Langley - Batman and psychology: a dark and stormy knight

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright 2012 by Travis Langley. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada

BATMAN is TM and DC Comics. Used with Permission. Illustration credits: pages 5, 8, 29, 35, 54, 67, 80, 90, 110, 130, 141, 151, 158, 178, 211, 237, 257, 266: Marko Head; pages 85, 124: Nick Langley; pages 94, 103, 227: Travis Langley.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Langley, Travis (date)
Batman and psychology: a dark and stormy knight / by Travis Langley; foreword by Michael Uslan; introduction by Dennis ONeil.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-16765-6 (pbk.: acid-free paper); ISBN 978-1-118-22636-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-23951-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-26425-6 (ebk)
1. Batman (Fictitious character). 2. Psychology and literature. I. Title.
PN6728.B36L36 2012
741.5973dc23
2011053474

For Rebecca, Alex, and Nicholas from everything I am today.

For my parents, Lynda and Travis Sr., from the kid who never goes away.

Acknowledgments

My Bat-Family

If I start naming everybody who ever helped me love Batman, Ill never stop. How far back do I go? To my mom who read me comic books when I was small? To Neal Adams whose art, by making Batman stories look so much more eerie than TV had led me to expect, motivated my preschool self to learn to read? To editor Bob Schreck and writer Kevin Smith, whose work reignited my habit of subscribing to monthly comics? Then how about more artistsJim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Sheldon Moldoff, Irv Novick, Marshall Rogers, George Roussosand writers, editors, actors, directors, still more artists ? The long line of creative individuals who have kept our hero patrolling Gotham in print and on screen never stops, and I do thank them all.

This book begins one summer when The Dark Knight was packing audiences into movie theaters; when I read the book Superman on the Couch, in which Danny Fingeroth observed (no, not the Matt Smith who flies a TARDIS). Accompanying Nick there because I wanted to see their groups research presentation, I looked around Comic-Con, I watched thousands of people bustling about in an environment that celebrated their passions, I met scholars writing on many comics-related topics, and it all came together for me: I needed to study comic book fans, and I needed to write about Batman.

Evan Gregory of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency brought me to Wiley, Connie Santisteban, John Simko, Rebecca Yeager, and the whole Wiley team. When youre writing a book about Batman, you take it as a good sign when you learn your literary agent named his dog Bruce Wayne. My wife, Rebecca, a licensed therapist, helped me think through the therapeutic issues. My older son, Alex, thought I should organize my chapters around the villainshence my compromise, my Case Files featured foes. Artists Marko Head and Nick Langley created illustrations, including those at the beginning of every chapter, and I cant thank DC Comics V.P. Jay Kogan and Rights & Permissions Manager Thomas King strongly enough for the images from DC Comics/Warner Bros. publications. I must thank my first readers (Rebecca and Alex), second readers (Action Flick Chick Katrina Hill, Christopher Daley, Marissa Nolan-Layman, David Manning), supportive friends like Bruce and Kathy Smith and GeekNation.coms Clare Kramer and Brian Keathley, and a twitpal legion. Chris Spatz and Ralph McKenna at Hendrix College and then Terry Christenson, Arnold Gerall, Barbara Moely, my great mentor Ed ONeal, and others taught me all kinds of psychology at Tulane University so I could misrepresent it here for you.

Ive been fortunate to teach at a university that respects and supports comics scholarship. Communication professor Randy Duncan paved the way before me through his years of teaching Comics as Communication , guiding Henderson State Universitys comic book club, and building our librarys Stephen R. Bissette Archives and graphic novel collection, which houses plenty of Batman titles thanks to librarians like Lea Ann Alexander. English instructor Eric Bailey helped me access key television episodes from decades-old master prints. Dean Maralyn Sommer, Undergraduate Research Chair Martin Campbell, John Hardee, Millie Bowden, Lecia Franklin, Carolyn Hatley, Linda Mooney, and Erma Johnson have helped our students and myself travel to conventions where weve collected interview and survey data for our ongoing ERIICA Project (Empirical Research on the Interpretation and Influence of the Comic Arts). Those students impress me all the time: Erica Ash, Tommy Cash, Carly Cate, Summer Delezen, Robert ONale, Ashley Pitcock, Justin Poole, Nikki Robertson, Thomas Sepe, Jarod Shurtleff, Nicole Smith they keep coming. Working in a department full of people I both respect and likesupportive and dedicated colleagues Aneeq Ahmad, Rafael Bejarano, and Paul Williamsonis truly a blessing, and words cannot convey the depths of my gratitude to our department chair, Todd Wiebers, for many reasons, not the least of which has been letting me teach courses like Comics & Psychology , Psychology in Film , and one titled Batman .

With Peter Coogan, once upon a time, Randy Duncan co-founded the Comics Arts Conference: San Diego Comic-Cons scholarly conference-within-the-con. Helping them and current CAC chair Kate McClancy organize the conference has been a privilege, and we all owe a huge debt to Eddie Ibrahim, Sue Lord, Gary Sassaman, and others who run SDCC and WonderCon. Mark Walters (Dallas Comic Con), Ben Stevens (Sci-Fi Expo), Lance Fensterman (New York Comic Con), and more con organizers created valuable opportunities for me.