The media are all discussing the implications of the latest study into the effects on health of people who have to work night shifts for a prolonged period; mental health issues were already a well known hazard from long-term night shift working and defying the body’s normal 24-hour clock, but a study in Denmark has noticed increased cancer risk among long-term night shift workers, so much so that the government there is actually compensating some sufferers. And I look at the nocturnal habits of our dark crime fighter, Batman and can’t help but wonder, is this what killed off the Dark Knight in Batman: RIP? Will Grant Morrison reveal in a few months that actually it wasn’t the supervillains who got to the Caped Crusader in the end, it was increasing health problems aggravated by his constant nocturnal working patterns? Will a future issue of Batman reveal the reason there was no body was because actually Bruce Wayne has been secretly whisked away to a hospice in the Swiss mountains and is undergoing radiotherapy? Surely these medical findings have to be worrying for the large number of superheroes who conduct much of their crime-fighting after dark?
(cover to Batman RIP written by Grant Morrison, art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea; cover art by Alex Ross, (c) DC Comics)
Mon, Mar 16, 2009
Comics and cartoons