Since their inception at the tail end of the 1930s, superheros have encouraged us to imagine better worlds, as well as better additions to our own world... Unconstrained by the laws of physics, the demands of believability or the vagaries of prose description, comic books can be a realm of pure, unfettered imagination. Ever wished your car could fly, or that you could turn invisible with just a thought? Well, in comics, those dreams can easily become a reality. ...And if the character youre writing or drawing cant actually turn invisible, then you can simply invent a machine that allows him/her to. So, with this spirit of manic invention firmly at the core of our favourite art form, super-comics have developed a sort of super-shorthand for creating rocket-powered, dream-generated technology for their imaginary inhabitants to use. You start with what is possible, then you add a dash of the impossible and then you build a new future from there. Over the decades, superheroes and their associated villains have employed an arsenal of improbable (or flat-out impossible) tech in their perpetual battle between good and evil. This has resulted in a sort of fictional arms race, as the villains try to outdo the heroes and vice-versa. It is certainly thrilling to read and I honestly believe that the wondrous technology featured in superhero comics is one of the genres biggest selling points. Now, lets just imagine for the next ten minutes or so that any/all comic book tech is available to us in the real world, free of charge. What would you have? Heres 10 suggestions...
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
