SDCC 06: GRANT MORRISON & DEPAK CHOPRA PANEL

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

What promised to be the highlight for many at San Diego Comic-con delivered in spades with the Thursday panel which featured literary icon Deepak Chopra and comics writer Grant Morrison. Entitled "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes", the panel itself covered a broad range of topics from the Justice League's similarities with the seven chakras of Hinduism and the potential future for the human race. Although the scheduled panel host, supermodel Saira Mohan, was unable to attend it due to travel issues, Chopra's son, Gotham Chopra, who is the Editor-In-Chief of the new Virgin Comics deftly moderated the panel.

"I first read Chopra ten years ago with one of his yoga books, and his writings have been instrumental in my life," said Morrison. The panel began with both Chopra and Morrison explaining their relationship with each other through their work. Deepak Chopra is a doctor and popular contemporary writer on the subjects of spirituality, synchronicity and integrative medicine. The elder Chopra has contributed to his son Gotham's line with the Richard Branson-backed Virgin Comics, being instrumental in the company's upcoming Ramayan Reborn series.

"Everything I have been trying to say in my non-fiction and in my fiction prose work has been so beautifully expressed in the work of Grant Morrison," said Chopra. Deepak Chopra explained his introduction to Grant Morrison's work as being instigated by his son, Gotham Chopra, when talk began of founding what would become Virgin Comics.

Although on the stage they seemed quite familiar and friendly with each other, Gotham Chopra explained that they had just met face-to-face the night before over dinner and wine. It was at that meeting that, as Deepak explained, he and Morison "synergized" over the common themes and direction of their work.

As they turned to the central topic of superheroes as today's myth structure, Deepak Chopra first explained the meaning and history of the word 'myth' as and its roots in the word 'mother' as to mean the womb of creation. "Myth is about archetypical characters that are used to speak about deeper values of the human experience," said Chopra.

"Myths are 'collective stories' from the people of the time trying to understand their own self," said Morrison.

Morrison went on to speak about the origins of superheroes, beginning with the 1930s creation of Superman by "two teenage immigrant boys", referring to Joe Shuster & Jerry Siegel. Explaining the early iterations of superheroes in the 1930s as reformists, he explained how heroes changed through each decade including the 1940s soldiering heroes to the 80s psycho-analyzation and how writers came to terms with that last era only in recent years.

"Superheroes, and myths, are images of human potential," explained Morrison. Chopra & Morrison discussed how externalizing the common questions of man and placing it in these characters allowed humanity to reach a wider dialogue to discuss these matters. "Superheroes are able to see the world through x-ray and microscopic eyes, down to the atoms that make up that chair, this building, and us as humans," said Morrison.

The conversation between Chopra and Morrison continued, explaining the archetypical characters of myth and their modern equivalents in the superhero form. Deepak Chopra also explained his believes of how the archetypical characters of myth and superheroes all have root and direct comparisons with the seven Chakras of Hinduism. Morrison tied that into comparisons with the core line-up of the Justice League and also Jack Kirby's New Gods.

The panel itself lasted for one and a half hours, including several questions from audience members. Morrison and Chopra made it a point to explain that Morrison was not working on comics with Virgin, as Morrison is under exclusive to DC Comics, but they have talked about doing collaborative work outside comics in the future.

Check back early next week for a full transcription provided by Virgin Comics.

Newsarama's Comic-Con International '06 Coverage is brought to you by Miramax Films’ RENAISSANCE. In theaters this fall.

[Bevbos]

Whoa! Heavy duty! I would be interested to hear which superheroes Chopra find correlate to which Chakras of Hinduism.

[NewRisingSun]

I would have loved to be at that panel.

They seem like some of the coolest individuals you could meet, talking about the coolest subjects you could come up with.

[nietoperz]

I would have given anything to have been there. Wow.

[blankpoint]

Someone post a torrent of the mp3 or vid of this, please?

[amlah6]

Damn, I hope someone recorded this.

[BlueThunderArmy]

Originally Posted by nietoperz

I would have given anything to have been there. Wow.

Seconded.

I'm happy to see Morrison on DC's characters and they seem to give him some freedom to pursue his own ideas at Vertigo, but I'd love to see him do a comic with Virgin sometime down the line. Seems like a perfect match.

[Lex]

When I saw the words "brief report" I was worried. Something as awesome as this can't be covered briefly. But I'm very glad to see that a full transcript will be coming next week.

[khuxford]

Originally Posted by blankpoint

Someone post a torrent of the mp3 or vid of this, please?

Ummm...I don't think that Matt would take kindly to that as their may be some legal issues. Any recording could have been unauthorized or one that those involved have specific rights to.

[Lord MaGnUs]

Wait... Deepak's son is called "Gotham"??!?! Does that word mean anything in Hindi? Or is Deepak a big Batman fan?

[ejulp]

not sure how the G4 coverage will work
but hopefully they'll have some video of this

i'd have given anything to have been there for this

[ejulp]

don't know if i'm supposed to link to another site
but comicbookresources.com has a longer transcript

http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=7900

[ducktales23]

Originally Posted by Lord MaGnUs

Wait... Deepak's son is called "Gotham"??!?! Does that word mean anything in Hindi? Or is Deepak a big Batman fan?

It can also be spelled Gautam, meaning:
1. the propounder of the Nyaya philosophy
2. the Buddha
3. one of the stars in the Great Bear

[creatorman]

This is a powerful unity, one I will definitely be following. I can just imagine how they're going to deconstruct, or reconstruct the mythology of superheroes. It's a great time to be a comic's reader/collector.

[kalorama]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Although the scheduled panel host, supermodel Saira Mohan, was unable to attend it due to travel issues, ...

How (and why, aside form th obvious reason, of course) do you get a "supermodel" to moderate a panel at a comicbook convention?

[Johnny Triangles]

Wow, two modern cult leaders meet, new age zombies everywhere explode in ecstasy!

[AndrewHickey]

You don't need to be the kind of racist tosspot who makes fun of Chopra's accent to think he's talking crap. Chopra is from the newage (rhymes with sewage) school of make-____-up. Prime example - "the meaning and history of the word 'myth' as and its roots in the word 'mother' as to mean the womb of creation". This is just utter nonsense. Myth comes from the Greek μύθος (muthos), meaning speech, thought or story, possibly via the late Latin mythus. The word was only invented in 1830 (although 'mythical' dates back to the 17th century). The word has no relation whatsoever to the Greek for mother, which is μητέρα (metera).
The man's a charlatan, and is helping to spread ignorance.

[Johnny Triangles]

Originally Posted by AndrewHickey

You don't need to be the kind of racist tosspot who makes fun of Chopra's accent to think he's talking crap. Chopra is from the newage (rhymes with sewage) school of make-____-up. Prime example - "the meaning and history of the word 'myth' as and its roots in the word 'mother' as to mean the womb of creation". This is just utter nonsense. Myth comes from the Greek μύθος (muthos), meaning speech, thought or story, possibly via the late Latin mythus. The word was only invented in 1830 (although 'mythical' dates back to the 17th century). The word has no relation whatsoever to the Greek for mother, which is μητέρα (metera).
The man's a charlatan, and is helping to spread ignorance.

Yup, the etymology of myth right here. But at least with Morrison, he's in good company with comicdom's new Age charlatan.

[Incrediblo]

mmm... I dont know, it seems kind of harsh dismissing all of Chopra's work just because he made one mistake.

[Johnny Triangles]

Why did Morrison call Siegel and Shuster two "immigrant boys." Shuster was born in Canada but Siegel was born in Ohio.

[AndrewHickey]

Originally Posted by Incrediblo

mmm... I dont know, it seems kind of harsh dismissing all of Chopra's work just because he made one mistake.

It's not a matter of 'making a mistake' - it's making ____ up and passing it off as fact, something that is far, far too prevalent among newage writers. And it's not the only time he does it - from his website:

"In fact, ama is the root of most colds, fevers and flues,"

So, not viruses then? Funny how viruses have, you know, actual *evidence* for their existence...

" as well as the chronic diseases of a weak auto-immune system which may range from allergies and hay fever to asthma, arthritis,"

All of which are actually examples of an *over-strong* auto-immune system, not a weak one...

" or cancer."
Which is actually caused by problems with cell division, usually caused by free radical damage to the chromosomes.

(Incidentally, whoever maintains his website - I'll be charitable and assume it's not Chopra himself - is practically illiterate...)

Chopra makes authoritative statements about things that he doesn't understand (or worse - things that he does understand and consciously lies about - but I hope it's the former), and they are things that, given his claims of medical expertise, could cause real damage. He also promotes 'intelligent design', claims that quantum mechanics says that our minds control the chemical processes in our cells (it says no such thing), and is, in general either a liar or a fool.

[David Bird]

I'm glad some people started taking the wind out of Chopra's teachings. I had to start re-reading when I got to "literary icon". Stunned. And don't equate criticisms of this man with criticisms of India, Indian culture, or Hinduism. The man is a pop New Ager. If you like that sort of thing, fine. Its a free country. But... Man... "Literary icon"?

[Jeremy Williams]

Can you imagine Morrison unleashed on a umm(excuse the pun) virgin super-hero/comic-book Universe...? This would give credibilty to the comic company right away. And this could be the greatest creative juggernaut ever produced.

[Supreme Convoy]

Wow, this looks like it could have been an amazing experience to be there!

[budcali]

Luckily I got to attend that panel, and it was worth the price of admission. Morrison and Chopra bashed religion, deconstructed superheroes, and gave lots of words of wisdom. The audience was well receptive and ideas and comments were shared freely.