The Science Fiction Of Comic Books

The science fiction of comic books always fascinated the public. Where else could you read a forty-eight page comic book and find alternate universes or parallel universes? One could read a science fiction short story or a novel, but to see a visual representation of what the writer and artist rendition of foreign life is truly a unique experience. The connection between you and the comic books version of alien life forms or parallel universes can be similar or way off base. That is the beauty of the science fiction of comic books. You never know if the comic books interpretation of alien life and alien technology were meant to persuade you into their way of conceptualizing the unfathomable, or not.

Perhaps it is their version from when they read comic books when they were young. Comic books have a plethora of instances where alien life forms want to destroy the earth. The strange beings seem only to want to destroy and conquer. When a comic book portrays a benevolent species that traveled millennia to reach earth, we are immediately suspicious and resort to violence. In comic books where there are alternate timelines, havoc ensues and the hero or heroes must return to the correct timeline. They were sent there on accident from a science experiment or some other apparently plausible explanation.

The science fiction of comic books tends to bend the current law of physics and stretch some truths to fit neatly into a good explanation. After the ramifications from the story are fully examined, it becomes necessary to find new ways in which to use them in future narratives. Thus, one storyline has many possible outcomes for future comic books.

If a superhero destroys an alien bent on destroying earth and his body dissipates, then you would think the alien is gone. However, matter cannot dissipate. So where is the creature? It seems likely it will be back in the future to reek more wide spread destruction on the unsuspecting populace. On the other hand, it could be a robot that infiltrates machines, and has wrested control from us. Alternatively, it could be ourselves from the distant future that depleted their natural resources so they come back to steal ours. Whatever the reason the strange beings wage warfare with us, or we are beamed to a different reality, the imagination is the clear winner.

Almost every kid sometime or another wanted to take a story they read from a comic book and try some type of experiment. Those kids are the future scientists and perhaps in the meantime, our comic book creators. The science fiction of yesterday becomes the science of tomorrow.

The science may be dubious in comic books but the thrill of pretending you are in the shoes of someone else always held me captive. The comic books will always be filled with science fiction themes and plots based on real science and pseudo science. However, the real magic is that they can implement the two into a comic book, and turn a make believe story into a great work of art that will be remembered for a very long time.