The Panic Fables: Mystic Teachings and Initiatory Tales

by Alejandro Jodorowsky

The complete series of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s spiritual comics, translated into English for the first time

• Contains all 284 of Jodo’s Panic Fables comics, published weekly from 1967 to 1973 in Mexico City’s El Heraldo newspaper

• Includes an introduction describing how the Panic Fables came to be

• Explains how he incorporated Zen teachings, initiatory wisdom, and sacred symbology into his Panic Fables, as well as himself as one of the characters

In 1967, in response to theatrical censorship rules that put him on the political “black list” in Mexico City and caused his plays and his pantomime classes at the School of Fine Arts to be cancelled, Alejandro Jodorowsky decided to pursue a new form of artistic expression to earn his living: comics. Working with his friend Luis Spota, the editor of the cultural section of the newspaper El Heraldo de México, Jodo initially planned 3 months’ worth of weekly comics, which he would draw himself. However, his “Panic Fables”--named after his early ‘60s avant-garde theater movement in Paris--were met with such insatiable popularity that he continued the series for six and a half years, from June 1967 until December 1973.

Appearing for the first time in English, this book presents all 284 of Jodorowsky’s Panic Fables in full color, along with an introduction by the author. He reveals how his first comics reflected his pessimism about the future and the meaning of life, the negativity of which soon exhausted him. He realized he needed to show the positivity that he encountered in life, and thus, little by little, he began incorporating Zen teachings, initiatory wisdom, and sacred symbology into his Panic Fables. Through this transformation and the outpouring of support from his devoted readers, many of whom cite the Panic Fables as providing pivotal guidance during their adolescence, Jodo discovered that art can serve to heal as well as raise consciousness.

Writing himself into his comics, Jodo can be glimpsed as the character of the disciple who talks with his master and, as the series progresses, gradually grows to assume the role of master, providing psychomagic solutions to the problems of everyday life. In reading the complete Panic Fables in chronological order, much like his film The Dance of Reality, we witness in colorful detail Jodorowsky’s own path of spiritual growth.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Philosophy, Art, Religion, Graphic Novels Comics, Psychology

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 1963

About the author

Also credited as Alexandro Jodorowsky

Better known for his surreal films El Topo and The Holy Mountain filmed in the early 1970s, Alejandro Jodorowsky is also an accomplished writer of graphic novels and a psychotherapist. He developed Psychomagic, a combination of psychotherapy and shamanic magic. His fans have included John Lennon and Marilyn Manson.

Reviews

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW

Ok... the "WOW" is really from Jodorowsky's art, which is mind blowing. Definitely coming out of the psychedelic poster heads of the 60s, but his comics are as mind alternating as any of his predecessors and equally ground breaking. His art is still fresh and cutting edge, seamlessly moving from dripping forms to draw-over collage; all basted in heavily saturated tertiary colors—all pushing at the "limits." That is, his colors aren't the desaturated colors of the prior generation; nor are they the staid primaries; his colors are coming out of turn of the century decadence, and turned up to "ACID." And his forms are pulling from the surrealists and their ilk—twisted and distorted forms to break up the everyday conscious and to get at the center of the soul, maaaan. But it fucking works. That is, until I read the damn text. The text is trying to do the same thing as the imagery, but... if anyone has paid attention to Jodorowky then they'll know he's obsessed with all "that 60s shit" in text and spirituality as well as imagery. And although the imagery is still pushing boundaries and expectations today (in his films as well) the messages in these comics bore me to tears (in his films as well). The perhaps once interesting messages and ideology has been fully gentrified by yuppies doing Birkham yoga and talking about petting tigers in Thailand while reading the newest self-help book. It's corrupted and shitty Alan Watts (who I like) and other feel-good tune-in to yourself it's-all-about-you vibes that are as boring now as a... hell, I don't even know what to compare it to. I don't know what's more boring. I was going to write "a 50s rom-com," but every time I see one, I'm surprised by how weird it is...

But still, damn the art in these comics is amazing, as is the layout, as is the pacing, as is his use of space. Jodorowsky is a goddamn forgotten gem of comics art.

WOW

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jodorowsky is such a bizarre freak and a wise one at that. These drawings are strange, spiritual, surreal, and colorful. The art itself sometimes is striking, sometimes just goofy 60s stuff, but always resonant, folksy, and weird.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comic strips from a Mexican newspaper, late 60s early 70s. Unfortunately this basically got to be the same silly zen joke over and over, though the drawings are pretty amazing throughout.

[Brisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

el gusano
se repliega
para avanzar...
hoy esto replegado

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks way better than the Incal with its contemporary style. I desperately want it to be translated into English.

[Miguel Soto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una curiosa recopilación de toda la serie de Fábulas Pánicas dibujadas por Alejandro (aunque entonces firmaba Alexandro) Jodorowsky, sin incluir algunas dibujadas, dentro de su misma serie, por otros autores. Me resultó una lectura "bonita" porque no tenía casi nada de contexto sobre su surgimiento y concretamente, jamás había visto una en persona. Son cortísimos episodios, de una página, que sintetizan alguna enseñanza o pensamiento, muchas veces extraídas de fuentes esotéricas o de las filosofías orientales, contextualizadas en términos propios de su momento y lugar de publicación.

Me gustó mucho la recurrencia de algunos personajes, particularmente El Maestro y El Joven Discípulo, y el chiste recurrente sobre la posición incómoda de éste último, que bueno, finalmente va reflejando el propio movimiento de Jodorowsky en torno a sí mismo.

No las recomendaría como guía de vida, pero al menos sí como una lectura interesante para despejarse de algunas cosas.

[محمود راضي · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعد تحول أليخاندرو خودورفسكي لواحد من المخرجين المفضلين على اﻹطلاق، كان لا بد لي عاجلًا أم آجلًا من الولوج إلى أعماله المصورة، وكان موعدي الأول مع هذا الكتاب المبهر في تنوعه وتفرده، ﻷنه ينم على سعة إطلاع وثقافة رفيعة حازها خورودفسكي في شتى المعارف والمذاهب الفكرية والروحانية، ويقدم لك هنا وجبة يندر لها مثيل من الحكايات والحكم والرؤى الفلسفية والألغاز واﻷفكار، وكل صفحة في الكتاب تحمل معها الجديد والغريب والفريد والعجيب، وهو ما ليس بغريب على فنان متعدد الاهتمامات مثله.

ترجمتي لنصين من الكتاب (عشرة مباديء روحانية/ما تعلمته من أليخاندرو خوردوفسكي):

https://boringbooks.net/2019/05/jodor...

[Carly Laughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because of the psychedelic art and offbeat humour. It started off like a trippy comic book, but gradually became more zen/spiritual teachings and got a bit repetitive.

[Granit Hysiqi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jodorowsky's art style reminds me of Eastern European movie posters in that they're similar aesthetically or perhaps that was a 60's psychedelic fad of that time which also influenced him as an artist. I think this had a lot of potential and a really strong start but about a hundred pages in, the cube and sphere analogies start appearing and they don't ever stop. Not to mention the tarot card and astrological explanations. The more fables you read the more repetitive it tends to become.

[Chris Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably not for the casual comic fan, but if you know what you're getting into you are going to have a good time. At times funny (the "what an uncomfortable position" bit is ultimately hilarious by the 100th time) and interestingly composed, sometimes very sharp, other times a bit more ridiculous. A few will hopefully make you think for a bit. Just what you'd expect from Jodorowsky doing a weekly comic!

[flannery]

Wish I could give question marks instead of stars, did I like this??

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful art and brilliant thinking. Had this at a cottage and anyone who picked it up disappeared into it for hours.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations are pretty bad even in 1970s terms. Does not work well in kindle format as type is often illegible. Didn't seem to contain much deep knowledge.

[Mario Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Este "libro" me encantó !, aunque debo admitir que le doy 5 estrellas por la originalidad del formato (historieta) abordando estos temas (filosófocos, existencialistas, pesimistas...etc), le daría 3 por que llega a un punto donde los temas son completamente teológicos, bifurcándose del camino que empezó a recorrer, el cual era meramente exponer los conceptos, sin darle una explicación religiosa.
Me hizo regresar a la época donde comencé a leer textos filosóficos, me recordó lo asombrado que me sentía y al mismo tiempo tan ignorante.
Lo recomiendo ampliamente si les interesan los temas filósoficos, interpretaciones del universo, el cosmos etc, y también si son escépticos, léanlo y duden de él, ya que creo que ése es el objetivo del "libro".

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que la obra más divulgada de Jodorowsky sin duda, con profundas enseñanzas y reflexiones. Lo leí por primera vez de adolescente y ahora que lo vi en una librería no dudé en comprarlo para que mis hijos lo leyeran. Es una pena que muchas páginas estén tan oscuras que de plano no se puedan leer, al menos en esta tercera reimpresión de Julio de 2017, no recuerdo que el libro que lei hace muchos años tuviera este problema.

[Mario Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A través de la combinación del cómic y la fábula Jodorowsky nos invita a reflexionar sobre distintos temas: el amor, el odio, el éxito, el fracaso, el sentido de la vida, etc.

Sin llegar a caer en posturas religiosas este libro es una invitación a la reflexión.

[Ben Loory · Rating 5 out of 5]

what an uncomfortable position

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Jodorowsky's films and/or his comics with Moebius, this is basically the urtext(orowsky). Love the funky illustrations and the philosophical musings.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny and surprisingly insightful stories!

[Luis De Ita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy bueno, lástima que algunas viñetas no se distinguen por obvias razones del escaneo, por eso le doy 4 estrellas pero realmente es muy buena recopilación de este trabajo.

[Javier Viruete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Varias, fabulas, pensamientos, disgresiones, dogmas y chascarrillos del universo de Jodorowski ilustradas de forma terrible. Solo para muy cafeteros del autor

[Daniel Ottenwalder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down! I love jodorowsky for his creativity. Fables are universal and words are trash don’t get caught in the semantics.

[Keso Gagoshidze · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh! mystic paradise, breathtaking mind of jodorowsky!

[David Uclés · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta recopilación de viñetas de Jodorowsky es magnífica. Cada página muestra una diferente y, mediante un trazo rápido y violento, aunque no exento de color y de imágenes expresivas, te inculca a su manera una enseñanza. Es una consecución de metáforas brillantes y muy sugerentes. Un texto lleno de parábolas preciosas. Además, por su carácter compilatorio, se puede consumir en cualquier momento. Junto a «La sonrisa etrusca» y a «Alfanhuí», es uno de los libros que más regalo.

[Bruno Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sabiduría contenida en pocas páginas, muchas enseñanzas zen que pueden parecer difíciles para quien no está relacionado con esto, pero definitivamente arrojará luz sobre preguntas que no sabes que tienes.

Lo malo que tiene esta edición es la calidad de la impresión, supongo que quisieron respetar lo más posible la impresión original de las fábulas (papel periódico) pero no modificaron colores y hay muchos cuadros donde es imposible leer texto negro sobre fondo púrpura. Creo que podrían revisar y mejorar eso en futuras reimpresiones.

[Fernanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

¡Oh que buen libro! Me tomó tiempo terminar de leer todas las fábulas porque necesitaba procesar pocas y lentamente para tomar lo importante de ellas. Escribí muchas frases bonitas e inspiradoras .Creo que Jodorowsky tiene una mente fascinante, sin duda es un sabio de alguna manera, jamás he leído otra cosa de el ni he visto sus películas, pero quizás viene siendo momento de buscar un libro aparte que me muestre un poco más de el. En lo que respecta a este libro, ¡me encantó!

[jeremy bradner · Rating 5 out of 5]

picked this up in mexico had no idea it existed. i knew that jodorowski made comics in the 60s but didn't know they had them all put together. these are really great. each one page about some spiritual matter with some made up guru and a guy who's legs are always hurting from so much meditation. a lot of other strange characters, too. good naive art.

[Marisoul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vacilador.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life and journey of a zany guru in Mexico. Not really my cup of tea in terms of the art style but was an enjoyable read to enhance my Spanish nonetheless.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jodorowsky a modern shaman.