BEAUOLOGY 101: ON THE COUCH: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BATMAN

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Crazy?? I’ll show Ya Who’s Crazy—Your host beau Smith

by beau Smith

I’m not a psychologist, never claimed to be, yet when I read comic books, I unconsciously find myself thinking like one (or at least what I think they would think like in the comics).

I did this a lot growing up reading comic books in the 1960s. In my personal opinion, I’m very pleased we didn’t have the Internet during my youth. It left me to my own imagination and I formed my own thoughts and opinions. (Right, wrong, or insane.)

This past week I was preparing for the San Diego Comic Con, and in doing so, I came across a few long boxes of the above discussed Silver Age comics of my youth. It got me thinking about how I perceived some of the characters from those past issues, renowned and not so iconic.

As social media tells us to do, I thought I’d share a little of this with you. You can then identify if you did/do the same and register just how crazy you think you are for doing so. These were the collected thoughts of me, as a kid ,ages 6 through 15. 1960-69 was my many formative decade with comic books.

On the couch is today’s subject: Batman

Batman #171 Riddle Me This, Batman….

I always felt that there was only Batman. I never really believed there was the alter ego of Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne was kinda like the snooze button until the Bat Signal went off. I always thought of Batman being really smart. Not a know it all smart, but much more of the smart like the one kid in your class that really studied and worked hard at playing sports by actually paying attention to what the trainer said as well as remembering plays. I wasn’t that kid. I knew I ought to be, but fun always over-rode my sense of justice. even as a kid, I knew it was kinda strange for a grown adult to hang out with a kid, even much more so to let him get in fights with other grown adults, aliens and big robots. I figured that was a little too dedicated. Plus, nobody ever called him on it. That, as a kid, was unusual as well. Granted, as a kid, I didn’t really care, I was there for the action and the strange crime fighting. Plus, I never cared for kid characters. never related to them. I WAS a kid, I read comics to pretend I was the adult, busting heads, shooting ray guns and combating monsters.

Gorilla Boss—Is There any other Kind?

The Batman TV show in 1966 didn’t throw me off like it did some of my comic book reading buddies. some of them were pretty outraged that the show was campy and played Batman for laughs. Didn’t bother me at all. I was used to the early ‘60s Batman that wore multi-colored costumes, fought a huge ape called Gorilla Boss, and tussled with aliens in flying saucers now and then. The late ‘60s comics had him combating crime a little much more realistically (key word LITTLE), but the show presented no big shock to me. I was pleased to have some superhero stuff on the screen period. When all you have is three channels, you don’t really complain. In a way, I kinda shudder to think about if I had been exposed to the much more modern Frank Miller Batman, or The Joker we all see today. Being a good man was a gray enough area for me as a kid, I didn’t need an extra shove to the darker side.

Batman-Crazy about Fashion.

What the ‘80s through present time versions of the Dark Knight have made me do is appreciate the weirder, campy, far out versions of Batman from the ‘60s. I know it’s not nostalgia, because Batman was never one of my top favorite superheroes as a kid. At DC Comics, I favored the much more obscure and underdog heroes, like B’Wana Beast, Eclipso, Hawkman, and Aquaman. Batman and Superman were just too easy. too formula with their personality or lack of it. Batman was never someone that I thought would be terrific to hang out with. Batman would get you killed and Superman was too busy telling you what you shouldn’t do. look where it got Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. (Giant Turtle young boy & Bitter spouse chasing-Play Misty For-Me Psycho)

Batman: “And beau doesn’t think you’re crazy??”B’Wana Beast: “Uh, No….Why would he?”

Here in 2019 I still can’t really tell you what Batman’s personality is. Bruce Wayne is still the holding pattern until it becomes night. You’d think as smart as Batman is expected to be, that he would really make Bruce Wayne an remarkable alter ego, but nope. Still pretty much a flatline. Batman today is as crazy as he was in the ‘60s, but now it’s a dark, full-throttle crazy. He’s bitter, grouchy, angry, and quite pleased to be dark and hang around folks darker and seriously twisted as can be. When there’s fire, many heroes run to the fire to put it out. Batman runs to it to see what new degree of burns he can endure. A well-adjusted Batman would’ve killed the modern Joker a long time ago.

“I’m not crazy…You’re crazy! You!!”

When you live in a cave full of Bat crap,you become as crazy as Bat Crap.

So as a kid, I thought Batman was crazy. In my opinion he still is.

And he’s still entertaining.

Until our next session….

Beau Smith

The flying Fist Ranch

Follow Me On Twitter and Instagram @BeauSmithRanch