This is a website and blog about culture , science , and related subjects , and it is supposed to be a serious website . But then again , as one famous jester and villain said :”Why so serious?”
Comics and comic books ( and movies ) are nowadays part of general and popular culture , and they have a place in this blog , given also the fact that I’ve been reading comic books ( and watching movies about them ) for many years.
I started reading comic books when I was a little kid.I read them in Arabic , in French and in English.
I read comics by DC Comics (Superman , Batman , the Flash ,and others) and Marvel Comics (Spiderman ,Fantastic Four ,Thor , and others) .Maybe I read a little more DC than Marvel Comics , but I read both , and I also read other types of comics.One series of comic books I bought and read years ago was about The Death and Return of Superman.
I also read a number of Franco-Belgian comic books , especially the Adventures of Tintin , and Asterix and Obelix.
From a sociological point of view , comics and comic books reflect in general the beliefs , customs , conventions and accepted ideas of the society which produced them , as well as the sociopolitical milieu and period in which they were created.
Some comics about historical events, historical figures or adventures taking place in the past may be enjoyable but may also be fanciful and inaccurate (which can also be true of a number of historical novels).
Comic books such as those by DC and Marvel Comics display a good amount of facts related to or borrowed from science and physics.Sometimes these comics present stories and fiction with scientific insights and interesting information about physics , astrophysics ,chemistry and the exact sciences , but these stories also contain what could be called ‘technobabble’ , things and statements revolving around science but imprecise , unrealistic or unexplainable according to the known laws and rules of physics.At times the reader has to allow for exceptions to existing scientific and physical laws in order to continue reading the fictional tales presented to him.
One relationship or pairing I liked in DC Comics is the following:
Some may prefer Superman staying with Lois Lane and marrying her , others like this new relationship and even imagine Superman and Wonder Woman getting married or having kids . I think one possible way to resolve the issue would be to connect two storylines .In the movie ‘Superman Returns‘ , Superman had a son with Lois Lane , so if this fact could be used as an ending to the relationship between Lois and Clark , and the beginning of the relation between Diana and Clark considered as a continuation of that storyline , then this could be satisfactory for all fans and readers , and the affair between the Son of Krypton and The Amazon Princess can go on to its completion.
Concerning one particular aspect of fictional science in comic books and movies ,and based on my own readings and analysis of scientific rules and facts , I think that although time travel is an interesting idea or concept , it is not possible and will not happen in reality. Perhaps I will write more about this subject in the future.
The Adventures of Tintin are all entertaining ,with two comic books in the series (Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon) anticipating the first human trip to the Moon before it actually happened.It was a good piece of science fiction , although it contained a few errors.One book in the series , Vol 714 Pour Sydney or Flight 714 , which dealt with the existence of UFOs and Extraterrestrials , was in my opinion scientifically unverifiable and somewhat unrealistic.
Other Franco-Belgian comics I have read include :
Gaston Lagaffe , Spirou and Fantasio , Barbe Rouge , Iznogood , Ric hochet , Lucky Luke , Les Tuniques Bleus , Chick Bill , Les Schtroumpfs (the Smurfs) , Benoît Brisefer , Johan et Pirlouit (Johan and Peewit) , Alix , Les Petits Hommes …
Additional reference work related to this post:
The Physics of Superheroes : Spectacular Second Edition , by James Kakalios.
Knowledge mix 