Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Wonder powers activate!

Medikidz is a company that sells medical comic books for kids.

I get it. I was a kid once, and loved comic books. In fact, I think there were educational ones at my pediatrician's cave office then, so I'm glad they're still using them today. (I just wish there'd been a good one for biochemistry during med school).

These are the Medikidz superheroes:




I haven't read the comics, but it looks like they fly around on a giant red corpuscle. Being a neurologist I kind of like the knobby-kneed brain in the background. I'm not sure what to make of the guy in front, as generally I prefer my superheroes to wear pants. There's also the guy behind him on the left, who's carrying eating utensils in his belt. This is not standard JLA equipment.

Anyway, the reason I'm even on this subject is that recently the annual Neurology meetings were held in Philadelphia, and my top field agent, SMOD, was there.

Like many companies, Medikidz had a booth on the exhibit floor. I've seen my share of these. Pleasant sales reps in professional attire extolling the virtues of whatever they're selling.

But not Medikidz. To SMOD's horror, their reps were wearing the superhero outfits:



"For this I got a college degree."


They look kind of lonely. It's good to have a job, but still pretty humiliating to have to be at an adult medical convention wearing spandex and a cape. Normally you only see this kind of outfit on Halloween, when shopping at Walmart, or in the personals section of Craigslist.

Dear Medikidz: if you want to attract neurologists, you should wear Star Trek costumes.

15 comments:

Wendy at Taking the Long Way Home said...

I've never heard of Medkidz! None of my patients talk about them either...are they really a thing?

Officer Cynical said...

The blonde one is wearing knee pads. What's her super power?

Lisa said...

The one with the utensils looks kind of obese. I'm pretty sure they aren't trying to promote that. From the picture I would have thought SMOD took a detour to Dragon Fest, not a medical convention.

The Patient Doc said...

You are bad :)

The Patient Doc said...

I really hope they come to a Family Practice convention. I need a hero. He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight.

Ms. Donna said...

ST -TOS? NG? Voyager? DS9? Or the movies?

Yes, and the Neuros do the :live long and prosper" thing a lot. Must all be Vulcans. VVVBG

Oh, I'm guessing the one in front has cardiac powers. Cardiac kids, anyone.

And a comic book for biochem would be useful in any school.

Allyson said...

My daughter got a comic book from the pediatric ENT explaining her tonsillectomy/adenoid surgery. It was called "Your T&A Journey". I read it first to make sure it wasn't about plastic surgery.

Kaitlin said...

http://www.graphicmedicine.org/comics-and-medicine-conferences/2014-baltimore-conference/

The med comics conference is in Baltimore this year. I do not know if there will be superhero costumes.

Anonymous said...

Funny how the artwork is always bustier than the human specimen.

Anonymous said...

Haha... I've actually been a Medikidz rep. Yes, I have worn the costume, and played my role. It was a one-off and for a children's event at a hospital. At the time I was unemployed and desperate to break into medical communications. If it had been at an adult medical conference? I would have died with shame (but sadly, probably would have still gone!)

Anonymous said...

Thank you google and wikipedia.

From left to right:

Che - the lung specialist (I don't see it in her design, but that's who she is.)

Gastronomic - the gastrointestinal specialist (I was thinking nutrition.)

Pump - the heart specialist (Called it. He's the leader but he's not the brain.)

Skinderella - skin and bone specialist.

Axon - the brain specialist (Obvious.) The brain is his robot.

Anonymous said...

Walk past quickly, Do NOT make eye contact.

Walk past quickly, do not make eye contact.

cliffintokyo said...

So this is how they sell Med Info to kids in Filadelfia!
The knee-pads are super-cute. Do they even have knee-pads on Star Trek?

Anonymous said...

I WAS THERE AND HAVE A PHOTO WITH THEM!!! I cannot post it here because I don't know how.... I also got their book on epilepsy and it's awesome! If I wasn't lazy, I'd tell you who they each are.... The fatter one is gut, the glasses one is brain, and the black dude I think may be muscle. I don't really remember. The booklet is like, a whole room away so it's too far to go look up who they all are.

Anonymous said...

He's Gut. Each superhero represents a body part (GI, Brain, Heart, Lungs, etc).

 
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