EPISODE 392
What Writing Spider-Man Taught Me About the Fool’s Journey
Did you know the comic book characters and their stories that are adapted into very successful books, TV shows and movies could teach you as much about myth as the work of Joseph Campbell?
Filmmaker and comic book writer B. Earl describes how his deep love for comics, mythology and the Tarot led him on a Fool’s Journey away from doing the safe thing — studying biochemistry — to work on Spider-Man comics, make movies and share the lessons he learned by following the road less traveled this week on Spirit Gym.
Discover more about B. Earl on his Weirdbunch Studio website and via social media on Instagram, Substack and LinkedIn. Read his chapter in the book, Depth Psychology, Myth and Artificial Intelligence: Soul and the Machine, edited by Jason Batt and Jonathan Erickson. Check out his crowdfunded Fangbanger: SUPERPOSITION Anthology on Zoop.
SHOW NOTES
7:44 “I found my voice and my own ideas through a mixture of mythology and comic books.”
11:09 Whose dream wins out to study biochemistry or telling stories?
17:53 B. Earl’s Hero’s Journey begins with a call from movie producer Larry Cohen.
28:03 The Tarot helps B. Earl achieve sobriety when he needed it.
33:45 The libido as life force energy.
37:46 How do we learn to process, use and embrace the 72 demons of Solomon?
49:13 The commercialization of Hip Hop.
53:35 Comics: The most powerful medium and the additive version of the creative process.
1:00:05 Can you decode the symbolism hiding in plain sight?
1:07:15 How much of your consciousness is tied up in your ego?
1:16:44 The Fool’s Journey.
1:26:40 Different Tarot card decks, different insights.
1:35:00 The forced redundancy of us in AI.
1:41:07 The magic of storytelling that conveys deeper truths and native myths in B. Earl’s Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
1:55:55 Conflict and forgiveness are necessary for us to live and grow.
2:04:13 The actions we take — or don’t — are setting up future generations for good and bad.
2:16:10 The gaps between panels and pages in a comic book story that’s missing in movies.
RESOURCES & FURTHER READING
Watch B. Earl talk about The Poetry of Death during the recent Soul and the Machine webinar on the International Society of Mythology website
Earl’s Substack post on Sex and Violence/Create and Destroy
Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man by B. Earl, Taboo and Juan Ferreyra
Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer: The Artistry, Joy and Career of Storytelling by J. Michael Straczynski
Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez
B. Earl’s documentary, Sex, Lies and Superheroes, on Vimeo
The Original Rider-Waite Tarot set
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
The work of Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, will.i.am, Clive Barker and Skip Woods
The Philosophize This! podcast
Promethea: Book One by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III, Mick Gray and Jose Villarrubia
Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson
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Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
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