Poor Deepak Chopra.

For all of his fame and fortune, he seems to have a lot of detractors in the otherwise often-innovative Dharma-world. His recent fictionalized biography, Buddha, seems to be a lightning rod for criticism, and his turn as advisor for Mike Myers’ new “Dharma-teacher” farce The Love Guru can’t be helping things. As the Horse reported recently, old D.C. has, along with a staff that includes his son and the financial backing of Sir Richard Branson, stepped into the comic book business.

In addition to the gutsily-named “India Authentic” (a line of comics derived from Indian mythology), he’s now published the second issue of a Buddha comic. I admit that the wag in me wouldn’t mind telling you how irredeemably awful the new issue is, and that the Chopra team just got lucky their first time out. But I just can’t. The second issue is, like the first, beautiful and surprising—as legitimate Dharma so often can be.

Another excellent “Dharmix” entry from an unlikely source is The White Lama, written by renegade filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky (El Topo; Holy Mountain).

This incredibly lavish and complex comic tells of “Gabriel, the child of white explorers raised by [Tibetan] natives after his parents’ deaths.” The reincarnation of the local school’s Grand Lama, Gabriel must face and undo the deceit and corruption that has overtaken his monastery home and realize his destiny as a spiritual leader. The White Lama is a fantastically illustrated mindbender complete with tales of great aspiration, awakenings, foul play, and—yes!— yetis. Unfortunately, with several volumes published at around twenty bucks a pop, I’m tempted to just wait and see if Jodorowsky will turn his “orphaned wrong-righter” saga into the best comic-book-to-film adaptation ever made. The studio pitch would be an absolute no-brainer: “Think Tibetan Batman Begins.”