Where are the Sci/Fi Comics?

[ray gower]

Where has all the Science Fiction gone?

Not so many years ago, well 40 if we are splitting hairs, the racks of newsagents were groaning with comics, from Action to Victor. And almost all contained at least one Science Fiction/Fantasy strip of some sort.

Now we are left, at least in the UK, with Marvel titles (only from small independant newsagents) and a few stump comics like Thunderbirds cashing in on the shows popularity. Neither are exactly top line masterpieces, either in graphics or story.

Even the mighty DC titles are now resticted to what appear to be anthologies, only available from larger bookshops and specialists fantasy stores, along with the ghastly Manga books.

Are there no genuine Sci/Fi comics/strips left?
Even better ones that run a variety of stories, like the old Action or Eagle?

Please feel free to list any titles here.

 

[Bayleaf48]

I know there's the 'Star WArs' comic, but unfortantely it's the same situatin as waht you've said with the 'Thunderbirds' comic

 

[ray gower]

There are other fan-rags, like Star Trek as well. But they hardly qualify either!

Surely there is something original out there, for the film world to pick up in forty years time?

 

[Bayleaf48]

True, it is a shame that there's nothing like the ones there used 2 be around now a days

 

[Tabitha]

You raise a good question there Ray, although it is arguable that most superhero comics published by DC and Marvel could be described as SciFi. Think about all the big heroes (at least those with powers), generally speaking they acquired their special abilities via some experiment gone wrong.

Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider, The Hulk was caught in a gamma radiation, The Fantastic Four were affected by some kind of cosmic radiation. Superman, The Martian Manhunter, Starfire and many other heroes and villains are aliens.

Those are some examples, but you get my drift. You can compare scifi tv and comics storylines quite closely and find the same devices being used and re-used (time travel, body-swapping, robots, dead or ghostly characters.

I think you might have been implying something else with your original post, but I am not sure what - I can't really think of many SF strips - what do you mean by 'old Action'? Do you mean the DC Superman comics? I know they used to tell a variety of different stories, rather than focusing on the kryptonian main attraction.
I haven't picked up a 2000AD in a very long time, but the stories in that always had a very SF bent, when they weren't more fantasy-based, anyway.

 

[ray gower]

Actually, apart from the folorn hope that somebody would prove me wrong, I think there are two points here:-

The first is that there appears to be little Sci/Fi or fantasy available in comics, or even comics, period.

The second is that what there is, is horribly narrow in appeal. Fan Rags suffer most of the same problems as Marvel and DC publications, i.e. they are expensive, single theme, repetitive and unless coming close to qualifying as rabid fan, become boring after a few a months. (I suppose the former do manage to leave out doomladen, so they are one up there)
I can only think of one comic that does at least attempt to offer some variety in what it produces, 2000AD.

When I was a kid, there were well over a dozen genuine different comics. If you were not a fan of Dan Dare, then there was always Millicent to make you laugh and they were both in the Eagle. One the hieght of Science Fiction, the other silliness and not Sci/Fi in anyway.
One could grow from one type of story to another, or read all of them, either way one would be entertained for a couple of days.
I wonder just how many kids grew up to read and enjoy a range of real book genres because they started with a humble comic, or found they enjoyed Science Fiction because they used to read it alongside Alf Tupper in the Victor?
Let's face it the only reason why anybody would start buying X-Men comics now is because they have seen the film. Not because they wanted to entertain/educate the kids!

 

[Bayleaf48]

True & that is a shame no end

:blush:

 

[rde]

there are many, many science fiction comics out there; I suppose it's just a matter of knowing where to look.

2000AD has already been mentioned. I picked up an issue recently for old time's sake, and it wasn't very good. However, there's more than a hint of the nostalgia in that decision; when I think back to the old issues, they published some severe junk in those days, too. I've got the first 800 issues in the attic; must dig 'em out and see if the stories I really liked - DR & Quinch, Strontium Dog, (early) Sláine, etc were as good as I rememeber.

Other stuff:
Transmetropolitan - best comic ever. In fact, DC's Vertigo imprint is entirely dedicated to non-superhero SF.

Metal Hurlant - que, you ask. Le bande dessine Francais? Non, mes amis. Heavy Metal in comic form, with its original french title. No idea why. But it's a global effort; not just relying on the US. Kurt Busiek is in the current issue if you're determined to read US writers.

I could go on. Suffice to say that there are many, many science fiction comic out there. Most of them are terrible, but, y'know, Sturgeon's law...


edited for language rg

 

[ray gower]

I wonder if I'm looking on the wrong shelves?

Comics were things you could give to kids to read. Even the likes of Superman, I would not have minded my 11 year old grandson reading back then. Hell, I was eleven and I was reading them!

I have managed to pick up a few copies from here and there of current(ish) comics, mainly from bookshops and almost always American. There is no way I would be prepared to let kids read them. So perhaps I should be watching the top shelves, beside Play Boy and Men Only.

Transmet is a case in point, as I've browsed it properly now. It is not childrens literature, not even literature IMHO, certainly not light entertainment.

I don't know the ones you quoted, RDE, so please correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect they are as depressing as the ones I have found by ex-childrens comic producer DC.

In short the remains of what is left, are only really suitable for adults with megalomanic and/or apocolyptic tendencies.

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

Well...I supose when your looking through Americanized comics theres not alot of Sci/fi or Fantasy...but when you turn to Manga (Japanese Comics for those who dont know) its mostly sci/fi and Fantasy stuff.

 

[ray gower]

Never been terribly impressed by Manga. The ones I have looked at are everybit as bad as the recent American stuff.

So, please, point me at some I can give to the Grandkids, that do not involve the end of the world and parents sucking on teeth?

 

[rde]

It's become a cliche that 'comics aren't just for kids any more'; since Watchmen came out (about 1985, I'd say), that headline appears more frequently than Simpsons reruns. Doesn't make it any less true, of course.

Transmet, and indeed most of the comics I read today, are aimed at adults. Vertigo is DC's adult imprint; it unquestionably isn't aimed at kids. DC's main line of superhero titles, however, is just as wholesome as it was in the days of yore. Or at least it was a couple of years ago, when I last read one.

Comics haven't gotten ruder; they've gotten broader. Superman - at least, the last time I read it - is just as cheesy and kid-oriented as it always was. To be sure there are occasional 'mature' one-shots or limited series, but the fourteen thousand regular superman titles that are out there are still aimed at kids.

If you want good science fiction that's also aimed at the younger reader, then you may be out of luck. It does appear occasionally, but more by accident than anything else. However, this is nothing new; you've never been able to get non-superhero science fiction that's had broad appeal. Even 2000AD has gone down the 'dark'n'gritty'n'now-with-added-rudies' road; possibly because it's aimed at people who are long-time readers rather than kids (or rather parents of kids).

I'll have a gander at my collection later; if I find anything wholesome, I'll let you know.

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

*head hurts from having to read so much*:dead:

 

[ray gower]

Originally posted by rde
It's become a cliche that 'comics aren't just for kids any more'; since Watchmen came out (about 1985, I'd say), that headline appears more frequently than Simpsons reruns. Doesn't make it any less true, of course.

If this is the case, then are the comic producers catering for a dying market in exclusively producing comics for those that remember the Silver Age?

Surely most of those readers are more in line with myself and have grown out of the whole thing?

As a kid I bought a lot of comics. Okay, they hadn't invented Play Station and television for kids ended at 17:30 with Magic Roundabout, so calls on our time were limited.
I now buy very few. In fact I have looked for and bought more in the last few months, since this forum started, than I have since my son was a child twenty odd years ago.

Unless one was brought up with something like them as a child, they are difficult to develop a taste for, when one is thirty.
If they are not producing for the fertile minds of youngsters, to get them hooked, then what state will the market be in another ten/twenty years when we start dying out?

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

I agree with Ray Grower...even as a teen comics are hard to develop a taste for if you didnt like them as a child.

 

[rde]

If this is the case, then are the comic producers catering for a dying market in exclusively producing comics for those that remember the Silver Age?

No. You're (to a certain extent) confusing the medium with the message. In the silver age era, the only science fiction comics that were spandex-free came from EC; Frederick Wertham (a pox on his firstborn) put paid to them with his appalling 'Seduction of the Innocent'; reading it was like watching a car crash.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Comics haven't changed that much since then; the only difference is a broader range. Alan Moore is writing intelligent superhero comics (like he's always done), Frank Miller just gave us a (pretty bad) sequel to his excellent Dark Knight Returns (essential reading)... comics are better now, and catering for more readers, than any time in history.

I don't understand what your problem is.

 

[ray gower]

Originally posted by rde
Where was I? Oh, yeah. Comics haven't changed that much since then; the only difference is a broader range. Alan Moore is writing intelligent superhero comics (like he's always done), Frank Miller just gave us a (pretty bad) sequel to his excellent Dark Knight Returns (essential reading)... comics are better now, and catering for more readers, than any time in history.

If this is the case- Then where are they?

Certainly not in the newsagents. Bookshops only carry a very small selection and most of those are not what I'd call broad in appeal.
If you are going to say Fantasy Shops, then please stop there. The nearest one to me is Dublin (120 mile round trip). And I'm not catching a ferry, or trekking to Liverpool (200 mile round trip) to have lumps of the car nicked, just because I fancy a comic book!

You have also quoted Dark Knight- Again a title that hardly has a broad appeal, it is a specialist magazine catering for a small and adult orientated niche.
If you are a fan of Batman, then, yes, they are great. But what is there to draw youngsters, with all the modern calls of easy entertainment towards them, or even get started in the first place?

 

[rde]

I can only speak for Dublin; even excluding the two SF shops in the city, there are numerous newsagents dotted around the city that sell comics. I imagine most cities are in a similar position.
They may not be easy to find, but I've spent the last fifteen years building up a mental map of what can be bought, and where.

So the comics are out there; it's just a matter of finding them.

If you're determined, take out subscriptions. Or find a kind sould who'll mail you a selection. Or take a week off work, and wander around the city looking for the shops that surely exist.

 

[ray gower]

I do know where all the newsagents in Bangor are. All 7 (not including Tesco and Safeway). Also in Llandudno, Aberwrstwyth, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Caernarfon, Mold and Cirencester. Also a good idea as to what they sell.

Apart from the two Sci/Fi stores in the centre of town, where else do you recommend in Dublin?
Are there any within a minor taxi diversion between the ferry and Eircom HQ? Might try and visit them when I go over there next.

 

[rde]

It's been a couple of years since I was there, so I don't know whether it still exists, but there was a comics shop in Dun Laoghaire; in the shopping centre on George's Street.

BTW, Diamond (a huge distributor) have a shop locator; check out http://csls.diamondcomics.com/csls_global.asp .