I. Jack Kirby and the Fourth World
After leaving Marvel in 1970, Jack Kirby headed over to DC and threw himself into a feverish whirlwind of activity. A number of the titles he worked on - Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, Mister Miracle, The New Gods and The Forever People - later became known as the 'Fourth World'. Kirby conceived of - and wrote and drew - a space-opera, a Wagnerian / sci-fi comic book epic. He introduced characters and concepts - such as Darkseid, the Source, Mark Moonrider - which later influenced George Lucas (Darth Vader, the Force, Luke Skywalker).
Unfortunately for Kirby - and his fans - most of the books were cancelled early in his tenure at DC, and Kirby returned to Marvel. The New Gods characters were revived in a new series in the late 1970s, and have showed up in DC comic books - and movies, TV shows and cartoons - ever since.
DC has reprinted the Fourth World series a number of times, most recently under the title Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus. This four-volume set contains the revival of the New Gods in the 1980s under the title of Super Powers, a limited series which mimicked the Super Friends cartoon and comic book and which undid some of the 1970s continuity. We also find in here Kirby's Hunger Dogs (1985), a graphic novel which attempts to draw the saga to a close.
Most Kirby fans agree that his artistic skills peaked in the 1970s and atrophied somewhat (probably as a result of age and infirmity) by the 1980s. I myself like Super Powers and Hunger Dogs, but I'm forced to admit that Kirby's work there, especially the story-telling, lacked the fluidity and dynamism of old.
For this essay, I read through the four volumes and attempted to type each of the major characters (well, at least all the ones in the Who's Who of the DC Universe entry, see below) according to Myers-Briggs.
This wasn't that difficult, given that Taylor's blog Zombies Ruin Everything has typed just about every major Marvel and DC character (many of them co-created by Kirby). Reading through Taylor's personality profiles gave me the overall gist of each personality type - as it appears in popular culture - and so I could match each of Kirby's Fourth World characters to each 'stock type'.
I did run into a few obstacles. One of them was that many characters don't enjoy that much screen time, so to speak; we see them for a few pages and then they're gone. We only see Izaya's wife Avia for a few pages; likewise, Darkseid's ex-wife Tigra. How are we to type them? The answer is, by going off things such as visual cues. It's a point of contention in Myers-Briggs as to whether or not a person will 'look' their type; but in comic books, characters certainly look theirs.
Kirby invented a lot of characters, and a few superhero teams and ensembles and like most creators, he made it a practice not to include more than one of each Myers-Briggs type. Look at the Fantastic Four: Mister Fantastic, INTP; Invisible Woman, ENFJ; Human Torch, ESFP; the Thing, ESFJ. We'll find, as a general rule throughout comics, that types don't double up, so to speak, in superhero teams - one major exception being the current Guardians of the Galaxy. This means, then, that once we type five characters in a six man team, we can infer - by guesswork and a process of elimination - what the type of the six will be.
So without further ado, let's begin. I'll follow the practice of Calise Sellers and divide up the types into IPs (Introverted Perceivers), EPs (Extraverted Perceivers), IJs (Introverted Judgers) and EJs (Extraverted Judgers). For part I of this article, I'll focus on the EJs and IPs.
II. The EJs in the Fourth World
Let's start with the EJs - the Men of Action. To understand the EJ type a little better, we need to recap some of my earlier post.
It helps to think of the four functions in Myers-Briggs as belonging to a particular sphere. Each of the spheres gets wider and wider as it includes more things.
The most immediate sphere concerns yourself - what you see when you look in yourself at your own thoughts and feelings. One always undertakes introspection in that sphere: introverted thinking or feeling. The introverted thinker or feeler shuts out the external field and concentrates either on getting his thoughts in order or sorting through and evaluating his subjective (emotional) experiences. The EJ type tends to dislike this sort of activity; introspection - or what Calise Sellers calls Details and Data - makes up their repressed, inferior fourth function.
The next sphere represents a step outside one's head and into the real world, so to speak: the world of your actual friends, family, colleagues, business associates, neighbours. Here you look outward (and use the perceiving functions - sensing and intuiting) and develop a philosophy of life - what is or could be. Extraverted sensors appreciate visuals and the finer things in life, including the arts and fashion, but on the negative, can develop a philosophy of extraordinary cynicism, even pessimism (see the Rust Cohle character in the TV series True Detective). Extraverted intuitives enjoy exploring possibilities and visualising what could take the place of what is - they like dreams, ideals, fantasies and inventions; but they can often be too impractical, disorganised, spontaneous, and as a result, never get the chance to put their intuitions into a meaningful context (this is especially true of the ENFP and ENTP types). Or perhaps they babble on endlessly about all the connections and patterns they see out there in reality - think of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, an INTP, in the TV show Sherlock.
Both of these descriptions apply to the types who have extraverted sensing or intuiting as a primary or secondary function; they don't apply to the EJ, who has it as a tertiary function.
The EJ doesn't eschew extraverted intuition or sensing entirely: the ENFJ type (who may be a cult leader, see below) may enjoy finery; an ESTJ type, such as Captain America, may hold to ideals of freedom, patriotism, honour. Generally, though, the EJ doesn't make this sphere - the immediate personal, or what Sellers calls Observations and Motivations - a top priority; he doesn't care much about actual, real life human beings and what their hopes, visions, aspirations, foibles and quirks are. (Ask the typical EJ, 'Want to know how the world really works?' and he'll answer, 'No'). It's for this reason that the EJ, especially in a leadership role, can strike others as being ruthless.
The second sphere concerns an organisation - a corporation, a political group, a superhero team, an army, even a state. Action, planning, decisions and judgements count here the most. It's here that the EJ really shines: he jumps into action (and may appear to be impulsive) and makes the sphere of decisions and planning (or Action, as Sellers calls it) his top priority and he uses his primary function in that field. He will perform one of two roles: Master of Men (extraverted thinking), which means he's an executive or army officer type, or Communitarian (extraverted feeling), which means he's geared to what his particular organisation (whether it be a corporation, church group, political group, city, nation, planet) values and loves.
Finally we arrive at the broadest sphere of all - understanding the root principles and causes of all things, what may be called metaphysics. The EJ type uses his secondary function here. The primary and secondary functions appear to complement one another. A great statesman or military leader, whose default action role is that of an executive, may experience intuitions - introverted intuitions. He may know, in a psychic flash, what his enemy's next move will be; or he may trust in the fates and know - without being able to say why - that his audacious military gamble will succeed. Generally, this type believes in God, or Fate, or something larger than himself - something mystical that he can tap into at will. This holds true for the ENTJ and ENFJ type.
The other EJ types, the ESTJs and ESFJs, understand the universe and metaphysics through the body. They measure, using their bodies, weight, mass and volume and believe that things can be moved around with the application of the right amount of physical force. Being introverted sensors, too, they cling to accumulated sense impressions - impressions of the past. Jung, in his Psychological Types (1921) sounds quite mystical here. He posits that the sense impressions of one generation passes onto the next; accumulated sense impressions sit in the collective unconscious common all to human beings.
So let's look through the four EJ types. We'll start with the easiest of them all:
ENTJ: Executive / General; Shadow self: Tyrant.
Stock examples: Magneto (X-Men); Loki (Thor); Lex Luthor (Superman); Kingpin (Daredevil); Megatron (Transformers).
This type goes into Action first and plays the role of Master of Men, using extraverted thinking, Te; he also uses introverted intuition (Ni) to divine the Principles of the universe - the Principles being God / Fate.
Unquestionably, Darkseid belongs here. Perhaps he could be considered the poster boy for the ENTJ type.
Many other ENTJs appear in Kirby's Fourth World. Among them we can find Heggra, Darkseid's mother (a rival ENTJ who he poisons for the throne)...
And then we have Mantis the 'energy vampire', who has ambitions to rule Earth with the race of 'bug' people who live underground in New Genesis.
ESTJ: Mid-Ranking Officer / the Second in Command; shadow self: Draconian Drill-Sergeant.
STOCK EXAMPLES: Princess Leia (Star Wars); Captain America; Two-Face (Batman); Wonder Girl (New Teen Titans (1980s era)).
Like the ENTJ, the ESTJ goes into action with extraverted thinking Te, and is a Master of Men; unlike the ENTJ, the ESTJ uses introverted sensing - that is, one's bodily sensations and impressions - to deduce the Principles of the universe, which, by his reckoning, are Weight, Mass and Volume.
What this means is that the ESTJ will more often than not be an executive and a leader of some type, and because of the introverted sensing, will be focused either on physical fitness or on asceticism - pitting one's body (which contains one's subjective sense of self) against the world. The type also, because of the introverted sensing, are more likely to be biased towards the past (conservativism). They feel a sense of loyalty to their family and the organisation they belong to.
As a character, the ESTJ type is more likely to occupy the rank of Lieutenant or Captain than General. That is, they perform the role of second-in-command rather than first.
Big Barda, as leader of the Female Furies Battalion and member of the elite Special Powers Force, fits the role of the ESTJ type perfectly. In the comic book world, you are your job - and Barda's job is to be a drill sergeant.
ESFJ: The Mother Hen; shadow self: the Smotherer.
STOCK EXAMPLES: Superman; The Thing (Fantastic Four); Starfire (New Teen Titans); Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones); Dr Leonard 'Bones' McCoy (Star Trek).
The ESFJ uses extraverted feeling, Fe, and is a Communitarian in his default action role; like the ESTJ, the ESFJ is an introverted sensor and understands the Principles of the universe as being Weight, Mass and Volume.
Orion's girlfriend (and Himon's daughter) Bekka, who first appears in Hunger Dogs, gives us a good example of the ESFJ type. Caring and maternal, the ESFJ in popular culture is usually a woman, or at least, very motherly.
I type Big Bear as an ESFJ because, out of all his team members, he seems to be the most Communitarian - the welfare of his fellow members (and civilian bystanders around him) counts the most to him. In addition, he resembles the Thing - another Kirby ESFJ character.
Granny Goodness stands out as one of the few bad guy ESFJs in comic books. She represents an ESFJ gone wrong. In a perverse way, she's a Communitarian, and what's more, her Orphanage is, it could be argued, an extension of her introverted sensing, Si. The Orphanage indoctrinates young men - and women - in Darkseid values and the values of Apokolips, and is conservative, even nostalgic. It places a great emphasis on physical culture - that is, physical training, not to mention disciplinary beatings - which again ties in with Si, but a bad Si.
ENFJ: Nurturing Leader / Hero Teacher; shadow self: Manipulative Guru / Cult Leader.
STOCK EXAMPLES: Dick Grayson / Nightwing (New Teen Titans); Wonder Woman;
Jean Grey (X-Men); Invisible Woman (Fantastic Four); Optimus Prime (Transformers); Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars); Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society (1989); Hank Scorpio in The Simpsons.
Like the ESFJ, the ENFJ is a Communitarian; like the ENTJ, he understands the universe as God / Fate as perceived by introverted intuition, Ni.
Usually in popular culture this character will be a guru, evangelist, teacher or nurturing leader and thrives on being part of the group and before an audience. The ENFJ possesses a certain theatricality. But one can't confuse the ENFJ with the 'performer' type, the ESFP. The ENFJ, unlike the ESFP, doesn't work as a lone wolf; he seeks to weld a group together. His favourite word is synergy.
Mark Moonrider of the Forever People is described as a 'natural leader', and so he is. A natural leader like the ESTJ (Big Barda) or the ENTJ (Darkseid), you say? Not quite: he's too nice to be either one of those. It's for that reason that I put him in the ENFJ category. I'll admit that I cheated a little on this one: Mark Moonrider reminds me a little of Dick Grayson / Nightwing, another 'natural leader' and ENFJ who has led three or four super-teams.
The poster-boy for the 'ENFJ gone wrong' will always be, of course, Glorious Godfrey. A denizen of Apokolips, he travels to Earth and pretends to be an evangelist. He intoxicates his audiences with his mesmerising rhetoric and forms a militia called the Justifiers, who beat up people, destroy books and artefacts, and practice suicide bombing in the name of religion. What is the religion, you might ask? 'Anti-Life', which boils down to letting Darkseid doing your thinking for you and hailing Darkseid as a messiah.
III. The IPs in the Fourth World
It should be noted here that the IPs reverse-mirror the EJs. While the EJ disdains introspection (Details and Data) and doesn't have much time for human beings in the real world (Observations and Motivations), the IPs make Details and Observations their primary and secondary functions respectively. We see that their tertiary function is used in the sphere of the organisation and the unit (Action), which means that, while they can undertake decisions and planning, and do a good job, they don't accord them a high priority - for that reason, they can appear to others as lazy and not being highly motivated. In addition, they rarely seek out leadership roles. Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic stands as one of the few examples of the IP as leader of a superhero group; this exception proves the rule.
When the IP type does go into action, he takes up a default action role - either Zen Warrior or Master of the Body. The Zen Warrior uses introverted intuition. As a swordsman, he knows, by a gut feeling or hunch, when and where exactly to deliver the killing blow with his sword; as a pilot, he knows how to keep his spacecraft from colliding with that enemy spacecraft or asteroid. The Master of the Body, on the other hand, is just that: someone who practises physical self-discipline and knows how to use his body to defeat his foes (see Mister Fantastic, or a certain famous escape artist below).
ISTP: Taciturn Loner; shadow self: Cold Fish.
STOCK EXAMPLES: Wolverine (X-Men); Han Solo (Star Wars); Elektra (Daredevil); Black Widow (Avengers); Daredevil / Matt Murdock; James Bond; Deathstroke the Terminator (New Teen Titans); Darth Maul (Star Wars).
The ISTP sees himself as a Technician / Scientist (introverted thinking applied to Details and Data). In his philosophy of life, he is a Realist / Aesthetician (extraverted sensing applied to Observations and Motivations).
A staple in the movies and the comic books, the ISTP often appears as a 'lone wolf' mercenary, assassin or spy who makes up his own rules. The ISTP comic character will be graceful and fluid in their movements - efficiency in motion - and skilled at using a weapon, which almost appears as an extension of their body. Like his brother type, the ESTP, he dresses well.
Only two ISTPs appear in the Fourth World saga: Lashina of the Female Furies and Devilance the Pursuer. The former is a cold, quiet member of the Furies who uses whips and belts with great skill, the latter, a hunter for Darkseid who uses a lance.
Again, I cheated on this one. Lashina looks and behaves a lot like the Black Widow and Elektra, while Devilance reminds me of Darth Maul.
INFP: The Flower Child; shadow self: the Waif
STOCK EXAMPLES: Luke Skywalker (Star Wars); Nightcrawler (X-Men); Scarlet Witch (Avengers); David Duchovny in X-Files.
The INFP defines himself as a Poet / Romantic (introverted feeling, Details and Data) and holds to an Idealist / Inventor philosophy of life (extraverted intuition, Observations and Motivations).
The INFP could be best described as someone who consciously isolates himself from his surroundings and the people around him, who prefers to dwell in their subjectivity (that is, their thoughts and feelings). At the same time he is continually looking for and wanting to explore possibilities beyond the present. In other words, he's Luke Skywalker on Tatooine - someone who pays little attention to the present and invests almost nothing in it while keeping their eye on bright horizons. Typically, in popular culture, he just doesn't fit in; he will be an individualist who rejects the family or community or organisation he is born into and seeks something more. While the ESTJ can seem a natural fit for an organisation, the INFP can appear to be a natural un-fit.
Beautiful Dreamer's name evokes the INFP type the best, and Beautiful Dreamer should be classified as an INFP, being a gentle soul who can project illusions, images (some beautiful, others ugly and horrifying) of things that aren't there - her powers draw upon extraverted intuition, Ne.
(Again, I've cheated here: Beautiful Dreamer reminds me a lot of another Kirby creation, Scarlet Witch, an INFP).
Another candidate for INFP status is Forager. He lives in a colony of insect-like humanoids on New Genesis but rejects their ways. He dreams of reconciliation with the 'eternals' of New Genesis and freedom. His mentor, Prime-One - an Obi-Wan-type figure - is killed by the All-Widow, the queen of the colony, as part of a ritual, much to Forager's chagrin, and he escapes to Earth to warn Orion of a pending invasion by Darkseid's minion Mantis. Forager seems much more humanoid than his fellow 'bugs', and certainly he's very different - much more sensitive and questioning. We see parallels between him and Luke Skywalker.
Finally we come to the most prominent of all the INFPs in the Fourth World: Mister Miracle. We see a lot of similarity between him and Forager. The son of Izaya the Highfather, ruler of New Genesis, Scott Free is adopted by Darkseid as part of a peace treaty between Apokolips and New Genesis (INFP characters usually are adopted - Nightcrawler, Luke Skywalker, Scarlet Witch, Fox Mulder - or at least don't know who their real parents are) and grows up in Granny Goodness' Orphanage, which of course he loathes. Both Metron and Himon of New Genesis act as his mentors, and he learns - in secret - to build some technological wonder-devices, including a Mother Box. When attempting to escape, he is confronted by Darkseid and Himon. This scene evokes the ending of Empire Strikes Back (1980), in which Luke's father, Darth Vader, asks Luke to join him:
Scott, like Luke, doesn't go over to the dark side of the force.
He then jumps, like Luke, into a cylindrical chute.
INTP: Super-Scientist; shadow self: Egghead / Aspbergers-ish Super-Geek
STOCK EXAMPLES: Mister Fantastic (Fantastic Four), Doctor Manhattan (Watchmen), Man-Bat (Batman), Peter Parker / Spiderman, Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, Mr Freeze (Batman), the Lizard (Spiderman).
The INTP defines himself as a Technician / Super-Scientist, and his philosophy of life is Idealist / Inventor. In other words, he uses introverted thinking for Details / Data and extraverted intuition for Observations / Motivations.
We find a lot of INTPs in the comic books, and especially in Kirby's career - think of all the 'monster'-themed titles he worked on for Marvel and DC in the 1950s and early 1960s. 'Super-scientists' and 'Mad scientists who invent a creature which destroys the world' abound in these.
In the first issue of New Gods, Metron declares 'Who runs the universe matters not! What makes it run is my prime objective!'. He demonstrates some of the more amoral aspects of the INTP. Not interested in politics - only science - he gives away the secrets of Boom Tube teleportation to Darkseid in exchange for something called the 'X-Element' - an element he needs for the engine of his Moebius Chair (which is a vehicle which can traverse time and space). It could be argued that Metron is committing treason here. After the outbreak of war between Apokolips and New Genesis, he goes over to the good guys, but generally he doesn't participate in the action much.
Vykin the Black of the Forever People appears to be another INTP hero and a super-scientist type, who is always lugging around the Mother Box as though it's some piece of scientific equipment, e.g., a Geiger counter.
Two bad guy INTPs, Makkari and Simyan, run the Evil Factory, which is devoted to breeding creatures of destruction to wreak havoc on Earth. Makkari and Simyan resemble the Enclave in Fantastic Four - more Kirby super-scientists who have gone bad.
ISFP: Sensitive Bohemian; shadow self: Hippie Bum
STOCK EXAMPLES: Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski (1998); Legolas (Lord of the Rings); Jericho (New Teen Titans); Silk Spectre II (Watchmen); Poison Ivy (Batman).
The ISFP defines himself as a Poet / Romantic (Details and Data) and his philosophy of life consists of Realism / Aestheticism (Observations and Motivations).
As a character in popular culture, he more often than not doesn't pay much attention to politics and the outer world; he prefers to dwell on subjective and emotional experiences (introverted feeling). His realist philosophy of life (extraverted sensing) gives him a love of the plastic (that is, form-giving) arts, doing things with his hands and creating. While not an extraverted feeler, he can be empathic and he usually seeks peace and the putting of an end to all quarrels and conflicts. (Rest assured, however, if you start with him, he'll finish it). Usually ISFPs appear as graceful, almost elfin characters.
Lightray of New Genesis gives us the best example of the ISFP in Kirby's Fourth World. He serves as the cheerful and light counter-weight to the gloomy, brooding and destructive Orion.
He uses his powers to create beautiful things. In one instance, he remoulds an ugly creature of Apokolips into a New Genesis machine.
Another elfin character who likes creating beautiful things with his powers (or rather, his equipment - his 'cosmic cartridges') is Serifan.
Who can forget the cosmic cartridge which sends one young boy on a LSD-type trip:
Lastly, another gentle hippie type, who doesn't get much screen time, is Izaya's wife (and Mister Miracle's mother) Avia - another candidate for ISFP:
End of Part I. Mark Hootsen signing off.
I.
The Myers-Briggs system of personality typing (MBTI, or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) can be used for lots of things, including careers counselling and self-improvement, but to me, the best use one can get out of it is typing characters in popular culture - movies, TV, comic books. Some sites do a great job in that regard, and I point to Taylor's Zombies Ruin Everything blog as a prime example (I shall be linking to Taylor's personality profiles throughout this article). Typing characters in your favourite comic books really enhances your enjoyment of the stories. In future posts, I'll be typing some characters; this post should serve as an introduction to typing - as a manual.
To go through Myers-Brigg very briefly...
Everyone perceives (and acts in) the world in four ways: sensing, intuiting, thinking and feeling. Sensing (S) refers to physical sense perception of a thing and the drawing of meanings from it. After perceiving a thing, sensing links it up to a greater perception of the whole, in the same way we can infer what a completed jigsaw puzzle looks like from one piece. Intuition (I), on the other hand, means the perception of mental things - things which aren't out there in the material world. Intuition views concepts - overall ideas of things which we draw from seeing patterns and making connections; it could be characterised as whole pattern recognition.
These two - sensing and intuiting - belong in the category of perceiving functions; thinking (T) and feeling (F) make up the judging functions. Instead of merely perceiving - i.e., sensing and intuiting - the judging functions criticise, evaluate, draw conclusions and map out pathways to goals. Thinking evaluates things according to their use - i.e., it determines their usefulness - and puts things in order. But thinking only sees small portions of things. Thinking, applied to a painting, only sees the brushstrokes. Feeling, on the other hand, evaluates the overall meaning, significance and value of a thing, and sees the entire painting for what it is, not just the brushstrokes. Thinking views the world through the prism of thought, feeling through emotions.
Everyone uses the same four functions, but certainly personality types are biased towards one over the other three. We have thinking-dominant types, sensing-dominant, and so forth. This gives us four categories. But, to complicate matters further, the perceiving and judging functions look either outward or inward - that is, they are either extraverted (E) or introverted (I). So we have dominant introverted sensing (Si) types, dominant extraverted thinking (Te) types, etc., which leads to a total of eight types.
How can sensing be introverted or extraverted? Extraverted sensing means paying close attention to the world of the five senses and losing one's sense self outside in the world - being outside of one's self and one's body. In contrast, introverted sensing focuses on one's bodily sensations and one's physical self, and often a dominant introverted sensing type will be interested in physical fitness and even asceticism. In addition, the introverted sensor stockpiles his memories and impressions of the past, and is nearly always comparing them to the present and finding the present wanting; he tends towards nostalgia and conservatism. Extraverted sensors, on the other hand, live in the here and now.
Extraverted intuition is used to detect possibilities, things that aren't out there in the material world but could be. It could be called the faculty of inventors and entrepreneurs. Introverted intuition focuses inwards and tries to determine the essence of things - what is such and such a thing really, truly is - and makes predictions about the future using hunches, guesses, 'psychic' intuition and knowledge which can come in the form of a dream or vision.
Extraverted intuition expands, introverted intuition narrows. Tell an extraverted intuitor to find a pathway through a forest, and he will see multiple pathways, multiple possibilities, and be enamoured, intoxicated even, by the fact that so many possibilities are presenting themselves. The introverted intuitor will see the one pathway which is the quickest and easiest and just 'know' - without coming up with much of a logical justification - that it is the right one.
Extraverted thinking seeks to put things out there, in the material world, to use, and relies upon a criteria of usefulness to determine their value. An extraverted thinker looks at people as a military man or executive would look at them: a strong instrumentalist bias exists - that is to say, a view of people as a means to achieve a certain end. Introverted thinking, on the other hand, believes in putting one's thoughts in order: sifting through information and analysing and breaking down things into their constituent parts - the operative word here is systems analysis.
Finally, we are left with the difference between extraverted and introverted feeling. The former looks outwards - to one's friends, family, community, social milieu - and evaluates to the criteria of shared feeling, what other people feel. Introverted feeling looks to one's inner emotions, inner feelings - how one feels about it - as a criteria and seeks to shield them (and one's self) from others; it wants to do its own thing. It infers the feelings of others through analogy: that is, 'That other fellow must be like me, so, he's feeling what I'm feeling'. It can be empathic while at the same nurturing and protective of its own self.
One of the eight functions, introverted and extraverted, must dominate in a certain personality type; but one is never a 'pure' type. The dominant function operates with the help of the other three functions, which help balance the self. For example, one may be an extraverted sensor, and live in the moment, and be a somewhat crude and sensual individual; at the same time, this will be balanced out by a secondary function - for instance, introverted thinking, which will at least give that individual a low animal cunning. Likewise, an introverted intuitor, who broods a lot on the meaning and the workings of the universe and ponders visions, will be balanced out by the extraverted thinking function - which excels at organising and directing men. If the primary or dominant function is introverted, the secondary is always extraverted. And vice versa: an extraverted primary is balanced by an introverted secondary.
Given that no type has the same primary and secondary function as another type, we now have not eight but 16 types.
II.
One can familiarise with the basic Myers-Briggs and Jungian concepts - perceiving, judging, intuition, sensing, thinking, feeling, extraversion, introversion, etc. - without too much difficulty, but most people will run into problems when they try and view all this as a whole. After all, the system contains 16 (!) personality types - how are you to get to know them all? The sheer number of types presents an obstacle. After all, one has to learn only 12 notes to play music.
The answer, to me, lies subdividing the 16 types into four or so groups. Once you learn the basic traits of each group, then you can focus on an individual type within the group in more detail. That's the approach Keirsey takes: he splits the 16 types into four - the SJs ('Guardians'), SPs ('Artisans'), NJs ('Idealists') and NTs ('Rationalists').
Studying Keirsey's categories will help you get a handle on Myers-Briggs. But I think an improvement on Keirsey's system can be found in Calise Seller's work. I identify four groups there. I'll list them, and give a nice or neutral title for each type, and a nasty one which represents the Shadow (Jung's term for bad or evil alter-ego).
IPs (Ruminators / Solipsists) - introverted perceivers;
EJs (Technocrats / Tyrants) - extraverted judgers;
EPs (Theatrical Impresarios / Used Car Salesmen) - extraverted perceivers;
IJs (Lawgivers / Mad Monks) - introverted judgers.
When it comes to MBTI and comic book characters especially, we are dealing with stock types and caricatures, and simplification and exaggeration - as well as myths and misconceptions - all have a part to play there. In real life, we'll never encounter INTJs as cartoony and hyperbolised as Batman or Emperor Palpatine (from Star Wars), but the exaggerated, even distorted, depictions of the INTJ type will help us remember the INTJ designation and what it stands for. We need the exaggerations, and absolutes of black and white, when trying to work out a character's type.
The functions in each of the types - sensing, intuiting, judging, perceiving - are used, in Sellers' system, to answer four main questions:
1) Details and Data: Who am I and what's my role in life?
This line of questioning concerns one's self and how one relates to one's self - specifically, one's innermost thoughts and feelings. Do I organise my thoughts in a methodical fashion, or do I study and explore my emotional experiences? In other words, do I habitually engage in thinking (putting my thoughts to use in a logical and efficient manner) or feeling (appreciating the meaning and significance of great emotional experiences)? Am I technician and laboratory scientist by nature, or am I a poet and artist, even a mystic...
To engage in such activities - feeling or thinking - one must look inside oneself; one must practice introverted thinking or feeling (Ti or Fi).
There are only two answers to the question: 'I am a Poet / Artist' (introverted feeler) or 'I am a Scientist / Technician' (introverted thinker).
2) Motivations and Observations: What's life about and how does the world really work?
Here one develops a philosophy of life - not marine life, or micro-organic life, but human life - and holds to one of two competing theses. The first is: what's true is what is (realism, materialism); the second, what's true is what could be (idealism). The latter could involve the exploration of all sorts of exciting possibilities and perspectives in life. In either case - looking at what is or what's possible - one is looking outwards; one is either practising extraverted sensing or extraverted intuiting, respectively (Se and Ne). An extraverted sensor is a Realist / Aesthetician, an extraverted intuitor an Idealist / Inventor.
3) Actions, Consequences, Decisions, Planning: What's my default action role?
Over the course of a comic book story, a lead character will habitually play one of these four roles: Master of Men; Zen Warrior; Master of the Body; Communitarian.
The four roles require both extraverted and introverted functions. A character in Zen Warrior mode will accomplish some difficult task, cleanly and efficiently, without thinking about it and with perfect concentration and faith in the outcome; he goes into action like a 'full metal jacket', with 'perfect aim', to borrow a phrase from Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987)). This calls for introverted intuition (Ni), the seeing of the one 'right' answer in one's head and arriving at in a flash, 'without thinking'. Being a Master of Men requires extraverted thinking (Te) - putting people to use in an organisation and hierarchy. To be a Communitarian, you need to appreciate, understand and respect the values of one's group - whether it be one's family, community, nation, state, planet: this needs extraverted feeling (Fe). Last but not least is Master of the Body: one must be physically fit, and practice physical self-restraint and self-discipline, to pit one's body against the world (introverted sensing, Si).
4) Worldview, Principles, Root Causes. How are we to understand the workings of the universe and how can these be manipulated to our advantage?
There are four answers to this question. The first is, the universe, or prime mover in the universe, is God / Fate; or, in Star Wars, the Force; it can be perceived, and used, through divine or cosmic insight. The second answer is that the universe is a Machine; one can pull its levers and put it to use through understanding of engineering. The third answer is that the universe is Feeling; the manipulation of others' feelings will help us get what we want. The fourth and final answer is that the universe is Weight, Mass and Volume; the measurement of it - through our bodies - will enable us to gauge the right amount of physical force to get it to move.
The four answers involve, respectively, 1) introverted intuition, Ni; 2) extraverted thinking, Te; 3) extraverted feeling, Fe; 4), introverted sensing, Si.
The word 'manipulation' does make the process sound cynical. Let's hope that the individual uses the four abilities - Ni, Te, Fe, Si - for good and not for evil.
In total, we find there are four main questions - regarding Details, Observations, Principles, Actions - and four functions per personality type. Each function can be matched up to each question. As we shall see, each of the four categories - IP, EP, IJ, EJ - answer the questions in a different order; the IP category will answer the Data and Observations questions first, for example. So we see a beautiful symmetry at work.
IP: Data, Observations, Actions, Principles (acronym DOAP);
EJ: Actions, Principles, Observations, Data (acronym APOD);
EP: Observations, Data, Principles, Action (acronym ODPA);
IJ: Principles, Actions, Data, Observations (acronym PADO).
III.
To repeat, a MBTI personality type contains symmetrical opposites which offset one another. Take, for example, an intellectual egghead character such as Mister Fantastic (of the Fantastic Four) or Spiderman - both are INTP and both use introverted thinking (Ti) as a primary function. The INTP doesn't represent a 'pure' introverted thinking type, because the secondary function - extraverted intuition, Ne - offsets the introversion of introverted thinking and grounds the type in the real world. The secondary function serves as an anchor which prevents the type from drifting away. For example: Mister Fantastic uses plenty of introverted thinking, and, at the same time, his career as an inventor and space explorer (both of which rely on extraverted intuition, Ne) offsets the introversion and prevents him from becoming a purely theoretical person.
The fourth and final function - called the 'repressed' or 'inferior' function in Jung - mirrors in the reverse the primary function. In the case of the INTP type, the fourth function, it's extraverted feeling, Fe, constitutes the reverse mirror image of the primary, introverted feeling, Ti. From the Myers-Briggs literature, we know that the fourth, inferior function comes to the fore in a time of stress. Strangely enough, it becomes transmuted in the process: Fe in the INTP and ISTP types (see Wolverine below) appears as a crazy, exaggerated Fe, a caricature of normal, healthy Fe. In Sellers' system, the inferior function is used to answer the fourth and final question in the sequence - and doesn't do a good job of it, as we shall see.
Let's go through each category and see how the process (Sellers calls it the 'cognition process') works. Each of the four questions (a 'cognition step') will be answered by one of the four functions, and we'll look at how each cognition step is embodied in the life and career of a famous personality from the movies, comic books, history and the Bible.
IP: Introverted Sensor: Han Solo from Star Wars: ISTP.
Han's primary function is introverted thinking, Ti. When left alone by himself, he's naturally inclined to being a technician or engineer (Details and Data = Scientist / Technician), having a brilliant analytical understanding of how the mechanics of his space craft, the Millennium Falcon, works. He adopts a realist and materialist philosophy of life, telling Luke condescendingly that 'There's no such as the Force' and that 'Hokey old time religions' (such as the Jedi religion) are a waste of time. This is Observations and Motivations, and the function here used is Han's secondary function, extraverted sensing, Se - Realist / Aesthetician. In action, he assumes the default action role of Zen Warrior (introverted intuition, Ni, as applied to Actions, Decisions, Consequences, Planning). Think of that scene in Empire Strikes Back (1980), when he walks into the dining room in Bespin and finds Darth Vader waiting for him. It's a trap! Han's assessment of the situation changes from positive to negative in the space of a split second. Without thinking, he draws his pistol and fires at Vader in one fluid motion. (As we know, he doesn't succeed - Vader deflects the laser blast with a wave of his hand).
Finally, we come to Principles, World View, Root Causes. The IP type doesn't do well here. Metaphysics, the big picture and understanding what the universe is made up of - much less how to manipulate it - are not his forté. This holds true even for Han's fellow IP, Luke Skywalker, an INFP. Luke doesn't understand Root Causes very well, either. He doesn't quite 'get' the Force. That's why mentor figures Obi-Wan and Yoda are constantly admonishing him for his ignorance throughout the series - as are would-be mentor figures Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
Han Solo: full marks for Details, Observations, Actions and a fail for Principles. But no type can be good at everything.
EJ: Extraverted Judger - Superman: ESFJ.
Superman's primary function is extraverted feeling, Fe. Superman's default action role is Communitarian, which requires Fe. Being a strongman, he understands the principle of the universe as being Weight, Mass, Volume, and uses introverted sensing, Si, to measure it and determine the precise amount of force to apply. In terms of philosophy of life, he views life as it could be, something that contains great possibilities - you could say he's a utopian, which makes him an Idealist / Inventor. His personal philosophy - Motivations and Observations - draws upon extraverted intuition, Ne.
Where does Superman fall down? None of the EJ types like introversion and being 'left alone with their thoughts' - or feelings. Superman continually asks himself 'Who am I?' and experiences a personal crisis whenever he quits being Superman and gives up superheroics. I call the ESFJ type the 'Mother Hen'. The type is often accused of smothering people and being over-protective. If an ESFJ gives up his default role - Communitarian - he has no one left to smother. What does he do?
We can the same failure to deal with introversion in another EJ type, the Jack Kirby New Gods villain Darkseid, who is an ENTJ. In a great story arc in the Justice League of America series, Darkseid is brought back to life after having been dead for some time. He delivers a monologue to his underlings while holding a beautiful flower in his hand and sniffing it; he tells them that his death and resurrection has made him more reflective, and appreciative of beauty and aesthetics. But, says Darkseid, such moments constitute weakness - weakness which he will never allow himself to experience again - and he crushes the flower in his fist.
A Myers-Briggs psychologist would say that Darkseid's repressed function here is obviously introverted feeling, Fi. Darkseid resists introversion, and he wants to expunge the introverted feeler - a Poet / Artist - from his soul.
EP: Extraverted Sensor: Socrates: ENTP.
Michael Pierce identifies the ancient Greek philosopher and historical personage Socrates as an ENTP. Socrates believes that life is about the exploration of exciting possibilities and perspectives - extraverted intuition Ne here is applied to Observations, Motivations, making him an Idealist / Inventor. It's not for nothing that Socrates was accused of scepticism, relativism and sophism. We can say that Socrates, like many an ENTP, was in love with extraverted intuition and all it brought forth. This was balanced by an introverted side - Socrates saw himself as a thinker, philosopher and a rationalist and introspected via introverted thinking (Ti, as applied to Data and Details - Scientist / Technician).
He understood the universe as Feeling (Fe, as applied to Root Causes and Principles). There's a strong element of emotional manipulation in Socrates, and he was accused of charlatanism in his lifetime. Many prominent Athenians didn't trust him. The ENTP type in myth and popular culture is often associated with tricksters, fast talkers, hucksters, and chaos-bringers.
Where do the ENTPs and other EPs fall down typically? In the field of Actions, Decision and Planning. Despite the ENTP's penchant for cleverness and manipulation (and all EPs are good at the latter), their plans don't work out. Socrates lacked the political and organisational skills of the EJ type, as we know from history. We can see that another ENTP type - Saul Goodman in the TV show Breaking Bad - just wasn't a good organiser as Walter White, an INTJ. In DC comics' supervillain group, the Secret Society of Super Villains, the Joker doesn't strike us as being a leader type like fellow team members Lex Luthor or Darkseid, both ENTJs; in Marvel's Avengers, Iron Man / Tony Stark doesn't lead as well as Captain America, an ESTJ. The ENTP is no Master of Men.
If it's any consolation, another EP type - Lois Lane, an ESTP - doesn't do well with regards to Planning and Decisions either. Her convoluted plots to manipulate Superman into marriage always fail.
IJ: Extraverted Judger - Moses: INFJ.
The INFJ often appears in popular culture (and myth) as The Sage, and is regarded as the most spooky and mystical of the types. We find the antecedent to Sage-types (such as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, and Izaya the High Father in New Gods) in the Biblical figure of Moses. Like Moses, Gandalf and Izaya wear dresses, have long beards and carry staves. Yoda likewise wears a dress and carries a stick.
Moses receives the Word of God on Mount Sinai. Here divine insight - or more prosaically, introverted intuition - is used to determine the makeup of the universe and Root Causes, Principles and World View. In his Actions and Decisions, Moses as a prophet and leader takes up the role of Communitarian, which draws upon extraverted feeling, Fe. By organising his thoughts and putting them into order as a lawgiver to Israel and codifying the law in four books, he uses introverted thinking Ti, and defines himself as a thinking (and communicating) person - Data and Details, Scientist / Technician.
The IJ's deficiency lies in the field of Motivations or Observations: typically he doesn't understand human nature and appreciate - or tolerate - human beings for being what they are. In popular culture, the IJ type can often appear to be ascetic, harsh and intolerant - which is why I call his shadow aspect the Mad Monk.
IV.
I think the Sellers system does a great job, not in the least in helping us understand the differences between the types. Keirsey lumps the ESTP and ISTP types in the same category - Artisan - and the pair share exactly the same functions: introverted thinking (Ti), extraverted sensing (Se), introverted intuition (Ni), extraverted feeling (Fe). If we're to go by the letters alone, the only difference appears in the letters at the start of each code - I for ISTP, E for ESTP. Yet both the ISTP and ESTP seem completely dissimilar, and no-one in their right minds would ever confuse the two when put side by side.
The disparity holds true despite the fact that each type shares primary and secondary functions - introverted thinking (primary in ISTP, secondary in ESTP) and extraverted sensing (secondary in ISTP, primary in ESTP). But both the ESTP and ISTP differ in their tertiary function, and this makes all the difference. The ESTP uses his tertiary function, extraverted feeling, Fe, to understand the universe (Principles), and does a good job of it. The ISTP, in contrast, uses Fe as a fourth and inferior function, and does a bad job of it - he has a difficult time grasping Principles. On the other hand, the ISTP has a fairly good grasp on Actions and Planning, which is the shortcoming of the ESTP type. That is, the ISTP effectively uses introverted intuition, Ni, in his default action role as Zen Warrior, but introverted intuition makes up the repressed, inferior function in the ESTP.
Rightly understood, the two leading functions - primary and secondary - lead in the front, while the tertiary sits in the back and helps. The fourth or inferior function acts - or can act - as a spoiler or disruptor. Jung sees it as the repressed 'unconscious' of the leading, dominant function.
Picking a character's type in the comic books necessitates a good working knowledge of MBTI and some skill. But generally, we'll have an easy time of it, because comic books use the same types, over and over again. Mr Fantastic's INTP turns up a lot, as does Darkseid's ENTJ and Judge Dredd's ISTJ. In both movies and comic books, we find Han Solo's ISTP used as a staple, and Taylor has drawn up a list of ISTPs as long as your arm. The conclusion to be drawn is that in order to determine a character's type, you only need to consult the database of existing types and ask yourself, 'Does this character resemble Judge Dredd in any way? Or Superman? Or the Joker?' and then match the character to that best-known example. Spiderman, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Manhattan, Sherlock Holmes, Sheldon from the TV show Big Bang Theory belong in the INTP category; chances are that any geeky, science-minded character like these five is an INTP.
This book came out years and years ago, and I've put off buying it. I only purchased it recently because of my discovery that many of these Showcase Presents volumes command a huge price second-hand. If my comic book shop does run out of copies, I won't be able to get another one easily.
The reason why I hesitated (for so long) before buying it is because of the Silver Age. While I love Batman stories from the 1940s and 1950s, and think that the character hit a high mark in the 1970s and early 1980s, I view the 1960s (and the 'New Look') as a lost decade for the Caped Crusader. Things in the 1960s only perked up after Irv Novick jumped on board for the seminal story 'One Bullet Too Many' (Neal Adams drew the cover).
Batman leaves Wayne Manor and moves to the Wayne Foundation Penthouse, and the series - after Batman relocates to the big bad city - takes on a more grim and gritty Dirty Harry / French Connection vibe. I think that the Batman stories of this period represent the transition from the Johnson era to the Nixon. I wanted to read these Bronze Age issues, but, when I bought this book, I expected a whole slew of stories from the Silver Age drawn by Sheldon Moldorff (not one of my favourite Bat-artists). I was pleasantly surprised: most of the stories come from the Bronze Age - this is the Robin (and Batman) I grew up with.
Something that you notice, at once, about these stories is the role the 1960s and 1970s counter-culture plays. One story - involving a hippie commune - anticipates a similar arc in season seven of Mad Men. You find plenty of social commentary and references to the Generation Gap, the Vietnam War, student riots on campus... Given how averse comic book writers (traditionally) are to write stories based on events in the real world, I can only imagine that the political, social and cultural events of the time were too big for the writers (here Frank Robbins, Mike Friedrich, Elliot S. Maggin mostly) to ignore. Some may find the results painful and dated, but I enjoyed these stories. They seem fresh and exciting. The book even contains a Robin story which refers to H.P. Lovecraft - yes, that's right, Lovecraft (sounds like a Marvel book, doesn't it?).
The volume ends in 1975. Dick Grayson grows sideburns, gets a girlfriend (Lori Elton) and starts driving around in a groovy van (with the Robin cycle loaded in the back). I'm sure that there were enough Robin solo stories from the next ten years to fill up another volume, which hopefully DC will publish.
I've been looking for this book for around 25 years. Because DC - and the comics publishing industry - neglected Kirby back in the 1990s and 2000s, this book, along with others from Kirby's late period (the 1970s and 1980s), was hard to come by. In the present decade, publishers have realised that nostalgic Generation Xers are willing to pay money - and lots of it - for reprints of classic material. They have released nearly everything from Kirby's back catalogue in handsome hardcover volumes which are overpriced. I was lucky enough to find this book in the bargain bin for only $20. I want the companion volume - Jack Kirby's In the Days of the Mob - but will wait until it comes down in price.
In some ways, the essay that comes with this book - by Kirby biographer Mark Evanier - is more interesting than the Kirby stories therein. I was appalled to learn that DC effectively buried the book and In the Days-: they were ashamed of the books and published them through a dummy company - 'Hampshire Distributors Ltd.' - without any attempt at promotion so as to offload them. The business practices of DC have always struck me as being rather odd and self-defeating. It remains a mystery to me why they cancelled all of Kirby's Fourth World titles despite their popularity (DC claimed that the books didn't sell, but I don't believe them). I don't know exactly what Kirby himself thought of such shabby treatment, but he seems to have taken it all in his stride.
Fans know what to expect in this volume. We find the usual spectacular artwork. A few of the early stories are inked by the horrible Vince Colletta - a man who ruined many a Kirby issue - but after that, Mike Royer (?) takes over. We are plunged into the Kirby universe - of handsome, two-fisted WASP men who wear suits and smoke pipes; beautiful, buxom women; hideous, craggy-faced, neanderthal-looking villains; grotesque monsters which are often quaint-looking (such as the 'Mandarin Dog'); photo collages; and shiny 'cosmic' superheroes with metallic skin.
The theme of this book - the paranormal and pseudo-science - was close to Kirby's heart. I think one can distinguish between the two Kirbys at the two stages of his career: the New York Jack and the California Jack. After he moved to California, Kirby, if his work is anything to go by, became fascinated with the paranormal schlock and the theories of Von Däniken. He also became convinced that humanity was about to evolve into a god-like race of supermen. Andrew Weiss calls this philosophy 'Aquarian', which it is; it's also very Californian. One can dismiss Kirby's world view as outdated, but, through the medium of his pages, I find it enticing. Many have paid homage to Kirby - see the excellent series Godland, by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli - and Kirby's characters from the Californian period have been used again and again. But none of those who came after Kirby seemed to 'get' Kirby; they didn't really quite believe in Kirby's ideas and world view, at least not with the same fervour.
I'm very pleased with this volume, but I'm biased - I don't recommend it for anyone except the Kirby completist. If you want the best of Kirby's 1970s work for DC, start with the four volumes of Jack Kirby's Fourth World and then move on to Jack Kirby's OMAC, Jack Kirby's The Demon, and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. You'll find that the work he did for Marvel in the 1970s is great too, but that's another story.
Mark Hootsen signing off.
This book represents something of an oddity. It contains stories from horror titles Weird War Tales and House of Secrets as well as Superman, DC Comics Presents and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth and reprints all the Atomic Knights stories (a series which debuted in the early 1960s) and the 1970s short-lived series Hercules Unbound. Jack Kirby's one-shot Atlas is inserted gratuitously - Atlas is a Robert E. Howard-style fantasy character who has nothing to do with the theme of this volume, which is post-apocalypse Earth. We see a lot of disparity here - disparity between stories which have no real connection to one another.
An essay by Paul Levitz appears right at the end, which attempts to bundle all the story threads into the one DC continuity, and the Atomic Knights and Hercules are retconned out of existence in a Superman story from 1983. The loose ends of the DC post-apocalyptic arcs evidently bothered DC, who felt that they had to do something to tie them up.
The Atomic Knights stories stand out. Oddly enough, despite being set in a post-nuclear war America, the world of the Atomic Knights seems utopian, and the Atomic Knights and the survivors of the apocalypse resemble pioneers in the Old West and are imbued with an optimism, a can-do attitude and a faith in positivism and science. I imagine that the values of the Knights reflected those of the book's readers - boys who lead a healthy, outdoorsy existence and read Scientific American.
One could write at great length on the ideology of the Atomic Knights book, but I'll leave that to other hands. Suffice to say, values had changed by the 1970s and 1980s, and the remaining stories (written in that era) in the volume strike me as dark and dystopian.
For Hercules Unbound, Wally Wood does the pencils for most of the run, José Luis García-López the inks - two great artists. Walt Simonson comes on board later and does some pencils, doing as good a job with the Greek gods as with the Norse. The series reminds me of a Marvel title - it's very Marvel-esque, which is a good thing - and the high-quality art work makes it a joy.
In the last story, Superman and Atomic Knights team-up in DC Comics Presents, in a tale which is an anti-nuke polemic. As we know (from Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Raymond Briggs' When the Wind Blows, Judge Dredd and other books), the threat of nuclear war loomed large in the comics books of the 1980s. A kid growing up in that time, consuming all that Cold War nuclear-hysteric literature, would have found it all rather frightening. I know I did.
Mark Hootsen, signing off.
