Best Comic Book Medicine of 2007

December 31st, 2007

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

After looking at the Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2007 yesterday, today I’m going to celebrate the Best Comic Book Medicine of 2007. I’m afraid it was a fairly light year for good comic book depictions of medicine, so it will be a shorter award list than usual.

Best Depiction of Medicine:
New Warriors #5 wins hands down for its depiction of the treatment of a patient with blunt-force trauma to the head and a subsequent cardiac arrest.

Best Doctor:
Soranik Natu, thanks to her role (official or otherwise) as the preeminent physician of the Green Lantern Corps, saw the most action this year and acquitted herself very well. She is rapidly becoming my favorite Corps member (well, maybe second to Killowog).
Doctor Mid-NiteDoctor Mid-Nite also had another good year with another excellent JSA Classified story arc, but couldn’t come close to Soranik in terms of lives saved.
Doctor MagnusWill Magnus (technically not a medical doctor) gets a nomination for best spoken line.

Best Single Medical or Scientific Concept:
Slender pickings in this category this year, so I guess I’ll award it to Sue Richards using her powers to cause a heart attack (or at least threatening to) in Fantastic Four #549.

Best Imaginary Medicine or Treatment:
Leezle Pon, the sentient smallpox virus who also happens to be a Green Lantern, finally saw some action (after a 20+ year wait) in the concluding chapter of the Sinestro Corps War. His counterpart Despotellis, the evil Sinestro Corps virus, also gets a nod (and this week’s Green Lantern Corps/Sinestro Corps Secret Files explains a little better how he functions).

Special Mention:
Special MentionBest Nod to Real-World Science: Blue Beetle #19, which acknowledges that the square-cube law would affect giant-sized characters, but then manages to explain it away in regards to Giganta.
Special MentionBest Medically Accurate Art: Jamal Igle in 52 #36.
Special MentionBest Technobabble: The late Bob Haney, in the reprinted Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold, Volume 1.

Previous “Best of the Year”:
Best Comic Book Medicine of 2008The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2006
Best Comic Book Medicine of 2006The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2005
BestComic Book Medicine of 2005The Best Comic Book Medicine of 2004

9 Responses to “ Best Comic Book Medicine of 2007 ”

  1. Brett
    December 31st, 2007 at 9:33 am

    I believe most of the links are broken…

  2. Scott
    December 31st, 2007 at 10:30 am
    Official Comment

    It’s amazing how much trouble an errant quotation mark can cause. Anyway, links are fixed now.

  3. Conor E
    December 31st, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    The Will Magnus link is still broken, but the rest are fine.

  4. Scott
    December 31st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
    Official Comment

    OK, it should REALLY be fixed now.

  5. Jon
    January 1st, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    I think Ultimate Sue Storm should get an honorable mention as well for creating a force field bubble in her IV drip bag to stop the flow of sedatives she was receiving, thereby allowing her to use her powers more fully as the sedative’s effects wore off. The issue number escapes me, though. It was within the last couple of months.
    I’m definitely in agreement with you on Soranik Natu - smart, competent, capable, and not at all shy when it comes to cleavage. What’s not to like? I actually did a picture of her, such as it is, back in June. [/blogwhoring]
    Oh, and Happy New Year and thanks for another year of great posts. Here’s looking forward to the posts yet to come in 2008!

  6. Cheryl
    January 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 am

    Wonderful!

  7. KDBryan
    January 6th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Thanks for your insightful medical reviews! I really enjoy your blog and have forwarded it to a friend of mine.

  8. Doc Ray
    May 13th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Love these!!! yeah Dr. Mid-Nite!!!

  9. Blog@Newsarama » 2007, they’re not done with you yet!
    May 21st, 2008 at 8:01 am

    […] – At Polite Dissent, Scott announces the best and worst in comic-book medicine. […]

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