Ryan Sheppeck

Ryan Sheppeck

What’s Currently Happening in Superhero Comics

Tony Stark has once again accidentally funded a supervillain and is whining because people are mad at him for being rich

Black Panther is now the emperor of an entire galaxy that he conquered by accident through time travel

Superman’s son is terrified of his father never coming back from space and leaving him as the only Superman on earth while superhero Kim Jong Il is trying to assassinate him

The Batman family is dealing with a growing police state inside of Gotham while also being broke

Captain America fistfought the President to the death on top of an in-flight fighter jet because the President had made a deal with the Devil

The Teen Titans are dealing with the issues inherent with teenage superheroes showing up in war zones

The Hulk is exploring a nuanced portrayal of child abuse and the trauma it causes in adults sparked by the fact that the ghost of his abusive dad has been possessed by cosmic Satan

The Champions are fighting defamation from Superhero Exxon’s PR team

And Doctor Strange is investigating his own murder somehow. Like, he is alive, but examining his own corpse.

This is why I love superhero comics sometimes: half the time they’re like “politics! Intense family drama! Alcoholism parallels!” and the other half they’re like “haha Doctor Doom is a baboon now” and it’s impossible to guess which one you’re gonna get ahead of time

(via)

Ad for penicillin, Life Magazine, 8/14/1944.

MIXED MESSAGE: SMOKE AND RECOVER? WW2 poster, NARA ID 515170.

#OTD 1928 "WONDER DRUG" Penicillin Discovered Modern medicine saves lives - antibiotics & vaccines By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Stay tuned: Anti-Vaxxer Ben Franklin's Biggest Regret

During WWI, tens of thousands of service personnel died not from their actual wounds but from sepsis, a massive body-wide infection. At the time, very little could be done to prevent these deaths. However, one of the many who sought to help was bacteriologist Alexander Fleming, who as a captain in WWI saw many wounded men die from such infections.

#OTD 1928, Fleming's accidental discovery transformed modern medicine. He'd left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered, and saw that a mold (similar to the kind found on moldy bread) that had fallen on the culture had killed many of the bacteria. He called the mold by-product penicillin.

“When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did." ---Dr. Alexander Fleming

Commercial production of penicillin began after the start of WWII. In advance of D-Day, scientists prepared more than two million doses. Government communicators worked with the pharmaceutical industry to produce a robust ad campaign - including posters below from our holdings - to establish penicillin as "the wonder drug." The posters - a snapshot of the time - include a happy soldier smoking while recovering in bed, anti-Japanese propaganda, and concerns about STDs. See Powers of Persuasion online exhibit.

NARA ID 183507561.

NARA ID 183507561.

NARA ID 183507560.

NARA ID 515171.