Polite Dissent

Metadocs Type A #1 is the sequel to Metadocs #0. It continues the storyline from the first comic.

While the initial issue dealt with the emergency evaluation, transport, and stabilizatio nof the injured heroes and villains, this second book concerns their subsequent treatment in the hospital. Gravity Girl’s immune system has gone haywire and the doctors are trying to calm it down. Stalagmite is still bleeding heavily. The doctors are trying to improvise some sort of synthetic skin for him to bandage the wound. The villain, Lord Drehd, is in the hospital as well, suffering a nuclear overload from his injuries.

As in Metadocs #0, the medicine is excellent. I note no medical errors of any significance, and the typos that bothered me last issue are absent as well. This is not your standard “ABC” emergency medicine I’ve described before — it goes way beyond that. If anything, the medicine may be too advanced,covering topics such as phagocytosis, histocomptibility, and complement. The science is done well and entirely correct, but I suspect it will be over the heads of most readers. A full understanding of the science isn’t necessary to enjoy the story, but it may just as well be technobabble.

The art is better this time. It may just be that I am getting used to Espinosa’s manga-influenced style, but I think the art is significantly improved, particulalry the characters and the coloring.

My only complaint is the incompleteness of the storyline. This is the second part of what appears to be a two-part Metadocs story. There is no indication in this book, or from Antarctic Press, that the story will ever continue. It is a shame then that so much of the basic storyline is left unfinished. Characters are left injured and there’s no indication of their recovery. In the most egregious example, Dr. Orchid is performing CPR on the injured Commander Patriot…and that’s where it ends. That particular storyline is never addressed again before the comic, and presumably the series, finishes.

Even with that complaint, both Metadocs show the tremendous potential for a comic that deals with medicine in a super-hero world.