Friday, January 10, 2014

History Of Science Fiction Comic Book Authors

By Marissa Velazquez


The first science fiction comic strip was My Skygack from Mars, which was created by AD Condo. It was a comedy strip that appear in 1907 in the newspapers of the time. Buck Rodgers was the first serious sci-fi comic strip that made it's debut in 1928. This was followed by Flash Gordon and Dan Dare, which was created in the UK. Sci-fi comics are now extremely popular all over the world and the many science fiction comic book authors continue to produce highly imaginative plots and concepts.

Many of the first comics were sci-fi, and the introduction of Superman from Planet Comics gave rise to the super hero sub-genre. During the 1950s, EC Comics published science fiction comics to great success. The storylines and characters began to increase in sophistication, and US sci-fi comics continued into the 1960s with stories for both children and adolescents. By the late 1960s, adults became interested in the genre and began a wave of underground comics.

The Japanese Manga comics originated in the 1950s and the first Manga sci-fi comic strip was Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. Since then Manga has become very popular all over the world. Not all Manga comics are sci-fi but the most well known, such as Ghost in the Shell and Akira are of the sci-fi genre.

The sci-fi graphic novel started to become popular in the 1960s. Graphic novels are able to present sci-fi concepts pictorially that would otherwise be difficult to explain in prose. Robots, mecha, virtual reality and time travel are all themes used in the sci-fi graphic novel. Over time sci-fi graphic novels became increasingly complex with higher and higher levels of sophistication, making them very popular with adults.

In America the majority of sci-fi comics tend to be in the superhero sub-genre. Marvel and DC comics have been extremely successful with their Superman, Spiderman, Thor, Avengers and Incredible Hulk superhero comics. The superhero comics contain many elements of sci-fi, although most of the storylines are set in the present day on earth.

Japanese Manga on the other hand tends to be set in the future or in an alternative universe. Manga is mostly known for Ghost in the Shell, which is set in the future, and Akira, which inspired the film "The Matrix". However, not all Manga is sci-fi

Many sci-fi comics and graphic novels depict the specific science fiction concepts that existed when they were written and capture the zeitgeist of the era. The older and classic sci-fi graphic novels were hand drawn and inked by an artist, whereas modern sci-fi comics often use computer generated images created using photoshop, corel paint, illustrator and paintbucket.

Science fiction is a broad term and many of the best science fiction comic book authors have played around with the genre to create new concepts. Warren Ellis can be credited for creating the cyberpunk concept with his Transmetropolitan series. Alan Moore used the genre to create social commentary with his V for Vendetta, which is set in a Dystopia.




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