Good sci-fi graphic novels, anyone?

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

Francis Schaeffer and Adolf Hitler: A sci-fi couple made in heaven

Francis Schaeffer was a famous evangelical apologist, who was pretty much a failed art critic, while Hitler was a failed artist, who became a successful politician. I think the contrasting views of these men would make for great sci-fi, especially since Schaeffer is in many ways more similar than most evangelicals would like, to Hitler (he had intense political aspirations that went hand in hand with his religious ones). Tell me what you think though.

Could there ever be a good Creationist sci-fi novel, lol?

What do you guys think? Is good sci-fi dependent on the world being older than 6,000-60,000 years old. Does sci-fi, to be truly effective, need to have deep time. C.S. Lewis's works, particularly Perelandra, sometimes stray close to creationism, but ultimately draw back. Practically all Catholic sci-fi accepts the ancient Earth\evolutionary "hypothesis". The only evangelical sci-fi authors who are even halfway decent are Stephen Lawhead (who accepts the theory of relativity, but is silent on evolution), Kathy Tyers (who will occasionally use evolution in her secular works, though I don't know whether she believes in evolutionary theory), and Chris Walley (who as far as I know does accept evolutionary theory, and definitely accepts an ancient Earth). I think it would probably be easier for an Old Earth Creationist to accept an ancient Earth than a young Earther, but that's just my opinion. Tell me what you think.

Note: I'm not trying to keep harping on the Christian theme, I just haven't had time to watch real (i.e. secular or Catholic) sci-fi, but only read crappy evangelical imitations lately. Ah, such is life.

Charles Williams: Spirit in Bondage?

Just a continuation of my last post on De Sade. It seems to me that not only Williams, but also Lewis, were infected with a certain amount of sexual sadism in their writing. Spirits in Bondage may refer to many things other than Christianity. Lewis's letters to Arthur Greeves could be seen as a possible indicator of this, if we were actually sure Walter Hooper was giving us the complete letters of C.S. Lewis, unadulterated by editorial influence. I am reading Williams's All Hallow's Eve, and the note of sexual oppression in that novel is intense. I really need to stop reading Christian authors for a while, if for no other reason than it giving me a warped vision of contemporary sexual practices.

The Marquis De Sade and Science Fiction

You know it's strange, considering how sadistic some science fiction series are, but I don't know that De Sade has ever been adapted for the science fiction landscape. The one exception to this was the Gor series, a rather sexist seventies and eighties series that emphasized masculine domination and dominance hierarchies. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of De Sade's philosophy (though perhaps I should not say that, as I have only encountered him second-hand, not directly through his works), and if Gor is any indication, I probably would do well to stay away. On the other hand, the obvious sadomasochistic themes in books like Starship Troopers, Lord of the Rings, and pretty much everything Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis ever wrote, makes me wonder how much one can really keep out one's inner De Sade, especially men. On the other hand, I frankly feel watching DeSadian inspired films, such as Hostel and Salo, often dehumanizes people, even when, as in the case of Salo, the writers are politically, rather than sexually, motivated.

The Free Market and Science Fiction

Science fiction has a love affair with the free market, particularly libertarian sci-fi. One needs only read the numerous speeches (I'm tempted to say diatribes) of Johnny Rico's military instructors, to realize this (see Starship Troopers). The love of free markets can also be seen in Pournelle, Larry Niven, and other libertarian authors from the 70's and 80's, as well as the borderline sci-fi of Ayn Rand (Anthem and Atlas Shrugged). It is interesting therefore to note how the genre itself has become an increasingly monopolistic enterprise, with a small number of authors and publishers dominating the field. New blood is often hard to find, unlike in the fifties and sixties, thus slowing innovation, as older authors are preferred, even when their works have begun to lose relevance. Don't get me wrong, I like Asimov and Clarke as much as the other guy does, but I would like to see some more risk-taking being done in the science fiction genre. I'd also like to see more novels that avoid the socialist\libertarian binary for other scenario's, such as Ian Banks post-scarcity economic scenarios. But tell me what you think.

Demons and Science Fiction

One thing I really hate is the use of demons, devils, etc. in science fiction novels and films. I am a religious person, but I think the idea of a personal devil is poisonous nonsense that hurts people. Yet in popular TV programs like Charmed, movies like the Exorcism of Emily Rose, and even an occasional Doctor Who, features these figures. People do not realize that real people suffer exorcisms and are even killed, because of the belief in demons. In Africa, hundreds of children have been hunted down and slaughtered in Pentecostal-inspired witch hunts. Therefore, using demons in popular sci-fi, while not sacrilegious, only inspires certain extremist sects of Pentecostalism and other religions to go out and kill some more people. Or cleanse them of their anorexia (Mercy Ministries Australia), or expel demons through farting (Restoring the Foundations, I kid you not). I'm all for a mythological religion, but that might be taking things a bit too far.

"Kathy Tyers and the Eternal Mutant Super Jew"

If you want to read a pathological evangelical novel, I suggest you pick up Kathy Tyers's Firebird series, a truly scary piece of writing. In this "trilogy" of novels, a spacefaring race of allegorical Jews breaks up into two groups -Messianic, soon-to-be-Christian Jews (the Sentinels) and the Shuhr, evil secular Jews who abort "babies", conduct genetic engineering experiments and are generally very nasty telepaths (the whole Jew as telepath theme that we've talked about earlier). What is sad is that Tyers's seems to be unconscious of her racism and indeed in other works proudly proclaims herself to be an opponent of eugenics-based thinking. Yet, why is it always the non-Christian Jews that end up getting killed off in Christian novels? I realize premillenial dispensationalists may not be able to help this, but it's depressing none the less.

Keyword: politics, Tyers, politics and Tyers

Ray Bradbury, Madeleine L'Engle featured in Imaginarium Geographica?

If you haven't picked it up, I highly encourage you guys to check out the Imaginarium Geographica, which features Jules Verne, C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams as characters. I may be reading into things, but I'm pretty sure the authors of the series also wants to introduce Madeleine L'Engle, Ray Bradbury, and perhaps Lloyd Alexander as well. It's a highly entertaining romp that is surprisingly philosophical for a children's series, as well as an excellent pastiche.Take care! I'll try to post more sometime later this week. Sorry about there being no posts yesterday. I was getting an article ready for publication.

Inklings Fiction Call Out

Hey guys, I just wanted to send a call out to anyone who knows of fiction written about the Inklings. Note, about the Inklings, not by the Inklings. I am currently writing a paper on the Inklings (Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, etc.), so any recommendations would be most welcome. I hope to share the paper with you guys once I get it published. Like any former evangelical, I hope to eventually write a novel about the Inklings, albeit somewhat more critical than the standard evangelical text.

What sci-fi class would you like?

So, I've thought of a number of sci-fi classes to teach eventually, and I wanted to throw the reading lists by you guys:

Science Fiction and Religion: Dune, Case of Conscience, Speaker for the Dead, Canticle of Leibowitz, Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion

Science Fiction and Politics: Neuromancer, Dune, Dune Messiah, That Hideous Strength, Anthem, 1984, Clockwork Orange.

Dystopian Fiction: 1984, Clockwork Orange, After Dachau, Handmaid's Tale, Anthem, Children of Men.

What do you guys think of these lists? Obviously, they lean slightly in the religion direction and perhaps pay too much attention to fascism, a phenomena I have only begun studying again over the last 2 years (I did study it a lot in high school and undergraduate studies as well). I also have a great fondness for the Dune series as a political instruction tool, hence its (potential) overemphasis. Tell me what you think. I might post again on this topic later this week.

Note: Posts may be a little more infrequent for a while, as I am now working two jobs. I plan to continue running the blog though.

It's Alive and Abortion Politics

I recently watched the horror\sci-fi classic, It's Alive. Although I do think the film is somewhat overrated by sympathetic critics, I found much to recommend in it. In particular, I like how it brought up various takes on having children and then shocked you with how the film viewed those takes. For instance, the father in the picture, rather than being fiercely protective of the mutant child, wants it destroyed, a seeming parallel with the abortion debate, but later grows to love it, only for the government to destroy it. There's also a regrettably anti-birth control theme that connects birth control pills to environmental pollutants in a quite schlocky manner. As a film, It's Alive suffers somewhat from an overextension of the script. That being said, there's plenty of ideas to play with here, so I recommend it to any horror fan, especially of the Catholic persuasion (God, I can't believe I'm saying that). Just don't expect the movie to endorse easy pro-life\pro-choice positions.

Keywords: mutant baby, Catholic

Academics in Space

Relatively little television science fiction has dealt with the position of academics in the future. The one exception to this (here's a big surprise) is Babylon 5, which quite humorously took academic pretensions apart in its Season 4, when the academy was used to try to gain legitimacy for President Clark's fascistic regime. Later on, the series shows future academics, 100 years after Sherdian's death, tearing his reputation apart through historical analysis. I have mixed feelings about the latter event. JMS seems to believe in a vague class of people called "heroes" that are above the judgment of mere mortals. I, for one, would welcome such a historical deconstruction, as long as it doesn't lead to another future history (also shown by JMS), in which holograms were used to re-enact history, to the detriment of "fact"! Scary stuff, but since we don't have holodecks right now, not particularly convincing.
I would like to see something like "College 2101" or a show to that effect, but I don't think there'd be a huge audience for it. What do you think?

New Spielberg Science Fiction Series

Has anyone heard about this new Spielberg science fiction series, Falling Skies? It looks potentially intriguing, but I'm hesitant to give Spielberg my endorsement on anything. E.T. and Close Encounters were nauseating in their cuteness and coyness, as was much of his eighties output (of course his non-sci fi is great.). On the other hand, he did a very good job with A.I. I thought, so maybe he can bring another hip political sci-fi show onto the air. Lets hope so.