Top Five Most Common Comic Book Writer Medical Errors

June 28th, 2006

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

I think the majority of the medical errors I notice in comic books can be ascribed to the writer. However, because the storylines are so varied, it is unusual to see the same mistake repeated again and again and again. Still, there are certain themes that crop up frequently:

    1. Germs

  • Bacteria and viruses are two completely different kinds of organisms and the words are not interchangeable.
    Notable bad examples: Grant Morrison’s first Animal Man storyline (Anthrax is not a virus) and Geoff John’s Avengers Red Zone storyline (Necrotizing fasciitis is a bacterial disease, not a viral one).
  • And they’re not plants either, so don’t pull that white-kryptonite-will-kill-the-virus nonsense.
    Notable bad example: Action Comics #363-366 (The Virus X saga)
    2. Antibiotics

  • Really a corollary of the first rule. Antibiotics kill bacteria, they do not kill viruses. Antivirals kill viruses. If you want a general term that encompasses both, use the word “antimicrobial.”
    Notable bad examples: In at least one Batbook, they refer to treating the Clench virus with Streptomycin, an antibiotic. In Elektra, news reports mention that an emerging strain of Influenza (a virus) is resistant to all penicillins (antibiotics).
    3. You Cannot Shock A Flatline

  • When the heart goes into asystole (a term for when it stops beating and has no electrical activity), the treatment is NOT defibrillation. To restart a non-beating heart, the recommended treatments are CPR, epinephrine, atropine, and transcutaneous pacing. Defibrillation does more harm than good.
    Notable bad examples: Iron Man #7, Action Comics #817, Superman #175, X-treme X-Men #18, and a certain superhero movie in theaters now.
    4. Bad Radiology

  • One of the trickier aspects of medicine to learn is which radiology study to order when. For certain situations, an x-ray is best. For others, a CT scan or MRI is betters. Sometimes, a less common test such as a myelogram or PET scan may be the right choice.
    Writers will often choose the incorrect test for the situation, and their most common choice seems to be the plain old x-ray. It’s certainly understandable that a layperson would call everything an “x-ray”, but don’t put those words in the mouths of doctors, who would certainly know better.
    Notable bad examples: Mutopia X #5, Phantom #1408, Amazing Spider-Man #3, Strange Tales #115.
  • Sometimes the artist is to blame, drawing x-rays or other films that are anatomically impossible, or are far from realistic.
    Notable bad example: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #192
    5. Autopsies

  • I simply can’t think of a remotely realistic autopsy scene in comic books. It’s either impossible things being discovered, blatantly obvious things being missed, untrained people participating, “heroes” walking off with some of the key body tissues, or just poor technique in general.
    Notable bad examples: Identity Crisis #2, Identity Crisis #6, JSA #67, 52 #3, Aquaman #30, Batman: Gotham Knights #73, and other Batbooks.

8 Responses to “ Top Five Most Common Comic Book Writer Medical Errors ”

  1. Steven
    June 28th, 2006 at 10:57 pm

    You forgot the rigor mortis thing.

    That seems to come up A LOT!

  2. Scott
    June 28th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
    Official Comment

    Good call. That should be #6, and the “bleeding out of every orifice” #7

  3. Zzedar
    June 29th, 2006 at 1:21 am

    Speaking of autopsies and rigor mortis, why are there never animal bites on corpses? If a corpse is found in a grimy alley in New York or Gotham, it should have a bunch of triangular rat bites.

  4. Sumer Sethi
    June 29th, 2006 at 3:18 am

    loved the post, i ve recommended ur site on my blog
    Sumer

  5. Scipio
    June 29th, 2006 at 8:38 am

    Scott, your post has given me an idea for a potential joint project that could be extremely cool. Can you write me off-line so we can discuss it?

    Thanks!

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    December 23rd, 2007 at 5:12 pm

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  7. Polite Dissent » Picture Quiz: Checkmate: comics, medicine, and medical comics
    April 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 pm

    […] Quick quiz here. What’s caught my eye as wrong in this panel? It’s not one of my top five writer or top five artist errors, but it’s so common, I’m starting to think it should be… […]

  8. I love “Polite Dissent” | Diane Duane's weblog: "Out of Ambit"
    August 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    […] So what does the medical team do? They defibrillate him.Once again repeat after me: Do not shock a flatline. It is a bad idea. It may work in comic book (like it does here), but in real life it doesn’t work and may actually make the situation worse… […]

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