Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight

Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight

by Travis Langley
Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight

Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight

by Travis Langley

eBook

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Overview

A journey behind the mask and into the mind of Gotham City’s Caped Crusader, timed for the summer 2012 release of The Dark Knight Rises

Batman is one of the most compelling and enduring characters to come from the Golden Age of Comics, and interest in his story has only increased through countless incarnations since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. Why does this superhero without superpowers fascinate us? What does that fascination say about us? Batman and Psychology explores these and other intriguing questions about the masked vigilante, including: Does Batman have PTSD?  Why does he fight crime? Why as a vigilante? Why the mask, the bat, and the underage partner? Why are his most intimate relationships with “bad girls” he ought to lock up? And why won't he kill that homicidal, green-haired clown?

  • Gives you fresh insights into the complex inner world of Batman and Bruce Wayne and the life and characters of Gotham City
  • Explains psychological theory and concepts through the lens of one of the world’s most popular comic book characters
  • Written by a psychology professor and “Superherologist” (scholar of superheroes)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781118239513
Publisher: Turner
Publication date: 05/22/2012
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

TRAVIS LANGLEY is a professor of psychology at Henderson State University. An organizer for the Comics Arts Conference, he is a psychologist who speaks regularly on the psychology of superheroes at conventions like San Diego Comic-Con—especially the psychology of Gotham's Dark Knight.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments: My Bat-Family vii

Foreword by Michael Uslan, Bat-Films executive producer xi

Introduction by Dennis O’Neil, comic book writer/editor 1

1 Beneath the Cowl: Who Is Batman? 5

2 Which Batman? 8

Case File 2–1: King Tut

Case File 2–2: Mr. Freeze

3 The Trauma 35

4 Why the Mask? 54

5 Why the Bat? 67

Case File 5–1: Scarecrow

Case File 5–2: Hugo Strange

6 The “Superstitious, Cowardly Lot”: Criminal Nature 90

Case File 6–1: Bane

7 The Halloween Party: Why All the Costumed Crooks? 110

Case File 7–1: The Riddler

Case File 7–2: The Penguin

Case File 7–3: Poison Ivy

8 The Madhouse: What Insanity? 130

Case File 8–1: The Mad Hatter

Case File 8–2: Harley Quinn

Case File 8–3: The Joker

9 The Psychodynamic Duo: Freud and Jung on Batman and Robin 158

Case File 9–1: Two-Face

10 The Kids: Why Robin? 178

Case File 10–1: Red Hood

Case File 10–2: Dr. Fredric Wertham

11 The Women: Why the Cat? 211

Case File 11–1: Catwoman

12 The Fathers: Why Do We Fall? 237

Case File 12–1: Ra’s al Ghul

13 Why So Serious? 257

14 The Assessment: Bats in His Belfry? 266

Notes 272

References: Comic Books and Graphic Novels 291

References: Not Comic Books or Graphic Novels 304

Index 332

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