Blog-It Llama!

Papa Llama | July 12, 2010

FRIDAY, JULY 23 11:30-1:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #6: Digital Comics— Nick Langley (Rocket Llama) gives a brief history of webcomics and evaluates online economic experiments from subscriptions to micropayments – with Brock Heasley (Super Fogeys, Zuda Comics’ Monsterplex). 2:00-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #8: Where Are the Action Chicks?— Katrina Hill (ActionFlickChick.com), Jill Pantozzi [...]

Category: Convention | 1 Comment »
Tags: 24-Hour Comics, action chick, action chicks, Action Flick Chick, addiction, addictive behavior, Adrianne Curry, Alex Langley, America's Next Top Model, Batgirl, Batman, Batman films, Batwoman, Becoming Batman, Black Lantern, Black Widow, Brock Heasley, Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cindy Morgan, comic books, Comics, Damien Wayne, Dan Clowes, DC, DC comics, Dennis O'Neil, Denny O'Neil, Detective Comics, Dick Grayson, digital comics, E. Paul Zehr, Eightball, Encyclopedia of Women in Popular Culture, film, films, Gina Misiroglu, Green Lantern, Hayoa Miyazaki, Henderson State University, Heroes, heroines, heroism, Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors, J. Michael Straczynski, Jason Todd, Jen Stuller, Jennifer Stuller, Jill Pantozzi, Katrina Hill, Luci Romberg, Marjorie Liu, Mars, Martian Manhunter, Maus, Michael Uslan, micropayments, Monsterplex, motion pictures, Movies, MTV Splash Page, My Fair Brady, Nerdy Bird, neuroscientist, Nick Langley, online comics, Red Planet, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, Rocket Llama, Rocket Llama Ground Crew, Scott McCloud, Scream Queens, Screen Team, Screen Team Show, Spider-Man, spoiler, Stephanie Brown, Super Fogeys, superheroines, Superman, survivor guilt, television, The Dark Knight, The Psychology of Superheroes, The Superhero Boo, The Supervillain Book, The Workday Comic, Tim Drake, Tommy Cash, Travis Langley, TRON, Tron Legacy, TV, Video Game, video game addiction, video game players, webcomics, Wonder Woman, Xena, Zombieland, Zuda, Zuda Comics

Papa Llama | July 12, 2010

I’m getting ready to do a panel at Comic-Con later this month to discuss Batman’s crimefighting partnerships. Last year Dr. Robin Rosenberg and I got to discuss the psychopathy of the Joker with creator Jerry Robinson, “The Laughing Fish” author Steve Englehart, The Dark Knight executive producer Michael Uslan, and TV’s original Batman himself, Adam [...]

Category: Blog-It, Convention | No Comments »
Tags: Adam West, babysitter, Batman, boy sidekick, child labor, Comic-Con, Comic-Con International, crimefighting, Damien Wayne, Dennis O'Neal, Denny O'Neal, Dynamic Duo. Detective Comics, Facebook, Jerry Robinson, Joker, Michael Uslan, Movies, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego Comic-Con International, Screen Team, SDCC, sidekick, Steve Englehart, The Dark Knight, The Laughing fish, Tommy Cash, TV, twitter

Papa Llama | September 6, 2009

It’s amazing how much information a single experience might yield. A few months ago, Peter Coogan – who, with my colleague Dr. Randy Duncan, co-founded the Comics Arts Conference, the academic conference-within-the-convention held in conjunction with both WonderCon and San Diego Comic-Con International – asked if I’d like to help moderate a CAC panel on [...]

Category: Convention, Interviews | 3 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes, twitter

Papa Llama | August 31, 2009

Continued from “Comic-Con Excerpts: The Joker’s Relationship with Batman.” Concluding our report on the San Diego Comic-Con International panel “Is the Joker a Psychopath? You Decide!”  which our own Papa Llama, in his secret identity as psychology professor Dr. Travis Langley, moderated and co-organized. Other panelists: Dr. Robin Rosenberg (therapist and editor – The Psychology [...]

Category: Convention | 3 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes

Papa Llama | August 29, 2009

 Continuing Papa Llama’s report of his San Diego Comic-Con International panel with fellow psychologist Dr. Robin Rosenberg, comic book writer Steve Englehart, The Dark Knight producer Michael Uslan, and Batman himself, Adam West: After Steve Englehart discussed via telephone why he felt that the Joker is insane, I asked my fellow panelists for quick thoughts [...]

Category: Convention, Interviews | 1 Comment »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes

Papa Llama | August 11, 2009

One topic I wanted to introduce during our San Diego Comic-Con International panel on the psychopathy of the Joker was how the role affected the actors. We’d lined up the Joker’s creator Jerry Robinson and “The Laughing Fish” author Steve Englehart to discuss the comic books and producer Michael Uslan to discuss filmmaking, but didn’t [...]

Category: Convention, Interviews | 2 Comments »
Tags: acting, actors, Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, nap, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychoapathy, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, sleep, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes

Papa Llama | August 9, 2009

During our Comic-Con International panel on the psychopathy of the Joker, one panelist had to attend via remote. Back when comic book writer Steve Englehart had expected to attend Comic-Con in person, he was going to sit on the panel with us. When his travel plans changed so that he would not be coming to [...]

Category: Convention, Interviews | 2 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, Avengers, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Captain America, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Defenders, Detective Comics, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, insanity, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Marshall Rogers, Marvel Comics, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Spider-Man, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, Terry Austin, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes, Wesleyan

Papa Llama | August 8, 2009

Toward the end of our San Diego Comic-Con International panel on the psychopathy of the Joker, an audience member asked the panelists whether we thought the Joker’s association with Harley Quinn has been good or bad for the character’s mental health. I’m not going to point out every time the audience laughed because nearly every statement that appears below got a big laugh. Plain text cannot convey the entertaining quality of Jerry’s delivery – his simple “I would” cracked people up – or how Adam was clearly engaging in tongue-in-cheek humor and knew darn well what was going on every step of the way.

Category: Blog-It, Convention, Interviews | 3 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, Comics Arts Conference, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, Michael Ulsan, motion pictures, Movies, Peter Coogan, Prohibition, psychoapathy, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes

Papa Llama | August 5, 2009

Part two: Jerry Robinson discusses the Joker’s enduring qualities with Drs. Robin Rosenberg (The Psychology of Superheroes) and Travis Langley (Papa Llama) in preparation for a San Diego Comic-Con International panel with film producer Michael Uslan and actor Adam West on the psychopathy of the Joker. Jerry refutes the long-standing story that Bill Finger created the Joker based on actor Conrad Veitch from the silent film “The Man Who Laughs” while fully acknowledging Bill’s importance as the character’s co-creator, with a nod to Bob Kane.

Category: Convention, Interviews | No Comments »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, motion pictures, Movies, Prohibition, psychoapathy, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Schuster & Siegel, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes, Two-Face

Papa Llama | July 24, 2009

As we mentioned previously (“Catch Us at Comic-Con 2009 (with Adam West update)”), Adam West agreed this past week to join our panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International convention on the psychology of the Joker, specifically on the character’s potential psychopathy. It was already one heck of a group even without Adam, but in addition to Dr. Rosenberg’s question about psychopathy, I wanted to add some discussion regarding how the role affects the actors. Having produced the last six films, Michael Uslan can tell us some things about Nicholson and Ledger – and now Adam can help us compare that to how Cesar Romero related to the part.

Category: Blog-It, Convention, Interviews | 4 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, Batman, Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2009, Dr. Robin Rosenberg, Interviews, Jerry Robinson, Joker, Michael Uslan, San Diego Comic-con 09, Steve Englehart, The Dark Knight, The Point Man, The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, Travis Langley

Papa Llama | July 21, 2009

This Saturday at Comic-Con, our own Papa Lama (Dr. Travis Langley) and his fellow psychologist Dr. Robin Rosenberg (editor, The Psychology of Superheroes) will delve into the psyche of Batman’s arch-nemesis, the Joker, with the help of an illustrious panel of industry professionals, starting with the man who created the Joker back in 1940. Recently Travis and Robin enjoyed speaking with Jerry for the better part of an hour.

Category: Blog-It | 3 Comments »
Tags: Adam West, antisocial personality disorder, Batman, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Boy Wonder, Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader, Cesar Romero, college, Comic-Con, criminal insanity, DC comics, Detective Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great Depression, Heath Ledger, insanity, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Robinson, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, motion pictures, Movies, Prohibition, psychoapathy, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, serial, Siegel & Schuster, Steve Englehart, superhero, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, The Cask of Amontillado, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes

Papa Llama | July 20, 2009

Join Alex, Nick, Marko, Ultimate Tommy, and friends for San Diego Comic-Con International panels this Friday and Saturday. This just in: Adam West (Batman TV series, The Family Guy) is joining Dr. Travis Langley (Papa Llama around here), Dr. Robin Rosenberg (editor, The Psychology of Superheroes), Jerry Robinson (artist, creator of the Joker), Steve Englehart (comic book writer, “The Laughing Fish”), and Michael Uslan (producer, “The Dark Knight) to discuss exactly how crazy the Joker really is.

Category: Convention, Site Report | No Comments »
Tags: Adam West, Batman, Caped Crusader, Chiggers, Comic-Con, criminal insanity, David Petersen, DC comics, Detective Comics, Hope Larson, insanity, Jacque Nodell, Jerry Robinson, Michael Uslan, motion pictures, Mouse Guard, Movies, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, psychosis, psychotic, Robin Rosenberg, San Diego, Steve Englehart, Steve Lieber, Super Human Resources, superhero, superheroes, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Laughing fish, The Psychology of Superheroes, Whiteout

Nick | January 26, 2009

Rocket Llama past, present, and future. Plus random ramblings.

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Tags: Academy Awards, Christopher Nolan, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Katherine O'Haira, Return of the King, The Dark Knight

Nick | January 23, 2009

Coraline, The Dark Knight, How I Met Your Mother, Memento, and introducing Paulie Bear.

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Tags: Coraline, How I Met Your Mother, Memento, Movie Review, My Bloody Valentine, Neil Gaimen, Symphony of the Llama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, The Nightmare Before Christmas

Alex Langley | January 7, 2009

Now, everyone can appreciate a fine film, the movies that touch and inspire us, those masterpieces of cinema that give us something to go home and dream about. There are countless cinema analysts that will delve into precisely why The Dark Knight was so freakin’ kickass. But there is a counterbalance to such quality films, [...]

Category: Movies, Reviews | No Comments »
Tags: A39, Alex, Dr. McNinja, Nightmare City, So Bad It's Good, The Dark Knight, webcomic, Zombie