392 — What Writing Spider-Man Taught Me About the Fool’s Journey With B. Earl

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 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.

Timestamps

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.

Resources

Watch B. Earl talk about The Poetry of Death during the recent Soul and the Machine webinar on the International Society of Mythology website

Find more resources for this episode on our website.

Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music

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