written by Dan Millman
art by Andrew Winegarner
New World Library
Millman tells the tale of how he goes from a self absorbed undergrad obsessed with girls and gymnastics to a peaceful warrior at one with the universe. With the help of his mentor who he calls Socrates and others like Joy and Joseph, Millman is able to slough off his closed mind and body and achieve true awareness.
As I was reading this, I wondered if Millman had seen Star Wars too many times. Socrates is the Obi Wan trying to guide the impetuous Luke Skywalker/Dan Millman to look beyond himself to understand the big picture. Socrates tells Millman, “I call myself a warrior - a peaceful warrior - because the important battles we face happen inside us. And even now, as we speak, invisible forces - forces of light and darkness - are fighting a great battle.” And other gems like, “right now you’re like a fly sitting on a TV screen - you see the dots in front of you, but you’re missing the big picture.” The book is filled with dialog like this.
The artwork is pen and ink. It’s pretty good but somewhat undeveloped. Certainly not done in a superhero style. But the figures, backgrounds, and layouts are not anything special. The end biographical sketch of thew artist Andrew Winegarner mentions that he is working on an adaption of Gilgamesh. I’d be curious to see it to find out if he has learned anything from this project.
This book is not a classic and is certainly an optional buy for any library. Our copy of the text version of Peaceful Warrior has circulated over 30 times, so some people are interested in it. I’m not sure if people who read comics would be the same type of people.
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