Polite Dissent

New Warriors #5 “Defiant, part 5”
Kevin Grevioux, writer
Paco Medina, penciler

Just to prove I’m not always negative, I’m going to take a moment to highlight a comic that has a well written medical scene.

After blunt force head trauma, a concussion is the most common type of head injury. Concussions are diffuse injuries and affect the entire brain. (for a longer discussion, check out my review of Stormwatch PHD #11).

More serious — and thankfully less common — injuries following head trauma are the hematomas and hemorrhages — bleeding on (or around) the brain. Intracerebral hemorrhages, or bleeding within the tissue of the brain, can occur after blunt trauma, but are not as common as bleeding just outside the brain. Subdural hematomas are the most common. These occur when there is bleeding and a collection of blood between the dura (the tough membrane that protects the brain) and the arachnoid — the middle layer of the meninges (the membranes that surround and protect the brain). The hematoma causes increased pressure within the skull which can be life threatening, as well as direct damage to the areas of the brain underlying the hematoma. An epidural hematoma is similar, except the bleeding occurs between the dura and the skull itself.

Hematomas that are small can be monitored closely and should resolve on their own. Larger hematomas, especially those causing life threatening symptoms, require surgical intervention. The blood needs to be drained and — if possible — the source of the bleed found and stopped. This usually requires a burr hole or a craniotomy.

Of course, I do have a couple of small nitpicks, all regarding the art. Overall — as always — Medina does a good job with both the action scenes and the quieter moments. However:
If our patient just had cranial surgery, she should have her head bandaged, not in a surgical cap.
The art suggests that her burns were most likely to her back, in which case having her lie on her back like that just seems cruel (of course, we don’t know how extensive the burns are, they could be small and inconsequential).
The heart tracing bears little resemblance to an actual heart tracing, even in a case of cardiac arrest (the one on the cover is fine, though).

*For spolierific reasons, I’m not going to name the character, though she is shown injured on the cover.