Guru meets Chaostician! Comics ensue!

[thebitterguy]

Newly formed Virgin Comics has announced it will sponsor a discussion and Q&A between literary icons Deepak Chopra (Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and co-founder of Virgin Comics) and Grant Morrison (Superman) to launch the San Diego Comicon on July 20th from 3-430 in Room 20 at the San Diego Convention Center. The event is to be hosted by Supermodel Saira Mohan.

CEO of Virgin Comics Sharad Devarajan commented on the event: "Virgin Comics mission is to tap the best creators from around the world and create new and innovative stories in the form of comics and beyond. The publishing titans of the industry blazed a trail with the creation of yesterday’s superheroes and they continue to ride those characters through the Box Office and to the bank. Virgin’s focus in on the heroes and stories of tomorrow that are reflective of a planetary mind-shift –less John Wayne and the Wild West, more Neo and the Matrix."

Added Deepak Chopra: "The reason I am part of Virgin Comics is because for me it’s a whole new medium to communicate innovative stories and ideas. Hieroglyphics on walls were man’s first form of story-telling. With comics today, we are carrying on that artform and the challenge of creating tomorrow’s heroes is one that I relish. Grant is a master of the trade and I look forward to learning from him as well as collaborating on a new breed of epics. This event is a starting point."

Morrison echoed: "'Deepak Chopra is a man who has seen the future and knows how to get there. That he has turned to the field of comics shows how far we have come as a medium and promises much for the development of a truly cross-cultural pop mythology for the 21st Century."

The event’s title: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes plays upon both panelists’ most notable trade successes. Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success was one of the most successful publishing properties of the last decade and is noteworthy amongst his over 40 books. Morrison’s various takes on some of the most famous superheroes of our time, including Superman and Batman are iconic in the comic industry. Concluded Devarajan: "What these guys will synergize on stage together is anyone’s guess. But I wouldn’t want to miss it!"

Okay, hands up: Who thinks I'm making this up, and who thinks it's true?

Comments

[anidada.livejournal.com]

True. Nothing surprises me anymore.

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

Had I not visited the San Diego Comic Con website the other day to see what I was missing, I would've called you mad, I say Mad, sir. And yet, I cannot.

One wonders if Chopra is familiar with Morrison's work on "The Invisibles" and "The Filth" or that he believes he was kidnapped on the top of the Vajeta hotel in Khatmandu by aliens from another dimension?

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've no doubt taht it's true. Chopra's got a great deal of interest in storytelling, mythic cycles and that sort of thing. I've been meaning to read his novel Merlin for some time.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

I cannot see Grant Morrison and Deepak Chopra collaborating on anything, personally. I vote hoax.

If it's real, I'm moving to Antartica.

[thebitterguy]

Say hi to the penguins for me!

This is the kind of stuff I miss out on by not going to SDCC.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I'd want to see that just to see Morrison reduce that borderline con-man to a little smoking pair of shoes. Having read Virgin's preview comic, I think they've got four months before they sell out to Image.

[harano404.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's so farked up it isn't even funny. The only way it could be worse is if it was Oprah or Dr. Phil or something. Deepak Oprah. I hope he gets booed of the stage, preferably by people who are confusing him with M. Knight Shamalyan.

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

I totally believe it. Virgin Video Games, Virgin Mobile ...

This will probably implode, too.

[thebitterguy]

I will reserve judgement on Virgin's video game division until I can play the Rogue Trooper game.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's true alright, despite this lowering my opinion of Grant "He Can Almost Do No Wrong" Morrison. I suppose with a Virgin brand behind them, they'll last as long as Virgin Finance wants to prop them up. But the VC website doesn't make me all that interested or optimistic that this venture will do anything terribly interesting. But who knows -- maybe it will tap into a huge new market and bring a fresh set of mythologies into western pop culture: I suppose the fans will decide, but I'm soooo tired of Image-style-chix-wit-boobs comic art for my part, and I don't think I'm the only comic buyer that is.