Re[2]: "Comic Books"

Guru George (gurugeorge@sugarland.idiscover.co.uk)
Wed, 23 Jul 1997 22:16:13 +0100


On Wed, 23 Jul 1997 17:45:15 +0200 (MET DST)
Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:

>On Wed, 23 Jul 1997, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>
>> re: Comic Books with extropian themes.
>>
>> "V for Vendetta", a graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
>
>I agree, it is a very good novel. I also think his novel _Watchmen_
>(with Dave Gibbons) simply has to be mentioned.
>
>It is IMHO one of the most fascinating and multi-layered novels I
>have ever read, a kind of _G=f6del, Escher,Bach_ looking into the
>concept of superheros and morality instead of recursion and
>self-reference. I would say at least two of the protagonists could be
>seen as metaphors for the transhuman (Ozymandias) and the posthuman
>(Dr Manhattan), and some of the issues raised are definitely
>important for us.
>
These are indeed both excellent graphic novels, some of the best in
the field.

But I think you'll find that those who wrote them (Alan Moore, David
Gibbons, and the Scotsman whose name I've forgotten who writes the
'Invisibles', another more recent good comic) are pretty solidly
left-wing. Not stupid, knee-jerk lefties, mind you, (I mean, I have no
doubt that they've probably given libertarian and extropian ideas some
serious consideration) but leftists nonetheless - I'm pretty sure of this
because they come from the 2000AD stable, which was a*very* left-oriented
UK comic all through the 80s, and had a few offshoots (e.g. a comic
called 'Crisis') which were as red as they come. So unless they've
changed an*awful* lot since then ...

Guru George