Experts Ask & Answer: Trauma – What Makes Heroes & Villains?
Amidst the DC Nation panels and Hollywood premieres at WonderCon, there was the Comics Arts Conference, a separate entity that aims to take a more scholarly look at our favorite genre subjects. “Life After Trauma: To Be A Superhero Or Supervillain” was an in-depth look at some of our favorite comic book characters and the tragic events that spawned their careers. Led by Andrea Letamendi, M.S. ABD, the panel consisted of two other accredited psychologists with interest in comics, Robin S. Rosenberg, PHD and Travis Langley, PHD.
“We’re constantly seeing these characters in the face of danger, under threat,” said Letamendi. “How is this affecting them? How do these events have an impact on their development? And why aren’t they developing some serious pathological problems like PTSD? So we think about what they’re facing, the loss, injury, death and we wonder, they’re going to be experiencing fear, horror, do they get broken? How do they endure all this stress and violence and still carry on and persevere?”
Head on over to Newsarama to read the thoughts about this subject with the experts and see if your thoughts about our favorite heroes and villains match up.
That's a really interesting conversation and I think it illustrates how fine the line is between villains and heroes in a lot of comics when you get down to it. While they are often written in stark contrast they are often just two sides of the same coin. Their reaction to trauma separates them and that's what makes compelling stories.