Mental Illness In Comics

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#1  Edited By feebadger

In the interests of a blog i'm about to write, can anyone think of any comic books (or comic book characters), now or ever which have dealt with mental illness in a way that you consider to be interesting or very well (or badly) handled?

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JimTheSurfer

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#2  Edited By JimTheSurfer

One word - Carnage.

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#3  Edited By feebadger

@JimTheSurfer said:

One word - Carnage.

Really? I always thought of Cletus as a sociopath?

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#4  Edited By fesak  Moderator

Sentry, Aurora, Moon Knight, Legion, Scarlet Witch

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#5  Edited By RedQueen

@fesak said:

Sentry, Aurora, Moon Knight, Legion, Scarlet Witch

This.

There is a definite sense that all the above are villainised (is that a word? Spell-check doesn't think so) as a result of various meltdowns. Problem is, due to their powers, it is quite easy to assume that "so and so had a breakdown, they are incredibly dangerous, so they are a villain". If you get my drift.

Well, for the interesting angle, I always enjoy the various personifications of Batman's rogue gallery. Plenty to write about there. Two-face= MPD, and an arguable case for Paranoid Schizophrenia. Another would be the issue (I forgot which :/...it was one with Hydra and Magneto stealing a heck of a lot of gold.) that Charles Xavier encounters a woman with Catatonic Schizophrenia..I always though that was handled sensitively and well.

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#6  Edited By JimTheSurfer

@feebadger: His mind and logic is so twisted and chaotic that he surely has bunch of these things.

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#7  Edited By warlock360
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#8  Edited By fodigg
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#9  Edited By RedQueen

@fodigg said:

Typhoid Mary comes to mind.

Completely forgot about her...but yes, her too. Her portrayal is very interesting, along with the changes that have occurred when she is written by different writers.

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#10  Edited By FadeToBlackBolt

Marvel treats mental illness the way most people treat houseflies. KILL IT. KILL IT FAST. DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOUR FOOD.

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#11  Edited By Night Thrasher

Read Peter David's Hulk run

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#12  Edited By GrandSymbiote94

@JimTheSurfer said:

One word - Carnage.

Kasady isn't insane, We're insane. :P

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#13  Edited By Pyrogram

Batman, belt fiever.

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#14  Edited By NlGHTCRAWLER
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#15  Edited By feebadger

@Night Thrasher said:

Read Peter David's Hulk run

It went for, like 13 YEARS or something!? Can you be a little more specific? My wallet and i thank you in advance ;P

@JimTheSurfer said:

@feebadger: His mind and logic is so twisted and chaotic that he surely has bunch of these things.

I'm still not convinced that there is a mental illness involved with Carnage. He still strikes me as being a sociopath which doesn't really fit... or does it? Is sociopathy a mental illness?

@fesak said:

Sentry, Aurora, Moon Knight, Legion, Scarlet Witch

Awesome choices. These are exactly the kinds of characters i'm looking for (though, isn't it bizarre that all the mental illness characters are Marvel characters? A reflection on the creators perhaps?

@FadeToBlackBolt said:

Marvel treats mental illness the way most people treat houseflies. KILL IT. KILL IT FAST. DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOUR FOOD.

Oh yeah. I'm gonna run with this one.

@Pyrogram said:

Batman, belt fiever.

Brilliance.

@NlGHTCRAWLER said:

Ultimate Jean Grey was Schizophrenic.

Also... James Gordon Jr.

I will definitely check those out.

But to EVERYONE who posted and all those to come, what do you think of the portrayals of their particulare illnesses? Realistic to you? Cruel? Far fetched? Affecting? What?

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#16  Edited By JimTheSurfer

@feebadger: As far as I am aware it's not. Tough I am far from being knowing in this field. I think he might have schizophrenia tough, because he kills peoples only for the sake of killing. He sees chaos as the true order and have no real targets in life.

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#17  Edited By JonSmith

... Seriously? COME ON PEOPLE.

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#18  Edited By Swagger462

@feebadger: A sociopath, or more recently referred to, a psychopath. Is a person with Antisocial Personality Disorder. This illness essentially means you're entirely aware of your actions but you don't care. Other people are there to be used and their needs are irrelevant. Not everyone with APD will become a psychopath or serial killer. But people with APD are more likely to gain a sadistic streak.

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#19  Edited By Swagger462

@JimTheSurfer: A schizophrenic doesn't kill people for the sake of killing. Most schizophrenics don't even kill at all. I'm unsure why but media and entertainment love to use it as something it's not. Schizophrenia is about delusions. They may be voices in your head, seeing things that aren't there or hallucinations of any of your sense. Other things that are common are ideas that the government are after you, radio/tv broadcasts are being targeted at you specifically. That sort of thing. Sadism doesn't come into the equation.

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#20  Edited By RoboShark

Rorschach?

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#21  Edited By ms__omega

I think Joker would fit into this:

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#22  Edited By NlGHTCRAWLER

@feebadger said:

But to EVERYONE who posted and all those to come, what do you think of the portrayals of their particular illnesses? Realistic to you? Cruel? Far fetched? Affecting? What?

For the most part, I think mental illness in comics and the media in general is handled very poorly. It's either something to laugh at, shoot at, and in many cases even idolize. I have dealt with mental illness a lot growing up, and I can tell you in my experience that it's nothing fun or even remotely "cool".

For the large percentage of people who don't really understand how destructive mental illness can be to themselves and their loved ones, I suggest you walk down a busy street in an urban city or ride public transportation. A lot of the time you will see someone yelling at themselves or harming themselves or in some cases other people. Most people will ignore it, not because they don't care, but because they don't know or understand how to handle the situation and as a result are extremely uncomfortable in that setting and situation It's the great big elephant in the room that no one wants to deal with. Picture going through that all day, every day but with someone you deeply love and care for. It's difficult and very heartbreaking. I'm not suggesting that characters such as Deadpool or Carnage are "bad" characters or that they are even offensive because we don't read comics and expect realistic outcomes or portrayals (or at least I don't). We get what we pay for, which is entertaining stories and characters. It's just disappointing to me when people don't know the difference between comic crazy and real life crazy.

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#23  Edited By Billy Batson

Moses Lwanga.
BB

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@Ms. Omega said:

I think Joker would fit into this:

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Art by Devrim Kunter

Depends..

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#25  Edited By BumpyBoo  Moderator

@Swagger462 said:

@JimTheSurfer: A schizophrenic doesn't kill people for the sake of killing. Most schizophrenics don't even kill at all. I'm unsure why but media and entertainment love to use it as something it's not. Schizophrenia is about delusions. They may be voices in your head, seeing things that aren't there or hallucinations of any of your sense. Other things that are common are ideas that the government are after you, radio/tv broadcasts are being targeted at you specifically. That sort of thing. Sadism doesn't come into the equation.

Nice to see someone putting the word out ^_^ (applause)

Also The Maxx. The entire premise is that Julie Winters (the protagonist's social worker) is so traumatised by sexual violence that she disassociates herself from the experience entirely, creating a fictional world where she is strong, and in control. So, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Dis-associative Identity Disorder. As someone who has experienced both of these conditions (though for very different reasons), I thought that the entire matter was handled brilliantly.

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#26  Edited By Swagger462

@BumpyBoo: Haha, yeah. I just think that mental illness' are chronic and sometimes terminal illness'. Yet society gets an image of animals that need to be caged rammed down their throats which is dangerous and so I do my part wherever I can.

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#27  Edited By BumpyBoo  Moderator

@Swagger462: Oh no! People who think in a completely different way! Get them! :P

Statistically, mentally ill people are so much more likely to harm themselves than other people anyway, and with all the information available these days, it astounds me that these preconceptions still exist.

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#28  Edited By Swagger462

@BumpyBoo: Yeah, it's worse than most people think. Over 2000 mentally ill people in Victoria (Australia) were maced, hit with batons, tazed or shot during certifications in 2009 and 2010 alone. Even the authorities don't understand what they're dealing with. I think the most common ones though are that schizophrenia equals split personalities or that depression is just people who are too lazy to not be sad anymore.

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#29  Edited By BumpyBoo  Moderator

@Swagger462 said:

@BumpyBoo: Yeah, it's worse than most people think. Over 2000 mentally ill people in Victoria (Australia) were maced, hit with batons, tazed or shot during certifications in 2009 and 2010 alone. Even the authorities don't understand what they're dealing with. I think the most common ones though are that schizophrenia equals split personalities or that depression is just people who are too lazy to not be sad anymore.

Oh that winds me up so much, when people say that about schizophrenia. And then it leads on to truly moronic expressions like "My taste in music is quite schizophrenic" and I just think....wow. I may be mentally ill, but at least I'm not as dumb as these guys! :P

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deadpool is lovable crazy......when he picks on wolverine hilarious

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#31  Edited By Dreamcast89

@RoboShark said:

Rorschach?

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#32  Edited By Inverno

Most of Batman's foes have varying degrees of mental illness. For instance

The Riddler - obssessive compulsive disorder

Joker - psychopathy

Two Face - multiple personality disorder

and on and on...

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#33  Edited By Strafe Prower

Most of the Bat Rouges

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Okay, I think you are missing some pretty big ones. It is explicitly stated that both Tony stark and Clint Barton suffer from depression. Its pretty clear on Tony's part even to only movie watchers. He has contemplated suicide in the comics, there are several panel that show him in his den, with a mostly empty bottle of jack powers and a hand gun.

If you've picked up ANY captain America comic book lately, the PTSD is ragingly clear

. Now onto Bruce. he has multiple personality disorder or DID professionally (dissociative identity disorder) Hulk has probably been with him his entire life. The average age for someone (especially under his level of abuse) is 6.2, meaning hulk didn't appear when the gamma hit, he took over Bruce's body, as he had several times before in the past. He also has explosive temper disorder, more than likely.He also has clinical depression and suicidal tendencies, shown again both in comics and MCU

Emma frosts brother has clinical depression.

Now many heroes suffer from chronic alcoholism, and I'm not sure if you include this or not.

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Batman

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Joker

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Mimic has Bipolar Disorder, as does Hank Pym. Emma Frost spent some time in a psych ward, many of the X-men likely have had PTSD at some point, Jubilee has discalcula, and according to WatX Husk is somehow generally unstable.

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@feebadger: Yes, if he was an actual sociopath. As in having Antisocial Personality Disorder. But he doesn't.

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#40  Edited By Skit

For characters not said, Toyman has a ton of stuff going on with him and Legion has autism plus all of his multiple personality issues.