Detective Comics #833 and #834: A Medical Review

August 7th, 2007

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

cover, Detective Comics #833Detective Comics #833, 834 “Trust”
Paul Dini, writer
Don Kramer, penciler

By request of David, a look at the drowning scene in this recent storyline from Detective Comics.

The pathophysiology of drowning is actually fairly complex, but here’s a quick look at the basics: intake of fluid into the lungs disrupts the air/lung interface, preventing the diffusion of oxygen (in) and carbon dioxide (out). This leads to hypoxemia (low oxygen levels) and respiratory acidosis. These in turn lead to other significant problems including asphyxiation, cardiac arrest, and brain damage which in turn lead to death.

In an attempt to stave off drowning, an individual can hold their breath, but eventually the urge to breathe will overcome their resolve and they’ll end up taking a breath of water — or whatever medium they happen to be in at the time.

The exact anatomical mechanism behind breath holding is not clear. The glottis snaps shut, sealing off the airways. There is also thought to be involvement of some of the respiratory muscles, including the diaphragm, preventing breathing.

In the story, Zatanna has been shot in the neck1 — apparently disrupting her trachea/vocal cords so she can’t speak — making casting spells difficult2. She is then dumped tank of water which is subsequently locked shut.

After some repartee with the villain and an escape from a classic electrical trap, Batman frees Zatanna from the trap. He finds she has managed to heal herself of her neck injury, but has fallen unconscious in the tank.

Because of Zatanna’s injury, it’s unlikely her glottis can close tightly enough to keep water out of her lungs even when she holds her breath. The average adult drowning victim has just 4 ml of water in their lungs — Zatanna will have much more than that. This means she’ll have an extremely difficult time taking a breath and will likely drown even if she manages to escape the water. The water leaking into her lungs should not affect her ability to hold her breath; it will only affect her when she has to take a breath.

cover, Detective Comics #834How long can Zatanna hold her breath? The world record for humans3 is a little over 9 minutes (9 minutes and 8 seconds, to be precise). Of course, that is someone who has been specially trained and has had time to prepare beforehand. By contrast, Zatanna has been caught by surprise, shot, and dumped in a tank of water — that definitely puts her at a disadvantage. Still, I think she would be able to hold her breath for at least 30- 60 seconds, maybe even longer, which should be enough time to write “EM LEAH” on the ceiling of the tank4. It looks like it takes Batman another minute or two to rescue her. She’s unconscious and hypoxemic, but not dead. If Batman can restore her breathing in time, she should not suffer any permanent problems.

To me, that’s the real issue: can Batman restore her breathing in time? Medically, Zatanna is going need hospital evaluation after her near-drowning because of the amount of water she inhaled. Some Bat-CPR and a watchful eye at Wayne Manor probably isn’t going to be sufficient. She needs 100% oxygen and will most likely require intubation and admission to the intensive care unit. I don’t think she’ll be ready for round two for at best a few days, probably longer.

Notes:
1. That’s an incredibly skilled shot to take off the cuff like that. I can believe Deadshot could pull it off, but the Joker?
2. Has an actual vocal component always been required by Zatanna to cast her spells? She can’t just mouth the words?
3. And remember that Zatanna is only half human.
4. The tank is full of sloshing water, yet her letters written in blood don’t get washed away? I find this more unbelievable than Zatanna being able to hold her breath as long as she did.

9 Responses to “ Detective Comics #833 and #834: A Medical Review ”

  1. Sig
    August 8th, 2007 at 7:32 am

    Has an actual vocal component always been required by Zatanna to cast her spells? She can’t just mouth the words?

    Not always — her post-fishnet revision around the time of Ostrander’s Spectre #19 showed her using magic freely and without her backwards vocalization. But to quoth Etrigan (I forget the first part): “No fishnet hose/I hate it when a tradition goes!”

    That said, Ostrander was always good about playing within the confines of previous writers’ characterizations when using guest characters (for that Spectre storyline, Constantine was in the middle of the Damnation Flame arc, and was thus far too trashed to be of any use whatsoever), and if Dini — probably the writer we associate most with Zatanna now — now sees it fit to reimagine/redefine this aspect of Z’s vocalizations as integral to her sorcery, I think we can allow him this.

  2. Aaron
    August 8th, 2007 at 8:25 am

    I thought that I remembered being taught that part of the reason for the small volume of water in the lungs of drowing victims was that as a protective response the upper airways spasm shut to keep out water, but also air.

  3. universalperson
    August 8th, 2007 at 9:30 am

    Joker has been portrayed as being an above average marksman in the animated series.

  4. Scott
    August 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
    Official Comment

    You’re right Aaron. A laryngospasm will often occur in drowning, blocking out water and/or air. This also accounts for the approximately 15% of drowning victims who die from “dry drowning” — the laryngospasm blocks out all air and they asphyxiate without ever inhaling a single drop of water.

  5. Seth Finkelstein
    August 8th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

    How far does the “EM LAEH” work? Maybe it takes care of the medical effects of the drowning too.

    The Batcave’s been shown to have medical oxygen supplies. It probably has a breathing machine too.

    Besides, all she needs to do is recover enough to cast another healing spell on herself.

    And the spell after that is “!EID REKOJ”

    That’s the problem with Zatanna’s powers - too poorly defined.

  6. Bryan L
    August 9th, 2007 at 8:54 am

    Seth, I had the same thought — all she needs to do is recover sufficiently to use another healing spell. I also agree her abilities are not well defined — in the comic universe in my head, I’ve got a vague “rule book” for magic in the DC Universe, which I’m happy to present for purposes of debate:
    1. Characters either ARE magic (Thunderbolt, Spectre) or they MANIPULATE magic forces (Dr. Fate).
    2. All magic requires a focus to have any significant effect. Characters that are magic require a focus for their powers (human ally, like Johnny Thunder, or human host, like Jim Corrigan). These creatures are limited by the will and imagination of that focus (similar to Green Lantern’s ring).
    3. Characters that manipulate magic must cast spells to provide a focus for that magic, and spells are limited by will and imagination.
    Zatanna straddles both worlds — she’s a creature of magic but as a hybrid she requires a ritual focus (backwards spells). Her main weakness, really, is that she must have at least a few seconds to compose and focus on a spell (whether written or verbalized). Deny her those few seconds, and she’s helpless. There have been a couple of instances (Dini’s Zatanna miniseries) where she’s been shown to be able to cause some effects without a spell — shutting doors behind her, simple stuff — which ties in pretty well to my theory. She can do small stuff without a focus, but anything complex requires a spell.
    As far as scope, I think that’s largely limited by (again) willpower and imagination. So while Zatanna might be able to change all the oxygen on Earth or something else (dunno why she’d want to), she can’t really think on that grand a scale. Pretty much the Green Lantern deal again.

    Yeah, I spend too much time thinking about this stuff.

  7. Cheryl
    August 9th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    This is what I like about your site. I’ve learned so much about drowning in such an interesting way.

  8. Mato
    September 3rd, 2007 at 11:56 pm

    What I really want is if this events happen before or after Batman 655 and 663? My take would be it happens before them, just like Detective 826, thing is, if this is true, we’d already know the answer to Harley reforming in Detective 831, coz we all know that she helps the Joker escape Arkham once again in Batman 663, so next month’s Detective 837 is pretty useless to solve Harley’s mystery… Conclusion: 2 books with one continuity = sucks.

  9. Harvey
    April 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    Bare a** minimum, a character in a comic book always has three powers: 1.)100% aim, 2.)reanimation, and 3.)the ability to fly a plane.

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