Polite Dissent

Since it’s the first of December, Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar starts today. Each day, a different cover will be featured with the issue numbers counting down the days until Christmas. For instance, today startrs with an issue #24, tomorrow will feature a #23, and so on. There’s a good mix of comic covers, from current titles to Silver- and Golden-Age classics. The entire advent calendar can be found here, but covers will only be revealed one day at a time.

Black Widow #2 Right to a Life, part 2
Richard K. Morgan, writer
Goran Parlov and Bill Sienkiewicz, artists

Natasha: Medusagen…? Sounds like a hormone.
Phil: Yeah, a really nasty one. You seen it before?
Natasha: No. But these I do recognize. You?
Phil: Pheno– I can’t even pronounce that. Painkillers?
Natasha: Military-issue painkillers. Very powerful. Very difficult to get hold of outside of military circles.

There are no such things as “military-issue painkillers.” The military uses the same painkillers available at any pharmacy.

Biochemically, acute pain is the same, no matter the cause. Why should the military need special painkillers? I doubt a soldier feels worse pain than a chronically ill cancer patient. If anything, military physicians are more restrictive in their choices of painkillers than most other physicians. First, space constraints need to be considered. There is very limited room for medications on a deployment; only the most useful drugs can be taken*. Second, many military personnel are limited in what drugs they are allowed to use because of their duties. Would you want a pilot or an armed guard taking a narcotic pain killer? Often, the best choice is a weaker painkiller in these situations.

Medusagen is a fictitious hormone, therefore it’s safe from my commenting. Well, mostly safe. I’d be interested to know what kind of hormone it is. Is it a female hormone? Is it an anabolic steroid? It is extremely unusual for a pregnant woman to be taking hormones…and what exactly makes this hormone “really nasty.”

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* A photo of the medication cabinet in a typical USAF Air Transportable Clinic.

Time to take a break and look at the searches that led people to Polite Dissent in November. The top searches were fairly similar to last month’s. Dave Trampier and his comic strip Wormy were popular, as was Bwana Beast , Hawk and Dove, and questions regarding pica. Tusky the walrus was also very popular this month. Adrenalitis was a surprisingly common search; I’m sure this says something bad about America’s TV watching habits. Treehouse of Horrors was another popular search item; leading the pack were over a dozen searches for “The Frogurt is also cursed.”

I also seem to be getting a large number of searches regarding veterinary medicine.

Other interesting searches last month (with free snark!)

good cough medicine made with jack daniels I don’t know, but please give me the recipe when you find it.
hepzibah starjammers She finally showed up in Starjammers #5, but she was drawn with these weird amphibian ears…bleah!
doc mid-nite mcnider gay I don’t think so.
the pantheon hector comic gay Yes he is.
what is nyc doing regarding the avian flue Closing the flue (chuckle, chuckle. Why isn’t anybody else laughing?)
the riddler knows bruce wayne is batman Shh, don’t tell. Nobody’d believe you anyway.
i want to be a surgeon The first step is admitting your problem.
i like you in klingon That’s nice of you to say.
medical comic There are few good ones published now. I recommend Scutmonkey comics, over at the Underwear Drawer.
bat girl bette kane Yes she was, but then Barbara Gordon (and Yvonne Craig) came around, and Bette Kane is now Flamebird. At least she wasn’t retconned out.
adult film star teegan Hmmm….naww.
pictures of bobby labonte crashing Come on, he had a bad enough season as it was. Don’t rub it in.
robin 130 spoiler Are they looking for spoilers for the plot of Robin #130, or looking for the character Spoiler?
the savage naked she-hulk I would buy this comic in an instant.
what were the ingredients in the medicine that gave beast boy his powers Well, it depends on the origin of Beast Boy. Originally it was the disease sakutia combined with the machine his father used to cure him that gave him his powers. I’m not quite clear on the on his current origin.
polite puns An oxymoron. There are no polite puns.

The countdown continues! Today we have a a less-than-jolly view of Christmas, courtesy of Garth Ennis and John McCrea.

In the past few days, Microsoft has jumped on the blogging bandwagon by debuting their own free blog software and site, Microsoft Spaces.

Is it really free? It is supported by banner ads and such, but so are most other free sites, so I can’t really hold that against them.

What I am appalled about is their very restrictive Terms of Service. For starters, they claim copyright to everything written on Microsoft Spaces. They won’t allow any “harmful use” that is Microsoft or any of its suppliers or distributors. If they feel you’ve posted something harmful, they are not obligated to notify you before taking any action. In addition, Microsoft reserves the right to copy, distribute, edit and modify your post, and even sublicense these rights — but will not pay you for your submission. Oh yeah, they may monitor your e-mail, too.

A more in depth look at the Terms of Service is provided at Sleepless in Midland (link discovered via GruntDoc). Remember this the next time you blindly accept a Terms of Service without reading it.

There are plenty of other free or low-priced blogging options out there: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress (what I use here) and Movable Type, just to name a few. I’d suggest you stick with one of these.

Jericho Drum, better known as Brother Voodoo, can be spotted in the dinner party scene in Gambit #3. He’s second from the back on the left hand side, wearing some stylish duds.

After yesterday’s cover, I felt a happier scene was needed today. Here is Christmas in Riverdale — along with one of the worst puns in the advent calendar countdown.

Here’s an image from the recent Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Wolverine 2004. It shows Wolverine’s skeleton and how his claws work. How many errors can you find in the image? I’ve found 4 (so far). [UPDATE: Up to 6 now.]

Seriously, this isn’t brain surgery rocket science. Most of these mistakes were easily preventable. Doesn’t anybody edit these books, or at least fact check them?

Click here for a larger image, Click here for a much larger image.

HINTS: 1. Two of the mistakes are mislabeled bones. 2. One of the mistakes is an art mistake. 3. Another mistake is someone trying to sound intelligent by using a medical term, but using it wrong.

One of my favorite covers in the countdown — no surprise really, since it features Hawk and Dove. This was one of the best issues of the Kesel and Kesel Hawk & Dove series. It had a fun story, good art by Kevin Maguire, it tied up some romantic tangles while starting others, and it featured a clever parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What more could you want in a Christmas Comic?

Wishing a happy first blogiversary to Mike Sterling’s Progressive Ruin!

As I doing my normal monthly read through of the recent Previews, only half paying attention, something in the description of Teen Titans #21 caught my eye (emphasis mine):

But as the Titans fall, help arrives in the form of two young heroes. Get ready for the new Hawk and Dove

I can’t say that I saw this one coming. I figured that Geoff Johns might be up to something with Hawk and Dove in the forseeable future, as he has featured Dove in several issues of the JSA. But the Teen Titans? I didn’t expect that (but historically, it makes sense — that’s the group they’ve been affiliated with the most). This could be tremendously good or titanically bad.

Johns has a pretty good record with modern re-interpretation of older characters, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt — as long as he doesn’t bring back that horrible Hawk and Dove from the Jurgens Mike Baron mini-series.

UPDATE (6 Dec 04): Charles did try to warn me, and in an appropriately subtle way. I appreciate it, Charles. You’re a true friend.

The first of two “Scenes-Reflected-in-Christmas-Tree-Ornaments” covers on the countdown (What’s the other? Just wait, oh, about 9 days to find out). This ornament cover has Superman and Geoforce battling it out — and what says “Holiday Cheer” better than that?

I thought I’d take a minute and go over my philosophy on reviews, and medical reviews in particular. I love comics. I’ve been reading them for over two-thirds of my life. I have tremendous respect for anyone who has the talent and ability to write or illustrate a comic. I don’t review comics to be snarky or seem clever. I review comics because I’m concerned about what I’m reading. I am troubled by the amount of medical misinformation in the media (and that includes comic books) and the amount of typos and other blatant mistakes in comics. When I see these two problems — especially together — I feel compelled to act.

Medicine is rarely straightforward. It is complex and confusing and getting more complicated by the day. There is a large amount of bad and misleading information out there (especially on this new-fangled “world wide web” ). I see the same sort of incorrect information in magazines, on news reports, and on movies and TV shows (and let’s not even mention infomercials or spam). Patients get medical information everywhere; they’ll come in and ask me about what they saw on movies, TV, or the news. I spend much of my day correcting misunderstandings. These same mistakes are creeping into comic books (for instance, despite what Batman and Elektra would have us believe, you can’t treat viruses with antibiotics). I review comics to bring these mistakes to light, and to provide a little medical education (and hopefully a little entertainment along the way).

I pay my hard-earned money for comic books and I expect a professional job. I don’t want to find typos, poor grammar or other blatant errors. I can sympathize with mistakes on fan publications or websites but not from professional publishers. The recent image from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Wolverine 2004 demonstrates the problem perfectly: 6 mistakes in a single image. 4 of these mistakes could have been prevented with a simple minute’s Google. I have no patience and no sympathy for such unprofessional errors in a product that I am expected to buy.

I don’t pre-select comics for medical reviews*, I just read through my monthly stack of books. If I come across any sort of medical scene, I put it aside. I’ll later re-read these comics. Ones with good (or bad) scenes, I’ll put in my “to do” short box. Comics with a particularly egregious scene get put next to my computer and addressed right away.

It really doesn’t take much to write a good medical scene. Almost all the information you could ever need is in the library or on the internet. Check some of the sites on my sidebar. It there are still any questions, my e-mail’s on the top up there. Just remember, a little medicine goes a long way; don’t overdo it. As for grammar and spelling, that’s what proofreaders and editors are for, not readers.

*I do take requests, if there’s any particular comic scene you wonder about.

Mythbusters is a show on the Discovery Channel that proves or debunks various urban legends. Starring Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, two follicularly-challenged special effects gurus, each hour long episode tackles on one or more well known stories. Recent episodes have looked at eel-skin wallets, quicksand, and putting sugar in gastanks. While their experiements may sometimes lack a certain scientific rigour, the show is always fun to watch and I almost always end up learning something. Admittedly, it may be something relatively useless, like the torque of a ceiling fan motor, but still, I’ve learned something.

For today’s Advent Comic Book Cover Countdown, we turn back to the Golden Age — 1945 to be exact — where the original Green Lantern and his taxi-driving pal Doiby Dickles wish us holiday greetings in Green Lantern #18.

Just so you don’t think I’m always negative, here are three recent comics that have some excellent medical scenes. The art is good. The medicine is good. Sure, there are a few very minor nit-picks, but give these writers and artists a hand for a job well done.

Nightwing #99 “Back to Life”
Devin Grayson, writer
Zach Howard, penciler

Nightwing is lying in bed at Wayne Manor, wounded and febrile. Alfred is doing his best to tend his wounds, and to update Bruce on his progress.
The care Alfred is rendering is appropriate, and his description of the injuries is fine (though “femoral arterial laceration” is a little too wordy; try “femoral artery laceration” instead.)

Swamp Thing #9 “Love in Vain, chapter 1 ”
Joshua Dysart, writer
Enrique Breccia, artist

Tefe suffers a massive upper gastrointestinal bleed. The paramedics are in the process of treating her:

Paramedic #1: We’ve got massive G.I. hemorrhaging! She was stabilized!
Paramedic #2: Place two large bore IV’s stat! Hang two bags of Ringer’s solution and let ‘em run!

The treatment here is perfect. They need to hurry up and get her to a hospital for definitive treatment, but in the meantime placing a large IV in each arm and pouring the fluid in is her best chance. Ringer’s Lactate is a common fluid used for surgeries and emergencies. (Nitpick: Calling someone with a G.I. bleed “stabilized” before starting an IV is really pushing your luck.). And let me point out that Breccia’s image of Tefe in a fetal position with blood fountaining from her mouth is eye-catching in a very grotesque way.

Witchblade #80 “Witch Hunt, part 1 of 6 “
Ron Marz, writer
Michael Choi, penciler

Sarah Pezzini is in the hospital after being beat up yet again. An IV is running (and in the right place), heart leads are on (and in the right place), and the nasal canula is drawn correctly. A nicely drawn hospital scene. (Nitpick: the butterfly bandages on her forehead are drawn bizarrely, and the heart rhythm on the monitor has an extra wave or two).

Ethics and parenting were the themes this week, the former just hinted at while the latter was stated rather blatantly — especially in House’s overdone diatribe against antibiotics. The final diagnosis and the path to reach that decision all made good sense, and there was barely any random jumping from idea to idea this episode. The medicine seemed sound and logical (though I’ll happily admit that neonatology is not my specialty). I was surprised that they “forgot” that babies initially share their mother’ antibodies, since that was the “a-ha!” moment of the second episode.

Robert Sean Leonard’s character (oncologist Dr. Wilson) is growing on me, as is the previously-quiet Dr. Chase (James Spenser). This was a strong character episode for Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison).

As an aside, we saw that not only do the Young Gun doctors run every test and procedure themselves (notice that they ran the MRI, ran the laboratory equipment and drew the blood), but Dr. House himself has the same compulsion (and where did he get credentials to do autopsies?).

Best line of the season so far! Dr. House to patient: Sometimes the best thank-you is never having to see you again.

The Advent countdown continues! With 17 days remaining until Christmas, that means today I’ll be bringing you a comic that is the seventeenth issue of a particular title — and happens to have a Christmas cover (not an easy task at all… numbers 17, 22 and 24 were the hardest to track down). Walt Disney’s Mickey and Donald #17 fits the bill perfectly, with the pair realizing that “one size fits all” doesn’t apply to ducks.

Thanks to the Comic Queen, the Comics Reporter and Thought Balloons for steering me in the direction of this interesting newspaper article from Canada.

As a joke, a group of Canadian medical school professors tackle the medical problems of a fictional character on an annual basis. This year, they’re turning their eyes on the ever-youthful reporter Tintin.

It appears that his perennially prepubescent look is due to a growth-hormone deficiency and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, conditions likely brought on by repeated blows to the head.

“We believe that the multiple traumas Tintin sustained could be the first case of traumatic pituitary injury described in the literature,” said Claude Cyr, an associate professor of medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Que.

His lighthearted research is published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal’s annual holiday edition, which has a tradition of diagnosing fictional characters with real medical conditions.

Essentially, the Canadian physicians are saying that repeated blows to the head have damaged Tintin’s pituitary gland. This gland is located on the underside of the brain and controls the body’s hormones. Without the pituitary functioning properly, he would be low on growth hormone and low on male hormones. This would lead to the previously mentioned hypogonadism. That means…well, let’s just say that Tintin would have an underdeveloped male anatomy and a lack of secondary sexual characteristics such as facial hair, broad shoulders, a deep voice, and so on.

How blows to the top and back of the head would affect the base of his brain is never explained. I think it would be more reasonable to assume that he always had the low hormones rather then developed them later. But that explanation wouldn’t be as much fun, so I’ll just agree with the Canadian doctors. I wonder what they’d make of Hal Jordan?

In my chronological review of the appearances of the Hawk and the Dove, I’ve posted about several painfully bad comics. The worst was probably Teen Titans #25, the comic that sets up the whole “powerless” Teen Titans storyline that drove the title into the ground. However, that was nothing compared to the mind-numbing storytelling of today’s comic. I present: Showcase #100.

Something bizarre is happening. Weather conditions have gone haywire, volcanoes are erupting and time is out of joint. Cavemen, dinosaurs, cowboys and Germans are roaming the streets of Metropolis. The heroes are summoned to a meeting in the JLA’s satellite headquarters. Of course, the JLA’s not there as they’re all “off on missions” (except for Flash and Green Lantern). So it’s up to the second- and third-string heroes to save the world. Coincidentally, it’s these same heroes who have appeared in Showcase over the years…

Green Lantern tells the group that something is blocking his ring, but it’s not a force field because radio waves can still get through (a little known scientific fact about force fields). Frankly, he’s baffled. Luckily, Adam Strange and the Atom are able to piece together the fact that some mysterious force is dragging the Earth out of its orbit and propelling it through space faster than light, ripping open the time stream.

The heroes split into teams. Adam Strange, Green Lantern, Flash and the Atom head into space to find the power source of whatever may be causing the disaster. They discover an invisible space ship, but Green Lantern is unable to affect it because it’s yellow (yep, it’s another one of those invisible yellow objects). He creates a moving prism to Doppler shift the light so that his ring can work (yes, we all know that’s not how the Doppler Effect works. Shhh…don’t tell Hal.). Robots from the ship attack, but Space Ranger shows up just in time to save the heroes. The whole group ventures inside the ship but is attacked by a giant plant. The Phantom Stranger appears and the group holds a séance to call forth the Spectre. Using the power of belief, the Spectre is able to return Earth to its orbit.

Rip Hunter and his pals jump into their Time Sphere but become trapped in the time stream and don’t appear again in this comic. Way to go, Rip!

Most of the other heroes are on Earth working crowd control. This includes the Teen Titans, the Metal Men, Aquaman, Dolphin and the Sea Devils. Across town, a strange collection of people are clustering in the offices of Angel O’Day (of Angel and the Ape fame). In addition to Angel and Sam, there’s Tommy Tomorrow, Firehair, Bat Lash, Anthro, and the Inferior Five. Angel, Bat Lash and Tommy Tomorrow take off in Tommy’s ship, figuring they can use its advanced technology to track down the source of the problem.

At the WGBS tower, Lois Lane is broadcasting an SOS for Superman, but it’s all in vain. The Challengers of the Unknown climb in through the window and use the station’s transmitter to pinpoint the cause of the disasters. The Challengers fly off with Lois and the Creeper tagging along and discover a strange metal building. Rocky jimmies open a small door and Lois slips in before it locks shut.

On top of the building, Tommy Tomorrow uses his ray gun to blast a hole in the roof. Angel jumps in and the hole seals behind her. Despite the dangerous radiation (which they can somehow detect), both Lois and Angel crawl though the mysterious building and find the control room. They flip the correct lever to drive the alien from Earth, never to return.

That summary should give you a nice taste of the comic. The story by Paul Kupperberg and Paul Levitz is full of bizarre contrivances and unexplained plot holes. The villain is never once explained. How did the alien move the Earth from its orbit — and more importantly — why? If it can teleport, then why did it build a door? The “technobabble” is painful to read, and the science is so bad that even a third grader would see right through it.

The art by Joe Stanton is fairly angular and nears the level of caricature at several points. His inking is wispy and doesn’t lend any weight to his lines. The backgrounds — if they exist at all — are sketchy. Admittedly, he wasn’t working with much of a story. His cover sure is eye-catching though.

The Hawk and the Dove appear on the cover, the splash page, and in the background of three small panels. They are apparently working crowd control with the Titans. They don’t get to say a word, though they do get to beat up Nazis. Frankly, Sugar and Spike have a bigger role in the story.

One last thought: strange weather, characters from different eras converging and a mysterious never-before-seen alien masterminding the event. Sound familiar? It’s Crisis, only without the red skies, and seven years ahead of its time.

What would Christmas be without Little Audrey? Why, no Christmas at all, that’s what! Here to keep your Holiday spirits up is Little Audrey #16, from 1951, reminding us that there are only 16 days left until Christmas!

Amazing Spider-Man #509-#514 “Sins Past”
J. Michael Straczynski, writer
Mike Deodato Jr., penciler

A brief recap of the plot of Sins Past (unnecessary filler left out):

1. Peter Parker receives a letter that Gwen Stacy wrote to him years before but never sent. Just as the letter is getting to a big secret, it ends abruptly. 2. At Gwen’s gravesite, and then at an abandoned factory, Peter is attacked by two masked individuals named Gabriel and Sarah. 3. A police contact is able to discover trace writing on the back side of the letter in which Gwen tells Peter that she had become pregnant and borne twins: Gabriel and Sarah. 4. Peter wants to make sure the people who attacked him really are Gwen’s children. He gets a sample of Gwen’s DNA from her grave (yuck!) and compares it to the DNA of whoever licked the envelope flap1. It matches; he now knows that his attackers were Gwen’s children — somehow all grown up. Mary Jane tells Peter the secret that she knew all along: the twins’ father is Norman Osborn. It is his “tainted Osborn blood” that has caused their rapid aging and will soon kill them. 5. Peter decides to help the twins (whether they want it or not) and meets them atop the bridge their mother died on. The police open fire and Sarah is shot. 6. Peter brings her to the hospital, but she needs a transfusion. Peter is able to donate blood to her and his spider blood cancels out the Osborn blood. Meanwhile, Gabriel has (coincidentally) stumbled upon one of Norman’s labs and injects himself with Goblin serum. 7. Gabriel becomes the new Green Goblin and attacks Peter, but is driven away when Sarah shoots at him to save Peter.

A key to understanding Sins Past is realizing that the narrative is driving towards the transfusion scene where Sarah realizes that Spider-Man has saved her. That is the climax of the story. It is Sarah’s redemption. Conversely, her brother’s acceptance of the Goblin serum signals his condemnation.

The art by Mike Deodata Jr. is beautiful, as always. I do have two small medical nitpicks. What is that in Sarah’s mouth? Is it supposed to be delivering oxygen? It looks more like a bridle and bit. Now look at the monitor. That’s not a heart rhythm; it’s the Dow Jones report.

Most of the medical scenes appear in the final chapter of the storyline. As this issue begins, Sarah has been shot in the abdomen and is rushed into emergency surgery. This makes sense. Abdominal wounds can be very dangerous, particularly if any of the abdominal organs are injured or if the bowel is perforated. She needs a transfusion, but her body is rejecting blood that has an identical blood type. Pete figures that it’s due to her Osborn blood. I’ll concede this point, though it is quite unlikely².

He offers to donate his blood because he knows he and Sarah are the same blood type.

How do I say that even before I saw her DNA chart, I knew I had a 50/50 chance…because I once asked Gwen what her blood type was…

There are a couple of problems here. First, how did Peter know Sarah’s DNA profile? He got a DNA profile off the letter, but how does he know which twin it was? It could just as easily have been Gabriel’s DNA. They’re fraternal twins, not identical twins, so they wouldn’t have identical DNA. They may not even have the same blood type. Second, even though Peter knows Gwen;s blood type, he can’t make a logical guess at her children’s without knowing their father’s blood type too. This “50/50 chance” of his is completely wrong. I can’t conceive of a single situation where it would ever come down to a 50/50 chance knowing just one parent’s blood type.

It’s a great leap of faith (and creative license) that Peter’s spider blood would be able to transfuse Sarah, but remember the story is driving to the transfusion scene. Whole blood transfusions are rare because they can cause fluid overload, particularly in ill or injured patients. Packed red blood cells are almost always given — but this would deny us the transfusion scene. Also, why wouldn’t Peter’s blood have given Sarah radiation poisoning like it gave Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man #10?

I would also like to point out that Doctor Chapin is breaking federal patient privacy laws by discussing Sarah’s medical care with Spider-Man. It doesn’t matter that he’s the one who brought her to the hospital; he’s not cleared to receive her medical information.

There are a few other minor nit-picks: Operating rooms do not open up off of major hospital corridors. They are in a sequestered and sterile area. If the transfusion caused Spider-Man to black out due to blood loss, why doesn’t he have an IV (or at least a glass of water) in the recovery room? (And does anyone else think that Mary Jane at his bedside in the hospital the entire time is more than a little detrimental to that whole secret identity thing?)

One final question. How does a temporary transfusion of Peter’s blood cleanse the “Osborn taint” that Sarah is permanently genetically coded for? Or did it?

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Footnotes:
¹ A great coincidence that one of the twins licked the letter shut. Why wouldn’t it have been Norman or some Osborn lackey?
² A person’s body reacts to transfused blood that has an extra protein, not transfused blood that is missing certain proteins. That is why O-negative blood is the universal donor (fewer proteins to react to)…but that is post for another day.

One of the best Christmas stories of all time is “The Gift of the Magi.” This is the story where the wife sells her hair to buy her husband a watch fob, and he sells his watch to buy her a fancy set of combs* (or in the Saturday Night Live version, Donald Trump sells his yacht to buy Ivana a diamond encrusted front door, and Ivana sells the mansion to buy him an enormous gold anchor.) Today’s Advent cover is Classics Illustrated #15: The Gift of the Magi.

*The story always seemed unfair to me. After all, she can grow her hair back, but his watch is gone for good.

It was a busy week in the clinic. It seems that there’s a bronchitis mini-epidemic going on in town. Nothing too severe…more annoying for the patients than anything else. With all the coughing in the office this week, it sounded like there was a pack of seals in the waiting room (Is it pack? Or pod? What do seals hang out in? I’m fascinated by all the different names for groups of animals. My favorties are the gaggle of geese and the murder of crows.) Found this site on animal group names. Apparently there are several possible names for seal groups (including pod); the best is a harem of seals.

Some interesting medical news this week:

• Consumer Reports now rates prescription drugs on their Best Buy Drugs site. Their advice is pretty much right on the money on PPIs (Proton Pump Inhibitors) and cholesterol medications (statins). They’re right about the NSAIDs, except that high dose ibuprofen and salsalate can be difficult on the stomach frequently. Still good advice and it looks like a good site.
• More and more Americans consider TV news a good place to get health information. Well, it’s better than infomercials and spam — but just barely. Here’s an interesting article: Ten Troublesome Trends in TV Health News. I’m certain you will have seen most of these problems your self. (Link from KevinMD)

Have a good weekend! I’m going to relax, attend a Christmas party or two, be grateful I’m not on call this weekend, and catch up on some comics and manga (Sgt. Frog, Love Hina, and Planetes). Don’t worry, the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar will be updated daily, both here on the blog and at the calendar itself.

Another downer of cover, showing that even Christmas can be grim and gritty. I’m sorry Valiant, but this comic book cover doesn’t exactly scream, “Buy Me!” — but then, I can’t recall any particularly oustanding covers from Valiant offhand. Today’s Advent cover is Bloodshot #14

When I was watching The Batman this morning, an ad came on for the movie Where the Red Fern Grows.

“I remember reading that book in elementary school,” I told the Polite-Wife.
“I could only read it once because it made me sad,” she said.
“But you make your class read The Bridge to Terebithia every year,” I pointed out.
“That’s different!” she pouted. Luckily, the commercial was over by then and the show was back on.

Why do we feel the need to make our children read these very sad depressing books? Do we learn anything from than other than that they are sad and depressing books that — while well written — are no fun to read? Which sad books like this do you remember having to read in school? (In addition to Where the Red Fern Grows and The Bridge to Terebithia, there was also A Taste of Blackberries. Page for page, the most depressing book I have ever read was Tess of the d’Urbervilles — though that wasn’t until high school)

(The Polite-Wife tells me that the saddest book to her is Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. She reads it to her class every year and cries every time.)

Driving to the mall with the Polite-Wife this morning, the song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” came on the radio. I flashed back to my teen years and remember watching the movie based on this song.

That got me to thinking (that can be dangerous): How many songs have been turned into movies? I’m not counting movies titled after songs (like Great Balls of Fire or La Bamba), but movies that are directly inspired or based on the song in question.

I can think of four off-hand:
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Alice’s Restaurant
The Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia
Harper Valley P.T.A.
I guess Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - the Movie counts too, though I don’t recommend anyone ever watching it.

(I’m not counting TV movies like The Gambler. I didn’t count Detroit Rock City either because it falls into “movies titled after songs”, not movies based on songs. It maybe splitting hairs, but hey, it’s my site.)

I know there have to be another examples out there, help me ease by mind by naming them…

A groovy “Christmas Happening” today, brought to you by the real Teen Titans, Mr. Big and Mr. Scrounge. Check out Wonder Girl’s original costume. Today’s Advent countdown cover is Teen Titans #13, from 1968.

The Batman episode this weekend was “The Big Chill.” It seems that one of Batman’s friends from his hippy days has committed suicide, so he and all his other college hippy friends gather for a wake and funeral. Oops, wait. That was the movie The Big Chill.
That was a good movie; this Batman episode was not. It was like the last Shumacher Batman film staged as a cartoon. There was Mr. Freeze, way too many bad puns involving “ice” and “snow,” and way too many gadgets (the Batman had a special white snow outfit with pop-out skies). They even sucked all the pathos out of Mr. Freeze and made him a bank robber who had an accident in a cryogenic vault, not someone trying to revive his beloved wife. This episode is not recommended at all.
The medicine was suspect too. Hypothermia is more deadly than suggested, but can’t do half the things attributed to it by the story. And in answer to Mr. Freeze’s query, when you combine a strong electric current with low temperatures, you get a fatal heart rhythm — hypothermia is a set up for heart arrhythmias.

The Teen Titans was a repeat of the show “Wavelength.” I said it before and I’ll say it again: I like this new version of the Bumblebee and would like to see her more often.

“Dark Heart “was this week’s Justice League Unlimited episode. This one was penned by Warren Ellis and definitely showed his penchant for the alien and the technological. It was a good episode with many funny line (most courtesy of the Atom and Batman). Almost every hero was there. I saw (in no particular order): Gypsy, Black Canary, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Ice, the Crimson Avenger, Vixen, Elongated Man, Booster Gold, Steel, Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Rocket Red, Martian Manhunter, Ray, Vibe, Crimson Fox, Hawk (but no Dove), Shining Knight, Captain Atom, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Supergirl, Dr. Light, Vigilante, Atom Smasher, Huntress, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Aztek, Atom, Blue Devil, Wildcat, Dr. Fate, Starman, Dr. Mid-Nite, Obsidian, Bloodwynd and several assorted Justice League flunkies. There were two I couldn’t identify: one was in blue and red (Commander Steel, I think), and the other was blond with a dark outfit and holster, firing a pistol. A fun episode, in terms of the plot, humor and “Who’s Who.” I also like the fact that they mentioned Nellis Air Force Base, where I used to be stationed. The need to learn to pronounce Nevada correctly (or at least the same as the locals). It’s not Ne-vaw-daw, but Ne-va-da (with an “a” like in attack). Trust me; it’s how they prounonce it (just ask the Polite-Wife, who grew up there).

Make sure to check out what Mike Sterling and Johnny B. said about this JLU episode.

Today’s Advent comic book cover presents a slightly…distorted…view of Christmas, coutesy of Beavis and Butt-Head.

Tags: comics christmas advent beavis and butt-head

In addition to the previously mentioned Wormy, Dragon Magazine has hosted various other excellent strips. The one that I looked forward to the most was What’s New, With Phil and Dixie. Written and drawn by Phil Foglio (now of Girl Genius fame), What’s New was a monthly strip hosted by the bowler-wearing Phil and top-heavy Dixie. They explored various topics in Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing and war games, all the while trying to get permission to do a strip on “Sex in D&D.” The comic ran in Dragon for several years, stopped, then started again in another magazine (the Duelist, I think), and then moved back to Dragon before eventually stopping for good.

There are 3 very worthwhile collected volumes of the strip that can be purchased from various merchants including Phil Foglio’s own StudioFoglio and Steve Jackson’s Warehouse 23.

Comic Book Trivia - In the original Dragon Magazine run of What’s New, there was a strip written about super-hero role-playing games. In addition to mentioning the awesome Gazebo Boy (“Whose single power of transformation does little good against the Mighty Termite”), a hero named Deus Ex Machina Man was introduced. Several years later, Phil Foglio did an Angel and the Ape mini-series (1991). In that series, the comic book that Sam Simeon was illustrating was Deus Ex Machina Man.

I understand that there is some concern brewing online about the possibilty of a “relationship” between Peter Parker and Sarah Stacey (or Osborn or whatever her last name actually is) given the fact that while she may look twenty-one, she is really only seven or eight years old.

I hate to be the one to point this out, but this is not a new issue in comics. There was the whole weird step-son/step-mother relationship in DeMatteis’s Dr. Fate – the character was originally a child, then magically grew up and a “relationship” (there’s that word again) bloomed with his step-mother. It was an unsettling idea to me in an otherwise excellent series.

Then there’s Amethyst. In GemWorld, she contemplated love with Lord Some-Jewel-or-Another, then poof! she’s eight year old Amy Winston again and wondering why she can’t relate to her pre-teen friends.*

Of course, this didn’t all start with comic books. Let’s not forget the Chronicles of Narnia, where the characters are Princes and Princesses one day and British teens (or younger) the next. On the other hand, I don’t think there was ever any sex in Narnia. I think they must have reproduced by budding or spores or something.

*Honestly, I enjoyed the various Amethyst series — except maybe the last mini-series — and would like to add my name to the growing list of people who want to see Amethyst back or at least collected in trades.

Happy Anthropomorphic Christmas to you! Today’s countdown cover is Critters #11, published by Fantagraphics.

I wasn’t as enthralled by this week’s House as I have been previous episodes. It was still an engrossing medical mystery; the character elements just seemed superficial this week. First, I was misled by the TV schedule which suggested that the mystery was going to involve stigmata. That sounded intriguing and I was looking forward to discovering what diagnosis Dr. House would pin on bleeding palms. Unfortunately, the episode did not deal with stigmata, although it did focus on a nun. This particular nun had a wide variety of puzzling symptoms which some of the other nuns at her monastery (and I always thought monks lived in monasteries while nuns lived in convents) thought she was simply a hypochondriac. For the second week in a row, lessons learned in previous episodes were forgotten as the solution to this week’s mystery involved two separate and unrelated diagnoses — which violates the principle of Occam’s Razor.

The main character moment involved Dr. Chase, who was revealed to have been studying for the priesthood at one time. Other than that, the character moments were few and far-between. Sure, there were nuns, but that was pretty much a shortcut the writers used to suggest a deeper meaning to the episode instead of actually writing a deeper meaning. On the plus side, there was at least one Sound of Music joke.

This is the second of two “Scenes-Reflected-in-Christmas-Tree-Ornaments” covers in the Advent countdown. While the previous cover involved Superman and Geoforce, this one involves none other than the Hate Monger and Nick Fury himself. From 1969, today’s countdown cover is Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #10.

In all fairness, Greg at Raw Feed has already showcased this cover. Nevertheless, I decided to stick with my countdown plan and this is by far the best Christmas cover on any #10 issue out there, so I chose to keep it on my Advent calendar as well. Plus, it’s a clever cover and deserves a second look.

Y: The Last Man #29 “Ring of Truth: Chapter Three”
Brian K. Vaughan, writer
Pia Guerra, artist

Starting with Y: The Last Man #27, Yorrick becomes very sick. His symptoms begin with the sudden onset of vomiting blood followed by unconsciousness (issue #27). He has very vivid dreams, although they don’t appear to be hallucinations (issues #28 and #29). He is placed on oxygen and develops a fever and diarrhea (issues #28 and #29).

After finding an open dented can of tomato soup, Dr. Mann concludes that Yorrick has not contracted the plague, but has instead developed botulism poisoning. However, based on Yorrick’s signs and symptoms, it seems unlikely that he has botulism; I don’t think her diagnosis is too far off though, he most likely has some other form of food poisoning.

Symptoms of botulism start 12 to 36 hours after ingestion of contaminated food. The classic presentation is “bilateral cranial nerve weakness followed by a symmetric descending weakness.” Let’s put that in English. Botulism usually starts with blurry vision, dry mouth and nausea. Vomiting and diarrhea are common. This is followed by difficulty swallowing and speaking. Weakness then spreads to the upper extremities, trunk, and lower extremities. Respiratory weakness may occur as well. Death due to respiratory failure can occur. Fever should not be present.

Food borne botulism is not caused by a bacterial infection, but instead by the ingestion of a toxin in the food. Thus Dr. Mann’s statement that Yorrick’s body “was rejecting the bacillus” is incorrect because the bacteria itself is not directly involved in his condition. Her statement that “it doesn’t look like the toxin bound to any of your nerve endings” is also incorrect because the toxin binding to the nerve endings is what causes the symptoms in the first place. (However, since it isn’t botulism, her last statement is technically correct since there isn’t any toxin present at all).

Botulism is most commonly caused in the United States by improperly preserved home-canned food. It can occur in commercially prepared food, though that’s extremely rare. Even though botulism is rare in acidic foods (like tomatoes), it can pretty much occur in any type of food.

The treatment of botulism is mostly supportive. The symptoms are treated and the body is allowed to (hopefully) recover on its own. While there is a horse-serum anti-toxin available, it has a fairly high risk of an allergic reaction, so it isn’t used much. When it is used, it is first tested on a small patch of skin to test for an allergic reaction. If there is no reaction, the anti-toxin is given both intramuscularly and intravenously. The anti-toxin needs to be given early in the course of the disease to have an effect.

It takes months to completely recover from botulism and some residual weakness may remain.

Dr. Mann did a thorough exam on Yorrick, including a close examination of his eyes. If there were abnormal pupils or eye muscle weakness, she would have seen them. She also would have noticed any muscle weakness. She clearly noticed his fever since she was placing wet cloths on his forehead. The lack of muscle weakness and the presence of a fever make botulism poisoning unlikely. While Yorrick had vomiting and diarrhea, these are common to most types of food poisoning. I agree that he has some sort of food poisoning, but I seriously doubt that it’s botulism.

Notes:
1. For a horse serum anti-toxin, horses are injected with a particular toxin. The horse is allowed to develop antibodies against this toxin. The serum from the blood of this antibody-laden horse is then purified to make the anti-toxin. Because of the other horse proteins in the serum, there is a high risk of allergic reactions.
2. The nasal canula is drawn correctly. Thank you, Pia Guerra!

I think I’ll enter the fray tomorrow. In the meantime, here is some food for thought. (Brought to you by Polite Dissent, where our chief weapon is sarcasm and cynicism…our two weapons are sarcasm, cynicism and ruthless efficiency…our three weapons are sarcasm, cynicism, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to medicine…Amongst our weapons are sarcasm, cynicism…oh, never mind.)

Comic books are not the only things that appeal to children that need to be given a closer look. McDonald’s Happy Meal toys “have a major influence in our society and they should be subject to the same rules that music and movies are being forced to follow.” Color Change Invisible Woman This figure is initially costumed, but when placed in the freezer becomes clear. This is wrong on many levels. First, not only does she become clear, but so do her clothes. Sue Storm is naked under her clothes! What about that name? The Invisible Woman. Clearly this toy is telling children that the only good woman is an “invisible” one. Finally, this supposed children’s toy sadly reinforces the common idea in comics that women belong in household appliances. Violence: 0 Sex: 5 Depravity: 5 Barbie While I am pleased to see a doctor Barbie, I am concerned by her way too-short skirt. I am equally unhappy to see a Barbie dressed in a McDonald’s outfit, reaffirming to children the dangerous idea that a woman’s place is in low paying menial jobs. The only appearance