Does anyone reading this have a knowledge of good science fiction graphic novels? I have included Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Captain Confederacy in a class I'm teaching this summer. It's too late to include any others, but I'd like to know of any others for future classes. The only other sci-fi one I really know about, that's any good anyway, is that X\Y chromosone series one, which looked like a hilarious sendup of gender politics. I felt really impressed by V for Vendetta, upon my second reading. What I really liked especially was it's homages to Peter Watkins's Privilege, a movie I have extolled to you before. Take care, guys, and I hope to have longer posts up later this week, it's just I'm working about 70 hours a week.
John
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The Dark Night Returns is pretty good, Sandman is great too but it probably falls more into fantasy or mythology
ReplyDeleteYea, I have Dark Knight Returns, but that's only borderline sci-fi. I guess I'm looking for something either very dystopian or very space-opera (or both). I don't know that space opera is a really good mix with graphic novels anyway, as space operas tend to be information dense.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Oddly, in comics there isn't a whole lot of scifi. You could try Atomic Robo. It is pretty good but not very deep. Akira is pretty awesome, can't believe I forgot that. It is much different than the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe Akira comic is definitely better than the movie and I recommend as well. Post-apocalyptic Japan with bioengineered psychic children who look like old people.
ReplyDeleteThe Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell mangas by Masamune Shirow deal heavily with near future tech, AI, consciousness, cyborgs, androids. Lots of politics in both as well.
Ronin by Frank Miller reminds me very much of Akira exept its definitely American [and very NYC as well] rather than Japanese culturally speaking. As time goes on I actually think Miller may have peaked at Ronin.
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. More sociopolitical satire via near future setting.
The Incal, The Technopriests series and Metabarons written by Alejandro Jodorowsky is space opera/science fantasy - French comics although he is Chilean Polish I think. Jodorowsky is deep and weird.
I heard Paul Pope's stuff is good. I enjoyed 100% and am curious about Heavy Liquid.
I really want to find Chaykin's American Flagg and Time Squared. Haven;t read them yet. I enjoyed Chaykin/Mignola's Iron Wolf-Fires of the Revolution and Chaykin/Garcia Lopez's Twilight, both set in DC's far future settings. Lord Iron Wolf, Tommy Tomorrow, Star Hawkins. Great stuff but hard to find.
Check out the Science Fiction Comics Wiki for other ideas...
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_comics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_graphic_novel
http://stevestiles.com/sfcom.htm
Manga: 2001 Nights - very hard sci fi manga. Venus Wars 1 & 2 [I like 2 better]. Pluto - all about robots.
Adaptations/spin-offs of anime: Cowboy Bebop, Eureka 7, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nausicaa.
Nikopol Trilogy and Dormant Beast by Enki Bilal.
Give Me Liberty by Miller/Gibbons - very satirical near future dystopia.
Global Frequency, FreakAngels and Ocean by Warren Ellis.
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison - Very reminiscent of Philip K. Dick, Illuminatus Trilogy!, Michael Moorcock. Very counterculture of the 1990s.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteThese lists were great and very helpful! I should have also included, though its only marginally sci-fi, those David Britton underground comics about the Holocaust that were banned in Britian (the government thought, probably wrongly, that they were anti-Semitic).