by dampening the immune system. This is good for connective tissue diseases when the body is under attack by its own immune system; however, slowing down the immune system is bad idea during infections. House suggests placing Sister Augustine in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Foreman believes the idea is dangerous and complains to Cuddy, who takes House off the case.

Cuddy takes over and, frankly, does a horrible job. She focuses only on symptoms and doesn’t even bother to look at causes. She’s dangerous too, putting the patient on a NSAID (a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug — the same class of drugs as Motrin, Advil and Aleve) despite the fact that the patient is in kidney failure and liver failure — which this class of drug can cause or worsen.

After talking to the Mother Superior, House learns that Sister Augustine lived a fairly wild life before becoming a nun. He also realizes that she’s been drinking figwort tea. According to him, combining figwort tea and epinephrine will lead to a cardiac arrest (though I can find no evidence or documentation of this anywhere).

House resumes care of Sister Augustine. He is convinced that she is suffering from some kind of severe allergic reaction. She is moved to a special non-allergenic room, but she still goes into anaphylactic shock. Belatedly, House realizes that she must be allergic to something within her, and a CT scan reveals an old copper IUD. It turns out that she was allergic to copper and the recent exposure to some new copper pans kicked the allergy into overdrive.

The medicine in this episode was pretty good excepting the problems I mentioned above. I will also point out that connective tissue diseases and vasculitis cannot always be ruled in or out by lab tests alone. This is one of the few episodes — and quite possibly the only one — where it take three separate diagnoses to explain the patient’s symptoms.

This was an early episode and the soap opera elements were just coming together. The beginnings of Cameron’s infatuation with House can be seen, as well as the start of the House versus Foreman ego battles.

This episode earns a B+ for the mystery, and an A for the solution; the medicine deserves a B overall (marked down for Cuddy’s ham handedness). The soap opera also earns a B. There’s not much, but what is there is good.

• Previous House reviews

Day Twenty-One of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Just four more days until Christmas.

The most recent cover on the Advent Countdown, today we have Jingle Belle #4, from April of this year. Thanks to several yearas of living in Las Vegas, I’ve learned that nothing says “Christmas” like neon.

Last year, the final comic was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special. What comic book can possibly top that? In just four more days you can find out!

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Metadocs #0 was recently published by Antarctic Press. Written by physician Joe Dunn, this full color comic concerns the doctors staffing a special super-hero emergency room. I pre-ordered it several months ago when it was mentioned in Previews because it piqued my interest. Super-heroes and doctors? Of course I’m going to read it!

And now that I’ve read it, how does it hold up?

The comic opens with a nice splash page showing the main characters. In the background is the faint image of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man — in costume.

The story itself starts out slightly cliché. Young Doctor Rayos is commuting to his first day of work at Metamedical Central, the super hero hospital, and can’t help but tell everybody else on the train about how excited he is. How many times have we seen this scene?

His plans are delayed when the train is caught in the middle of a battle between the evil Lord Drehd and a team of super heroes. During the fight, two of them are severely injured. Stalagmite is large rocky hero who looks something like a giant armadillo. He is skewered by a building spire. Gravity Girl saves the train using her gravity powers; however, trying to stop a heavy building from crashing down on the crowd of bystanders causes some sort of neurological damage leading to seizures and unconsciousness.

Specially trained and equipped paramedics arrive led by Dr. Wayne, the head of the Metamedical ER. Dr. Rayos identifies himself and assists in the medical care of Stalagmite and Gravity Girl. Both are stabilized in the field and transported to the hospital.

As the story details the treatment of Stalagmite and Gravity Girl at Metamedical Cental, a variety of other physicians are introduced. There is a speedster, a magician, and a nature empath, just to name a few. Each character is introduced logically through the course of the story and there is no visit from the dreaded exposition fairy. When Lord Drehd, the villain who started all the problems is brought to the hospital the story picks up speed.

The medicine is well thought out and very well done. To me, it’s the highlight of the comic. Both the script and the art take into account the special needs required in treating super-powered patients. For instance, medication doses are higher than normal and both mechanical ventilation and cardiac resuscitation require extra power. Careful attention is given to how much IV fluid and units of blood the extra-large Stalagmite will require and the special equipment that must be used to assess his status. It was nice to see a comic book medical story that actually follows the ABCs and other principals of medicine.

My only medical concern is the field treatment of Stalagmite. Removing the penetrating foreign body is likely to increase his blood loss, and should have been performed in the hospital and not the field.

The art by Rod Espinoza is good. The action is drawn well and each character is clearly distinguishable. The heroes, villains, and physicians are well thought out, though clearly based on common comic book archetypes. The art is strongly manga influenced — no surprise as the book is published by Antarctic Press — but I found it distracting from the story at times. Don’t get me wrong: it’s good art and proficiently done, there are just scenes where the manga-style seems a detriment.

There are several spelling error and typos in the comic. It’s telemetry not telemitry, and aneurysm is spelled two different ways within just a few panels. The indicia lists this comic as Metadocs #1 instead of #0. However, there is a line of lyrics from the Vapors buried in the indicia, so that earns some extra points.

Metadocs #0 is very enjoyable comic. It explores an aspect of the super-hero world barely mentioned by other comics. While the story starts out a little by-the-book, it quickly redeems itself and presents interesting characters and interesting situations. The art is first-rate, though at times a little too manga-styled for my taste. The medical aspect of the book is handled extremely well. Anyone who enjoys super-hero comics should enjoy this book. It would also be a good choice for readers who like television medical shows but not necessarily super-heroes or comic books.

Day Twenty-Two of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. Only three more days until Christmas.

He’s keeping a list, checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice.

You might have thought that the song is about Santa Claus, but it’s not; it’s really about Batman. With his satellites and Batcave computer — Santa has nothing on Batman. Today’s cover is Batman: The Long Halloween #3, from February 1997, featuring Christmas Joker-style.

Last year, the final comic was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special. What comic book can possibly top that? In just three more days you can find out!

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Poinsettia

The persistent rumor that Poinsettias are poisonous comes from a single case report of a child dying after eating a Poinsettia leaf back in 1919. A review of the case in the ’70s cast doubt on whether the Poinsettia was involved at all. A more recent re-examination at the evidence suggests that it was the treatment rendered for the supposed poisoning that proved fatal, not whatever the child ate.

An extensive study at Ohio State University in the 1970s proved conclusively that Poinsettias are not poisonous. At very high doses, the leaves can cause some stomach upset, but are not fatal. But even to achieve this mild level of toxicity it would take the ingestion of several hundred leaves.

Like other members of the Euphorbiaceae family, the milky sap can be a skin irritant and cause a rash.

• Snopes information on the Poinsettia

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is a common semi-parasitic plant. While it can grow as a shrub on its own, it is most commonly found living parasitically on trees. There are two common varieties of mistletoe, European (Viscum album) and American (Phoradendron serotinum); both are from the family Loranthaceae.

The leaves — and particularly the berries — of mistletoe contain toxic amines and proteins. High doses can cause gastrointestinal upset including stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Very high doses can cause neurological symptoms (such as drowsiness or ataxia) or cardiovascular symptoms; there have been a few reported deaths due to mistletoe berry or mistletoe tea ingestion.

A comprehensive review of reported cases suggests that an ingestion 1-3 berries or 1-2 leaves is not enough to cause severe symptoms, though that dose will probably cause some stomach upset. It is recommended that mistletoe be placed well out of reach of children and pets.

It’s not all bad news: chemicals extracted from the mistletoe are being studied as a cancer treatment.

Day Twenty Three of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. A mere two more days until Christmas.

With two days to go, today’s comic is Tomb Raider #2 (Alternate Cover) from January 2000. LAra Croft, in addition to her normal tank top and pistols, is now wearing a Santa hat and carrying a bag of toys while she glares menacingly at the reader. With a name like Tomb “Raider” I have to ask, is she delivering the toys or stealing them?

Last year, the final comic was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special. What comic book can possibly top that? In just two more days you can find out!

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

Day Twenty Four of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar Countdown. It’s Christmas Eve — Tomorrow is Christmas!

With ust one more day to go on this year’s Advent Calendar, it seemed like a good time for a last visit by the big guy — after all, tonight is his night. Today’s comic is Santa Claus Funnies #1 from November 1952.

Last year, the final comic was The Legends of NASCAR Christmas Special. What comic book can possibly top that? In just two more days you can find out!

This year’s Advent Calendar (so far). Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Please visit Yet Another Comics Blog for Dave’s Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

It’s Christmas! The Twenty-fifth and final day of the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar. Today’s cover is a doozy — definitely one of those comics that should never have been made: The Saved By The Bell Special Holiday Issue, circa 1991.

This year’s Advent Calendar. Last year’s Advent Calendar. David Carter’s Advent Calendar at Yet Another Comics Blog. The Love Manga Advent Calendar and Contest.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and a pleasant holiday. The Polite-Family officially celebrated Christmas (and all associated or non-associated, non-denominational and pagan holidays) today because we were waiting for my wife to return from visiting her family. As luck would have it, her plane had to make an abrupt change-of-landing due to fog, and she ended up spending most of Christmas evening stranded in the Springfield, Missouri, airport. I finally picked her up at the local airport at 3:30 AM, and she was asleep before we left the airport parking lot.

Today, we had my parents over as well as my sister for our annual bout of eating, gift giving, eating, card games, and eating. As always, there were some truly bizarre gifts (Marvel really needs to pay more attention to where it is licensing its characters) and some spectacular food. It all finished with several hands of the mystery/card game Sleuth which is still going on downstairs as I type this up.

Much of the comic relief is provided by the pets. My sister brings her dog Suman over, and let’s just say that our cats aren’t particularly fond of him…

Regular blogging resumes tomorrow.

Tonight’s House is a repeat of the first episode of this season, “Acceptance,” starring LL Cool J as a condemned prisoner.

Last night’s surprise bonus episode/Fox time-slot filler was “Fidelity,” one of the better episodes from the first season, both medically and morally.

JSA Classified #2 “Power Trip, part 4 of 4″
Geoff Johns, writer
Amanda Conner, penciler

Psycho Pirate is talking to Kara (more correctly: talking at Kara) and telling her about how he came to be Psycho Pirate.

Psycho Pirate: My father was a psychiatrist. Always analyzing me. Always telling me my faults and weaknessess. Even on the stand.

Father (in Court): …son suffers from dissocial personality disorder. He’s never cared about anyone else besides himself and he’ll use anyone, including me and his mother, to get what he wants.

Dissocial Personality Disorder is more commonly known as Antisocial Personality Disorder. Individuals with this disorder have a complete disregard for the feelings and rights of others. They will do whatever they want to do, whenever, and feel no remorse or guilt about it.

I’m not sure that Psycho Pirate has antisocial personality disorder. He certainly has some antisocial personality traits, but he has traits of many other personality disorders as well (histronic, paranoid, narcissistic). He also kowtows to easily to others (Luthor, the Anti-monitor, etc.) to be a true antisocial personality disorder — true antisocial individuals refuse to respect any authority. (I’ll admit that my knowledge of Psycho Pirate is based on his appearances in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Animal Man, and JSA Classified. He may have been written written differently prior to the Crisis.)

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I also have questions about this court scene. It seems that Psycho Pirate’s father has a hat trick going for him: not only is he the defendant’s father, but he’s also a victim (and witness), and an expert witness as well. There has to be a good objection in there somewhere.

Plus, how fast is the Earth-2 court system? The Pirate’s on trial for breaking his father’s arm and it’s still in the process of healing (6-8 weeks). That’s seems very fast for a trial. (See, I do pay attention over at Suspension of Disbelief).

As a joke (at least I think it was a joke), one of the gifts I received was How to Draw Batman. This book, published by Scholastic, purports to teach youngsters how to draw the Batman.

I think this book will be much more of a discouragement than an encouragement. Kids would be better off putting a piece of paper over the TV or monitor and tracing Batman. It would be faster, easier, and a hell of a lot less frustrating for them.

Just how bad is the book? Let’s say you want to draw the Batmobile:

Think that maybe a few steps were left out?

After due consideration, I suspect that this book is part of a conspiracy hatched by current DC pencilers. They wanted a book that would appeal to artistic children, yet be so bad that not only would it not teach anything useful, but it would in fact discourage kids from ever drawing again. Thus, their jobs are safe for yet another generation.

It’s late December and that means it’s the time to look at the best (and worst) of comic book medicine over the past year. Today, the good stuff. Tomorrow, the bad stuff.

Best Depiction of Medicine:
Hands down, Metadocs #0 is the best depiction of the practice of medicine in a comic book this year*, and one of the best ever.

Best Doctor:
While not a medical doctor (not that that ever really stopped him), Hank Pym wins the Best Doctor Award this year for his incredible technobabble from Captain America and the Falcon #12:

Best Single Medical or Scientific Concept:
The Flash’s struggle with altitude illness in Flash #226, written by Immonen and Kuder. This story did a good job making Flash’s super powers an important part of his medical condition, plus it features Flash (one of my favorite super-heroes) and altitude sickness (a favorite medical subject of mine).
Honorable mentions go to Geoff Johns for Teen Titans #26 and his understanding of the various types of fractures; and Gail Simone and Birds of Prey #78 for understanding the difference between boxer’s knuckles and a boxer’s fracture.

Best Imaginary Medicine or Treatment:
The super-strong horome Medusagen from the Black Widow mini-series. was critical of the drug at first, but by the last few issues, it had become an important and medically consistent part of the plot. (Review of issue #2, #4, and #5)

Special Mention:
Disease of the Year: Botulism which played a role in both Y: The Last Man and Villains United.
Condition of the Year: Difficult Pregnancies, as featured in Fallen Angel #18, Hard Time #12, and Flash.

Tomorrow: The Worst of 2005

*The OR scene in Birds of Prey #80 was excellent as well, but since I helped a little with it, the comic is disqualified from the running (though it’s still very good — go buy it!)

After last night’s list of the best in comic book medicine over the past year, tonight’s list takes a look at the very worst in comic book medicine in 2005, and unfortunately there were many nominees this year.

Worst Depiction of Medicine:
Without a doubt, the Operating Room scene in Richard Dragon #10 was the worst medical scene in comics this year, and probably the worst OR scene in comics ever.

Worst Doctor:
Sadly, Leslie Tompkins wins the Worst Doctor of the Year Award. Honestly, DC Comics and Bill Willingham should win this award for taking the easy way out to alleviate Batman’s guilt over the death of Stephanie Brown, and sacrificing a respected character to do so.

Worst Single Medical or Scientific Concept:
Aquaman #30 and the ridiculous “Kiss of Death” storyline, where people suffocated from too much oxygen.

Worst Imaginary Medicine or Treatment:
The “Military Strength Pain Killer” from Black Widow (yes, the same mini-series wins both the Best and Worst Awards). Pain is pain — the idea that people in the military get stonger pain killers is ridiculous; if anything, their choice of pain killers are more restrictive than civilians.

Dishonorable Mentions:
For comics that went benarth and below the call of duty, delivering scenes fraught with horrible medicine and science.

• Batman: Gotham Knights #61, where Hush believes resistance to poison ivy is rare, and the writer thinks that DDT is a weed killer instead of an insecticide.
• Ultimate Iron Man for that ridiculous brain-tissue-spread-throughout-the-body concept.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #23, for Sue Storm “brain-damaging” a villain by “collapsing” a single synapse (out of tens of millions in an average brain) and for the optic nerve blindness foolishness.
• Batman #644 for showing the readers that basic high school chemistry is beyond Batman’s understanding.

I’m taking today off in anticpation of having to work the clinic and be on call for the next three days.