Polite Dissent

Superboy makes an interesting point in this public service ad. He states that to know the culture of the United States, you also need to know the cultures of all the immigrants who have come here. A fair point, but I think it would be impossible to be familiar with every single culture that contributes to our melting pot.

For those of whose knowledge of Sweden is limited to ABBA, Köttbullar are the proper name for what we call Swedish meatballs.

I also think that Apache Chief might disagree with some of Superboy’s comments in the last panel.

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This PSA is found in DC comics from both June 1951 and December 1954. It was written by Jack Schiff, the king of PSAs, with art by frequent collaborator Win Mortimer.

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Useful bits of medical knowledge I’ve gleaned from Jack Kirby:

There was once a time when a doctor could start a raging fire — and nobody considered it out of the ordinary.

Medicines used to be really, really dangerous.

Scene from The Demon #13, written and penciled by the aforementioned Jack Kirby, where the doctor is question is Baron Von Evilstein — and really, with a name like that, your life’s plan is pretty much already laid out for you.

In the Motto Grosso region of Brazil, a strange and deadly new plague has arisen: the Green Death! Its symptoms really aren’t mentioned — other than the obvious key words “green” and “death” — though one scientists refers to it as a “terrible body wasting disease.” Judging from the pictures, it turns people into green hippy zombies. As the rural farmers flee from the disease, they spread it to the larger towns and cities of Brazil until a full epidemic of Green Death has broken out.

Luckily, scientists from the Grant Institute of Medical Research have sent a team into the jungle to find the cause of the disease and develop a cure. Unfortunately, their native porter betrays them and they are captured by a local tribe of headhunters and imprisoned. The head scientist meets an unfortunate end, but the beautiful-female-scientist-hiding-under-a-mousy-façade and her hunky fellow scientist survive. Something to be said for being a good looking junior scientist, I guess.

All is not lost though, as one of the members of the expedition is really the Golden Age hero “The Hurricane” in disguise. He rescues the scientists and kills the evil witch doctor who was behind the Green Death. He also managed to “convince” the witch doctor to hand over the cure to the plague. As the remaining scientists are flown to safety, Hurricane unleashes his fury on the tribe of headhunters, destroying the whole town — if not the entire populace. Such is the vengeance of the Golden Age.

The Green Death resembles two plagues we’ve seen before: the Yellow Death from Superman and the Red Death from Doc Savage. Of course, this story predates the Yellow Death by three months, and the Red Death by nearly fifty years.

Motto Grosso is an actual region of Brazil, but the tribe mentioned, the Jivaro, live in Peru and Ecuador, not Brazil. I don’t think there are any Mayan ruins in Brazil, either.

This Hurricane story is from Captain America Comics #2 (June 1941), by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

The Hangman #1
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Tom Derenick, penciler

A hypothermic patient is brought to the Emergency Room after being caught in a cruise ship explosion. He was in the water for two hours and described as a “near-drowning.” Dr. Dickering (apparently the only doctor in the entire hospital) goes to the ER to evaluate the patient.

The biggest problem in this scene is the doctor’s use of the EEG to look for neurological damage.

Other thoughts:
Intubation is a good choice given that this patient is a hypothermic near-drowning victim and has a high change of developing breathing problems, if he hasn’t already.

An actually core body temperature would be important to know rather than the vague answer of “close to critical.”

Starting to warm up the patient en route is laudable, providing the medics are monitoring his heart, as arrhythmias are common in this situation.

Dr. Dickering sure spends a great deal of time futzing around instead of actually intubating the patient — which is not necessarily a bad thing since the patient is awake and talking — but it does make you wonder why he wanted the intubation RIGHT NOW!

The rest of the scene is little better (I only posted the most egregious panel). The “med-speak” is awkward and lacks the flow one sees in trained professionals. For ER talk done right, compare this scene to the ER scene in Blue Beetle #31. Hint for the aspiring writer: Get a doctor, ER nurse, or paramedic to help with the med-speak, it makes a all the difference in the world.

Here’s a good online case study of a near drowning patient. It’s a pediatric patient, so there are some differences, but it will give you a good feel for how such a situation is handled.

An old rivalry is altered when bizarre super-powers emerge in this scene from the nicely quirky (not to mention Lovecraftian) North 40 #2.

North 40 #2, by Aaron Williams and Fiona Staples

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed north 40

Famed actress Miss Senter¹ has been injected with the Ugly Serum, and in the climactic scene of her new play the serum takes effect. In the space of just a few seconds, she goes from stunning beauty to complete ugliness².

A mysterious note turns up demanding $50,000³ for the antidote to the serum. The actress decides she must pay up to save her career and heads off to exchange the money for the antidote. Silver Scorpion⁴ — legal secretary by day, super-hero by night — follows along and manages to capture “Mr. Black” a.k.a. “The Beauty Butcher,” but better known as:

Notes:
1. Miss Senter apparently does not have a first name — or if she does, it’s “Miss.” In the eleven times she’s spoken to or even mentioned in the story, it is always as “Miss Senter.”
2. Assuming you equate ugliness with old age, as author/artist Harry Sahle apparently does. To me, it seems more of an Aging Serum than an Ugly Serum.
3. $50,000 may not seem like that much to extort an actress for, but remember, this was published in 1941. In today’s money (or 2008, the latest year I could find the information for), this would be equal to about $725,000.
4. Surprising few, this was Silver Scorpion’s third and final Golden Age appearance.

With summer vacation winding down and families taking a last ditch vacation before school starts up again, I thought a public service ad about camping would be appropriate. This PSA is fairly straightforward: Binky takes his unfortunately named brother Allergy and some of his friends on a camping trip and takes the time to teach them how to do it right.

There is something wonderfully poetic about a boy named Allergy destroying wildflowers.

This is the first PSA I can recall with a typo: I suspect Binky means to say “First Aid” in the final panel and not just “First.”

For a classic vacation PSA, check out How NOT to Enjoy a Vacation! It features a talking dog, what more could you want?

Ever notice how the title to every DC PSA ends in an exclamation point, whether it warrants it or not? It makes me think everyone at DC involved in making the PSAs was always very excited!

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This PSA is found in the DC comics of May 1955, including Adventure Comics #212, where this was scanned in from. This strip was written by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

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It starts, as good stories often do, with the hero visiting an unassuming hospital:

While touring a research hospital, Dr. Standish surreptitiously injects Captain America with the Commie Serum (sure, he calls it the Virus of Evil, but we know what it really is: the Commie Serum). Within mere moments, Captain America is suddenly agreeing with communist propaganda and even spouting off some himself. Bucky is horrified, but Cap plays him no mind, and agrees to perform missions at the behest of his new Soviet friends, including destroying a U.S. ammunition dump. Delighted with how well the drug is working, the doctor has Captain America row out to meet a Soviet submarine laying in wait off the coast. It is here that Cap is to meet the head Soviet spy and be taken to the Soviet Union.

Once on the deck of the submarine, Captain America shows his true colors. He decks the Soviet leader and then he and Bucky sabotage the submarine so that they can’t escape. It turns out that Captain America was never affected by the Commie Serum at all, but just played along so that he could capture the head Soviet spy:

There are two parts of this story that straddle that fine line between genius and insanity:

1. The deus ex machina explanation for Cap’s resistance to the drug is priceless: the scientists who created Captain America knew that he’d be facing a drug like this, so they designed immunity to it into the Super Soldier Serum. Genius! That same concept can be used to make Cap immune to anything: Radiation? Protected by immunity designed into the Super Soldier Serum. The vacuum of space? Protected by immunity designed into the Super Soldier Serum. The cloying sounds of Kenny G? Protected by immunity designed into the Super Soldier Serum. Current Captain America writer Ed Brubaker could have used it himself to resurrect Cap by claiming that the scientists behind Captain America knew he’d be facing bullets someday, so they made him immune to them.

2. How about the manner by which Captain America discovered that Dr. Standish was actually a Soviet spy? When the good doctor stepped behind the x-ray machine (the fluoroscope) to demonstrate how it worked, Cap noticed a Soviet medal in his stomach. Brilliant — at least until you stop to think about it. One of the Soviet’s top spies, instead of leaving his medal back in Russia with all his other belongings, decided it along with him to America. To hide it, he then swallowed it. Soviet medals are not small, they’re about the size of a fifty-cent piece or dollar coin — and that’s not counting the ribbon that’s usually attached. And these medals are, well, metal…and frequently pointy. Not only why would he swallow it (and did he hope to get it back?), but how did he swallow it?

Scenes from “Captain America Turn Traitor” in Young Men #26. The GCD lists John Romita as the penciler and Stan Lee as the probable writer

I figured this was going to happen as part of Blackest Night (and frankly, I would have been disappointed if it hadn’t).

The bit with Don/Dove was a nice touch though.

Scenes above from Blackest Night #2 (by Johns and Reis)

More than you wanted to know about Hawk and Dove

Tags: comics hawk dove blackest night

Story from Exciting Comics #22 (Standard, October 1942)
Brilliant scientist Dr. Wentworth has developed a special serum for the United States war efforts that uses steel ions to give men bulletproof skin.

Of course, he is shot by Nazi agents before he can deliver his formula to the authorities.

The Nazis then proceed to capture the young co-ed Wentworth whispered the formula to with his dying breath. They are able to get the formula from her and use it to make a small company of bulletproof Nazi infantrymen.

Enter our hero: the Liberator. Seeing the Nazi soldiers standing next to each other in tight formation, he comes up with a plan. He deduces that the formula not only turns the skin bulletproof, but actually turns it into steel — which he reckons is a good conductor of electricity. He hits the first soldier in line with a high-powered electrical line and the fatal current is passed through the entire formation due to their conductive steel skin.

Tags: comics medicine liberator steel nazi secret formula

A little more on the Liberator and his eye-catching costume…

The Liberator was one of the heroes who appeared in Exciting Comics and America’s Best Comics in the 1940s, both of which were published by Nedor Comics.

Dr. Nelson Drew is a chemistry professor at a small college. Like most heroic alter-ego found in the Nedor line, he is a brilliant scientist but quiet and unassuming — if not downright nerdy (cf. the Black Terror and the American Eagle). Dr. Drew has a crush on one of his students, a co-ed named Annabelle Evans, but she doesn’t show the slightest interest in him — mostly because of the characteristics I mentioned earlier, but also because she already had a boyfriend, a strapping jock named Tommy.

Depressed about his lack of a love life, Dr. Drew throws himself with renewed vigor into his hobby: researching ancient Egyptian poisons. He finds a hidden recipe for a formula known as Lamesis that’s supposed to turn someone into their “ideal.” For the heck of it, he decides to make the concoction and then he accidentally inhales the fumes.

Once exposed to the Lamesis formula, Dr. Drew finds himself turning into a super-strong super-fast and (apparently) super-handsome hero.



Meanwhile, Annabelle and Tommy are on their way to a costume party, but on the way decide to stop by Dr. Drew’s house hoping to persuade him to raise their chemistry grades. When they arrive, the couple sees no sign of Dr. Drew, but sees this strange half-naked man. The mysterious man slugs Tommy and steals his patriotic costume — and thus the Liberator is born.

The formula wears off after a couple of hours and Dr. Drew returns to normal — but not before he stops a Nazi plot or two. From then on, he keeps some of the Lamesis with him at all times so that he can become the Liberator when the situation arises. Annabelle and Tommy don’t seem to bear any ill-will against the Liberator as they go on to have several adventures together before he faded into history in the mid-’40s (though he does appear, after a fashion, in Tom Strong #12 and the two Terra Obscura mini-series. He can also be seen in Dynamite’s Project Superpowers series).

Because you demanded it, I’m going to end the summer’s public service ads with two weeks of PSAs featuring Binky’s younger brother Allergy, in all his huge bow-tied glory. And not just any Allergy PSAs, but two ads concerning Allergy and his pet dog (though, ironically, allergies to dogs is never mentioned).

This week, Binky and Allergy reveal that they are completely clueless about pets, which makes you wonder why their parents let them have one in the first place. They probably should have started them out with fish, a hamster, or a turtle. For example, based on the sixth panel, I’m wondering if they ever fed the dog before they had that chat with their neighbor. No wonder Sport doesn’t like them!

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA is found in DC comics from October 1953. Like nearly all DC PSAs, it was written by Jack Schiff. Art was handled by Win Mortimer, who did most of the Binky PSAs. This copy was scanned in from Adventure Comics #193.

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Tags: comics psa binky allergy pets dog jack schiff win mortimer

scene from Black Panther #17 (by Reginald Hudlin and Scott Eaton)

Storm seems to be suggesting that the mutant gene is x-linked. This actually fits with what the Beast said in Astonishing X-Men #25 when he mentioned that the x-gene is found on the 23rd chromosome — the sex chromosome. Storm’s statement confirms this, but also tells us that there is no corresponding gene on the Y-chromosome. For you non-biologists, at the simplest level, this means that mutant fathers cannot pass on the x-gene to their sons, only their daughters.

1. Assuming what Beast and Storm said is true, the next question is whether the mutant gene is x-linked dominant or x-linked recessive. There are character histories that support both ideas:

2. Then there are the cases where neither dominant nor recessive genes fit:

3. It would also make sense that the x-gene has a high rate of spontaneous mutation, which would explain all the mutant children born to normal parents (Beast, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Jean Grey, etc. etc.).

4. Then there’s the more advanced possibilities:

Of course, I’m well aware that attempting to tie 45+ years of mutant continuity — written by dozens of creators of vastly different scientific knowledge — into coherent biology is an impossible task. But damn, sometimes it’s fun to try.

One of America’s leading nuclear scientists has been struck down by the mysterious Virus X. Traditional medical treatments have been unsuccessful, so the Army needs Aquaman’s help. Their plan is to reduce Aquaman to microscopic size using a shrink ray, and then inject him into the scientist where Aquaman can confront the virus directly.

Aquaman agrees and is quickly shrunk and injected into the scientist’s bloodstream. Once there, he quickly spots the evil octopus-looking Virus X in the middle of chowing down on some red blood cells. The body’s white blood cells swoop in to attack the virus, but it is too strong for them and easily shrugs off their feeble blows.

Discovering that his telepathic powers work on the white blood cells, Aquaman decides that advanced tactics are required, and he quickly lines the white blood cells up into battle formation and throws a coordinated assault against the virus.

It is a close, vicious battle, but once again, Virus X proves too strong for the body’s defenders. Aquaman and his army flee down the bloodstream with the virus in close pursuit. Aquaman now realizes that a flank or rear attack is his only viable option. He traps the virus by physically closing one of the heart valves so it can’t follow. Meanwhile, he and his troops make a complete circuit of the body’s circulation which brings them back to where the virus is trapped, allowing them to attack it from behind.

The battle is “brief but furious” but in the end Aquaman and his army are victorious.

With the virus vanquished, Aquaman swims off and exits the body through the same hole the hypodermic needle left when it injected him — and once again, America’s nuclear science is saved.

This story is from Adventure Comics #200, published in May 1954, which means that it predates Fantastic Voyage by a dozen years (and predates the fairly similar Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode “Journey to the Center of the Bat” by even more). I know there’s an Astro Boy story with a similar theme from around the same time, but I’m not sure which one came first.

I suspect this is an entirely different “Virus X” than the one that causes “Kryptonian Leprosy” and felled Superman in Action Comics #363-366 (storyline reviewed here and here).

Apparently the scientist’s disease was caused by a single virus — but what a virus it was! It’s the same size as a heart valve (about the size of a quarter).

I don’t think forcibly closing a heart valve, even “momentarily,” is going to be at all good for the scientist’s heart. And it also brings up a question: With the valve closed, will there be enough arterial flow and blood pressure to push Aquaman and his army through the circulatory system?

In this scene from Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #4, General Immortus is trying to exert his dominance over the Human Flame. The Flame can barely resist at first, but eventually manages to stand his ground and triumph. Sure, he suffers a nosebleed in the confrontation, but the General suffers third-degree burns.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #4, by Matt Sturges and Freddie Willimams III

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed human flame matt sturges

Binky, his brother Allergy, and their dog Sport are back in this public service ad about dental care for both pets and people (though it seems Sports has changed from a black and white coat to a tawny color since last week)

I like the way Sport has his own toothbrush in the bathroom next to everyone else’s — yet still has to eat in a different room than the rest of the family.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA is found in DC comics from March 1956. Like last week’s PSA, this ad was written by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer. I found this copy was scanned in Adventure Comics #222.

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Tags: comics psa binky allergy teeth dog jack schiff win mortimer

A quick recap of the origin of the She-Hulk:
Lawyer Jen Walters was shot by some gangsters who didn’t like a client she was representing. Luckily, her cousin Bruce Banner was visiting her. He scooped up the seriously wounded Jen and ran down the street — to a conveniently located small-town doctor’s office. Even more conveniently, this doctor has blood transfusion equipment in his office. And still more conveniently, Bruce and Jen had the same blood type, so he was able to save her life by giving her a transfusion of his blood — his gamma irradiated blood that caused her to turn in to the She-Hulk. Here’s the original scene as drawn by John Buscema in The Savage She-Hulk #1:

Now, how about that same scene from the more recent Hulk Family: Green Genes #1:

I definitely prefer the gritter, more emotion-filled, benday dotted original scene to the computer-colored actionless and emotionally flat version.
However, I am impressed that Bruce had to the time to get his blood into that little pouch before transfusing it into his dying cousin. Plus he had the time to label it as well.

Detective Comics #856 “Elegy, part 3: Affettuoso”
Greg Rucka, writer
J.H. Williams, III, artist

Another strong issue, both in story and art. Not to mention Bette Kane (and is she still Flamebird?). There were a couple medical and chemical terms thrown out that I wanted to discuss. Consider this more an “annotation” than anything else.

Opioids are “chemicals that activate the opioid receptor” — which is an obvious and unhelpful definition. Put another way, opioids are drugs that are derived — naturally or synthetically — from the opium poppy. These include morphine, codeine, meperidine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin, methadone, fentanyl and others.

These medications produce analgesia (pain relief), sedation, and at high levels, respiratory depression and death. They also cause really bad constipation. Opioids can be quite addictive, but are the strongest pain medications available.

Naloxone (brand name Narcan) is a medicine that blocks the opioid receptors, stopping opiate drugs from working. It works quickly, and for all intents and purposes causes a near instant opioid withdrawal. Naloxone is used for the emergency treatment of opioid overdoses.

In another scene in the comic is a cache of barrels labeled “Cyanogen Chloride”

Cyanogen chloride is a nasty toxic gas that has been used in the past — most notably during WWI — as a chemical warfare agent. In addition to having cyanide like effects, it is also acts as an irritant. Initial symptoms include tearing, runny nose, and a watery cough. Higher doses or longer exposure lead to dizziness, nausea, seizures, loss of consciousness, respiratory depression, cardiac arrest, and death. It is a fast acting gas that can kill in a little over five minutes (indoors, at high concentration. Outdoors, it would take longer, but it certainly wouldn’t be pleasant). Supposedly, and I haven’t tested this myself, cyanogen chloride can pass through gas mask filters.

The barrels are also labeled CK VII and RTECS#GT2275000-7. CK is another name for cyanogen chloride (I don’t know what the VII indicates), and GT2275000 is the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances number for cyanogen chloride (and, again, I’m not sure what the 7 indicates).

Technically, opioids refer to any chemicals that affect the opioid receptor, not just medications (which are more properly termed “opiates”), but I’m just trying to make it simple. Still, that first paragraph is going to line me up for some nasty comment spam.

You’re sitting quietly at home reading when the doorbell rings. You open it to discover that, sadly, it’s not a Girl Scout selling cookies, but instead an attack by fiendish fire-apes!

What is your best course of action?

A: Ignore them and return to reading Marvel Apes — they must be a figment of your imagination.
B: Two words: barbecue ribs.
C: Call Jane Goodall and complain.
D: Turn the water hose on them.
E: Distract them with a bananas.

Click on the letter of your choice to see if your answer was correct

scene from Thrilling Comics #25

I’ve spent too much time today playing Batman: Arkham Asylum to put up a proper post, so enjoy this not-really-taken-out-of-context panel (it’s from an old comic about a couple who fake typhoid fever to pull a scam, and, as twist endings would have it, end up catching the disease themselves).

Today’s comic book public service ad is “Get a Grip on Your Gripes,” or as I like to call it: Junior High Psychotherapy.

Fred is angry because he lost his race at the track meet the day before. Now, he’s taking it out on those around him. Luckily his friend Joe steps in and commiserates with him about his loss and encourages him to do better next time, right? Wrong! Joe steps in and tells Fred to suck it up — it’s his own fault he lost, and to stop taking it out on other people. Sure, there’s some validity in what Joe is saying, but would it hurt to show a little sympathy? This is a comic book after all, and we all know what happens to people like Fred: they become super-villains.

Click on the image for the full ad

This PSA is found in DC comics from January 1961. Jack Schiff handles the scripting of this ad, with Bernard Baily providing the art.

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Tags: comics psa psychoanalysis anger jack schiff bernard baily