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

Science Fiction works I'm teaching this semester, any suggestions?

So, I wanted to talk about my reading lists for the next two semesters. This semester, my reading list includes Fight Club, Native Son, Galatea 2.2, Martin Eden, The Trial, The Sparrow, and The End of the Affair. Only Galatea 2.2 and the Sparrow are science fiction works. Galatea 2.2. is the most serious mainstream literary exploration of the ethical and societal implications of artificial intelligence, while The Sparrow talks about how religion will change in the face of first contact. Both works are quite good, particularly the former, but next semester, I'm seeking to have truly outrageous titles in my course. Right now, I plan to teach Clockwork Orange, Iron Dream, The Kindly Ones, My Holocaust, Black No More, Indian Killer, and Captain Confederacy. As you can see, quite a few of these works are sci-fi (Clockwork Orange, Black No More, Captain Confederacy, Iron Dream). I was wondering if you guys could think of any good works to include? I'm looking for works that will push buttons, that are in some cases (most actually) gratuitously offensive and un-p.c., as I believe these works are the best at promoting meaningful dialogue in class. For instance, My Holocaust is about the academic practice of competitive genocide, in which people fight over "most victimized" status. If you know of any works along those lines, please let me know.

Captain Confederacy

While perusing the web the other day, I came across this fascinating blog. It is an online reprint of a popular but highly (and I mean highly) controversial comic from the late eighties and early nineties, Captain Confederacy. Captain Confederacy tells the story of a world where there was an alternate Civil War, that the South Won. Now, the South is using superheroes to bolster up their propaganda campaigns, with the white superheroes always triumphing over the black ones. Eventually, Captain Confederacy resists, and gets involved in some serious miscegenation action with a black woman. The Southern forces of anti-racism eventually win and establish a more racially inclusive Confederacy.
As you can see, not for the faint of heart, and I can't say there weren't some parts that bothered me a little (and I have a very, very thick skin for such things.). But you got to admire a comic that so recklessly dispenses with both Southern stereotypes of blacks and Northern and minority stereotypes of Southerners. This comic sometimes seems to veer wildly from southern apologetics to daring anti-racist screed, often within the same issue (or even the same page). Whether you think it's racist or not, one thing is quite clear. The writers of Captain Confederacy had real guts, the kind of guts that got Norman Spinrad banned in Germany and Savoy publishers arrested in Britian. I'd rather have that kind of risk-taking than the intellectual conformism of the present, any day.

Category: diversity, multiculturalism