The Killing Joke

I have briefly touched upon The Joker but for the next hour, I'd like to write about the real clown killer, John Wayne Gacy.

Gacy was born on March 17, 1942 and until his death on May 10, 1994, took about 30 lives. Each target was under the age of 20 (except for one victim at the age of 21) and their bodies piled up underneath the floorboards of Gacy's home.

Gacy had a side job; that of being a clown at charity events. He named himself Pogo the Clown.

Similar to the Joker, Gacy never blamed himself for his actions, rather, his victims were to blame. No, he didn't stop there. He blamed all of society. As written in his psychotic report, Gacy, "presents himself as a victim...and blames others who are out to get him..."

What fascinates me is the fact that Gacy, while in prison, painted. His paintings were even sold to the public, unbeknownst to the buyer that the paint was applied by a psychotic killer. It's incredible to think how thin the line is between good and evil, so thin that it is impossible to distinguish between the two, in some cases. But here we have an example of evil, and he's behind bars...painting.

The Joker in The Dark Knight psychotically wished to prove that everyone was like him - alone, paranoid, and selfish. When the Joker commits a crime, he blames Batman for the crime. Every death is attributed to Batman, and it's justified, in a way. Batman lets the Joker live, obeying his vow never to kill - even the Joker.

But how many lives does it take? The Joker has killed the second Robin, something Batman lives with every day. He has paralyzed Batgirl with a bullet to the spine. He's killed Commissioner Gordon's first wife. Add that to the hundreds of civilians he has killed over the decades. And yet Batman let's him live. A quick trip to Arkham Asylum and then he's out again.

Which brings me to my next thought - the death penalty. Should Gacy have been lethally injected? My first thought was "Here is a man who has taken and sexually abused dozens of young men for his own demented reasons." We know Gacy's father was abusive. We know his background is that of pain and turmoil. Numerous times, Gacy had been under arrest and we let his insanity slip through our fingers.

Where do we draw the line of who to kill and who to let live? If we had another Gacy, if we had a Joker, should/would we allow them to live? Out of some self-proclaimed, self-righteous vow that "separates us from the animals?" Further, Gacy lived 12 years in custody before the capital punishment kicked in. What kind of speedy justice is that?

I think if Batman were real, he'd be asking himself this question every day. And the main reason why I love Batman is his inner turmoil; does he fight crime for a selfish reason? Does he allow the Joker to live because if he killed the Joker, is he just as bad as the murderer of his parents?

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller isn't considered canon (or, the DC publishers have decided that the graphic novel is not the definitive ending to the Batman mythos). To me, it's as good an ending as Batman could hope for. Batman finally kills the Joker, realizing the countless citizens the Joker have murdered is something Batman should've righted a long time ago.

Anyway, this post was basically me ranting. Sorry for that.

The Psychology of Fear

One of the more interesting characters in the Batman mythos (to me at least) is the Scarecrow.

The guy is the epitome of irony. If you didn't know, the Scarecrow's civilian identity is that of Dr. Jonathan Crane with a PhD in psychology. That's right - psychology. The doctor literally uses fear and it's psychological effects on his victims... all for his own research. Often, you'll see Scarecrow using his fear gas on his victims (most notably Batman) and have their greatest fears come to them in the form of hallucinations. For instance, if Batman were sprayed with the fear gas, he would see his parents dying or maybe a bat.

But in any event, the psychology of fear is a very interesting topic. And all these biochemical reactions should sound familiar.

Lisa Fritscher writes about the Psychology of Fear in her article "Understanding the Dynamics of the Fear Response." Usually when we perceive danger, we start to sweat, our heart rates increase and our adrenaline levels shoot up, too. This could be called the "fight or flight" response in which (thanks to years of evolution) our bodies are literally choosing between fighting or running away. And through our physical reactions to stimuli around us, there is a chance we may survive the danger.

So while Batman is tripping out on fear gas and experiencing fear (psychologically and physically), he would probably see a bat, flying straight for him, wings spread like a fallen angel, its mouth gaping open like a furnace to the gates of hell. And if Batman told a psychologist about his fear of bats, the doctor may say Batman has a phobia of bats.

What the hell's a phobia?

A phobia is when a person will fear an object or situation that usually doesn't present any real danger. Thus, most phobias of objects or situations are irrational symbols of danger. Batman may perceive bats as a danger to his well being, but the bat would have to symbolize a greater psychological danger rather than a physical one in order for it to develop into a phobia.

Bruce first feared the bat when he fell into a cave just outside Wayne Manor. From the inky blackness of the cave, a bat was awoken by Bruce's noisy intrusion. The bat flew towards Bruce and the phobia was born. Perhaps the bat represented more than just a scary face in a dark place; perhaps the bat was the unknown, a representation of a place without Bruce's parents protecting him. The bat could've been a reminder of the beyond; death. Falling a few stories worth into a cave could've acted as the unwanted reminder of mortality for Bruce, a spoiled and sheltered child.

In any event, Bruce was able to conquer his fear of the bat (thus his conquering of his own fear of death, mortality, the unknown, his parents death, etc. etc.) through a little thing called systematic desensitization. With this procedure, a patient is able to gradually overcome his or her fear of the object or situation. First, a patient will be given increasing levels of the object or situation in question - for instance, for Bruce, he'd be introduced to a few bats to show that they are not harmful. Next, more bats would be introduced. After that, more and more bats would be introduced to Bruce until he realizes that there is nothing to fear.

There is also a technique called Flooding and Bruce definitely experienced this technique. In the film Batman Begins, Bruce returns to the cave to create his own base of operations and is surrounded by a black cloud of bats. Bruce stands up and invites the bats to surround his body, overcoming his fear. This is an example of flooding; where a patient will be introduced to an excessive amount of the object or situation and will overcome their phobia.

So that was a quick look into phobias, fear and how to overcome phobias. Check out the article here and see you around.

"Madness is the emergency exit..."

So a few weeks ago I said I'd write about the mythos of the bat...

I LIED.

This week we're going to talk about everyone's favorite villain

That's right - The Joker.

The Joker's been around since Batman Issue 1 and has terrorized Gotham for what seems like decades (even though in the storyline, its only been like...20 years tops). He's insane, quick (in The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubacker, Batman says that he's surprisingly quick and difficult to pin down), manipulative, intelligent...basically every negative quality in a criminal mastermind.

But the history of the character is an interesting one; one that, again, involves psychoanalysis. The Joker exhibits signs of Amnesia, which is a condition in which memory is lost in a patient due to an external factor. More specifically, we would say the Joker exhibits Dissociative Fugue.

In order to define Dissociative Fugue, let's take the example of the Joker.

In the popular graphic novel The Killing Joke, written by esteemed writer Alan Moore, we learn (or think we learn) the past life of the Joker. Originally a comedian, the Joker helps two criminals break into a chemical plant to get money for his pregnant wife. The job goes awry as the two criminals are killed by the police and the Joker falls into a vat of chemicals. The unnamed character emerges from the chemical plant and becomes The Joker. And so the history of the Joker is revealed...or so we think.

Towards the end of the comic, the Joker barricades himself in a house of mirrors and reveals to Batman that he cannot remember his past. The Joker says, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another...If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" Thus, we learn that the Joker doesn't really remember his past life. The traumatic (and chemical-induced) event of that fateful night the Joker fell into a vat of chemicals was the point at which the old personality of the unnamed comedian became the Joker. When a patient cannot recount any memories before a certain point, and then creates a new identity from that point on, it is called Dissociative Fugue, a subcategory of amnesia.

However, a Fugue does not last a lifetime; usually the old identity of a Dissociative Fugue can be recalled in days, or months. That is, they can be recalled through therapy. Due to this fact (and the fact that chemicals were involved in the Joker's creation), we could say the Joker would be diagnosed with an extreme form of Dissociative Fugue (which could border on Dissociative Identity Disorder). And really, one can blame everything on chemicals (Scarecrow, Two-Face, Clayface...etc. etc.).

But allow me to disregard the chemicals for one moment and examine the psychological trauma that the Joker experienced right before his creation. His pregnant wife had been killed, the police killed two men in front of him, and he was about to be captured by a giant bat that breaks the bones of criminals. That alone could account for amnesia occurring in a broken mind.

This article was mostly about amnesia. Next, we'll talk about what it means to be criminally insane.

Batman: Arkham City Review

I'm going to take the opportunity to set aside the topic of psychology of Batman for the day and instead talk to you about the new game the world has been buzzing over.

Arkham City is a fantastic game, from top to bottom. The original game Arkham Aslyum, in comparison, feels like riding a bicycle with training wheels. You, being five, think this is probably the greatest thing ever and that nothing ever will come along that will upstage that bike with training wheels.

That's where your stupid, primitive, five-year old mind is wrong.

Arkham City is like getting a motorcycle right after that bike with the pathetic training wheels. Oh yeah, and the motocrycle's wheels are on fire. Better yet, you can fly off a fifty foot jump over a pool of lava and when you land, the most beautiful women tackle your very body with ecstasy (or men if you'd like).

But alas, my metaphor is getting out of hand. Let's get back to the actual game. Arkham Asylum's visuals, first of all, are astounding. The detailing of every wall in the game is a special thing to behold. While chasing the Penguin through a museum, I was constantly stopping at each and every exhibit that included dinosaur fossils, stuffed dead animals, and so much more. Further, each exhibit had a button to press and the Penguin would say something diabolical about what was in the exhibit over a speaker. The development team didn't even have to assume players would want to press the buttons, but they did it anyway. This is just one example of many of the perfectionist, attention-to-detail work of the animation team. I'm not even going to mention the snow effects in the game and how each flake dissolves on Batman's person (oh wait I just did).

Controls-wise, the game is flawless in it's execution and fun-factor. The battle system of Arkham Asylum returns. Many of the techniques and gadgets of the last game has returned (with new perks, of course) but even more have been introduced. Probably my favorite is the inclusion of the ability to summon bats to disorient your enemies. Or maybe my favorite would be the hundred mile per hour, sky-dive into an unsuspecting foe from above. Or maybe it's the- you know what? There's too many things to love about the combat system of Arkham City.

The open, Grand Theft Auto-esque world feels fantastic. While there is a main story line, you can literally stop at dozens of places in between plot points around the city, fighting crime, saving prisoners, solving Riddler puzzles, etc. I played for about 4 hours the first night, quit and returned to the main menu. Surprisingly, the game said I was about 7% through the entire game. SEVEN PERCENT. This was definitely worth my 60 dollars.

Last thing I'd like to cover is sound design - which, of course, is stellar. Mark Hamill voices the Joker (for perhaps the final time) and, along with all the other voice actors, brings their characters to life giving them depth and a lasting impression. The music is very inspired by not only the Tim Burton film adaptations, but I also sensed some Christopher Nolan Batman. I swear, every time I punch someone, the sound effect resonates with such force that I believe I just knocked the lights out of a criminal.

So basically, buy this fu**ing game. Enjoy it. And if you're disappointed by the lack of psychological reading this week, play the game and psychoanalyze yourself - you may surprise yourself by talking, walking and fighting crime like Batman.

"He Wanted the Pearls"

Last time, we discussed Batman and Bruce Wayne as if they were two different people, due to the mental psychosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder. As a short review, patients of D.I.D. exhibit many of the things Batman seems to do, which includes depression and ritualistic activities. Further, we established that the alternate identities of a split personality patient could also be that of an animal.

But how does one get this way? How does one literally break into two (or more) pieces of an entire persona? Doctors are still out on that subject but they do have a good idea: traumatic events at a young age.

And of course, our very own Bruce Wayne had the biggest traumatic event of any boy's young life - the murder of his two parents. RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. Stuff couldn't be harder to process than that.

But to keep this blog from exploring too many topics, I'd like to focus on a symbol that's been running through several Batman comics - Mrs. Wayne's pearls. See, D.I.D. usually comes about when there are repeated instances of abuse or trauma to a child. But I would argue that if the patient has experienced an extremely traumatizing event, then D.I.D. could take place. Further, to add to this theory, I would say Bruce has experienced what psychologists are calling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And often, a co-occurence of PTSD is guilt. It is Mrs. Wayne's pearls that I would say is the symbol of guilt.

The Long Halloween, written by Jeph Loeb and penciled by Tim Sale, takes place a year after the birth of Batman. Many of the villains have been introduced including the Scarecrow. Eventually Batman and the Scarecrow meet, Scarecrow sprays his really ****ed up mindshattering spray on Bats, and soon, Batman is walking down memory lane. Except he's going psychotic. Delusional, Bruce Wayne is chased by Jim Gordon but thanks to the funny gas, Bruce thinks he's his parents killer.

I would argue that in this delusional, drugged-out state, we are seeing the child that never grew up. Bruce utters "He wants the pearls." Previously on page 220, Bruce reveals that it was he who urged his mother to wear the pearls for a "special night." In the Dark Knight Returns, often we see the death of his mother symbolized by her pearl necklace being ripped from her neck. Basically, in every origin page that tells the story of the birth of Batman, you can guess that there will be pearls in them.

So why all the pearls? Is it just a poetic symbol of Bruce's parents's death? I'd take it a step further. Bruce often said he was the one who forced his parents to go down the alley that eventually claimed Mr. and Mrs. Wayne. Bruce, in the Long Halloween, continues to bring up the pearls and how he wanted his mother to wear them. On page 222 of the Long Halloween, Bruce falls to his knees and cries at the foot of his mother's grave. If this isn't someone apologizing then I don't know what is.

Ok so I have to at least introduce some scholarly subject material right? So what is the relationship between guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder?

The correct term is trauma-related guilt and it is a common co-occurence. Basically, the PTSD patient will feel he or she should have done something different at the time a traumatic event occurred. Matthew Tull, PhD, writes in his article on PTSD and Guilt that there is such a thing as SURVIVOR GUILT (okay, wow. Seriously. Batman, your psychotic nature surprises me everyday). Essentially, a surviving member of some traumatic event will blame himself for doing something wrong. This extreme sense of guilt and shame leads to depression, social anxiety, and even the development of PTSD.

So there you have it; if Bruce Wayne laid down on a psychologist's chair and told her what had happened to him, the doctor would probably diagnose him with this: D.I.D. or maybe PTSD coupled with extreme guilt due to a traumatic event in the early stages of development.

Now, Bruce has chosen to fight crime, to rid the city of the evil that took his parents, to right the wrongs of the people...to try and right his own wrong. Wow. That's some heavy stuff right there. But why the Bat?

Next time we'll explore the mythos of the Bat. Or maybe not. I don't know.

Bibliography:

All information on PTSD and Guilt:

http://ptsd.about.com/od/relatedconditions/a/guilt.htm

"For I Am Your Soul...You cannot escape me"

Okay, so this is a blog about Batman right? And every Batman-related document has to talk about the whole dynamic between the persona of Batman, the creature of the night righting the wrongs of Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne, the civilian playboy who just so happens to have the body of a God and the mind of a modern day Einstein. Also, he's loaded. Cash-wise.

One of the most prominent topics of discussion in the Batman series is the battle between Batman and Bruce Wayne. In fact, sometimes Batman speaks in the third person and talks as though Bruce Wayne is another person. This split between both personalities is taken to the extreme in The Dark Knight Returns, a graphic novel written in the 80s by Frank Miller.

Here's a panel from page 25 of the Dark Knight Returns

Some backstory: Bruce has been out of the business of crime fighting for about 20-30 years now, retiring the Batman persona for good since the death of the second Robin - or so we think. See, Bruce can retire the Batsuit, the Batcave, the Batcar...the Bat everything. But Batman, the persona, has forever been lurking inside of him. This creature even talks to Bruce, as evident in this panel on page 25. The creature says, "For I am your soul."

To further cement the idea that Batman and Bruce Wayne are two totally different characters, let's look at another page from The Dark Knight Returns.

In this scene, Batman confronts Two-Face (also known as Harvey Dent) but Two-Face has reconstructed his face using plastic surgery. Harvey, however, is addicted to crime and continues his reign of terror on Gotham City. When Batman finally catches him again in the middle of a crime, Harvey ashamedly admits that the Two-Face persona still lives on inside of him. He asks Batman to see him for what he really is; to look past the newly constructed face of Harvey Dent and see the demon lurking within. Batman obeys; he looks at Harvey and sees "a reflection," or in other words, he sees his own demon (the Batman). The Batman and Bruce Wayne are waging a psychological war for one body. Batman and Two-Face are essentially the same in this respect.

This example of D.I.D., or dissociative identity disorder, is a powerful one - in fact, (to my knowledge, at least) no other popular superhero struggles with two personalities in such a dynamic way. On the DC side, Superman has his Clark Kent and is totally fine with it. Wonder Woman is Wonder Woman; no problems. On the Marvel side, Captain America, Iron Man, Spiderman, the X-Men - they're all fine with two identities and are mentally stable, for the most part (but there is a creepy story of the Iron Man suit desperately trying to put Tony Stark inside of him...sexual undertones intended...I'm not making this up. Check it out here.).

So what is D.I.D.? Symptoms of split personality disorder include "two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over the person's behavior." Some other symptoms include forgetfulness and memory variations, where memories will be different over the personalities. A patient can switch between personalities in an instant or over years. These other personalities are different from one another; for instance, these personalities can differ in sex, age, gestures, way of talking - sometimes there are even cases of the personality being an animal.

That's right ladies and gentlemen; animals. Batman could literally be a dictionary example of D.I.D. and would run something like this: "Dissociative Identity Disorder 1. Split personality psychological disorder where a patient will have multiple personalities in one body. 2. See Batman"

Other symptoms of D.I.D. include depression (Bruce has got that down), mood swings (oh definitely), sleep disorders (hello, the guy stays up all night dislocating jaws), compulsions and rituals (does dressing up like a Bat every night for 40 years qualify as a ritual? I'd think so), and psychotic-like symptoms (Scarecrow helps out with that).

D.I.D. is a huge topic in the Batman mythos and I'll definitely take a few blog posts to completely flesh out the details. For instance, D.I.D. occurs when a traumatic event occurs in a child's life. In order to save itself, the mind fragments itself into pieces, attempting to forget. Does this sound familiar?

source: http://kidsdontgetit.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/list-o’-the-week-worst-superhero-parents-3-1/

It should. Until next time!

Bibliography:

All information on D.I.D. taken from this article from WebMD:

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder?page=2

Trio

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Blogger's Voice

If you're reading this blog, then you should definitely check out this article by blogger Reginald Johnson called, "The Psychology of Batman."

I didn't even read this article before writing my hello world article and yet we talk about many of the same things; for example, how Batman is just a man. Johnson writes, "Batman, if anything, is the possibility of what a person can be." He talks about how Batman "is a man...with no superpowers." Notice how Johnson uses the italicized 'can' to emphasize his point or his use of a trailing off '...' to drive the point home that Batman literally has no superpowers...and we love Batman for that!

Another example of italicized sentences being a powerful tool of conveying a meaning is in Johnson's line, "The obsessive manhunter is balanced by the humane knight." In this instance, Johnson talks about the mind-frame of Batman and the parallels between the dark knight and Two-Face, a split-personality disorder patient. Batman, in essence, balances his psychotic and obsessive hunt for crime with his humanity, thus separating himself from his enemies.

Often, Johnson will write a dense paragraph, skip a line, write a single sentence, then skip a line and start a paragraph anew. This adds great emphasis on the points he is trying to make. The single sentence floating in-between two paragraphs jumps out at the reader, screaming importance. In three, long and detailed sentences, Johnson writes about the Joker and his challenge to Batman - how he challenges his intellect, wit and sense of justice. After this paragraph, Johnson writes, "But that should be no surprise" alone after the previous paragraph ended. Immediately, the reader picks up on the Joker's identity being shrouded in secret (the subject of the previous paragraph). Not only does it add emphasis, it also poses a sort of question to the reader; "Why isn't it a surprise?" It gently pushes the reader into the next paragraph. Johnson's use of long and short paragraphs, as well as spaces between paragraphs, makes him a strong writer.

I also like how Johnson addresses the reader. He writes, "Right now you may be thinking this sounds ridiculous." I appreciate this sort of writing because the blogger is writing as if he is speaking in an informal and sociable way. While writing this blog, I want to be as personable as possible, so using second person in a sentence is something I want. However, I don't want to write in an unscholarly way and Johnson clearly is personable yet scholarly.

About halfway through the blog post, Johnson uses a graph to show the reader an exchange of dialogue between Superman and Batman. It's really interesting and detailed and Johnson chooses the right lines to examine. For instance, Johnson discusses the dichotomy between the Dark Knight and the Son of Krypton and how the two are reacting to near-death experiences in the graphic novel "Public Enemies." While I liked the use of direct quotes in his blog, I would take it a step further and perhaps show a photo of the desires pages of the comic. Otherwise, Johnson's examination of actual texts of the Dark Knight is greatly appreciated and shows an understanding and knowledge of the source material.

I highly recommend this blog post by Johnson; its insightful, easy to read and just interesting. For now, I'll leave you with the teaser of The Dark Knight Rises...

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Thoughts on a Blog

Ferdy on Films is a great blog for a number of basic reasons - First, the whole intro blog is a personal and insightful view on Ferdy's take on films. Personally, I like a blog that is formal in writing yet personal and informal in it's core language.

Secondly, Ferdy doesn't rely on his readers to view or read about the material she is talking about. For example, if she is reviewing a film, she doesn't expect her readers to know the material. In fact, if she does a good job of describing and analyzing the film, it shouldn't be a problem for her readers. It may even stir more curiosity for the reader to explore the film him or herself. This reflects what I am doing in my blog - I do not expect all my readers (if any at all) to know everything about Batman, because I certainly do not. Instead, I will try to keep the blog interesting, keeping in mind that readers may not know what I am talking about.

Ferdy ends the blog by saying she will review things that she has not seen before. Thus she is exploring material unknown to her and maybe to her readers. Like Ferdy, I hope to explore Batman and psychology material that I am not too familiar with. This will keep the blog interesting in the future and hopefully be educating for me and the reader.

Hello World!

It’s an eerie bright night with the full moon looming overhead, a giant eye in the sky gazing down on the city. You’re walking to your car, the only car in the parking lot at this late hour, with your clinking keys in hand. You can’t help but notice a group of men eyeing you from across the parking lot. You count them – five in total. Their faces are painted black in the night, but you feel their white, piercing eyes studying every inch of your body. Their figures are mere shadows under the street lamp. As you make your way to your car door, you hear their footsteps coming towards you. Your frosty white breath, clearly visible, begins to quicken and shorten as you fumble for your keys, desperately trying to open the door. One of the thugs grabs your arm and your muscles tighten, not due to the cold, but to the fear – the fear that something awful is going to happen and nothing can stop it. And just before you scream or yell or fight or whatever your body can muster at that horrible moment, the hand limply slips from your arm. You turn to the five men expecting the worst but instead see them on the floor, unconscious, carefully arranged around your person like a flower arrangement. You look up and see a shadow move across the sky. Was it a man? You blink – maybe it was a mirage. Before thinking anymore, you find your keys and drive away, as fast as humanly possible.

There are literally hundreds, no, thousands of super heroes. Maybe even millions at this point. And what makes a superhero? Well let’s take a look.

Wolverine of the Marvel universe has blades in his hands that can retract and extend at will. His five senses are heightened, like an animal, and can recover from wounds within seconds (depending on the severity of the wound of course). How about Spiderman? Spiderman’s five senses are heightened, like an animal (or insect in this case) and can shoot “spider-webs” from his hands. What about the granddaddy of all superheroes, Superman? Well, again, this superhero has the famed heightened five senses (he has supervision, super strength, super hearing, super-everything, you name it). On top of that, Superman can fly AND is invincible.

And so, let’s look at Batman. What can he do?

Does he have five heightened senses? No.
Does he have blades in his hands he can retract at will? No.
Can he fly? No.

Doesn’t seem like superhero material. But that’s where you’re wrong. There’s something Batman has that every other superhero sorely lacks – passion for the job. Batman loves his job so much, one could argue he is as mentally unstable as the villains depicted in his comic books.

There are so many reasons why Batman has grown to be my favorite superhero comic book character in just a matter of years. Unashamedly, as a twenty-one year old male with a healthy social circle of friends and family, I proudly read these comics – not in my mother’s basement, thank you very much. I’m still learning about the mythos of Batman, and through this blog, I hope you will learn about him too. This blog will mostly cover psychological issues that is relevant to Batman topics, such as D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder), psychopathic/criminal reasoning, bipolar disorders, and much more. Some days, we’ll also explore the history of the publication of Batman comics over the years, the wonky television show in the 60s, the Burton films and the Nolan films, and maybe a video game review.

A Blogger's Voice

If you're reading this blog, then you should definitely check out this article by blogger Reginald Johnson called, "The Psychology of Batman."

I didn't even read this article before writing my hello world article and yet we talk about many of the same things; for example, how Batman is just a man. Johnson writes, "Batman, if anything, is the possibility of what a person can be." He talks about how Batman "is a man...with no superpowers." Notice how Johnson uses the italicized 'can' to emphasize his point or his use of a trailing off '...' to drive the point home that Batman literally has no superpowers...and we love Batman for that!

Another example of italicized sentences being a powerful tool of conveying a meaning is in Johnson's line, "The obsessive manhunter is balanced by the humane knight." In this instance, Johnson talks about the mind-frame of Batman and the parallels between the dark knight and Two-Face, a split-personality disorder patient. Batman, in essence, balances his psychotic and obsessive hunt for crime with his humanity, thus separating himself from his enemies.

Often, Johnson will write a dense paragraph, skip a line, write a single sentence, then skip a line and start a paragraph anew. This adds great emphasis on the points he is trying to make. The single sentence floating in-between two paragraphs jumps out at the reader, screaming importance. In three, long and detailed sentences, Johnson writes about the Joker and his challenge to Batman - how he challenges his intellect, wit and sense of justice. After this paragraph, Johnson writes, "But that should be no surprise" alone after the previous paragraph ended. Immediately, the reader picks up on the Joker's identity being shrouded in secret (the subject of the previous paragraph). Not only does it add emphasis, it also poses a sort of question to the reader; "Why isn't it a surprise?" It gently pushes the reader into the next paragraph. Johnson's use of long and short paragraphs, as well as spaces between paragraphs, makes him a strong writer.

I also like how Johnson addresses the reader. He writes, "Right now you may be thinking this sounds ridiculous." I appreciate this sort of writing because the blogger is writing as if he is speaking in an informal and sociable way. While writing this blog, I want to be as personable as possible, so using second person in a sentence is something I want. However, I don't want to write in an unscholarly way and Johnson clearly is personable yet scholarly.

About halfway through the blog post, Johnson uses a graph to show the reader an exchange of dialogue between Superman and Batman. It's really interesting and detailed and Johnson chooses the right lines to examine. For instance, Johnson discusses the dichotomy between the Dark Knight and the Son of Krypton and how the two are reacting to near-death experiences in the graphic novel "Public Enemies." While I liked the use of direct quotes in his blog, I would take it a step further and perhaps show a photo of the desires pages of the comic. Otherwise, Johnson's examination of actual texts of the Dark Knight is greatly appreciated and shows an understanding and knowledge of the source material.

I highly recommend this blog post by Johnson; its insightful, easy to read and just interesting. For now, I'll leave you with the teaser of The Dark Knight Rises...

Thoughts on a Blog

Ferdy on Films is a great blog for a number of basic reasons - First, the whole intro blog is a personal and insightful view on Ferdy's take on films. Personally, I like a blog that is formal in writing yet personal and informal in it's core language.

Secondly, Ferdy doesn't rely on his readers to view or read about the material she is talking about. For example, if she is reviewing a film, she doesn't expect her readers to know the material. In fact, if she does a good job of describing and analyzing the film, it shouldn't be a problem for her readers. It may even stir more curiosity for the reader to explore the film him or herself. This reflects what I am doing in my blog - I do not expect all my readers (if any at all) to know everything about Batman, because I certainly do not. Instead, I will try to keep the blog interesting, keeping in mind that readers may not know what I am talking about.

Ferdy ends the blog by saying she will review things that she has not seen before. Thus she is exploring material unknown to her and maybe to her readers. Like Ferdy, I hope to explore Batman and psychology material that I am not too familiar with. This will keep the blog interesting in the future and hopefully be educating for me and the reader.

Hello World!

It’s an eerie bright night with the full moon looming overhead, a giant eye in the sky gazing down on the city. You’re walking to your car, the only car in the parking lot at this late hour, with your clinking keys in hand. You can’t help but notice a group of men eyeing you from across the parking lot. You count them – five in total. Their faces are painted black in the night, but you feel their white, piercing eyes studying every inch of your body. Their figures are mere shadows under the street lamp. As you make your way to your car door, you hear their footsteps coming towards you. Your frosty white breath, clearly visible, begins to quicken and shorten as you fumble for your keys, desperately trying to open the door. One of the thugs grabs your arm and your muscles tighten, not due to the cold, but to the fear – the fear that something awful is going to happen and nothing can stop it. And just before you scream or yell or fight or whatever your body can muster at that horrible moment, the hand limply slips from your arm. You turn to the five men expecting the worst but instead see them on the floor, unconscious, carefully arranged around your person like a flower arrangement. You look up and see a shadow move across the sky. Was it a man? You blink – maybe it was a mirage. Before thinking anymore, you find your keys and drive away, as fast as humanly possible.

There are literally hundreds, no, thousands of super heroes. Maybe even millions at this point. And what makes a superhero? Well let’s take a look.

Wolverine of the Marvel universe has blades in his hands that can retract and extend at will. His five senses are heightened, like an animal, and can recover from wounds within seconds (depending on the severity of the wound of course). How about Spiderman? Spiderman’s five senses are heightened, like an animal (or insect in this case) and can shoot “spider-webs” from his hands. What about the granddaddy of all superheroes, Superman? Well, again, this superhero has the famed heightened five senses (he has supervision, super strength, super hearing, super-everything, you name it). On top of that, Superman can fly AND is invincible.

And so, let’s look at Batman. What can he do?

Does he have five heightened senses? No.
Does he have blades in his hands he can retract at will? No.
Can he fly? No.

Doesn’t seem like superhero material. But that’s where you’re wrong. There’s something Batman has that every other superhero sorely lacks – passion for the job. Batman loves his job so much, one could argue he is as mentally unstable as the villains depicted in his comic books.

There are so many reasons why Batman has grown to be my favorite superhero comic book character in just a matter of years. Unashamedly, as a twenty-one year old male with a healthy social circle of friends and family, I proudly read these comics – not in my mother’s basement, thank you very much. I’m still learning about the mythos of Batman, and through this blog, I hope you will learn about him too.

This blog will mostly cover psychological issues that is relevant to Batman topics, such as D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder), psychopathic/criminal reasoning, bipolar disorders, and much more. Some days, we’ll also explore the history of the publication of Batman comics over the years, the wonky television show in the 60s, the Burton films and the Nolan films, and maybe a video game review.