IN Lately There aren't many sci-fi comics coming out. Not just exploiting the appropriate surroundings, but seriously thinking about scientific and technological progress and the place of man in it with all his weaknesses, shortcomings and strengths. Fortunately, not everything is so sad and several science fiction comics have appeared, on the one hand, so different in design, plot and approach, but, on the other hand, common in one thing - travel to alternative universes. Read about them in our review.
Black Science
Running through the poisonous jungle. Chase. Precipice, despair, and now one of the heroes dies! And we didn’t even know the name.
“Black Science” throws you into the thick of things and immediately punches you in the gut. Events are developing rapidly. What was it? We'll have to figure it out throughout the entire comic, but many mysteries will remain in limbo - for now the publishing house " Fiction Book Club» has released only the first volume, and Image has already published 5 volumes of books in the original, and at least three more are expected.
This is another story about traveling to alternate worlds where everything goes wrong. Disgraced scientist Grant McKay, commissioned by a corporation, creates a machine to open a portal to the Multiverse. One day, she accidentally transports not only the scientist and his team, but also his children, as well as the embittered supervisor Kadir, who is also the scientist’s former classmate, to another world. Immediately upon arrival in another world, the machine breaks down: it can no longer be controlled by itself, but every few hours it restarts and sends everyone nearby further into the next world, but no one knows what it will turn out to be and when they will return home.
What "Black Science" really does well is Rick Remender's ability to build a plot and play with time and space. The past is revealed in small doses in flashbacks (where would we be without them) on behalf of different characters, and the mosaic, fueling interest, gradually begins to take shape, although with each new story it becomes clear to the reader: there are no indispensable villains or heroes. Everyone has their own skeleton in their closet, genius does not mean good character (or at least loyalty to a spouse), malice can be justified, and anyone could commit sabotage.
In the present, the heroes are faced with trials, it is almost always action, and the tension grows spasmodically from one tragedy through a small exhalation to another. Starting from a world inhabited by intelligent frog magicians, through an alternative history of the First World War, in which Europe was attacked by techno-advanced Indians, the heroes find themselves in a kind of interdimensional hub for a short respite and then on to the planet of monkeys, which are inhabited by greenish glowing souls. Each world is unique and unusual, something you rarely see in comics or on screen, but, on the other hand, throughout there are clear references to the historical eras of mankind: Aztec ziggurats of frogs, ancient Roman surroundings of monkeys, typical Cherokees (albeit with a blaster).
And here Matteo Scalera tried his best - a brilliant stylization of retrofuturism in modern understanding! He not only showed creativity in creating new worlds and filling them with recognizable elements, but also drew truly alive and truly different characters. His style - angular, sharp, dynamic - is perfect for action or combat scenes, but also creates the right tension in calm shots. Dean White gave the comic an appropriate atmosphere with his color palette - purple, blue and red shades predominate here. Overall, at first glance the drawing feels European (Scalera is Italian) and inspired by a classic sci-fi film.
But what’s annoying about “Black Science” is the abundance of internal monologues of the characters, who regularly sigh about something and suffer mentally. These inserts hover like annoying flies on almost every panel. It seems that we could try to find a different way of conveying the states and motives of the characters.
Ei8ht (8axis)
At the end of last year, the publishing house White Unicorn” released the comic book “Eight” with a very unusual story about time travel. The fact is that the authors of the series, Rafael Albuquerque and Mike Johnson, in addition to the standard dimensions of time (past - present - future), added a fourth one - Meld. Everything that happens in this very Meld (even though it looks like Tatooine - everything is in the snow) exists outside of time, and therefore a kind of cocktail is formed there from everything that we love so much in science fiction: dinosaurs, Nazi cultist villains, technologies of the future and the past , and all this is filled with riddles and secrets, including those due to memory loss.
To make it easier for the reader to navigate the events, each timeline has its own color scheme, pre-designated at the beginning of the comic. Colors not only make it easier to navigate the comic, but also serve to create the appropriate atmosphere. Thus, Meldovsky yellow conveys the madness of this strange place and creates a feeling of constant tension, which contrasts with the blue of the future - a cold and indifferent place. On the other hand, the past is painted in green colors - there is a riot of prehistoric vegetation, and the frenzy of relatively young life, and the present is purple, a sign of an unstable, ever-changing state.
Yes, some people won’t necessarily like such simple colors (there really aren’t many of them here) and rough designs, and that’s understandable. The fact is that Rafael Albuquerque (by the way, the artist of the famous “ American vampire”) initially created “Eight” as a webcomic and only then decided to remake it and publish it on paper. This explains the artistic limitations. But one cannot deny the wonderful and quite successful stylization - we are again looking at an attempt to play retrofuturism. With this and all the “wobbly-wobbly time-time stuff”, the comic “Eight” is similar to “Black Science”. They are worth reading together.
The story is actually short, the comic is read quickly, and the ending comes somehow simply and suddenly. It seems that somehow everything used to happen in these strange science fiction films of the last century, after a while you even get the feeling that you have watched one of them.
It is surprising that despite 4 parallel lines, the story in the comic is complete and does not require continuation. All riddles and secrets have logical explanation and receive it by the last release. It’s a little strange that the publication “ White Unicorn” is worth one on the spine, although there is no news about a sequel. Not that this series needed it, but a new standalone story in this universe would be a fun read.
Paper Girls
Paper Girls is a comic by Brian Vaughn and Cliff Chan about newspaper delivery girls in small town, in which very strange things begin to happen in the midst of Halloween. It's surprising that this comic came out in the same year as the Stranger Things series, because they are similar in many ways. The action takes place in the eighties, with children, in a small town and no one understands what is happening around.
If the first two comics are a friendly wink to the “hard” science fiction of the 60s and 70s, then Paper Girls is undeniably “Spielberg”. They have heroes-chrononauts invading other worlds, and here our ordinary world is experiencing an invasion from the outside, and all the action takes place against the backdrop of traditional American life with all these Hershey's chocolate bars, the socio-political situation and stupid fashion in clothes.
The art by Cliff Chan is excellent, the colors by Matt Wilson create a fantastic and even phantasmagoric atmosphere, and, most likely, it is thanks to them that the series is still very well received. Things are completely different with Brian Vaughn's script. Vaughn is famous for the comic book Saga, which he collected great amount various awards since 2013, largely thanks to the script. Unfortunately, Paper Girls can't boast of this. The overall plot is interesting, but for some reason Vaughn spends very little time developing the characters and instead throws us one twist after another without having time to explain them. Only in the first volume will we be shown dinosaurs, time travelers, nanorobots and, judging by the pace of their appearance, this is just the beginning.
The series deservedly won awards for “Best New Series” and “Best Artist (Sketches)” in 2016 and could become a new “”, but for this Vaughn will need to change his approach to the plot a little.
The comic continues to come out. However, it was not published in Russian.
05.10.2015, 16:00- Vladislav Miktum 10056 26
The idea for this article originated with me a long time ago, but the scale of the problem raised frightened me for a long time. The further my thoughts went, the clearer the lack of my own competence became, so I tried my best to find reasons not to start writing.
This damned topic haunted me day and night, at work and in rare moments of rest, treacherously slipped through during friendly conversation and was read between the lines in the price tags for fruit. Fate itself forced me to gather the remnants of courage lying in ruins and finally decide to write a few words on the issue of the conflict between classic science fiction and what we meet in comics. I present these couple of words to the esteemed public of Spidermedia.
Consideration of such nuances is a topic not at all typical for ordinary media. This is how SpiderMedia differs from ordinary media, and together with a couple of other sites, it represents the backbone and vanguard of resources dedicated to mass culture. Well, if not now, then it will happen soon. Few people know about this, however, but not everyone is allowed into heaven either.
From the past to tomorrow
Historically, the audiences of comic book and science fiction fans overlap. It’s no wonder, science fiction is an important cultural phenomenon that spans literature, painting, cinema, and continues to haunt us in comics and video games. It is logical that people who are involved in pop culture will give money both for ordinary novels dedicated to space adventures, and for pictures diluted with text in a sweet setting. However, these genres have not only historical parallels in their development, but also diametrically opposed features. The moment is not the most obvious, so let's try to sort it out together.
The idea to show how different science fiction in its classical sense is from what we see in comics came to me after studying materials related to new wave in science fiction. Representatives of this movement (Zelazny, Moorcock, Aldiss) sought to break the connection between the literary genre of fantasy and the comic book format, which discredits the artistic value of this very genre. The popularity of pulp fiction and picture books had a significant impact on the status of fantastic literature, creating a stereotype for it as second-rate teenage literature. And nothing could be done about it, because in ninety-five cases out of a hundred this stereotype was confirmed in a fresh magazine with a kitschy cover.
Science fiction at that time (and even today) largely consisted of low-quality books about flat, merciful protagonists saving the world that happened to be at hand. Even after the genre was significantly shaken up by such lumps of the Golden Age as Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke, the amount of bad science fiction did not decrease. On the contrary, in the wake of the popularity of science fiction magazines and a couple of good writers, hundreds of various mediocrities surfaced, continuing to feed the public with feeble-minded literary miscarriages.
The new wave influenced not only the development literary genre Sci-Fi, but also on the approach to its critical analysis. To this day, academic scholarship on science fiction virtually ignores the existence of the comic book. The most that picture books receive is mention of their immediate existence.
Contemporary writer and literary scholar Lance Oulsen admitted that he did not read science fiction as a child, except for “terrible comics.” He is not the only one who holds this assessment of the contents of colorful magazines. Voicing negative judgments out loud is bad manners today; you will also make yourself look like a prude in the society of the victorious post-post-modernity. But chuckles and condescending intonation inevitably slip through if in the literary community the conversation somehow turns to comic books.
The reason for this attitude goes back centuries. Which sci-fi comic will be named first? If I knew the answer... But the English-speaking population of the planet will probably mention Flash Gordon. The comic book about a brave blond, abandoned by a whim of fate to the crazy planet of the autocrat Ming, began publishing in 1934 and gave rise to a real cult. This wonderful comic (let's just pretend Dynamite doesn't exist), like its big brother Buck Rogers, has defined many visual solutions in the space opera genre, set the canons that haunt us in all sorts of “Star Wars”. Alex Raymond not only invented an American pop cult icon, but also inspired many future generations of artists with his drawing.
Having absorbed all the best that science fiction from the heyday of the pulp era could provide, “Flash Gordon” could not get rid of its shortcomings - flat characters and clichéd dialogues. They became the reason for the eviction of comics from the framework in which there is a place for serious cultural discourse.
Reading Flash Gordon, we are captivated by the confrontation between a valiant hero and a sinister dictator. We watch how the strength and courage of our hero helps him climb to the top of the world in spite of everything that inhabits this world. But a psychological portrait cannot consist of only positive characteristics. As the most striking example for comparison, I would like to cite the novel “1984” by George Orwell, which became a cult work being, in fact, science fiction. Orwell showed both the functioning of the authoritarian mechanism and human behavior in the depths of this machine for erasing personality. In the same way, Clark, Lem, Dick placed the human world in completely unusual conditions, and modeled the behavior of very real people in it (like me or you), and did not describe the mythical Übermensch. And this myth-making was the problem with almost all old comics.
Alex Raymond borrowed many elements from ancient Roman culture
But we got ahead of ourselves a little. Science fiction also did not immediately prove its right to be called literature. Just as Howard didn't think much about the psychological depth of his Conan, the creators of pulp comics didn't pay any attention to such trifles as authenticity. The genre of hand-drawn stories did not die out in those distant 30s, but continued its existence and development. Still ignored by serious institutions, he opened up new opportunities and approaches. Will Eisner has shown that by using consistent images, you can touch on topics that are important and personal. Jack Kirby showed How sequential images can be used.
While the comic was growing its narrative power, the British Invasion was approaching. The screenwriters who came to the new world were finally able to valiantly use the tools accumulated by their predecessors. But professional critics did not rush to lick the pages of new issues of comics. And it cannot be said that the blame lies on the shoulders of some kind of universal injustice. Most of the British people have a preference for fantasy, and most fantasy is ignored as stubbornly as our dear Comic Books. The purpose of Fantasy is to describe something that cannot exist because it cannot exist in principle. Good fantasy does not reduce flights of fancy to mechanistic elements like manna or, Ilivatar forbid, fireballs. And with this task, with balancing on the crest of a surreal wave, such masters as Moore and Gaiman did an excellent job... Moreover, Winsor McCay showed us such a flight, such turns of human thought that contemporaries simply get sick while reading.
Looking for a fantastic way out
Different authors, different eras, different approaches. But it seems to me that the reason for the absence of a comic book star on science fiction Olympus lies in us, the readers. In film studies there is a concept “exploitation film", it is usually used to describe low-budget films whose creators are trying to make money by speculating on the popular theme of zombies, sex, fascists or zombie-fascists having sex. Like this niche cinema, most comics are exploitation of superheroes, violence, monsters and etc. The paradox is that readers and authors like this approach, and therefore there is no need to change it.
Not only the genre is exploited, even the style of “those comics” that everyone read in childhood becomes an effective means of attracting attention. We are faced with a vicious circle of bad graphic stories. Previously, they were made because they wanted to eat, and good authors could not be driven into the industry with a stick. Now they are made to please the public, who enjoyed still those bad comics. Phew, you can just go crazy.
After the release of the acclaimed Watchmen and Maus, it became harder to ignore comics. And in order to understand whether novels in pictures can claim the title of serious science fiction, let’s finally give this very science fiction a definition.
The term “fantasy” was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century by Charles Nodier, based on his work “On the Fantastic in Literature.” Looking into an old and dusty encyclopedia in search of a definition of the genre, we will find the following lines: “A specific method of artistic representation of life, using an artistic form-image (object, situation, world), in which elements of reality are combined in a way that is, in principle, unusual for it - incredible, “wonderful,” supernatural.” Such a vague framework could give us a great free hand if we weren’t so uninterested in fantasy and fairy tales. We are serious guys who came here for science fiction, what is it? his peculiarity?
One of the main differences between science fiction, emphasized by researchers, is the function it performs of scientific foresight. There are many examples of how scientific intuition and interest in the subject being studied helped to predict and bring closer real discoveries. It is enough for us that fantastic fiction must have a clear theoretical basis. And if nothing confuses us in the world created by the author, everything seems sufficiently reliable, then this is a sign of good science fiction.
There is no reason to believe that the comics space is an obstacle to the creation of quality science fiction. The cocoon of capitalism prevents us from turning from a chrysalis into a butterfly more quickly. In order for the series to continue its publication, someone must not only read, but also buy new issues. Comics with bright characters and original storytelling sell well, but this recipe does not include a competent picture of the world. As a result, we are faced with good story, but bad Sci-Fi. If you are one of those perverts who burdened yourself with reading Lemov’s Science Fiction and Futurology, you can easily imagine how elegantly he would not leave a wet spot on the popular “Saga”, “East of West”, “Prophet”.
It would be worth mentioning exceptions that an author who strives for high-quality Sci-Fi can look up to, but nothing comes to mind other than the Planetes manga. It talks about space debris cleaners, and the prospects for human space exploration are shown in fairly meticulous detail. Masters like Bilal and Mobius created wonderful visual feasts. Geniuses, of course, but today we are talking about completely different things.
Good Sci-Fi must ride the edge of the possible mode. It should not only surprise magical pictures, but also provide an opportunity to reflect on the new prospects that have opened up. Comics need time for this. Today, psychologism and realism are becoming a mandatory element of any story, even a superhero one. This will likely be followed by experiments with scientific authenticity, the search for precise syntax when describing the world of a work, and clear thinking through the sociological side of tomorrow. In any case, I really want to believe this. Until that moment, we will continue reading “bad” science fiction comics, because they do not become less interesting and exciting.
LITERARY AND ARTS MAGAZINE Chief Editor Yu. Petukhov Alexander Chernobrovkin. KINSLER DIVES (fantastic adventure story) V. Panfilov. MOTHER (story) Alexey Kudryashov. A TALE ABOUT TEMPTATION (story) N. Yu. Chudakova, S.N. Chudakov. PANOPTICUM. NOOSPHERIC THEATER (article) Andrey Ivanov. WITCH HUNT (story) Cover design by S. Atroshenko
Magazine "Adventures, Science Fiction" 3 " 92 Yuri Petukhov
LITERARY AND ART MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Yu. Petukhov Yuri Petukhov. STAR'S REVENGE (continuation of the novel) Anatoly Fesenko. STEP FROM DARKNESS (horror story) Cover design by S. Atroshenko.
Front title design by S. Atroshenko, illustrations by R. Afonin.
Magazine "Adventures, Science Fiction" 1 " 92 V Andreev
LITERARY AND ART MAGAZINE Editor-in-chief Y. Petukhov I. Voloznev. THE TREASURES OF SCHEHERAZADE I. Voloznev. HELL ROULETTE A. Chernobrovkin. RAT DEVIL B. Andreev. RESERVATION A. Logunov. A. Logunov STAYED THERE. UNDER THE CONSTELLATION OF OCTAPOD B. Potapov. GADENYSH N. Yu. and S. N. Chudakov. ATLANTIS, ATLANTS, PRAATLANTS
Search - 92. Adventures. Fiction Mikhail Nemchenko
“...The crowd fell silent, as if bewitched by the gloomy sounds of savage words. Sparks from the torches that were burning with all their might burst into the darkness, the heavy side of the altar turned fantastically purple, reflecting the flames blowing in the wind. - Let's praise Satan! Let's praise! - the man in white shouted shrilly and imperiously. - Let's quench his thirst! - Blood! - there was a loud gasp throughout the clearing. - Blood!..” What is this, a scene from time immemorial? Alas, no... The action of the opening story “Search-92” by A. Krasheninnikov “Rite”, from which this excerpt is taken, unfolds essentially in our days, or rather...
Fans of Russian science fiction!
New stories, novellas and articles by Sergei Lukyanenko and Evgeniy Lukin, Leonid Kaganov and Yulia Ostapenko, Sergei Chekmaev - and the creative duo G. L. Oldie!
All this - and much, much more - in the new collection "Fantasy".
Undefined Undefined
Fans of Russian science fiction! Here is another collection of the popular almanac “Fantastika”, which has been published with constant success for nine years now! This collection includes not only new works by Sergei Lukyanenko and Vasily Golovachev, Pavel Amnuel, Viktor Nochkin, Alexey Korepanov, Yulia Ostapenko and other masters of the genre, but also stunning, ironic journalism by Evgeny Lukin and stories of young talented science fiction writers who are just gaining popularity and glory.
Science Fiction 2009: Issue 2. Snakes of Chronos Ivan Kuznetsov
Fans of Russian science fiction!
Here is another collection of the popular almanac “Fantastika”, which has been published with constant success for nine years now!
This collection includes not only new works by Sergei Lukyanenko and Vasily Golovachev, Pavel Amnuel, Viktor Nochkin, Alexey Korepanov, Yulia Ostapenko and other masters of the genre, but also stunning, ironic journalism by Evgeny Lukin and stories of young talented science fiction writers who are just gaining popularity and glory.
Comics often overlap with books. Even the simplest graphic novel can deliver incredible levels of fantasy. Create mind-blowing worlds, thanks to the talent of the artist, and populate it with a variety of exciting creatures, generated by the unbridled imagination of the screenwriter. A perfectly normal statement, and yet comics are often dismissed by science fiction fans as inferior, unable to even come close to the level of a great novel.
Barnes & Nobles has collected six comics for fans of a variety of science fiction genres. You can safely take any book from this list, read it, and then ask for more.
Space wars!
"Saga" by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
For fans of: the series “Far Away in the Universe”, “Infinity War” by Joe Haldeman;
She is from the planet Landfall, a vast world known for its advanced technology. He is from the small moon Crown, where magic prevails over technology. He has horns. She has wings. In the epic space drama, Alana and Marco, two fighters from rival nations caught in a brutal interstellar war, are forced to go on the run after falling in love and having a child. Their task: to protect their newborn daughter Hazel at all costs, and fate throws them to amazing alien worlds. And in the midst of a breathtaking spectacle (and bad guys with televisions for heads who are on the trail) - the story of a family, with all the strong and weaknesses and victims. It's not a romance novel per se, but Alana and Marco have already become one of the most popular sci-fi couples of all time.
Apocalypse!
Low by Rick Remender and Greg Tochini
For fans: “The Bunker: Illusion” by Hugh Howie, “Songs of a Distant Land” by Arthur C. Clarke, “The Scar” by China Miéville;
Billions of years in the future, Earth's Sun has entered its next stage: expanding into a red dwarf star that will eventually engulf the Earth and most the entire system. In Low, the Earth's surface has been uninhabitable for thousands of years, and two underwater cities fight for the remaining resources as probes search the stars for habitable planets. But there is less and less hope. This impressive setting acts as the backdrop for the story of the Kane family. In the water apocalypse, they experience a terrible tragedy, but continue to hope for a bright future. In fact, they are practically the only ones who have not yet plunged into the abyss of despair and complete decadence. The book has underwater mutants and pirates, but at the end of the day, it's a personal story about never giving up.
Satire!
Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentina De Landro
For fans of: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood;
Nowadays fantasy comics, which have never been known for their love of female characters, are increasingly putting them at the forefront. In this case, in the near future, humanity has found the answer for unruly women: a space prison. A funny, cruel and absolutely feminist book tells about an unusual women's prison. At once an homage and a parody, with the spirit of old prison movies (with a dash of HBO's Prison of Oz thrown in), it's a biting social critique that loudly expresses outrage at the way we now treat women who don't want to follow the rules. At the center of one of the most enjoyable moments: Penny Roll, one of the best supporting characters in science fiction. She's big, black and loud, and incredibly, almost heroically, shameless.
Tabloid fiction!
Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov
For fans of: Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, especially John Carter;
Here we cheated a little. You can argue for a long time that this book is as superheroic as it is fantastic. But Mark Millar's story of an old man called back to glory borrowed more from Buck Roger than Superman. Duke McQueen is a space hero similar to John Carter, who once saved the planet Tantalus. Now, widowed and old, he lives quietly on Earth and even his children do not believe his stories about interplanetary adventures. They simply brush him off and better days far behind until Tantalus needs help again. A very subtle but energetic story about a man who has a new chance to kick some alien asses.
Monsters!
The Wake by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy
For fans: “The Thing,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne;
Another book with a pair of well-written female characters heading into the underwater depths, but The Wake does things a little differently than Low. Here we are talking about scientific failures (with a pinch of “Creatures from the Black Lagoon”) and social responsibility. In a time similar to the present, Dr. Lee Archer leads a team that has captured a strange mermaid-like creature for research. At some point, everything goes wrong and a bloody game of hide and seek begins. The second part of the story takes place two hundred years in the future, where a girl named Leeward lives in a world of consequences of human mistakes.
Robots!
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn
For fans: “Her,” “Positronic Man” by Isaac Asimov;
What's a list of sci-fi stories without at least one robot? After the unsuccessful end of a relationship, Alex receives an unusual gift from his grandmother: a companion android of the latest model Tanaka X-5, capable of simulating human relationships, including sex. Alex quickly falls in love with her new girlfriend, and slightly breaks the strict law in order to open her mind. With it comes self-awareness, but the risk of imprisonment. A new take on the classic science fiction question: what makes a person human, and when does it become unacceptable to treat a creature as an object?
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