It’s that time of year again: comic book fans of the world are uniting in San Diego for ComiCon International. There’s the usual craziness: the adults in superhero costumes, the shameless pimping of books, movies and videogames, etc. etc. But this year (in the first day of exhibition, no less!), there was something extra-special: comics writer Grant Morrison (who has written some of the best comics in the last twenty years) and Deepak Chopra (the Michael Bolton of Eastern Philosophy and co-publisher of a new line of comics) sharing a stage to discuss the spirituality of superheroes. I always wondered whether my chakras were more like Batman or Superman.

However, since I honestly love the comics, I want to point out that it’s not all people who take themselves way too seriously. If you’re looking for something good, try Scrublands, by South African cartoonist Joe Daly. There’s a feel of the good old-fashioned Crumb head comics in some of Daly’s stuff—lordy, he does love the reefer—but he’s reminiscent of nothing so much as a early Dan Clowes, back when he was unafraid of being funny (read the comic about loving art a little too much in the Amazon excerpt and tell me that I’m wrong.)