The White Lama (1988-’93) by Alejandro Jodorowsky & Georges Bess

8/10

The White Lama is a story about a white boy, born in a village in Tibet and becoming the next incarnation of the Lama in Tibetan religion. The kid then grows up to attain enlightenment and to defend the Tibetans in their time of need from encroaching, warlike others with his Buddhist magical superpowers. If that sounds like the worst kind of white saviour story and cheap Orientalist appropriation that you could imagine, then your impression would be right. It is exactly that. And it is no surprise to me at all that this story has been written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, because he would write such a story. That man has perfectly embodied the archetype of the embarrassing grandfather. The one who just can’t get with the times, and who you don’t want to put in the same room with your girlfriend. 

Nevertheless…

I greatly enjoyed reading this comic and even admired it. I’ll try to explain why.

The thing with Jodorowsky is that he has worked with the finest artists Europe had to offer. Georges Bess is a fantastic comics artist and he has travelled extensively in Tibet – a place that occupied him greatly. For this comic, then, I suspected that much of the story was created in close cooperation between writer and artist, and Bess poured his heart into the artwork. The landscapes, the villages, the faces, the carpets, tools and surroundings, the costumes, it all looks fantastic and inspired by actual visits to the place. Each page is also dense with storytelling; it is a very full story for which the panels nearly can’t contain the great vistas and dynamic angles. It’s like a big-screen Western with dramatic landscapes, contained by a small old TV. The story is broken up a quite a few chapters and I found myself savouring the story by reading a short chapter at a time.

The story is ludicrous, but never boring. We’re always in the middle of some wild plotline with demons, sorcerers, double-crossing monks, or even the Abominable Snowman. Gabriel, the young kid, has his origin story. He needs to be trained to become a warrior, which is one of Jodorowsky’s favourite themes. The man’s grasp on Eastern religions seems tenuous (not that I’m an expert), but Jodorowsky is all about Becoming The Warrior, raaaah! whatever that might really mean. Gabriel is put through a harrowing exile and struggle to get there. I don’t know why Jodorowsky is so focused on this warrior idea but it featured heavily in his Metabarons series and his preparations for his Dune film that never came. Another reason why the story is never boring is because this is an unusual fantasy story. Every ten pages or so, something supernatural happens, something with magic in it, and whenever that is the case, the magic is strange, shocking, unsettling even. The visuals are full of liquid-looking magic, floating people and transformations. Thus the comic becomes a memorable one.

Gabriel is unfortunately not a very compelling protagonist. For most of the story he is just this young blonde kid who has to endure a lot of hardships, and he is wise and noble beyond his years which makes him a bit of caricature. It’s such a straightforward Campbellian hero story that Gabriel is annoyingly innocent and competent. He has little personality. Plus, the story follows a very predictable formula. In broad lines you know where it is going. Compared to The Incal and to Jodorowsky’s movies, this is calm, restrained, whereas the appeal of those other works lay in that you had no idea in what madness you found yourself. This is one of his more accessible works, therefore, and leverages the basic power of a hero story and does that well, even though Gabriel the character remains at a distance.

There are a lot of villainous characters in this story, which of course leads to their comeuppance at the end and Gabriel’s rise as a heroic figure of deliverance. The story is a lot more complicated than a simple revenge tale. Jodorowksy wanted to focus on Gabriel’s spiritual enlightenment, and a tale of blood and gore doesn’t fit the Buddhist angle. The moments of violence serve as another lesson to not let pride and hatred consume your life. Particularly forceful is the moment when Gabriel has to let go of the pain that his mother is feeling, and finds his own way forward. He makes mistakes, has to atone for them and tries to find wisdom. Gabriel’s journey follows the age-old wisdom that you first need to fix yourself and learn what matters before you can truly help others. 

I think, deep down, that Jodorowsky wants to be the white lama.

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