Polite Dissent

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

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

from JLA #3 (by Porter and Morrison)

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

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

Streets of Gotham #28

Victorian Undead II #5

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

Click on the image for the full ad

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

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

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

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

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Tags: comics psa supermancitizen jack schiff sheldon moldoff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove sterling gates rob liefled

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

Season Eight of House starts in three weeks, on October 3rd, so it’s time to begin this year’s House challenge.

It’s free, it’s fun, it’s easy. Here’s how to play:

Make a list of ten conditions or diseases you think will show up on HOUSE. Be as specific as possible: no categories (like “cancer” or “autoimmune disease”), and no overly broad descriptions (“liver failure” or “cardiac arrest”, for instance). The list you make will last the remainder of the season — no addition, subtractions, or swaps. Put your list in the comments section.

Each week, your list will be compared against the show. Scoring is as follows:

1 point for a brief mention or one-liner.
3 points if the team actually tests for the condition.
3 points if your diagnosis is featured in a clinic scene (or other side plot).
5 points if the team treats the condition (or supposed condition).
12 points if it’s actually the correct final answer (or one of the answers) of the episode.
Please note: If your diagnosis is close, but not specific enough (for example “meningitis” when the team tests for “viral meningitis”) you will earn 1/3 the points.

Scores will be collated each week and a running total will be kept. Scores will be posted as soon as possible.

To play the full season, your list must be posted in the comments section by 7pm (Central time) October 3rd — the night the season starts. Later entries are accepted and will start accruing points the following week.

Last season’s final standings can be found here.

The spam filter likes to hold on to these lists, so if yours doesn’t appear right away, don’t panic. If it’s been at least six hours and it still hasn’t shown up, drop me a line and I’ll hunt it down.

To get things started, here is my list of ten predicted diagnoses for the upcoming season:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed heroic age remender mckelvie

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

Click on the image for the full ad

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

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

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

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Tags: comics psa music jack schiff bob brown

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

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

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

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

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

I thought we had this one licked: psychiatry ≠ psychology

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

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

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

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

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

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

A fairly slow moving episode, designed to let us learn the new Fringe Division status quo and introduce a new character or two. Plus maybe some recurring villains

The Plot: The episode, and the season, starts with two brief vignettes: A verbal sparring match between Olivia and Fauxlivia as they trade Fringe Division case files, and a conversation between two Observers where they discuss the fact that Peter Bishop, or at least part of him, is still around. The senior Observer admonishes his junior counterpart that he needs to take care of Peter once and for all.

The episode proper starts with FBI Agent Lincoln Lee swinging by to pick up his partner, perpetually tardy family man Robert Danzig. Later, the pair is pursuing an arms dealer but split up when he disappears in a maze-like basement complex. Lee manages to catch the dealer, but when he goes to look for Robert he finds him dead with a strange translucently skinned man standing over the dead body. Robert face has a similarly translucent appearance. Lee gives chase but the strange man escapes by jumping through the window (windows, really).

Fringe Division is called in to examine Robert’s death. Olivia talks with Lee, telling him her division is taking over the case, but won’t give him any more information. Lee won’t take no for an answer, and manages to track Olivia back to Walter’s lab where he demands more answers. A call from Fringe Division HQ comes in, alerting the team to a new body. Lee invites himself along. This time the victim is a female, but she has the same partially translucent look as Robert had. Lee manages to find a witness who has a photo of the killer, a translucently skinned man. Reluctantly, Olivia informs Lee that there have been other similar killings before Robert. She takes him to a morgue at Fringe HQ where there are dozens of dead bodies – all from the last three days, Broyles informs them. Broyles mentions that they have not been able to find any common link between the victims. Lee tells Broyles that Robert had Crohn’s disease and took iron pills, and wonders if that may be the missing connection. Walter looks into Lee’s idea and finds that neither Crohn’s nor iron is the link, but “heavy metal poisoning” is. He also mentions that the victims’ blood seems to have been cleansed of all the expected excess heavy metals.

Meanwhile, in a dingy lab, the translucent man takes a vial of neon liquid, draws it up in a syringe, and injects it into his arm. We see a flush of mercury under one of his fingernails, which then loosens. He pulls the nail off, and seems quite pleased by whatever just happened.

Back at Walter’s lab, Agent Lee makes another connection: all the killings have been close to one of four commuter rail stations. Teams of FBI agents stake out the stations and sure enough, one team sees the translucent man and gives chase. Olivia and Lee arrive just in time to find both agents down: one dead and one wounded. Lee stays to help the wounded agent while Olivia takes off after the translucent man. She finds him in his lab, burning his notes. There is a scuffle, and in the end she shoots him, repeatedly. This takes care of the bad guys, right? Wrong. The wounded agent informs Lee that there was more than one translucent man – and the other one stole his pistol. Lee goes off looking for the missing perpetrator and finds him hiding around the corner. Lee is able to shoot him before the translucent can get a shot off.

An autopsy of the translucent men back at Walter’s lab reveals some tech similar to that used by the shapeshifters from the previous two seasons. To Walter, this is proof that they are part of a scheme by Walternate. Olivia takes the suspicious tech to the Liberty Island dimensional bridge and hands it over to Fauxlivia, who says she’ll “look into it.” Agent Lee tags along as well, learning more of Fringe Division’s secrets.

The episode ends with a few more brief vignettes: a third translucent “man” is seen, only this one looks just like the female second victim. An Observer shows up outside Walter’s lab with his machine, the one designed to erase someone from history. He turns it on, but appears to think better of it, and switches it off. Finally, Walter sees Peter’s reflection in his television set, and it is clear that he is spooked by the fact that he keeps seeing this person who he does not recognize.

1. Lesson One: Never Partner with Olivia
Which partner is Olivia referring to when she told Lee about her dead partner? Agent Scott? Charlie?

2. Is She Reading Ahead in the Script?
Why evidence did Olivia have that the translucent men were shapeshifters, other than the suspicious tech? I bring this up because she referred to them that way when talking to Fauxlivia but had she seen one change, or appear in someone else’s shape? The only shapeshfiting I recall was the female translucent “man”, and we saw that after the Liberty Island hand off.

3. Is this FRINGE or HOUSE?
Walter is making quite a reach with his statement blaming heavy metal poisoning. First, bear in mind that there are dozens of heavy metals (from a medical point of view, pretty much every metal with toxicity is considered a “heavy metal”) and they each can cause different symptoms. Sure, everything he mentions can be associated with heavy metal poisoning, but only in very very rare cases. Yes, some heavy metal poisonings can cause hair loss. But it is an extremely unusual cause of hair loss and there would be many other more telling symptoms of heavy metal poisoning. Genetics, sadly, is by far the most common cause of hair loss (trust me on this one: personal experience). Similarly, some heavy metal toxicities can cause kidney disease, but there are many more common causes — high blood pressure or diabetes, for instance. High lead levels can cause gout (saturnine gout), but this once again is a very rare cause. I’ve probably seen several hundred gout cases, and never yet seen one associated with lead toxicity. Most gout is caused by bad genes, and poor diet is the second most common cause. Crohn’s is not associated with heavy metal poisoning either (but in this case, I assume it was the iron Agent Danzig was taking that Walter was referring to, not the Crohn’s itself).

4. One Way Street
If the translucent man was injecting into a vein, the chemical was flowing the wrong direction, but maybe it was an artery…

5. Be Careful Around the Thirteenth One
I’m pretty sure the secret to being a good FBI Fringe Agent is just to keep an eye on every warehouse in town. Damn villains are always using those warehouses.

6. Put On a Jacket
I suspect Walter’s prominent mention of John le Carre’s novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a hint at things to come, but its exact significance escapes me, unless he is similar suggesting intricate plots within plots within plots in the Fringe world (which, like the era of le Carre’s book, is in a Cold War — this time between the two dimensions).

7. Flashpoint
I’m sure the timing is just coincidental, but this Fringe reboot is reminding me an awful lot of the current Nu52 reboot at DC Comics. If Olivia starts wearing red lingerie or sleeping around, I’ll become extremely concerned (of course, this is Fringe after all — maybe it’s Walter who’ll wear the red lingerie).

A fairly slow episode, but it was clearly designed to introduce the new status quo and stir up some plot elements for later in the season. The Fringe Doomsday Clock remains where it ended last season at five seven minutes to midnight. (Or Doosmday Clock, if you prefer.)

Tags: television fringe observer shapeshifter lincoln lee

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tags: comics psa clark kent smallvlle drunk driving

Terra Nova = The Unteleported Man + Mastodonia + (a little bit of) Earth 2

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

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

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