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<font face="Courier New, Courier">Stefano Vaj wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Am I alone in picking a few
transhumanist hints at least in works above</font></blockquote><br>
Sweet reason, I would hope you're not alone! Warren Ellis' work, in
particular, is replete with transhumanist themes. The first few issues of
Transmetropolitan prominently feature uploading and cryonics, for
instance. Ellis' Ultimate Human is a nicely done recent exploration of
biotech vs. nanotech super-humanization (with the characters of Iron Man
and the Hulk from the Ultimate universe).<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<font face="Courier New, Courier"> (to which I would only add Ronin
by Frank Miller)? Miller's Daredevil is rightly considered a noirish
classic, but I can't say it's any more transhumanist than any other
super-powered graphic novel.</font></blockquote><br>
I didn't include that but, yes, it's nicely done. Not really of
specifically transhumanist interest though. Ditto for Miller's Sin City
books.<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<font face="Courier New, Courier">Il y a aussi a French tradition of
comic novels, well represented by Lauzier, e.g., but there the themes are
more traditional, with the exception of the old stories of Métal
Hurlant.</font></blockquote><br>
Most of the French graphic novels/comix that I know are from 1980s issues
of Heavy Metal, and some of Marvel's Epic issues. They generally seem
less coherently plotted (but that could the short length of what I've
seen) and not of much transhumanist interest.<br><br>
Of course there are a tremendous number of Japanese graphic novels. I'm
no expert on those, but they seem not to be so interested in real
transhumanist themes, beyond simple cyborgization.<br><br>
From my previous list, if you're primarily interested in transhumanist
themes (rather than simply great writing), I'd focus mostly on stuff by
Warren Ellis, then Alan Moore and some Grant Morrison. I'm very
enthusiastic about Garth Ennis' outrageous sense of humor, but it's not
of real transhumanist interest (in fact he seems to really hate
superheroes and characters with metahuman abilities). Brian Michael
Bendis is an excellent writer, especially in terms of his
characterization and stories, but is also of less interest if you are
looking specifically for transhumanist-oriented stories.<br><br>
Giving a top ten is tough, but FOR A SPECIFICALLY TRANSHUMANIST
PERSPECTIVE, I might suggest looking mostly at the works of Warren Ellis,
especially: <br><br>
-- Ultimate Human<br>
-- Stormwatch<br>
-- The Authority<br>
-- all his space stuff (Ministry of Space, Ocean, Orbiter)<br>
-- Transmetropolitan<br>
-- Planetary (plays with decades of our popular culture stories,
including a number of transhumanist themes)<br>
(All these are available in collected volumes.)<br><br>
Alan Moore does really well at deconstructing traditional superheroes (as
in Supreme, Miracleman, Tom Strong). <br><br>
Grant Morrison is not so transhumanist, but is highly philosophical in
outlook. For instance, in Animal Man, his protagonist comes to realize
that he is actually a fictional character written by Morrison. <br><br>
Gruenwald's 1980s Squadron Supreme is interesting for its portrayal of a
society taken over and run by a group of superhumans who set out
eliminating aging and death (including using cryonics), among other
things -- rather than following superhero tradition by simply reacting to
attacks.<br><br>
You can find some transhumanist-interest material in other well-written
series, more sporadically. For instance, in Bendis' consistently
entertaining and well-written Ultimate Spider-Man, there is the clone
saga, in which Peter Parker must deal with multiple, varying clones (plus
implanted memories). (That's in issues 97-105 of the comix, or
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spider-Man-Vol-17-Clone/dp/0785119280/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239129279&sr=1-2" eudora="autourl">
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spider-Man-Vol-17-Clone/dp/0785119280/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239129279&sr=1-2</a>
)<br><br>
One thing that's really hard to do well in metahuman comics are
characters with clearly greater than human intelligence. There are many
such characters, but relatively few convincing portrayals -- it's tough
for any writer who lacks superhuman intelligence, since it's vastly
easier to describe superhuman physical abilities than more-than-human
thinking.<br><br>
Iron Man: Hypervelocity isn't brilliant, but is still a nice little tale
of an uploaded version of Tony Stark, in combat with other AIs.<br><br>
The various X-Men titles have had plenty of issues focusing on the
conflict of humans and post-humans. I could try to come up with a Best
Of, if anyone wants, but there are a lot of them...<br><br>
Oh, yes, I should mention Kurt Busiek's Marvels, since it gives a
distinctly regular-human POV look at a super-powered world. The follow-up
(beautifully illustrated) series is still coming out right now: Marvels:
Eye of the Camera.<br><br>
A current series, Rest, deals with a sleep-eliminating and
cognitive-enhancing drug in a world otherwise just like ours.<br><br>
Shoot. I was trying to narrow it down, but I don't seem to be
succeeding...<br><br>
Max<br><br>
P.S. <br>
Since I'm already completely running off at the mouth/keyboard, here are
a few super-quotes:<br><br>
“If God didn’t give us these powers, then who did?”<br>
“A doctor in Reseda, California.”<br>
<i>Heroes</i>, season 3, “Gods and Monsters”<br>
<br>
“These Nazi death zombies refuse to listen to reason!” <br>
(Wonder Woman, JLA #8, p.81 of TPB).<br>
<br>
“I totally refuse to accept that I’m in denial.”<br>
Smax (Alan Moore), part 4, p.1.<br>
<br>
“Somebody sure fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way
down.”<br>
Nightwing, <i>Titans</i> #1 (2008)<br>
<br>
I’m like South America: Parts of me are very hot and not fully
explored.<br>
Menz Insana<br>
<br>
“We’re putting a lot of faith in the future, but at least we’re putting
it somewhere we can get to.”<br>
The Invisibles (Grant Morrison), volume 7, p.207.<br>
<br>
“Though in all honesty I wish I’d been able to use the story about the
army drill sergeant who made his rookies dress as Superman and role-play
being weakened by Kryptonite before he mounted them.”<br>
Fell #8, April 11, 2007, Warren Ellis, Back Matters<br>
<br>
“What the hell is this place?”<br>
“This place? It’s a fat bug, smashed on the windshield of progress.”
<br>
100 Bullets #29<br>
<br>
And, sadly:<br>
I would remind you that being able to name twelve kinds of Kryptonite
does not automatically make you a smart man.<br>
Mark Waid, Week Seven Notes, from 52<br>
<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Max More, Ph.D.<br>
Strategic Philosopher<br>
<a href="http://www.maxmore.com/" eudora="autourl">www.maxmore.com<br>
</a>max@maxmore.com</body>
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