MaximeDowne Dissertation PDF

LESSONS ABOUT CITIES FROM SCIENCE-
FICTION COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE WAY FUTURE CITIES
ARE IMAGINED AND DEVELOPED IN SCIENCE FICTION
COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS?
FUTURE
CITIES?
YES, IN
THE
COMICS!
AND
GRAPHIC
NOVELS!
MAXIME DOWNE
11071133
MARCH
DISSERTATION
ZAP!
SCI FI!
MAXIME DOWNE
LESSONS ABOUT CITIES FROM SCIENCE-FICTION COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
Declaration
This is an architectural dissertation written solely by the author in completion of an MArch diploma
at Manchester School of Architecture.
No portion of the work referred to in the dissertation has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of
learning.
Front cover: Jodorowsky, A. and Moebius (1981, reprinted 2015) The Incal, Los Angeles: Humanoids,
Inc. p. 8 (edited by author)
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Abstract
Science-fiction comics and graphic novels portray realistic scenarios of how our cities may
evolve. These are based on the extrapolation of present trends as well as speculation, “what if”
scenarios that can inform us about past, present and future. The objective of this paper is to study
these and assess how they can change the way we think about future cities in design. This will be
achieved by studying 15 comics and applying a four matrices onto them. A spatiotemporality matrix
will be applied as well as a thematic matrix which will be a first comparative analysis to understand
how these worlds are constructed. A city type matrix and a matrix of extrapolation and speculation
will form a second comparative analysis which will determine what we can learn from the types of
cities depicted as well as the methods to reach them.
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Content
[pp. 7-10] List of Figures
[pp. 11-16] Introduction

[pp. 11-13] How are Science-Fiction Comics useful in the design and understanding of Future Cities?
[pp. 13-15] A Brief History of Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels
[p. 15] Themes and Spatiotemporality
[pp. 15-16] City Types
[pp. 17-27] Literature Review

[pp. 17-18] Definition of Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels
[pp. 18-19] Definition of Future Cities
[pp. 19-22] Why Cities in Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels are Important
[pp. 22-23] Spatiotemporal & Thematic Scenarios in Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels
[pp. 23-27] An Architectural History of Future Cities
[pp. 29-32] Methodology
[pp. 33-39] Overview of Science-Fiction Themes

[pp. 33-37] Transhumanism
[pp. 37-38] Retrofuturism
[pp. 38-39] Post-Apocalyptic
[p. 39] Fabulation
[pp. 40-57] Spatiotemporal and Thematic Matrices

[pp. 41-45] When: The Extrapolated Reality
[pp. 45-53] Else-When: The Alternative Reality
[p. 53] No-When: The Atemporal Reality
[p. 55] Else-Where: The Fabulated Reality
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[pp. 58-73] City Type and Speculation/Extrapolation Matrices

[p. 59] The Abandoned City
[pp. 59-63] The Cyberpunk City
[pp. 63-65] The Uchronic City
[pp. 65-67] The Retro Modernist City
[p. 67] The Steampunk City
[pp. 67-71] The Subterranean City
[pp. 74-76] Conclusion
[pp. 77-81] Bibliography
[pp. 82-97] Appendix: Science-Fiction Futures

[pp. 83-97] An interview with Dr. Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay (BC) by Maxime Downe (MD)
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List of Figures
[p. 12] Figure 1
Calkins, D. (1929) Buck Rogers, 2429 A.D. National Newspaper Syndicate Inc. [Drawing] (Accessed on
31st March 2016] http://the-wanderling.com/buck_rogers08.png
[p. 12] Figure 2

Pellos, R. (1938) Futuropolis. Junior. [Drawing] [Accessed on 28th March 2016]
http://pressibus.org/bd/polis/f/futuropolis/futpage.jpg
[p. 14] Figure 3

Reese, R. (1982) Métal Hurlant Cover. Métal Hurlant. [Drawing] [Accessed on 28th March 2016]
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_tfEfrBhYis/Thn-
6smdhqI/AAAAAAAAGb4/OJBtj_W4KZs/s1600/metal+hurlant+no.77.78.79.80.81.82+-+3+-
+78+Cover.jpg
[p. 20] Figure 4

Dunne, A. and Raby, F. (2009) A/B, A Manifesto. Dunne & Raby. [Online Image] [Accessed on 29th
March 2016] http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/projects/476/0
[p. 24] Figure 5

Arch Daily. (2013) Physical Model of Le Corbusier’s Radiant City. [Photograph] [Accessed on 10th
March 2016] http://www.archdaily.com/411878/ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-
corbusier/52001cc3e8e44e6db0000007-ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-corbusier-image
[p. 24] Figure 6

Ferriss, H. (1929, reprinted in 2005) The Metropolis of Tomorrow. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
[Drawing] p. 113
[p. 26] Figure 7

Cook, P. (1964) Axonometric of Plug-In City. Archigram. [Drawing] [Accessed 10th February 2016]
http://cdn.plataformaurbana.cl/wp-
content/uploads/2013/10/1382975213_51d71a7ce8e44ecad7000025_cl_sicos_de_arquitectura_the
_plug_in_city_peter_cook_archigram__734_medium.jpg
[p. 26] Figure 8

Archizoom. (1969) No-Stop City Perspective. [Drawing] [Accessed 10th February 2016]
http://academies.sectioncut.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/NoStopCity_cover.jpg
[p. 34] Figure 9

Guidice, R. [1977] Illustration of an O’Neill Cylinder Colony. NASA. [Painting] [Accessed 28th March
2016] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder#/media/File:Spacecolony3edit.jpeg
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[p. 34] Figure 10

Interstellar. (2014) Directed by C. Nolan. [Film Still] Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures.
[p. 36] Figure 11

Robida, A. (1902) La Sortie de l'opéra en l'an 2000. [Painting] [Accessed 9th April 2016]
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Sortie_de_l%27op%C3%A9ra_en_l%27an_
2000-2.jpg
[p. 36] Figure 12

Salinger, T. (1939) 1939 World Fair in New York City. [Photograph] [Accessed 9th April 2016]
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1759589.1397743346!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen
/derivatives/article_635/39fair17wf-2.jpg
[p. 40] Figure 13

Moore, A. and Lloyd, D. (1988, reprinted 2005) V for Vendetta, New York: DC Comics. p. 9
[p. 40] Figure 14

Wood, B. and Burchielli, R. (2005) DMZ, (1) New York: Vertigo. p. 1
[p. 42] Figure 15

Ellis, W. and Robertson, D. (1997, reprinted 2009) Transmetropolitan, New York: DC Comics. p. 24
[p. 44] Figure 16

Miller, F. and Darrow, G. (1992) Hard Boiled, Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books. p. 26
[p. 46] Figure 17

Moore, A., Gibbons, D. and Higgins, J. (1986, reprinted 2014) Watchmen, New York: DC Comics. p.
383
[p. 48] Figure 18

Motter, D. (1983) Mister X, (3), Toronto: Vortex Comics. p. 2
[p. 50] Figure 19

Motter, D. (1996) Terminal City, (8), Burbank, CA: Vertigo. p. 1
[p. 52] Figure 20

Ellis, W. and Pagliarani, G. (2008) Aetheric Mechanics, Rantoul, Illinois: Avatar Press. p. 7
[P. 54] Figure 21

Jodorowsky, A. and Moebius (1981, reprinted 2015) The Incal, Los Angeles: Humanoids, Inc. p. 305
[p. 56] Figure 22

Spatiotemporality Matrix. [Diagram] Created by the author.
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[p. 57] Figure 23

Thematic Matrix. [Diagram] Created by the author.
[p. 58] Figure 24

Kirkman, R., Adlard, C., Rathburn, C. and Moore, T. (2003, reprinted 2009) The Walking Dead
Compendium 1, Berkeley: Image Comics. p. 32
[p. 58] Figure 25

Kirby, J. (1972) Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, (1), Burbank, CA: DC Comics. p. 2
[p. 60] Figure 26

Wood, B. and Burchielli, R. (2005) DMZ, (1) New York: Vertigo. p. 7
[p. 61] Figure 27

Araújo, A.L. and Rozegar, A. (2015) Man Plus. 21st July. Man Plus Comic. [Drawing] [Accessed on 28th
March 2016] http://manpluscomic.com/post/125918507102
[p. 62] Figure 28

Ellis, W. and Robertson, D. (1999, reprinted 2009) Transmetropolitan, New York: DC Comics. p. 89
[p. 64] Figure 29

Miller, F. and Darrow, G. (1992) Hard Boiled, Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books. pp. 34-35
[p. 64] Figure 30

Moore, A. and Lloyd, D. (1988, reprinted 2005) V for Vendetta, New York: DC Comics. p. 230
[p. 64] Figure 31

Moore, A., Gibbons, D. and Higgins, J. (1986, reprinted 2014) Watchmen, New York: DC Comics. p.
234
[p. 66] Figure 32

Motter, D., Morgan, J., Oakley, S., D'Israeli, Holewczynski, K., Milligan, P. and Ewins, B. (2011) Dean
Motter's Mister X: The Brides of Mister X and Other Stories, Milwauke: Dark Horse Books. p. 152-153
[p. 66] Figure 33

Motter, D. (1996) Terminal City, (8), Burbank, CA: Vertigo. p. 10
[p. 68] Figure 34

Ellis, W. and Pagliarani, G. (2008) Aetheric Mechanics, Rantoul, Illinois: Avatar Press. p. 35
[p. 68] Figure 35

Benitez, J. and Steigerwald, P. (2010) Lady Machanika, (1), Culver City, CA: Aspen Comics. pp. 6-7
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[p. 69] Figure 36

O'Bannon, D. and Moebius (1975) The Long Tomorrow, Los Angeles: Humanoids, Inc. p. 6
[p. 70] Figure 37

Jodorowsky, A. and Moebius (1981, reprinted 2015) The Incal, Los Angeles: Humanoids, Inc. p. 8
[p. 72] Figure 38

City Types Matrix [Diagram] Created by the author.
[p. 72] Figure 39

Speculations and Extrapolations Matrix [Diagram] Created by the author.
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Introduction
How are Science-Fiction Comics useful in the design and understanding of
Future Cities?
A science-fiction comic or graphic novel is a narrative story, illustrated sequentially, which
involves either extrapolation or speculation. Extrapolation is the projection of future trends, based
on present trends in the built environment and the structure of the city, taking into account
scientific, technological and sometimes political data. Speculation is a thought-experiment
examining the potential consequences of a certain catalyst or a series of catalysts.
Future cities in science-fiction comics and graphic novels are important because they
provide the setting in which the action takes place. These cities are not random, they are carefully
considered products of either extrapolation or speculation. They can provide a clear understanding
of our present as well as being a tool to visualise multiple potential futures, whether they be
desirable or not, as well as socio-political commentary. Future or alternative cities in science-fiction
comics and graphic novels can tell us about our present conditions through the process of
attempting to extrapolate the future. The future is not a fixed entity, when talking about
extrapolated cities as a cultural and social phenomenon. The discussion is not about the future but a
specific version of it based on an experienced present. The present city that we inhabit is an integral
part of the process of extrapolating our future and the future cities in which we might live one day.
Everyone has a different experience of the present, which can vary massively in different parts of the
world. One cannot accurately predict the future as it is far too complex. So the purpose of
extrapolation is to anticipate certain ways in which the future might evolve.
Science Fiction comics and graphic novels explore what would happen to society if certain
technologies existed or prevailed, or certain reference points, such as political policies or historical
events, were altered, and how the structure and aesthetics of the city are affected by these
eventualities. In this sense, they provide a framework within which the world can change. The value
for architects and urban planners is in understanding trends and the potential outcomes of scientific
and technological extrapolation and acquire an insight into the unwanted or undesirable secondary
effects of certain developments, plans and policies.
The role of the architect is to shape the future, whether it be on the building scale or the
urban scale. Extrapolation and speculation has a long history in architecture, from Plato’s musings
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Figure 1 First newspaper comic strip of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in the United States
Figure 2 First magazine comic strip of Futuropolis in France
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about the importance of justice and human virtue in the city in The Republic (380BC). This is followed
by the utopian idealists of the Renaissance instigated by Thomas More’s Utopia (1516). The paper
architecture of the 20th century prompted by the Futurists (Sant'Elia, 1914) and the Russian
Constructivists (Finch, 1969) with extrapolative projects such as Hugh Ferriss’ The Metropolis of
Tomorrow (1929) and speculative projects such as Le Corbusier’s The Radiant City (1933). It is
important for architects to think about the future city, what it could be, what it should be and what
it should not be. It is the thesis of this paper that this mode of operation can be achieved as a
transdisciplinary effort.
A Brief History of Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels

Science-fiction comics and graphic novels have a long history, starting as one page stories
known as “the funnies” in American newspapers and European magazines. Figure 1 shows that they
can be traced back as early as 1929 to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in American newspaper,
based on Philip Francis Nowlan’s novel Armageddon 2419 A.D. published in Gernsback’s Amazing
Stories August 1928 issue (Nowlan, 1928). Figure 2 shows Futuropolis, published in 1938 in the
French magazine Junior (Pellos, 1938). The growing popularity of these comic strips meant that they
soon found an independent format which meant that more mature subject matters became possible
with longer narratives and the exclusivity of the publication emancipated from the newspaper and
magazine format. The earliest publication is in 1938 with Amazing Mystery Funnies (Clute et al.,
2016). The next revolution in science-fiction comics comes in the 1970s, alongside the punk
movement in Europe. In France, an avant-garde group of science-fiction graphic novelists produced
the comic periodical Métal Hurlant. First published in 1974, this included works by such renowned
authors as Moebius and Philippe Druillet. In 1977, pioneers in the UK are grouping to release comic
periodical 2000 AD. First published in 1977, this includes the early works of renowned comic authors
such as Alan Moore and Grant Morrison and the all-time famous science-fiction epic Judge Dredd.
This is the beginning of anti-establishment punk comics which project dark, dystopian futures filled
with explicit images of violent and sexual nature, evidenced by Figure 3.
A graphic novel is a 50-page or more comic story, which has a continuous narrative. The
stories depicted in the comic issues began to be bound into this format with several issues merging
into one graphic novel. But this new format also enabled authors to create an entire and complete
graphic narrative of complex, extrapolative and speculative fiction. The New Wave literary
movement of the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on soft science-fiction, were the source of inspiration
for the graphic novels of the 1980s. These include the space opera epic The Incal
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Figure 3 Front cover of Métal Hurlant in September 1982
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(Jodorowsky and Moebius, 1981), the alternative history narrative in Watchmen (Moore, Gibbons
and Higgins, 1986), the speculative dystopia in The Dark Knight Returns (Miller, 1986) and V for
Vendetta (Moore and Lloyd, 1988). The architecture fiction and psychetecture of J. G. Ballard in
particular inspired retrofuturistic extrapolations such as The Great Walls of Samaris (Schuiten and
Peeters, 1987), Mister X (Motter et al., 1983-1990) and Terminal City (Motter and Lark, 1996-1997).
More recent science-fiction such as comic book series Transmetropolitan (Ellis and Robertson, 1997-
2002) or even webcomic series Man Plus (Araújo and Rozegar, 2015) present ever growing themes
of the effect of technological progress and transnational corporations on the urban landscape.
Themes and Spatiotemporality

There are four key themes that will be explored in the analysis of science-fiction comics and
graphic novels within this paper. The first is transhumanism, the enhancement of human existence
through science and technology (1990). The second is retrofuturism, revolving around “futuristic
designs from the past.” (Ahrens and Meteling, 2010: 8) The third is the post-apocalyptic, the
aftermath of what Berger (1999) calls the eschaton, a natural, technological or environmental
disaster that triggers a societal breakdown. The final one is fabulation which "offers us a world
clearly and radically discontinuous from the one we know, yet returns to confront that known world
in some cognitive way." (1975: 29)
For the purpose of this analysis, the scenarios depicted in each science-fiction comic or
graphic novel will be categorised based on the spatiotemporal matrix. This is because time and space
is what quintessentially shapes these cities and can be categorically divided accordingly
(Chattopadhyay, 2016). The first spatiotemporal scenario is the projected future, set within our
geospatial context, generally associated with the transhumanist theme. The second is of the
alternative past, present or future, set in our geospatial context but alternate timeline, generally
associated with the retrofuturistic theme. The third is of the atemporal future, set in our geospatial
context but where time has lost its relevance, generally associated with the post-apocalyptic theme.
The final one is of a world outside of our spatiotemporal reference which is always associated with
fabulation. These spatiotemporal scenarios will form the basis of the empirical chapters.
City Types
Separately from the spatiotemporal scenarios, a taxonomy of eight city types has been set
up in order to catalogue them within each science-fiction comic or graphic novel. Alphabetically,
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these are the Abandoned City, the Cyberpunk City, the Uchronic City, the Retromodernist City, the
Steampunk City and the Subterranean City. Each city type is identified through seven criteria:
building types, height, urban grain, connection to earth, infrastructure, technologies, resources and
politics of maintenance. This forms part of the methodology to analyse each science-fiction comic or
graphic novel. Identifying these future city types can point at potential trajectories to steer toward
or away from in reality, after ascertaining whether certain city types are desirable or not, the
taxonomy can be used as a tool to measure the outcome and to research how to achieve or avoid
possible scenarios. It can also be a way of communicating potentially inevitable future cities, in view
of our current environmental or political projections, unless a massive collective effort is made. This
is why the medium of comics and graphic novels is important here because it has become more and
more mainstream since the 1980s.
It is here that it becomes useful to inspect the speculative and extrapolative methods used
to arrive to these city types. A comparative analysis between city type and speculative/extrapolative
method can benefit designers in order to understand how to get to these future cities as well as
what is desirable, avoidable and inevitable.
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Literature Review
Definition of Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels
It is general consensus among comic book scholars that Scott McCloud’s (1993: 9) definition
of comics is the most accurate.
“Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to

convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.”
Will Eisner (1985) classifies sequential art in several categories as follows: entertainment
comics, the graphic novel, webcomics, technical instructional comics, attitudinal instruction comics
and storyboards. The first three categories are dealt with in science-fiction comics. The definition of
science-fiction however, is one of scholarly debate. Gernsback originally coined the term
scientifiction in the publication of the first issue of his magazine Amazing Stories.
“By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of
story – a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision
... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading – they
are always instructive. They supply knowledge ... in a very palatable form ... New
adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of
realization tomorrow ... Many great science stories destined to be of historical
interest are still to be written ... Posterity will point to them as having blazed a
new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well.”
(Gernsback, 1926: 3)
The original Gernsback definition has been questioned and this has created a polarisation in
the genre between proponents of hard science-fiction defined by Asimov (1990: 6) as, “stories that
feature authentic scientific knowledge and depend upon it for plot development and plot resolution”
and those who write soft science-fiction such as Le Guin (1969: xi) who sees “science-fiction, as a
thought-experiment.” She goes on to explain:
“The purpose of a thought-experiment, as the term was used by Schrodinger and

other physicists, is not to predict the future - indeed Schrodinger's most famous
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thought-experiment goes to show that the ‘future,’ on the quantum level, cannot
be predicted- but to describe reality, the present world.”
Two types of science-fiction that emerge, one is extrapolative and technical and the other is
speculative and experimental. The common thread is that the narrative emancipate the reader from
his spatiotemporal references. Therefore, science-fiction comics and graphic novels are juxtaposed
pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey a narrative outside of the
spatiotemporal references of where and when it is written and can either be extrapolative or
speculative, or a mixture of both.
Science-fiction comics came about in the 1920s and 1930s as a means of abstraction, a
framework to criticise our present rather than being specifically about our future. These are
humanistic stories rather than futurological stories, although set in the future simply as a tool for
abstraction from reality. Since then, they have grown to depict mature stories, with the birth of
graphic novels in the 1980s, not only about our present, but about our past and our future,
incorporating pseudo-scientific methods and extreme extrapolations. The science-fiction of the past
50 years can be considered as genuine futurological studies, some applying rigorous methodologies
to envision the city of tomorrow.
Definition of Future Cities

The Future of Cities Project led by GOV.UK define future cities as “a term used to imagine
what cities themselves will be like, how they will operate, what systems will orchestrate them and
how they will relate to their stakeholders (citizens, governments, businesses, investors, and others).”
(Moir, Moonen and Clark, 2014: 8) However, this definition is far too reductionist and specific to
refer to the wide spectrum of future cities depicted in science-fiction comics and it is not the most
useful in general. In fact, as Dunne and Raby (2009) point out in their manifesto, we are not only
concerned with futures but also with parallel worlds. The cities of science-fiction comics can tell us
just as much, if not more, about our present than our future and this can be used to shape the
desirable city of the future. So future cities are not just about extrapolations, but also about
speculations and questioning, about sublimation and cognition (Scholes, 1975).
The Encyclopedia of Science-fiction describes the cities in science-fiction as, “the focal point
of our civilization, and images of the city of the future bring into sharp relief the expectations and
fears with which we imagine the future of civilization.” (Clute, Stableford and Langford, 2016) In this
definition, there is room for the kind of speculation and experimentation that is missing in the Future
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of Cities Project definition, however vague it may be. So for the purpose of this paper, a future city in
science-fiction comics and graphic novels that will be studied is one that subliminally reflects the
present as well as attempts to extrapolate, speculate or experiment about the future in order to
cognitively manoeuvre our trajectory toward a set of desirable future outcomes.
Why Cities in Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels are Important
“Who, indeed, can define these potentialities – and what architects can
prepare contributory or evocative design? It may be that at the present moment
there are none; nor will there be, until architects have begun to call into their
draughting rooms the scientists, the psychologists, the philosophers…”
(Ferriss, 1929: 141)
Ferriss suggests looking elsewhere for answers than pure architectural theory, looking at
what other disciplines have to offer in terms of thinking about future cities in order to gain a broader
spectrum of understanding on the issues and the potential solutions. Science-fiction authors can be
the scientists, the psychologists or the philosophers that Ferriss refers to. Eisner (1985) names
science-fiction specifically being a genre that requires a scrutinised process to achieve as it is set in a
projected reality where the supernatural may occur, through technologies that we do not yet
possess or even understand in some cases.
On the one hand, there is the approach where science-fiction comics is about studying
future trends and extrapolating potential futures with a certain degree of scientific accuracy. In his
keynote speech at the 2012 Improving Reality Conference, graphic novelist Warren Ellis (2012)
stresses the importance of fully understanding our present before attempting to venture into the
future in what he refers to as “the science-fiction condition.” Rao (2012) elaborates on this with his
concept of the “manufactured normalcy field” where he explains that we are living in the “present-
continuous” rather than the “future perfect” as he explains that we understand the future “as
something that is going to happen rather than something that is happening.” Mobile computing
devices reduced to the metaphor of a phone, the internet reduced to the metaphor of document-
processing. The future is happening now. We are reducing the scientific, technological and social
innovation that it brings into smaller digestible metaphorical chunks, in anticipation of a future that
never arrives.
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Figure 4 Dunne & Raby's A/B Manifesto
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“When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to
the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through
a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”
(McLuhan and Fiore, 1967: 74-75)
McLuhan’s analogy of looking at the present through a rear-view mirror supports Rao’s
concept of manufactured normalcy. Indeed, when presented with new inventions, we can only
understand the potentialities of it through what we already know about the past and by the time we
understand the full potential of these innovations they have already become something of the past.
In later work, McLuhan (1968) suggests that it is the artist who has the ability to see the present as it
is unveiling and therefore is best suited to engage in these debates of extrapolation. These artists
that McLuhan is referring to are the architects of this brave new world and the graphic novelist is
without a doubt included.
“To be a futurist, in pursuit of improving reality, is not to have your face

continually turned upstream, waiting for the future to come. To improve reality is
to clearly see where you are, and then wonder how to make that better.”
(Ellis, 2012)
This is what science-fiction comics and graphic novels bring to the debate and there should
be a transdisciplinary effort to achieve this level of thinking about future cities.
On the other hand, there is the science-fiction of speculation, what Le Guin (1969) calls the
“thought-experiment.” Grant Morrison, renowned graphic novelist, sums up the underlying
philosophy behind this more experimental type of science-fiction by saying that, “things don’t have
to be real to be true.” (2011: 301) Dunne and Raby (2009) develop A/B, A Manisfesto, displayed in
Figure 4, in which they look at how design is perceived on the one hand and how it should be on the
other. For instance, science-fiction becomes social fiction and extrapolating futures becomes more
about glimpsing into parallel worlds. Dunne and Raby (2013: 3) iterate it this way:
“To find inspiration for speculating through design we need to look beyond to the
methodological playgrounds of cinema, literature, science, ethics, politics, and
art; to explore, hybridize, borrow, and embrace the many tools available for
crafting not only things but also ideas – fictional worlds, cautionary tales, what-if
scenarios, thought experiments, counterfactuals, reduction as absurdum
experiments, prefigurative futures, and so on.”
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This is the realm of soft sciences and how “what-if” thought experiments can help
manoeuvre our trajectory in order to achieve desirable futures as well as identify factors that may
lead to undesirable futures. Not only can this type of speculative fiction help us understand our
present as the future catches up to it in the sense that Ellis defined but it can also enter the debate
of shaping our future. So the role of hard science-fiction is for an accurate rendition of the shape of
possible and plausible futures and the role of soft science-fiction is to understand the present as well
as the steps to take or to avoid in order to manoeuvre our trajectory toward some idea of a
desirable outcome. The element of desirability and how you measure it is an issue that would also
need a transdisciplinary effort to achieve. Desirability will be reduced to general concepts for the
purpose of this study. One has to remember that this is not the world of fantasy but the world of
useful speculation, of useful questioning and experimenting.
Thematic Scenarios in Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels

A spatiotemporal matrix is set up in order to categorise the types of scenarios possible in
science-fiction comics and graphic novels. It is the spatiotemporality of the narrative structures the
way in which the world is constructed and therefore the cities within it (Chattopadhyay, 2016).
Perhaps Jeff Prucher’s (2007: 171) definition of science-fiction can provide an insight on the themes
that can arise within each spatiotemporal scenario.
"a genre (of literature, film, etc.) in which the setting differs from our own world
(e.g. by the invention of new technology, through contact with aliens, by having a
different history, etc.), and in which the difference is based on extrapolations
made from one or more changes or suppositions; hence, such a genre in which
the difference is explained (explicitly or implicitly) in scientific or rational, as
opposed to supernatural, terms.”
So there is the scientific and the rational, the extrapolative and the speculative. One
scenario will a “when,” an extrapolative reality. Another will an “else-when,” a speculative reality.
The next will be a “no-when,” a timeless extrapolative or speculative reality. The final one will be an
“else-where,” a speculative reality of fabulation.
Firstly, the “when” scenario is the one within our spatial context, our known world, and time
is the variable. Thematically, this ties into transhumanism. The comics and graphic novels within this
scenario can be an extrapolation from the near-future to the far-future. The condition is that it is
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based on an understanding of scientific and technological extrapolation or that the future trajectory
remains in the realm of plausibility with a logical explanation behind it.
"Scientific methodology involves the proposition that a well-constructed theory

will not only explain every known phenomenon, but will also predict new and still
undiscovered phenomena. Science-fiction tries to do much the same—and write
up, in story form, what the results look like when applied not only to machines,
but to human society as well.”
(Campbell, 1947: 9)
Secondly, the “else-when” scenario is the one within our spatial context, but in an alternate
time. Thematically, it ties into retrofutures. This is Le Guin’s (1969) thought experiments. It is
predominantly speculative fiction and soft science-fiction but is not restricted to it. What if
experiments where one rewrites certain parts of history in order to depict a past, present or future
that could have been. James Gunn (2005: 6) defines science-fiction as, “the effects of change on
people in the real world as it can be projected into the past, the future, or to distant places.” This is
what is meant by this category of science-fiction that is speculative and experimental. As Dunne and
Raby (2013) point out, this type of scenario can inform us on the present just as much as it can
reveal to us how to shape our future.
Thirdly, the “no-when” scenario is also in a familiar spatial context, except there is a lost
sense of temporality. This ties into post-apocalyptic themes as it is the aftermath of an apocalypse
when time loses its relevance (Heffernan, 2008). There can be pseudo-scientific explanations for
these this such as in the case of a technological or natural disaster but it is not a defining quality.
Finally, the “else-where” scenario is one whose spatiotemporal framework is entirely

removed from the known world. Thematically, it ties into fabulation. It is "fiction that offers us a
world clearly and radically discontinuous from the one we know, yet returns to confront that known
world in some cognitive way.” (Scholes, 1975: 29).
An Architectural History of Future Cities
Since Plato’s musings about the importance of justice and human virtue in the city in The
Republic (380BC), there has been an architectural tradition of envisioning the future.
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Figure 5 Physical model of Le Corbusier's Radiant City
Figure 6 Illustration of Hugh Ferriss' The Metropolis of Tomorrow
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In the Renaissance period, an “ideal vocabulary” was established “by fathoming the
mathematical rules which the human body obeyed, the sense and order of the universe could be
mastered” (Eaton, 2002: 47-48) with Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in 1490. The ideal city was a
diagram of mathematically proportional perfection. What it ignored was self-organised expansion
and other phenomena that have been a significant part of what Kostof (1991) calls the “urban
process” of our cities, particularly during the industrial revolution and the birth of modern urban
sprawl. Kostof (1991, p. 162) describes these diagrams as, “perfect geometric shapes, circles and
focused squares and polygons of various kinds, and they obey rigid modes of centrality – radial
convergence or axial alignment.” At this point, Kostof (1991: 163) makes a point to differentiate
utopias which he defines as “no-wheres” whereas ideal cities “exist in context.” On the one hand,
you have utopian designs such as More’s Amaurot in Utopia (1516), Campanella’s Città del Sol (1602)
and Andreae’s Christianopolis (1619) which form models for ideal cities which actually get realised
such as Palmanova in Italy following the circular model of radial convergence or Freudenstadt in
Germany following the square model of axial alignment. This diagrammatic tradition becomes more
elaborate and reaches beyond the Renaissance period, culminating in Ebenezer Howard’s famous
Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902).
The 20th century was an experimental playground of future cities with the growing trend of
paper architecture or what Finch (1969: 3) calls the “architecture of fantasy.” It has its roots in the
early 20th century with the works of the Futurists, notably Sant’Elia (1914), as well as the work of the
Russian constructivists in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution (Finch, 1969). Figure 5 shows Le
Corbusier’s (1933) The Radiant City, renowned for its abundance of green space, strict zoning and
tall cross-shaped buildings, seems to suffer from Kostof’s (1991) criticism of utopias in that not only
does it is a fixed entity with a plan that relies on the annihilation of context. There is no
understanding of how the city that it usurps has grown and evolved, and therefore how it might
evolve. Figure 6 shows Ferriss’ The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929), which can be considered as the
first real extrapolative work in this tradition as he takes into consideration the city as it is today and
present trends culminating in a solution, albeit abstract, in the form of a future city. Ferriss (1929: 7)
studies the “trends which underlie the vast miscellany of contemporary buildings” to discover “where
these trends may possibly, or even probably, lead.” This is also the start of a dialogue between
science-fiction and architecture, being released the same year as Gernsback coined the term.
The latter half of the 20th century is when a clear correlation between science-fiction cities
and paper architecture cities. Buckminster Fuller proposes a Dome Over Manhattan in 1960 to
control climate and reduce pollution. Frei Otto’s Arctic City (1971), a city within a dome which
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Figure 7 Axonometric drawing of Archigram's Plug-In City
Figure 8 Perspective Drawing of Archizoom's No-Stop City
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regulates the air and climate in arctic conditions. These can be considered as the first works of real
scientific and technological extrapolation in the process of imagining what our future cities could
look like. Archigram’s projects are very close to science-fiction with pseudo-scientific extrapolation
and speculation. Perhaps the most noteworthy exploits in this area is The Plug-in City (Greene &
Cook, 1964), depicted in Figure 7.
Satirical projects such as Archizoom’s No-Stop City (Jenks, 1972), shown in Figure 8, or
Superstudio’s Continuous Monument (Superstudio, 1970), which “so closely imitated the logic of
capitalism as to somehow short-circuit its operations” (Scott, 2007: 142) led to a disenchantment of
these utopian visions of future cities. This is because of, “a paradoxical call to order, an atavistic
alliance with modernist dreams of a totalizing environmental control.” (Scott, 2007: 1)
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Methodology
Each comic and graphic novel will be put through the spatiotemporal matrix explained in the
literature review. Firstly, the “when” scenario relates to transhumanism because it is mostly
scientific and technological extrapolations. Secondly, the “else-when” scenario relates to
retrofuturism because it is thought-experiments. Thirdly, “no-when” scenario relates to the post-
apocalyptic because it mostly deals with the end of recorded history. Finally, the “else-where”
scenario relates to fabulation because it is a purely speculative, out-of-this-world context. This
matrix will then be cross-examined with a second thematic matrix of transhumanism, retrofuturism,
the post-apocalyptic and fabulation.
The third matrix for comparative analysis of these city types will be one based on the images
of the city within the comics and graphic novels. There are six city types, based on a set of criteria as
described below.
The abandoned city is a common apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic city, set mostly in an

existing city where the buildings are derelict and in disrepair, with no politics of maintenance.
- Building morphology: perimeter blocks, tower blocks, in disrepair.

- Height: fairly tall.
- Urban grain: relatively sparse.
- Connection to earth: built on the ground.
- Infrastructure: existing infrastructure mostly destroyed, some green areas.
- Technologies: low-tech, militaristic and primitive technologies.
- Resources: limited.
- Politics of maintenance: none.
The cyberpunk city is a transhumanist city, set in the future where the tendency for tall
buildings and hyper-commercialisation has been accentuated through cyber-tech and bio-tech.
- Building morphology: skyscrapers which can accommodate large screens, some perimeter
blocks and tower blocks.
- Height: extremely tall.
- Urban grain: super dense.
- Infrastructure: bridges and footpaths to circulate horizontally, very few green areas.
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- Technologies: entirely cyber-tech and bio-tech.

- Resources: freely available.
- Politics of maintenance: fairly regularly maintained.
The uchronic city is an existing city that is on a different timeline to ours. Often this is due to
a catalyst that changes this existing city but is not necessarily in the future.
- Building morphology: perimeter blocks, tower blocks, some skyscrapers.

- Height: tall.
- Urban grain: dense.
- Infrastructure: major road networks, trains, green areas.
- Technologies: high-tech, some cyber-tech and bio-tech.
- Resources: highly available.
The retro-modernist city is a retrofuturistic city that uses past extrapolative methods from
the Modernist movement, it is characterised by tall and dense towers of concrete and glass, deck
access but also high-tech and cyber-tech as these are still extrapolative.
- Building morphology: large monoliths in the form of skyscrapers, deck-access, some tower
blocks and perimeter blocks.
- Height: extremely tall.
- Infrastructure: monorails, bridges and footpaths to circulate horizontally, pneumatic transit
tubes, few green areas.
- Technologies: high-tech, cyber-tech and retro-tech.
- Resources: freely available.
The steampunk city is a retrofuturistic city that instils cyber-tech functionalities into steam-
based and mechanical technologies. It is characterised by extrapolated low-rise, relatively dense
Victorian terrace and courtyard buildings.
- Building morphology: Victorian terraces, courtyard, and monumental buildings.

- Height: fairly low.
- Urban grain: relatively dense.
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- Infrastructure: minor road networks, trains, cable cars.
- Technologies: steampunk and mechanical technologies.
The subterranean city is a transhumanist city that is characterised by its location underground, often
this is a hyper-commercialised and cyber-tech future where an environmental disaster may have
occurred.
- Building morphology: earthscrapers which can accommodate large screens.

- Height: span up to the surface.
- Connection to earth: built under ground.
- Infrastructure: bridges and footpaths to circulate horizontally, vertical pneumatic transit
tubes, almost no green infrastructure.
- Technologies: entirely cyber-tech and bio-tech.
- Politics of maintenance: regularly maintained.
A fourth matrix of the types of extrapolations and speculations will further determine how
each city type has been imagined and developed. This is an important part of learning about future
cities in science-fiction comics and graphic novels. Extrapolations can either be socio-political, socio-
economic, environmental or scientific and technological. Speculation is classed as a thought-
experiment as it does not need any study of present trends, it is a “what-if” scenario.
15 comics and graphic novels will be put through all four matrices. In each type of
spatiotemporal scenario, the main drivers/reasons for the types of future cities depicted will be
identified, referring to what McCloud (1993) calls the idea/concept of a science-fiction comic. The
spatial/urban outcomes and the environmental and political warnings within these future cities will
be examined and categorised into desirable, avoidable and inevitable future city scenarios. The
desirability of a future scenario will be based on the socio-political as well as technological context of
the narrative and this is one that has to be simplified for the purpose of this paper. The technological
context refers to whether science and technology is positively or negatively human life but also
refers to the inevitability of certain scenarios. The assessment of the viability of a scenario will be
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judged according to two moralistic principles in philosophy. On the one hand a utilitarian approach,
relating to the wellbeing of the general population within a city or political context, the means being
justified by the final outcome (Bentham, 1780). The other is measuring it according to Kantian moral
absolutism, whereby actions are judged as either intrinsically right or wrong, regardless of foresight
(Kant, 1998).
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Overview of Science-Fiction Themes

Transhumanism
FM-2030 (1989: 42) coined the term transhuman in 1989 meaning “transitional human”, in
his words, “the earliest manifestation of new evolutionary beings, on their way to becoming
posthumans.” However, the term has grown since then to also mean biological transcendence. More
(1990) describes five notions within transhumanism. Firstly, there is “reliberium” and “eupraxophy”
with the fundamental role of increasing meaningfulness within the human condition. Whereas
religion is essentially about faith and worship, it is opposed to faith, dogmatism, ideological
authoritarian, and stagnation. Secondly, there is “humanism,” a specific type of “reliberium” that
transhumanism bases itself on which is the potential of humankind with the advancement of
rational thinking and science. Thirdly, there is “posthumanism,” which is the enhancement of the
human condition through technological progress. The finality of which is humans becoming
completely cybernetic organisms, living through the computer as conscious data. Lastly, there is
“extropianism,” which affirms the values of boundless expansion meaning no limits on our personal
and social progress and possibilities, self-transformation meaning biological and neurological
enhancement, dynamic optimism meaning an empowering attitude towards the progress of the
species, and intelligent technology.
Within the transhumanist theme, various scientific and technological advances are
anticipated and explored. Cryonics is the freezing of the human body in liquid nitrogen shortly after
death in order to be in a state of “refrigerated limbo” (McKie, 2002). The aim is to be resuscitated in
the future when medical advances are such that death is no longer an obstacle to the human
condition.
Genetic modification refers to the rapidly increasing progress in gene therapy and RNA
interference, transhumanist theorists originally alerted to the possibilities by Ettinger (1964) predict
that humans will become near immortal with extremely long lifespans (Bostrom, 2003). Ettinger
(1964: 58) goes as far as to say that, “that extended life or even permanent life might result from
some kind of ‘youth serum’ such as crops up in the news from time to time.” Humans will in fact be
optimised from birth in terms of mental and physical capabilities through germ-line genetic
engineering (Bostrom, 2003).
Virtual reality has seen major, rapid advancement since the turn of the century. In fact, as
computer graphics today are already approaching the level of photorealism, what needs to be
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Figure 9 Artist's illustration of the inside of a 1977 O'Neill Cylinder Colony
Figure 10 Inside Cooper Station from 2014 film Interstellar
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resolved in order to fully interact with a virtual reality is haptics, the sense of touch. Unlike visual
technologies which need a frame rate of approximately 30 images per second to simulate that of the
material world, haptic technologies need a few hundred updates per second in order to simulate
that of the material world (Anissimov, no date). Moore’s Law predicts that computing power
doubles every two years (Moore, 1965). Given the progress in this field today, full immersive virtual
reality may be a technology of the very near future.
Space colonisation is also a popular idea in all science-fiction comics and graphic novels.
Physicist Gerard K. O’Neil (1977) anticipates space colonisation as he extensively designed the iconic
O’Neill Cylinder in 1977, illustrated in Figure 9. In fact, the O’Neill Cylinder Colony design is still in use
in today’s popular science-fiction such as Interstellar’s (2014) Cooper Station, presented in Figure 10,
which is based on O’Neill’s original designs.
Cybernetics, first defined by Wiener as, “the scientific study of control and communication in
the animal and the machine” (1948: 5), has the potential to enhance the human body through
technological transplants that function better than its biological equivalent or perform whole new
functions entirely. It is a transdisciplinary topic as this can be applied to neuroscience and upgrading
the human brain just as it can be applied to robotics and creating artificial limbs. Pask argues that
the relevance of cybernetics in architecture is in, “the concept of an environment with which the
inhabitant cooperates and in which he can externalise his mental processes.” (1969: 495) Cybernetic
buildings could be automatically evolving in direct response to their use through molecular
nanotechnology, changing shape, size and layout. Drexler outlines the possibility of a “molecular
assembler,” a desktop sized device capable of building anything by extrapolating progress in
nanotechnology as he declares that, “ribosomes are proof that nanomachines built of protein and
RNA can be programmed to build complex molecules.” (1986: 66) Combining molecular
nanotechnology with Von Neumann’s (1966) theory of self-replicating automata, one can imagine
buildings and cities that are constantly adapting, assembling and self-replicating the materials
necessary to do so.
Artificial General Intelligence is the creation of “thinking, feeling, imagining, creating,

communicating, thoughtful synthetic intelligences with conscious experiences.” (Anissimov, no date)
From this, the creation of a cybernetic brain becomes possible, capable of evolving exponentially.
This would mean that superintelligence, would be in our reach. Superintelligence is “an intellect that
is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity,
general wisdom and social skills.” (Bostrom, 2006: 11) Bostrom (2014) outlines the philosophical and
humanist implications of superintelligence, which are a capability to outgrow current issues but also
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Figure 11 Albert Robida's 1902 La Sortie de l'opéra en l'an 2000 (Exiting the opera in the year 2000)
Figure 12 1939 World's Fair in New York City depicting “The World of Tomorrow”
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the potential end of the human species, biologically speaking. In the same way that we might view
flies as a nuisance, superintelligent beings would view humans with a sense of apathy. AI may also
lead to the possibility of mind uploading, which would be what More (1994) calls the “posthuman,”
whereby we will have reached digital immortality.
When talking about transhumanist cities, the word cyber-tech incorporates all technology
concerning computing, nanotechnology, AI, cybernetics and space travel whereas bio-tech refers to
genetic modification, genetic engineering, cryonics as well as some aspects of nanotechnology.
Retrofuturism
Retrofuturism takes on ideas of past futurologists and designers in order to create new
worlds outside of our spatiotemporal reality, “futuristic designs from the past.” (Ahrens and
Meteling, 2010: 8) This is based on utopian and dystopian visions of future cities by 20th century
architects, novelists, artists and inventors. Retrofuturism in comics and graphic novels is inspired by
the New Wave science fiction of the 1960s, led by authors such as J. G. Ballard and later Ursula Le
Guin, which focus on soft science fiction. This is a genre that explores social sciences rather than
hard science. These are political, social and humanistic themes rather than hard scientific
extrapolations. This is a science fiction that serves as social commentary or political denunciation, as
scenarios are extrapolated to the extreme.
Important movements within this theme include steampunk which romanticises Victorian
England in an alternate speculative future, in the vein of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Albert Robida’s
early 20th century futuristic illustrations, shown in Figure 11. Steam refers to the extrapolated steam-
based technology. Punk originates from the music and arts from the 1970s onwards that is anti-
establishment, anti-Empire and a tool for the critique of modern society. Rather than filtering out
the nostalgic elements of the past and ignoring the hypocrisy of the British Empire for instance in
steampunk, the work becomes a vehicle to criticise the practice of colonisation and imperialism.
There is this deluded sense of nostalgia of the past which makes this retrofuturistic perspective
relevant whilst operating in a world in which those ideas are retrograde and retrogressive
(Chattopadhyay, 2016).
There is also a completely different strain of retrofuturism which, for the purpose of this
paper, is referred to as “retrofuturistic modernism”. In the same way that steampunk imbues the
future with Victorian sentimentality, retrofuturistic modernism looks back at “world’s fairs, visionary
architecture, modernist technologies, and even prophetic literature and films of the early century’s
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seers.” (Motter et al., 2011: 11) Figure 12 is a photograph of the World Fair in New York City of 1939,
which was said to portray the “World of Tomorrow” and is one of the “world fairs” Motter is
mentioning. It employs the extrapolative methods of the Modernist past to project the envisioned
world of tomorrow, in all its sentimentality as well as its brutality. The idea of what J. G. Ballard calls
“psychetecture” (Chattopadhyay, 2016) is also extremely prominent in retrofuturistic modernism, in
the vein of what Le Corbusier (1933) and other Modernist idealists were attempting to do with his
utopian visions. “Psychetecture” addresses the effect of built environment on the human mind
(Finley, 2013).
When talking about retrofuturistic cities, steampunk technologies refer to everything that is
comparable with cyber-tech functionality but through steam-based and mechanical technology
whereas high-tech refers to computing and nanotechnology.
Post-Apocalyptic
The theme of the apocalypse is always a very important and prominent one in science-
fiction, notably in British works but also more recent American works. Berger (1999) names the
eschaton as an event marking the end of the world as we know it, be it a natural, technological
disaster or even a religious apocalypse. There can be pseudo-scientific explanations to this, such as
in the case of a technological or natural disaster. It is an event that changes the world in which the
narrative takes place, an event that has an important impact on the built environment and the
structure of the cities depicted within the story. The aim here is to critique certain ideologies and
behaviours which could lead to the end of civilisation as we know it. This is not limited to all-out
worldwide catastrophe, wiping out most of the population, it also includes societies that have
undergone major change after a specific event acting as the catalyst. The event is an apocalyptic
theme. The aftermath of such an event is the post-apocalyptic theme. This can be the main theme in
a piece of work or simply one that is subtly in the backdrop. Time is key here as this is a theme
where time has lost its relevance in society. Death and decay are also key themes as this is a society
that has dealt with the destruction of their world, at least partially, and deal with death differently
than in mainstream Western society. Desolation and isolation are the results of any apocalypse and
therefore are prominent in any post-apocalyptic future.
“The climate of the post-apocalyptic can never leave behind the apocalyptic tone
– the singular end of Man, the end of the game, still haunts the world without
end.”
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(Heffernan, 2008: 26)
The end of Man means the end of recorded history and therefore the end of time, in terms
of its abstract concept that humanity attaches to it. Heffernan identifies post-apocalyptic scenarios
to be the reaction to war and trauma in our history. H. G. Wells’ (1898) War of the Worlds is an
apocalyptic scenario comparable to the period of colonialism at that time in British history. Much of
apocalyptic literature has been reactionary to the world wars of the first half of the 20th century. So
this type of fiction is reactionary to the spatiotemporal context in which it is written.
When talking about post-apocalyptic cities, low-tech refers to primitive and mechanical
apparatus whereas militaristic technologies refers to firepower, offensive and defensive apparatus.
Themes of segregation, terrorism and war are often found and are key indicators of post-apocalyptic
as well as apocalyptic scenarios.
Fabulation
This is a universe that is not parallel to ours but completely separate. Therefore, it allows for
completely unhindered speculation that needs not abide by any pseudo-scientific logic or even the
laws that set out our reality. Indeed, the laws of physics and science that bound our world can be
superseded by magic for instance in the fantasy genre that would be anchored in an “else-where”
world. However, what is interesting in this type of scenario is the "fiction that offers us a world
clearly and radically discontinuous from the one we know, yet returns to confront that known world
in some cognitive way.” (Scholes, 1975: 29). This is what Robert Scholes calls “structural fabulation”
and must engage in some form of realism, as distorted as it may be. Essentially, “it is impossible to
imagine a world free of connections to our experiential world, for if we cannot coincide with reality,
nor can we avoid.” (Kotin, 1976) Scholes identifies two functions of this type of speculation:
sublimation and cognition. Sublimation is voicing the concerns of the “here and now” into the “there
and then” world of a speculative work of fiction in order to rationalise them. Cognition is a slightly
more abstract concept for Scholes where he describes it as the release that “helps us to know
ourselves and our existential situation.” It is in this sort of light that this type of graphic novel
narrative will be analysed.
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Figure 13 V for Vendetta's opening five panels
Figure 14 Map of New York City's occupation in DMZ
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The Spatiotemporal and Thematic

Matrices
When: The Extrapolated Reality

The future reality is extrapolations of socio-political, socio-economic, environmental,
scientific and technological trends. In its most speculative form it is socio-political and in its most
extrapolative it is scientific and technological but it can be a combination of many trends.
V for Vendetta (Moore and Lloyd, 1988) is a graphic novel which presents a scenario based
on a socio-political extrapolation. In this scenario a near-miss nuclear conflict pushes Britain to adopt
a fascist government in a period of Thatcherism as Britain’s political landscape was tending more
and more toward the right. This is emphasised by the use of dark/dull colours and greyish tones in
Figure 13. It also depicts themes of surveillance, segregation and terrorism are constantly referenced
as political ideas of anarchism versus fascism are explored. The idea/concept of this graphic novel is
not only a critique of Thatcher’s government but also an anarchistic political discourse. It is the
realm of the Le Guin’s (1969) thought-experiment, a what-if scenario where the politics of Thatcher,
are extrapolated to the extreme, in a time of all-out nuclear war. These make for apocalyptic themes
within the narrative. Firstly with the setup of a near-miss nuclear destruction of Britain, but also with
V’s anarchistic philosophy of creative destruction whereby he is the destroyer.
“Anarchy wears two faces, both creator and destroyer. Thus destroyers topple
empires; make a canvas of clean rubble where creators can then build a better
world.”
(Moore and Lloyd, 1988: 222)
DMZ (Wood and Burchielli, 2005-2012) is a comic book series that ran for 72 issues between
2005 and 2012. It is a socio-political extrapolation set in the near future, where a Second American
Civil War has turned Manhattan into a demilitarised zone. Figure 14 shows that the “Free States”
control New Jersey whilst the American army occupy Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Manhattan
has become a warzone as the citizens are faced with “looters, roving gangs of neighbourhood militia,
insurgents, car bombers, contract killers…” (Wood and Burchielli, 2005-2012: 1) The idea/concept is
a critique of Western war-waging by transposing the situation of these war-torn countries such as
Iraq or more recently Afghanistan onto the world’s most famous American city, New York. It is a
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Figure 15 The "maker" in Transmetropolitan producing clothes and sunglasses on request
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socio-political extrapolation based on a growing sense of discontent in the American population,

taken to the extreme where the people actually reclaim the city through militaristic intervention.
Transmetropolitan (Ellis and Robertson, 1997), is a comic book series that ran for 60 issues
between 1997 and 2002. It concerns itself with serious scientific and technological extrapolation
based on real transhumanist theories, with an element of satire. Ellis asks a variety of questions on
how a transhumanist city would be structured “without great commentary” (Chattopadhyay, 2016),
meaning that he projects these trends in his work but leaves it up to the reader to interpret whether
they are desirable or not. The idea/concept behind Transmetropolitan is one that is preoccupied
with projecting a transhumanist future, how the political landscape would be shaped and how the
city might be structured. We are presented with a divided city a few hundred years in the future.
Figure 15 explains that individuals have “makers,” or what Drexler (1986) describes as molecular
assemblers, within their homes that can make anything from a meal to class A drugs. Genetic
modification has come to the point where people can live hundreds of years and where those who
were cryogenically frozen hundreds of years ago can be awoken. People have cybernetic upgrades or
even become entirely digital as “foglets”, reaching what transhumanists speculate the posthuman
state of evolution to be, digital immortality. The “reliberium” that More (1990) talks about seems to
have taken the shape of a techno-centric society, “posthumanism” has been achieved but
“humanism” has been in a sense ignored. The result of which is that the self-transformation part of
“extropianism” has been achieved but boundless expansion through social progress seems to have
regressed and shrouded any dynamic optimism that may occur.
Man Plus (Araújo and Rozegar, 2015) is a webcomic which is set in the year 2042. Not only
does it use extrapolation to project technological trends but also economic and political trends and
how that might affect the city, as expressed within the opening paragraph.
“As the new millennium progressed, incompetence and corruption plunged

countries worldwide into crisis after crisis, severely limiting their power and
influence. Multinational corporations quickly emerged as the new superpowers,
replacing nations in the struggle for global dominance.
States and their institutions still survive, but its private investment that dictates
progress. Where larger corporations invest, entire cities arise around them.”
(Araújo and Rozegar, 2015: 2)
The idea/concept behind this work is one that criticises the way in which the global world is
developing, as some transnational corporations have more wealth, power and influence than many
Third world countries at the moment. In Araújo’s future, this has been extrapolated to the extent
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Figure 16 Android being implanted human memories in Hard Boiled
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where these corporations dominate the globe and cities are erected in their name, reminiscent of
Campbell’s (1991) statement that a society’s values can be determined by their tallest buildings. It
explores the transhumanist themes as Araújo extrapolates a future scenario of conscious AI, mind
uploading, cybernetic enhancements, genetic modification and their implications in a city that is
heavily segregated between man and machine. Similarly to Transmetropolitan, in “extropian” terms
(More, 1990), self-transformation has been achieved but at the cost of boundless expansion and
dynamic optimism as transnational corporations rule the daily lives of all the citizens, human or
android, in the city.
Hard Boiled (Miller and Darrow, 1992) is a graphic novel set in Los Angeles in the near
future. It explores consciousness of artificial intelligence and the idea that memory is simply data in
a cybernetic organism as the line blurs between human and machine. The idea/concept behind it is
the danger of creating life, in that an artificial intelligence’s would be identical to the human mind in
terms of the complexity of emotions. Figure 16 details the story of an artificial intelligence that has
been implanted with memories of a human life and believes that he is the man who owns these
memories until he realises he is an android and that there are countless like him, in the shocking
revelation that “They make us think we’re human because it’s the only way they can control us.”
(Miller and Darrow, 1992: 98) This is a warning about “playing God” and creating artificial life, and
the motifs behind it. In More’s (1990) terms, this scenario presents a society that has failed to grasp
the essence of “humanism,” and therefore can be considered as having reached none of the targets
in “extropianism.”
Else-When: The Alternative Reality

Watchmen (Moore, Gibbons and Higgins, 1986) is a graphic novel set in an alternative
present at the time of publication which asks the question: how would the presence of a
superhuman, gifted with superintelligence and supernatural abilities, alter the course of our recent
history and therefore shape our future? This is referring to the character of Jon Osterman, who is
disintegrated in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor and then becomes Doctor Manhattan after
reconstructing himself. This is the pseudo-scientific explanation for the birth of a superhuman, who
has reached a state of what More (1990) calls “posthumanism” and gifted with Bostrom’s (2014)
“superintelligence.” The reason that this timeline has forked from ours is the presence of
superintelligence as early as 1959. This is used as a nuclear deterrent by the US in the Cold War with
the USSR which poses the threat of nuclear war and environmental ruin because of what Adrian
Veidt explains as a “significant power imbalance” (Moore, Gibbons and Higgins, 1986: 370). The
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Figure 17 Clock at Madison Square Garden in New York City striking midnight in Watchmen
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constant references to time and the clock approaching midnight on every chapter cover is a constant
reminder of this sense of impending doom, which ties into apocalyptic themes. This sense of
uncertainty caused by the threat of nuclear war has led the streets to be occupied by preachers of
the apocalypse in a dark world, approaching midnight. Figure 17 depicts the finality of this with
complete ruin and devastation of the city as the metaphorical clock strikes midnight orchestrated by
Adrian Veidt who releases a genetically engineered monster onto the city that will “end the war”
(Moore, Gibbons and Higgins, 1986: 401). It does achieve world peace and the part of the city that
was destroyed is rebuilt. In this creative destruction brought about by Adrian Veidt, there is a
questioning of right and wrong through two major philosophies. Firstly, Adrian Veidt’s philosophy is
one of utilitarianism whereby an event or action should be judged on the long-term outcome for the
people concerned (Bentham, 1780). In this sense, Veidt’s actions are justified, as by killing half of the
population of New York, he has averted the end of world as we know it. His genetically engineered
monster is seen as a creature from another dimension and a threat to the entire world, thus uniting
nations that were previously enemies. From the ashes of this small-scale destruction, he plans to
build a new world, a utopia. In contrast, Rorschach’s philosophy is one of Kantian moral absolutism,
whereby defeating the evils of the world can only be accomplished by defeating those responsible
(Kant, 1998). Rorschach’s actions are therefore intrinsically good in the sense that they are fuelled by
an absolute moral code. He confirms this after Nite Owl, Laurie and Doctor Manhattan agree to stay
silent about Veidt’s masterplan in order to preserve the peace that it entailed after the facts, by
saying that he won’t compromise on this, “not even in the face of Armageddon.” (Moore, Gibbons
and Higgins, 1986: 402) He is willing to risk the end of the world in order to hold on to his moral
code. The idea/concept is one that asks how our society will be affected by superintelligence
embodied by Doctor Manhattan’s growing apathy for the human race. This is a concern raised by
Bostrom (2014), the one that a superintelligence through AI and cybernetic enhancement could lead
to the end of the human race, biologically speaking. More (1990) questions the very nature of what
it is to be human, if it is the human consciousness that makes us human, then becoming a
posthuman cybernetic organism is simply the next step in human evolution which would justify the
end of the biological human as merely a new beginning, just as we superseded cavemen in the past.
Mister X (Motter, Hernandez, Hernandez, & Hernandez, 1983-1990) is perhaps the most
architecturally relevant comic book series to date, which originally spanned over 27 issues between
1983 and 1990. It depicts a future that could have been, of tall concrete and glass buildings, flying
cars and flyovers. The city itself is called Radiant City, as a direct reference to Le Corbusier (1933)
and so we are dealing with retrofuturistic modernism. The title character Mister X claims to be the
original architect of the Radiant City that he lives in, before the design was changed.
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Figure 18 The effects of "psychetecture" on the citizens of Radiant City in Mister X
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“But they changed the design! They cut down on building materials, cut corners,
used a lot of cheap substitutes! The psychetecture was ruined! God knows what
effect the actual city is having on all our minds!”
(Motter et al., 1988: 82)
Motter uses the term “psychetecture,” to refer to the effect of the built environment on the
human mind. Mister X designed Radiant City on principles of aesthetic beauty that would enrich and
inspire its citizens, affect their very psyche in a positive way. However, he is convinced that the
architects that followed through with the design changed it and the resultant city is one that fosters
mental illnesses, manias and mass psychoses as illustrated in Figure 18. There is the deluded sense
of nostalgia for a city that never will be. But because it was not built exactly as he designed it, he
needs to fix the errors of execution in its construction, fuelled by a drug called insomnalin that keeps
him up 24 hours a day. This retrofuturistic scenario does not only represent a future that could have
been, or yesterday’s future metropolis. The idea/concept is a heavy critique of the Modernist
movement in its attempt to understand the effect that their architecture had on the human psyche,
Radiant City being a direct reference to Le Corbusier in particular. The brutalist functionalism of their
diagrams dehumanises the very spirit of the city. The 1980s was a period when city planning was still
operating under the guidelines set out by the Bauhaus and Motter is criticising their failure to
understand that cities are historical in nature, and cannot be built from the ground-up. Motter
mentions Brazilia as a particular example of a city that was erected from nothing during the
Modernist period, its unaccommodating nature and the undesirable side-effects it brings.
“It was a majestic city like that envisioned by Le Corbusier, Nuetra, Wright and
even Albert Speer. And by artisans like Walt Disney, Hugh Ferriss and those of the
Bauhaus.
But it became more like one envisioned by Von Habrou, George Orwell, or H. G.
Wells. It was the vision of a vast sculptured and mechanical world. But one in
which the citizens were merely components. Man, neither the individual nor the
collective, was no longer the master.
Aesthetic functionalism ruled.”
(Motter et al., 2011: 13)
Terminal City (Motter and Lark, 1996-1997) is a comic book series that ran for 14 issues
between 1996 and 1997. It depicts a future that could have been, a world of 1930's futurism with
pedestrian skywalks and bridges connecting massive towers of concrete and glass, flying vehicles,
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Figure 19 Cityscape as Hugh Ferriss would have imagined it in Terminal City
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dirigibles and pneumatic transit tubes. Similarly to Mister X, this work presents themes of
retrofuturistic Modernism, inspired by the 1939 World Fair, envisioning the city of tomorrow. Figure
19 shows a striking resemblance with Ferriss’ extrapolation in Figure 6. However, unlike Radiant City,
Terminal City was built to house the Brave New World’s Fair and named because of its location at
the crossroads of transport links. Radiant City caused its citizens mental disturbances because of its
failed “psychetecture” whereas Terminal City’s failure lies in an economic breakdown which led to
the closing of the fair, hence the city falling into disrepair. This runs into the theme of nostalgia for a
city of the past, both in its retrofuturistic depictions and in the fact that Terminal City was once a
shining beacon of hope, an ideal city, and became a catalyst for social depression, crime and
corruption. The idea/concept is one that criticises the values held by the Modernist, that a utopia
can be achieved through order and ideal geometries when in fact, the world is not black and white.
The city is a continuous process of innovation and disruption and cannot be painted in such a light.
Aetheric Mechanics (Ellis and Pagliarani, 2008) is a graphic novel that depicts a parallel
reality of London in 1907. The whole reality is one that theoretically should not exist as it was caused
by a time-travelling scientist called Jonathan Vogel. By working on the Large Hadron Collider, he was
“accidentally” sent to 1905 – the year that special relativity was proposed by Einstein. Therefore, the
theory of aether that preceded it is developed, superseding Einstein’s theory. For these reasons, this
reality possesses technologies that surpass our own such as space travel, and technologies that are
anachronistic such as two-way televisual communication and robotic combat suits. The British
Empire has colonies which extend to other planets and is at war, thus developing steampunk war-
based technologies, shown in Figure 20. It is typically steampunk in that the sense of nostalgia is
embedded with irony as it can be interpreted as a critique of British colonialism of the time, as it is
blown up to galactic proportions. It is openly critical of Empire whilst at the same expressing a
nostalgia for the past. The idea/concept is one that asks the question of why regain an Empire that
reminds us of the dangers of policies of expansionism and war-waging. It is anti-establishment,
earning its “punk” quality, but also existentialist, as this fictional reality was created when Vogel
accidentally went back in time, and by fixing it, it would be cease to exist. In the same way as this
paper does, Ellis is asking us to reflect upon these imaginary worlds and learn from them.
Lady Mechanika (Benitez and Steigerwald, 2010-2016) is a comic book series that has
spanned for 12 issues. It depicts a world in an alternate 20th century Britain. Mechanika is also a
fictional steampunk city where still exist such things as arcane secret societies that operated in
Victorian London. You have these nostalgic frameworks, but the city itself is atemporal in its
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Figure 20 Steampunk technologies in Aetheric Mechanics
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fictitiousness. This is how Benitez has avoided dealing with the negative sides of Victorian Britain and
Empire. Rather than facing them head on like Ellis in Aetheric Mechanics, Benitez has separated his
narrative from a certain version of history, and reclaimed the rest of the world in a new mode, from
a set of desired outputs. The idea/concept is one that asks whether we should be romanticising the
past, and if so, what is it specifically about the past that we should seek in particular.
No-When: The Atemporal Reality

The Walking Dead (Kirkman et al., 2003) is a comic book series which has been running since
2003 with 144 issues to present date. It presents a post-apocalyptic scenario whereby the world as
we know it has been ended by a virus which causes the dead come back to life, as brain dead,
human flesh-eating organisms, also known as zombies or “walkers.” This is what Berger (1999) calls
the eschaton that leads to the breakdown of mainstream civilisation. What is interesting is the
progression from a world that we recognise before Rick Grimes, the main character, gets shot and
goes into a coma, and the one that he wakes up in, “a world of untold and undefined horror”
(Chattopadhyay, 2016) where every day is the same as the one before it. This is a world that alludes
to the memory of its predecessor, but where time has lost its relevance, evidenced by Andrea, a
character in charge of counting the days, gradually loses track of the calendar until it is completely
written off. The idea/concept is one that asks how well equipped we would be should technology,
society and governance completely breaks down. But also, in a hostile world, what sort of places
become strategic.
Kamandi: The Last boy on Earth (Kirby, 1972-1978) is a comic book series that ran for 59
issues between 1972 and 1978. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world after “a natural disaster linked
with radiation.” This is an environmental eschaton, as defined by Berger (1999). In a twist of fate,
humans have been reduced to savagery as the world is ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals.
Singularity 7 (Templesmith, 2004) is a graphic novel that depicts a post-apocalyptic world

after a mysterious technological material called “nanites” falls on Earth in a meteor shower. These
“nanites” have the ability to build complex machines and cure diseases but is eventually used for
destruction and chaos. This is a technological eschaton, as defined by Berger (1999), where man has
brought the apocalypse upon himself through the abuse of technology.
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Figure 21 John DiFool, faced with the creator of his universe through the strength of the incal at the end of The Incal
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Else-Where: The Fabulated Reality

The Incal (Jodorowsky and Moebius, 1981) is a graphic novel which presents a universal tale
of mythical proportions in the search of our inner humanity. It is set in a universe not completely
dissimilar from our own, set in a humanoid dominated galaxy and incrusted with key transhumanist
themes, but one that is clearly removed from the world we live in, both in time and space. This is a
future that we can understand, but mixes themes of magic and mysticism with themes of science
and technology, in order to comment on the role of the human in the age of technology, putting it
halfway between science-fiction and fantasy. It is the story of John DiFool, based on the Tarot card
of “The Fool,” who goes from being a “Class-R licensed Private Investigator” to being the saviour of
the universe and back again, by elements and forces completely out of his control, in an eternal loop
of self-discovery. Figure 21 depicts the fantastical theme reaches its climax. With this speculative
freedom that this fabulation brings, Moebius packs into every panel a crowded, dirty future, the
slums of the overpopulated megacity. It would be difficult to pinpoint the exact idea/concept, as
McCloud defines it, because of the vast array of topics and philosophy that is delivered, panel by
panel, at a frighteningly fast pace. But for the purpose of this paper, the idea/concept will be one
that is preoccupied with projecting a transhumanist future, how the political landscape would be
shaped and how the city might be structured. It tells us that there is hope, there is a way to reach
what More (1990) calls “extropianism” by avoiding the fetishizing technology, and focusing on the
“humanism” aspect in the transhumanist future ahead.
The Long Tomorrow (O'Bannon & Moebius, 1975) is a graphic novel considered by most to
be the first true work of cyberpunk and its depiction of the futurist city has gone on to inspire such
works from William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1986) to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). It is the
earliest depiction of a truly transhumanist future in comics, with themes of AI, genetic modification
and even space travel. The idea/concept behind this work is not entirely clear, it is simply a futurist
extrapolation of how the city of the distant future might look, from the perspective of 1975. It is the
exploration of how an underground city might be structured, on a planet where the surface has
become uninhabitable. It can be claimed however that More’s (1990) idea of “extropianism” has
been achieved, albeit difficult to judge the boundless expansion and dynamic optimism.
Figures 22 and 23 organise the different spatiotemporality scenarios in a comparative

analysis with the themes discussed in the previous section.
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Figure 22 Spatiotemporality Matrix
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Figure 23 Thematic Matrix
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Figure 24 View of Atlanta from the Interstate 85 in The Walking Dead
Figure 25 A flooded New York City in Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth
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The City Type and

Speculative/Extrapolative Matrices
The Abandoned City
The Walking Dead (Kirkman et al., 2003), Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth (Kirby, 1972-1978),
Singularity 7 (Templesmith, 2004) and DMZ (Wood and Burchielli, 2005-2012) depict abandoned
cities in largely different ways. The Walking Dead, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth and Singularity 7
are embedded with post-apocalyptic themes and DMZ with apocalyptic ones. These have regressed
to low-tech and militaristic technologies in The Walking Dead, DMZ and Singularity 7 and even
primitive technology in Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. The cities depicted are of ruined building
morphologies, infrastructure in disrepair, limited resources and no politics of maintenance shown in
Figures 24 and 26. Although three of these are a scenario where the recorded history has come to an
end and the other a scenario where civil war ravages the country, the output is roughly the same. It
is a hostile city. Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth depicts New York after an environmental disaster,
not dissimilar from the rising sea level caused by climate change as Figure 25 illustrates Manhattan
completely flooded. In this situation, the city is no longer a place where people tend to live. In The
Walking Dead, no one lives in the city and in DMZ the population of Manhattan has decreased to
400,000. In this scenario, cities soon become irrelevant, as they are hotspots for danger and cannot
be strategically defended. Defensible space becomes a valuable asset, as evidenced by the group
effort to clear an entire prison of “walkers” in The Walking Dead to establish a community within.
These are the product of speculation as in The Walking Dead, socio-political extrapolations
in DMZ, environmental disaster in Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth (Kirby, 1972-1978) set after “The
Great Disaster” or technological disaster in Singularity 7 (Templesmith, 2004) where technology that
was meant to improve life ended up destroying it. What they embody is the danger of such factors in
our society and the cognitive element is a wariness of our impact on the planet, technological
progress and the care required in political and social policy.
The Cyberpunk City

Transmetropolitan (Ellis and Robertson, 1997-2002), Man Plus (Araújo and Rozegar, 2015)
and Hard Boiled (Miller and Darrow, 1992) depict a cyberpunk city through themes of cyber-tech,
bio-tech, hyper-commercialisation, and super dense, ultra-tall buildings as depicted in Figures 27, 28
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Figure 26 A destroyed New York City in DMZ
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Figure 27 Olissipo City is a city spawned around transnational corporations in Man Plus
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Figure 28 A super dense, vertical and hyper-commercialised metropolis in Transmetropolitan
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And 29. They are divided cities where people become more and more detached from the biological
world or marginalised in a society that has either forgotten them or does not want them. The
population seems to be segregated into districts with a strong emphasis on class and between
artificial lifeforms and biological ones. In Transmetropolitan, Ellis introduces us to a new form of
societal marginalisation in the second issue when Spider Jerusalem visits The Angels 8 district, home
of the transient population. Transients are human beings who have adopted an alien genome
through genetic modification and are between bodies.
This type of city is based on scientific and technological extrapolations of transhumanist

technologies as well as socio-political and socio-economic ones with Figure 27 showing cities that
spawn around transnational corporations that have more power and influence than entire nations.
The city is hyper-commercialised with tall buildings and advertising obscuring our view of the real
world. The cognitive element is that it can be avoided if we remember our past and why these
scientific and technological advances are important in More’s definition of “extropianism” as we
march towards the transhumanist future. It is, after all, a humanist future which can easily be
forgotten, as demonstrated in these comics.
The Uchronic City

Both Watchmen (Moore, Gibbons and Higgins, 1986) and V for Vendetta (Moore and Lloyd,
1988) present alternative cities that are similar to their present counterparts, New York and London,
hence the uchronic city. The urban landscape of New York City in Watchmen and London in V for
Vendetta is much the same as it was at the time of publication, with two main differences. Firstly,
public transportation networks have been replaced by electric dirigibles and taxicabs as a result of
the rapid scientific and technological brought on by Doctor Manhattan. The subway system seems to
have been phased out completely, as evidenced by the constant reference to it in the past tense.
Figure 31 illustrates this with Nite Owl’s basement being connected to “a forgotten section of
subway” (Moore, Gibbons and Higgins, 1986: 234) whilst Figure 30 shows the derelict underground.
Secondly, there is an increasing amount of derelict buildings and direct references to them as the
plot unfolds. This sense of uncertainty caused by the threat of nuclear war has led the streets to be
occupied by preachers of the apocalypse in a dark world, approaching midnight. V for Vendetta is set
in a heavily controlled and divided London of 1997 evidenced in the very first page with a crowd of
people leaving a building reminiscent of a concentration camp, CCTV cameras with signs that read
“FOR YOUR PROTECTION,” reminiscent of “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell, 1949) and a
radio host who calls himself “the voice of fate” with the following announcement:
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Figure 29 A super dense and hyper-commercialised Los Angeles in Hard Boiled
Figure 30 Shutdown London underground in V for Vendetta
Figure 31 Shutdown New York subway in Watchmen
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“The people of London are advised that the Brixton and Streatham areas are
quarantine zones as of today. It is suggested that these areas be avoided for
reasons of health and safety.”
(Moore and Lloyd, 1988: 9)
These are based on speculation and socio-political extrapolations as Watchmen depicts the
effect of superheroes on the American political landscape during the Cold War and as V for Vendetta
extrapolates Thatcher’s Britain to the extreme. They also explore themes of transhumanism with the
philosophical impact of superintelligence in Watchmen. They are warnings of both a political nature
and of an environmental nature, the cognitive element being the welfare of our planet and of our
cities in an ever growing technological future.
The Retro Modernist City

Both Radiant City in Mister X and Terminal City in Terminal City are metropolises of
retrofuturistic design, the Modernist ideal extrapolated to the extreme with towering blocks of
concrete and glass (see Figure 22), so tall that “if you dropped a coin on someone from such a height,
it would bore straight through their skull to the sidewalk beneath their feet.” (Motter, et al., 2011, p.
155) The concept is one of streets in the sky and a transportation network of flying vehicles
connecting them. A future that could have been had we pursued the ideas of the 1939 World
Exhibition. This is the retro modernist city of high density and order.
This provides a speculative setting based on extrapolations from the past. It is retrofuturistic
speculation based on Modernist ideals and it is a critique of it in its failure to grasp the effect that
their architecture had on the human psyche, Radiant City being a direct reference to Le Corbusier in
particular. It is a Modernist extrapolation to the extreme but remains a thought experiment. The
brutalist functionalism of their diagrams, dehumanising the very spirit of the city. Figure 32 depicts
the tall, uncompromising monoliths of the retro modernist city. Figure 33 shows the pneumatic
transit tubes along with the monorail that are extrapolations inspired by from the 1939 World Fair.
The 1980s was a period when city planning was still operating under the guidelines set out by the
Bauhaus and Motter is criticising their failure to understand that cities are historical in nature, and
cannot be built from the ground-up. Motter mentions Brazilia as a particular example of a city that
was erected from nothing during the Modernist period, its unaccommodating nature and the
undesirable side-effects it brings.
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Figure 32 Super dense, vertical metropolis of monoliths in Mister X
Figure 33 Pneumatic transit tube in Terminal City
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“It was a majestic city like that envisioned by Le Corbusier, Nuetra, Wright and
even Albert Speer. And by artisans like Walt Disney, Hugh Ferriss and those of the
Bauhaus.
But it became more like one envisioned by Von Habrou, George Orwell, or H. G.
Wells. It was the vision of a vast sculptured and mechanical world. But one in
which the citizens were merely components. Man, neither the individual nor the
collective, was no longer the master.
Aesthetic functionalism ruled.”
(Motter, et al., 2011, p. 13)
The Steampunk City
Aetheric Mechanics (Ellis and Pagliarani, 2008) presents a Victorian London and Lady
Mechanika (Benitez and Steigerwald, 2010-2016) presents a fictional Victorian city. These are both
steampunk cities in their use of anachronistic steam-based and mechanical technology involving
space travel, prosthetic enhancements and audio-visual communications. Also their setting makes
them fairly low rise, medium density cities whilst the building morphologies are mainly Victorian
courtyards and terraces with some monumental buildings such as churches and parliamentary
buildings, illustrated in Figure 34 and 35.
This is a retrofuturistic speculative logic based on a reality that has not developed
nanotechnology but has achieved some technological progress through the advancement of steam-
based and mechanical technologies. It is a thought experiment and has no bearing on the real world.
Although Ellis does give an explanation as to how the city of London came to be in Aetheric
Mechanics based on a time-travelling scientist and a technology that followed the concept of
aetherics.
The Subterranean City

The Incal (Jodorowsky and Moebius, 1981) and The Long Tomorrow (O'Bannon and Moebius,
1975) both present subterranean cities, deep underground with “earthscrapers” that rise up to the
surface, as illustrated in Figures 36 and 37. These cities are high-tech, cyber-tech and highly
organised, but exist underground. They are vertically organised, the higher classes living at the top,
whilst the lower classes suffer in the dark underbelly, comparable to the city depicted Fritz Lang’s
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Figure 34 A London of low-rise terraces buildings and tall religious and government buildings in Aetheric Mechanics
Figure 35 The city of Mechanika and its steam-based technologies in Lady Machanika
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Figure 36 A vertically organised underground city on a planet with an uninhabitable surface in The Long Tomorrow
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Figure 37 A vertical self-organised city with an acid lake at its depths in The Incal
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Metropolis (1927). Figures 36 and 37 illustrates the pneumatic transit tubes that carry people from
the bottom up to the top of the city and a network of skywalks, bridges and flying cars connect it
horizontally.
There is no explanation as to why the surface of the planet may be uninhabitable and so it is
the realm of speculation. However, it would be fair to assume that it is the result of a planet of an
environmental disaster, where the surface is no longer inhabitable. In this sense, it is based on
environmental extrapolation. The cognitive element is one of how a city might be structured below
ground. It is even more relevant today with the growing trend of building further and further
underground, the term “earthscrapers” is increasingly used, claiming to be “a greener way to build”
(Alter, 2011). This could be the way our future cities are structured in an effort to avoid
environmental disaster, or as a means of surviving one. It is fairly undesirable, living so far
underground, and it can be avoided by building “greener” above ground.
Figures 38 and 39 organise the different city types in a comparative analysis with the
speculation and extrapolation methods as well as the spatiotemporal scenarios.
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Figure 38 City Type Matrix
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Figure 39 Speculation and Extrapolation Matrix
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Conclusion
There are two things to learn from these depictions of future cities in science-fiction comics
and graphic novels. The first is the extrapolative and speculative methods used in these depictions
and secondly the depictions themselves and how they reflect our present.
Firstly, these extrapolations tend to be taken to the extremes, depicting worse case
scenarios rather than closely following trends. Scientific and technological extrapolations show how
humanity can lose touch with its existential self. This is evidenced in Transmetropolitan,
environmental extrapolations depict the end of civilisation as in Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth,
socio-economic extrapolations show transnational corporations that become global authorities as in
Man Plus and socio-political extrapolations show authoritarian and fascist governments controlling
their citizen’s every move as in V for Vendetta. These extrapolations are based on pseudo-scientific
methods for the most part and perhaps there is value in making extreme projections based on
current trends to warn us of how not to design, what to fight against. It has been done before with
the work of the Italian Radicals in the 1970s which was the final metaphorical nail in the coffin of
Modernism. Speculation on the other hand can inform us about our present but also our past and
remind us why it is important. Steampunk narratives such as Aetheric Mechanics go beyond
fetishizing the past and begin to deconstruct it between its nostalgic elements but also the darker
side to Victorian Britain such as the policies of colonialism, which becomes a broader critique on
expansionist and military policies. Speculation allows us the freedom to explore the philosophical
implications of some scientific and technological concepts such as Moore’s exploration of
superintelligence in Watchmen through the character of Doctor Manhattan. It would be useful to
use these extrapolative and speculative methods in imagination and development of future cities to
explore how far our logical reasoning can take us, sometimes as a warning of what to avoid and
other times as an encouragement pushing us toward a certain way of designing. Speculation can
provide the platform from which to jump to conclusions as we can explore cause and effect of
certain future city imaginaries.
Secondly, these depictions will be categorised as either desirable, avoidable or inevitable

according to a utilitarian philosophy of foresight. Abandoned cities are certainly undesirable and in
light of climate change and our inability to lower carbon emissions to stabilise it, puts it in the
category of inevitable if we extrapolate current environmental trends into the future. Subterranean
cities are in this same vein, the inevitability of which is even more confirmed when looking at the
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growing trend of “earthscrapers” as a conceivable option. It is up to us to change this into an

avoidable future rather than an inevitable one through design and technologies that can influence
behaviour. This is why these types of scenarios are so important to think about. Uchronic cities are
purely speculative as their name suggests. They may seem undesirable in a Kantian sense of moral
absolutism but the theme of creative destruction shows hope in a utilitarian sense, perhaps the
future city has to emerge from some form of destruction. Cyber cities seem desirable in terms of
technological progress but at the peril of socio-political progress and therefore cannot be desirable
in More’s definition of “extropianism.” They are however avoidable if we follow More’s logic of
“humanism” and consider the advancement of mankind and society when marching towards a
transhumanist future. Retro Modernist cities and steampunk cities are warnings from our past and
to some extent have been avoided with the exception of cities built from the bottom-up such as
Brasilia. It serves as a reminder not to follow certain trajectories from our past and stop thinking of
utopias rather than eutopias. The blur between between utopia and dystopia increases as the
science-fiction genre evolves to the extent that the terms have become obsolete. The world is never
black or white, it is shades of grey and our cities reflect those tones. Eutopia is a better society that
is continuously improving, as opposed to striving for ideals. All these things have to be considered
when thinking about future cities. The city is not a fixed entity and will never reach a state of
equilibrium. We need to claim our constantly evolving eutopia.
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Appendix: Science Fiction Futures
An interview with DR. Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay (BC) by Maxime Downe (MD)
[20th March 2016]
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay is a SAMKUL Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Cultural Studies

and Oriental Languages (IKOS) at the University of Oslo and a science-fiction researcher.
MD: Before we start, could you tell me a little about your background and what spurred your
interest in science fiction?
BC: I started reading science fiction at a very young age. Of course I began with the Anglo-American
SF, the standard, but also quite a bit of Bengali SF and Indian SF. When I started my undergrad in
literature, by my second year I had already decided I was going to write a PhD on science fiction and
that it would be on Indian SF.
MD: On Indian science fiction?
BC: Yes, Indian science fiction, Bengali science fiction and British science fiction so looking at the
colonial context. Looking at it from the perspective of the history of science to see what kind of
commonalities one could draw in terms of ideas and structures. The word science fiction as a genre
term does not come up until 1929. 1926 is when the term scientifiction is coined by Hugo Gernsback,
he is regarded as the father of science fiction. A very interesting person really, he was a Jewish
immigrant from Luxemburg to the United States and he was trying to popularise his own electronic
gadgets in the interwar years, trying to sell his radios. So science fiction for him, they were like the
fillers for his catalogues. Catalogues of his products with fillers which he called scientifiction and the
idea was to popularise scientific investigation. So there is a great book by John Cheng called
Astounding Wonder, it describes how science fiction came to be during this period. When we look at
Anglo-American SF, science fiction emerges very strongly as a literature to represent the scientific
and technological imagination. So, creating positive futures. It’s kind of important why 1926 and why
that particular historical period because it is right after the great depression and American economy
needs to go up. So how can it go up? The solution for America has pretty much always been either
war or technology. It is a standard, either to colonise the world or to create fabulous technology. So
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during this period, it was kind of important to have science fiction as it became the genre for the
American imaginary to come out of the Great Depression, to become a superpower and so on. So
that is how it emerges. The point is that until 1926, there is no term to call science fiction. People
like H. G. Wells and Jules Verne are writing in the 19th century were not called science fiction in their
own time even though today they are. So looking at early history, also early history of Indian SF
because it emerges at almost the same period, there is no genre term, neither for Bengali SF or
Indian SF, nor for British SF. Although there is a term called scientific romance and Jules Verne’s
novels are called voyages extraordinaire, so extraordinary voyages. So when we look at different
kinds of literary classics which talk about science and presented in a literary perspective, how can we
draw those commonalities in the absence of a term? So we can say that there is British SF, Indian SF,
American SF ok, they are all SF. But is there is no SF as a term, how do we create these
commonalities? For that, you have to look at what science does, how it develops and what are the
specifics. What is it in science itself and the scientific vocabulary itself that allows speculation? So
when I looked at Indian SF, Bengali SF and so on, that was my qualm.
MD: Thank you, that is very interesting. Following on from this, my first question would be what do
you think the purpose of scientific and technological extrapolation within science fiction?
BC: There are many different ways of answering this, like for me the future is not a fixed entity. You
cannot even predict what is going to happen in the next minute, let alone five minutes. So when you
talk about extrapolation in science fiction and you talk about science fiction as a cultural/social
phenomenon then we are not talking about a possible future but a specific versions of the present
and our anticipations. This is a discussion of those presents that we inhabit, like me, I’m in the
present but it is not the same for everyone. Science fiction discusses what those different versions of
the present mean. People have different varieties of the present as well. I mean someone living in an
extremely rural environment, for instance, where farming is the main thing will experience a certain
variety of the present. So for them their version of the present is connected to their crops and so on.
Whereas someone like you and me, flying from one city to another, running from one place to
another, our notion of the present is very different. It could be called an accelerated present, but I
would say that it is just different. Different ways of experiencing. So to get back to the question, the
purpose of extrapolation is that we cannot really imagine the future because it is far too complex.
But we live in our little tiny presents and extrapolation is to anticipate certain ways in which the
future might evolve. So that is one way to look at it. The other is to say that it is not about
extrapolation at all. There is a famous phrase by Ursula Le Guin which says, “Science fiction is not
extrapolative, it is a thought-experiment.” It is a “what if”. You have an apparent world in which you
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change one thing, or two things, or three things, you are exploring what happens to the world by
changing an element from it. Very recently, Ann Leckie has written a trilogy called the Ancillary
Worlds and she does what does what other authors have done which is to play with gender. In this
ancillary world, the female pronoun is used for everyone, so it is always a “she”. Whether we are
dealing the AI, or with biological beings, it is always “she”. We are inhabiting a world where the
dominant pronoun for discourse is “he” and if we suddenly switch it to “she”, it would change a lot
of our references. Even as a simple game, say something that we associate specifically with
masculinity, “He was strong and powerful like a bull” and you say “She was strong and powerful like
a bull”, we are already inhabiting a different kind of imaginary. So we can believe in certain kinds of
constructs. So Le Guin’s point is that SF is a thought-experiment, you change one thing and see what
happens. So there are different ways of treating this. For me the purpose is to explore what would
happen to society if certain technologies come about but also become a discourse as our way of
looking at the world changes. Both of those are equally important.
MD: So in that situation, it would not only be about extrapolation then, it would also be about
changing history.
BC: It is changing our reference points. We have specific ways of referring to the world and those are
rooted deeply in our social and historical programming. So by changing those elements we are also
decentring where we are on the planet, where we are in time. Completely.
MD: I think this next question is most appropriate to this topic. Do you think there is more or less
value in science fiction than in science fantasy and why?
BC: It is a question that I am actually struggling with myself because I am not an avid fantasy reader.
I have read my Tolkien, I have read Robert Jordan and some of the greats but science fantasy is not
my genre. Science fiction is not about not knowing, hope lies in the possibility of knowing and that is
what I find so positive about it. That to me is the reason why science fiction is of more value. It is not
possible to know all the futures that exist on the planet, it is theoretically possible but I don’t think
we will ever know. In that possibility, there is great hope. Now, fantasy comes from a slightly
different way of understanding the world. Within fantasy, there are always elements that belong to
the realm of the unknown. Even if you explain magic with the most natural mean, it is still magic. If
you read something like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, they have all this magical etiquette, all these
formulae and all these ways of concocting their potions and things like that. But it is still arcana,
there is something in there which is inexplicable, that people cannot know, hence the important of
the magician. Therefore, fantasy is inherently hierarchical whereas science, at least as a concept, is
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more open – in practice it is not but as concept it is more open. Anyone can actually learn and
therefore is a less hierarchical structure whereas fantasy always has hierarchy.
MD: Some stories which are classed as science fiction could actually be seen as science fantasy as
they are not based on any existing trends or real scientific and technological extrapolations, relying
solely on the unknown as justification. I am not sure whether there is more value in science fiction
which is based on the possibility of knowing, as you say, than on the unknown.
BC: If you look at the trajectory in Star Wars, and Star Wars is science fantasy, the force exists as this
kind of inexplicable thing out there which controls the universe in the original trilogy. But if you look
at the prequel trilogy, there is a certain attempt to explain it through these midi-chlorians, there is a
logic to what is happening. Post-sensitivity depends on your biological make-up as well. The higher
midi-chlorian count means the more control over the force that one has. So there is an attempt to
transform the world of fantasy to a world of explicable, quasi-scientific fiction. The point is that
neither science fiction nor science fantasy are either about magic or science, it is just how they
approach the world, the framework. Science fiction works with the idea that things can be explained
and are explicable. Fantasy works with the idea that things are always unclear and unknowable. But
science fantasy is a weird one because it acknowledges the limits to knowledge and to the
unknowable. Especially in the kind of world we inhabit, a world of extreme differences in the way
people live, who is to say that the scientific approach to the world is more or less important than the
supernatural, fantastic or the mythical way of approaching the world. Primitive societies exist in a
kind of balance between the two modes. For instance, in Indian society you have on the one hand
the whole techno-industry that goes on and on the other the realm of superstitious beliefs. They are
at the same time extremely advanced and also ripe with extreme forms of superstition as well, and
existing perfectly, happily in both modes which seem apparently contradictory, but somehow they
aren’t! So to me to put science therefore in opposition with the magical or the unknowable becomes
a problematic category when you look at the world itself in all of its complexity. So science fantasy
might actually be a more appropriate way of looking at the world. There is an understanding that
there are things that can be known but it is equally possible at the same time to maintain a belief in
the unknowable. The term that I use, it is used for Bengali SF and I am trying to popularise it for
Indian SF in general, is kalpabigyan. Kalpa is usually rendered as science fiction but actually it isn’t.
Gyan means knowledge, but it means knowledge of all kind, so it represents as much transcendental
knowledge as knowledge of the medieval world. Bigyan is a modifier which modifies the meaning of
gyan to refer specifically to knowledge of the material world. Bi is a diminutive, so it is also a lesser
form of knowledge and a knowledge of the material world simultaneously. Kalpana means
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imagination, what is imagination? Imagination is the ability to understand change. Kalpa is the unit
of time, it refers to huge units of time as well as short units of time. It is the time that encompasses
all kinds of times, it is used in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. So kalpabigyan becomes like a
literature of the imagination which facilitates a change in material knowledge over time. That I think
is a beautiful of bypassing some of the problems of science fiction because it recognises that
knowledge is ever-changing and ever-growing while also recognising that there is something like
gyan, the sum of all knowledge. The aim of bigyan might be to reach that point but you never know.
So I think that science fantasy is therefore the more important genre to tackle. I love science fiction
but I am moving more and more to science fantasy kind of perspective.
MD: Thank you. I will move towards what I am currently looking into in my research. What I have
been trying to do is create a taxonomy of the different types of scenarios in science fiction comics. I
have identified three scenarios. Firstly the transhumanist scenario with the digitisation of the world
and the transition toward a post-human society. Secondly, the retrofuturistic scenarios, looking at
yesterday’s extrapolations of tomorrow in a deliberate way which is a thought-experiment of a
parallel reality. And lastly, the post-apocalyptic scenario, looking at a change in our timeline which
leads to the breakdown of mainstream society. Within these scenarios, different types of cities are
spawned within science fiction comics and sometimes these scenarios can cross and the cross-
pollination can spawn a different type of city. So an AI city could be a post-apocalyptic and
transhumanist scenario crossover. My question is what are the type of science fiction scenarios that
you have come across or looked at if you have thought about it in that kind of way and what do you
think the extrapolations are based on?
BC: I have been looking at this for five years actually. I have been looking at science fiction and the
city in some depth. One can distribute these categories in so many ways. So the whole post
humanist perspective that you spoke about. There is the gov.uk Future of Cities project with cyber
cities and so on.
MD: The list from the gov.uk project is not based on a whole lot of examples, some of the city types
listed there are only based on one novel/manga/architectural project.
BC: It all depends on what your purpose is. So for instance looking at something like cloud cities, off
the top of your head you may be able to think of one or two but if you actually consult something
like Everett Bleiler’s books, Science-fiction: the Early Years and Science-fiction: the Gernsback Years,
you will come across fantastic taxonomies of earlier works, anything pre-1940s. You can actually plot
something like cloud cities through the index in earlier SF. Even for any of those different types, you
can find 50 different examples, there is so much science fiction. The way you can go about it is one,
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you could look at annotated bibliography, looking at Bleiler, Neil Barron or even the Encyclopaedia of
Science Fiction which is a very good resource for this. Then you have all these facebook groups and
so on with people who read a lot of SF where you could question any examples of cloud cities. There
are numerous examples for any city you could imagine, even if the gov.uk project does not go into
much detail. It is great but too scattered to be actually useable in one sense. Thinking about bringing
any of these ideas into practice or ways of thinking about the future, the ways in which you do your
work, you’re an architect. It is great to have free speculation on the one hand, you know like building
cloud cities, and on the other, what is the point? That is also another question. Great people have
thought about cloud cities, it is a great social thought-experiment, but what do I do with this? That is
one of the problems that I find with their specific classification. There are many things in there which
are totally unusable as things or ideas to work with. As general philosophical ideas, it’s great you can
imagine as much as you like. The other thing in that project which I found a bit problematic is a
certain kind of disassociation between the speculative element and the human element. I don’t
know if you felt that because I come from a background in humanities so perhaps my way of looking
at it is very different from yours. If you look at the work from Dunne and Raby, they develop this
framework called a/b testing, so on the one hand you have the way design is usually done, and on
the other the way design should be done according to them, so how you incorporate elements of
speculation. I was at a lecture by Dunne and Raby and again my question was this, speculation is
fantastic and I love science fiction and all that, but unless it has a certain kind of rootedness in the
human condition, I am increasingly sceptical of pure speculation. That is my perspective and I think
the gov.uk project suffers from that kind of a disconnect.
MD: I think it is difficult to actually think of a taxonomy that would actually work in separating these
types of cities without having any crossovers. But more than that you need an aim, something that
you can draw out of it. For me, I am trying to see how we can actually imagine future cities by
harnessing the resources that these science fiction writers use within the types of scenarios that I
have identified. So looking at post-apocalyptic theory, transhumanist theory and retrofuturistic
theory.
BC: When you look at retrofutures, you should look at steampunk. Within history, there is
retrocausality of future’s past. There is an interesting book which I think you would find interesting if
you have not yet come across it called Yesterday’s Tomorrows. It is a little illustrated book which
talks about science fiction and design, the way the future was seen. Then there is another book
which talks about scientific fallacies called Future Imperfect.
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MD: Ok, thank you. I am mainly looking at comics and graphic novels looking at authors such was
Warren Ellis with Transmetropolitan, Alejandro Jodorowsky with The Incal, Dean Motter with Mister
X, Alan Moore with Watchmen, Frank Miller with Sin City, John Wagner with Judge Dredd and others.
BC: Watchmen is an interesting one for retrofutures and retrocausality definitely. You should check
Paul Pope out too with Heavy Liquid. Or even Warren Ellis’ Doktor Sleepless which he never actually
completed is quite fantastic. All of Dean Motter’s work would be a very valuable resource for you
too.
MD: How do you explain that science fiction of the past is actually rather positive and more
contemporary science fiction projects a negative future, illustrating how technological progress can
go wrong? Why is it useful to think of the negative scenario and why do you think that it is more
prevalent than in older science fiction?
BC: Science fiction has always had both utopian and dystopian elements. If you look at 19th century
science fiction with people like H. G. Wells and Jules Verne and compare them. Or writers who are
the contemporaries of Wells in Britain present a negative vision and writers who are the
contemporaries of Jules Verne in France, people like Albert Robida, present a more positive vision.
So there are examples of both utopian and dystopian literature, even in the early science fiction.
British science fiction tends to be more dystopian. There is a book by Nicholas Ruddick called
Ultimate Island, the ultimate island is England, and so it is a history of British SF. It talks about the
anxieties over Empire, they had structured British science fiction from its inception. So if you look at
something like War of the Worlds, it begins with an explicit comparison with colonialism to what the
British are doing in Tasmania to what the Martians are going to do in England. So Tasmanians are
inferior so they will be wiped out and humans are inferior so they will be wiped out, except the
bacteria comes to the rescue of the humans. But that is purely chance, nothing to do with humans.
So there is a lot of anxiety over Empire in H. G. Wells’ writing, and because H. G. Wells is kind of a
giant of the age so people who were writing around him were also doing a lot of dystopian SF. Early
American SF, at least pulp SF, tends to be more positive. So there might be hardship, there might be
struggle but there is ultimately a kind of relief with a sense of fulfilment that you have overcome the
struggle and that you have made something out of that experience. But British science fiction tends
to be more negative. So this is early SF and that side is Gernsback and his imaginary, trying to
popularise his products. So obviously it comes out of that kind of a context. When he was writing, he
was trying to sell technology, so it tends to be very positive. So there is a lot of optimism about
science and technology. It is interesting because the British Empire is always growing and during the
20th century there is a gradual collapse of Empire, and British science fiction represents that collapse
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in that kind of dystopian collapsing mode. Whereas in American SF, it is the rise of America. So there
is the rise of America and the fall of Empire which can be seen in the history of science fiction. So
this is one kind of history. Now the interesting thing happens when the Cold War starts. In Cold War
science fiction, there is a deep delusion, both in the US and the rest of the world. Not so much
Russia, which is interesting, but I do not want to go into that right now. There is a sense that science
and technology have not really paid their dividends. Hence the Cold War but also the incredibly
destructive wars, such as the Second World War in which America won technically, but Europe is
destroyed. So you have the Marshall Plan to rebuild and rescue Europe. This is to reconstruct the
whole of Europe, with NATO, in the image of America, in its structure. People like Asimov, when they
are writing in the 1930s and 40s, which is kind of the Golden Age for SF, they are far more positive
than when they are writing later in their careers. In British SF, in the 1960s, we have a movement
called New Wave. A lot of the comics that you are looking at are actually influenced by New Wave,
like Mister X for instance. The whole idea of psychetecture is a New Wave idea. J. G. Ballard for
example is the first person to call his SF architecture fiction. So although New Wave is essentially
British, there is a lot of crossover between American and British SF, so they are considered to be part
of New Wave. It kind of steps back from the positive vision of technology to the effects on the
human mind. So Ballard’s classic text is Which Way to Inner Space. The aim that they’re exploring is
not so much the positive effects of technology, but the effects of it in general on the human psyche
and so on. And gradually they are also moving away from technology. So science fiction becomes a
next level genre which is now called slipstream fiction. Slipstream is when you do not know what it
is, you don’t know whether it is fantasy or horror etc.
MD: I guess that is what I am referring to when I say science fantasy actually. When you are not
quite sure whether you can classify it as science fiction.
BC: One book that you can look at if you are interested in these definitional questions is a book
called Speculations on Speculation edited by James Gunn.
MD: The transhumanist scenario is one that interests me a great deal, what are your thoughts on
becoming post-human, the AI future and digital immortality? And do you think this taken far enough
in science fiction?
BC: The idea of post-humanism enters SF in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After Drexler publishes
his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, there is a renewed scientific
optimism in science fiction in that we are able to modify the human body and increase our lifespans
significantly. There is the whole transhumanist movement during that time with H+ in which people
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are discussing more difficult scenarios. But this is a very difficult question because there is a blur
between what is utopian and what is dystopian. Have you read Brave New World?
MD: Yes.
BC: Well Brave New World is seen as classic Dystopia.
MD: Yes, but Mustapha Mond makes a convincing case for the way the world is in the novel in his
speech at the end. That you are giving up your individuality and freedom for the sake of collective
happiness. So if happiness is the ultimate goal of human existence, then it is a success. Logically, this
is a fairly bulletproof argument.
BC: He makes a very convincing argument. But the point is Brave New World is always seen as a
classic dystopia. That is the argument under the surface, along with your Shakespeare, “I claim
illness, human suffering, death etc.” He says, “I claim them all!” And that becomes this great
humanistic statement, that I claim pain and suffering because that is actually what makes me
human. So it is far more ambiguous. And if you look at Transmetropolitan, it has some very difficult
moments when you don’t quite know what is happening. One of those scenes is with Shannon Yaro’s
boyfriend is uploaded and he becomes a foglet. The entire philosophy of the foglet is of generating
things out of clouds, so generating a flower out of nanoparticles. Becoming a cloud of nanoparticles.
The first thing he does when he is a foglet is have sex with the other foglet and Shannon runs away.
Now you could see this a very negative kind of a commentary on it but what makes Warren Ellis so
fascinating to me as a writer is that he is actually projecting things without great commentary. There
are of course comments like when this woman is woken up after being cryogenically frozen, she
comes back and there is this entire description of all the things she could have described. There is
this nostalgia for history that this woman has seen but nobody cares for so she is pushed out in this
world. So it is more ambiguous. So is the foglet a superior form of life because it has overcome
certain kinds of archaic technical and biological constraints or is it a degenerate version of ourselves?
That is a question that Huxley asks too in Brave New World. What is this orgy porgy? That is like the
foglets having sex. So there is a certain morality attached to certain kinds of actions and Ellis never
moralises this. It is part of the plot element but he never actually moralises it. There is nostalgia for
history but very little ethics attached to it. For instance, Spider Jerusalem, is he a good guy or a bad
guy? With his bowel disruptors, is he actually a good guy? We inhabit a world where it is impossible
to separate utopia from dystopia. This is also very true of Mister X, or even Rorschach in Watchmen.
Rorschach has absolute moral codes, but is that good or bad? And Warren Ellis asks this question is
this comic book called Supergods. It has this tag line, “Praying to be saved by a man who can fly will
get you killed.” The entire narrative is that different countries create these different super beings,
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these transhuman super gods, with different kinds of powers. So India for example has a blue
Krishna. They give them absolute moral codes. If you give absolute moral codes to them, they will
end up destroying the world because no one and nothing is perfect. So they would not like anything.
And that is the question that Ellis deals with, you cannot have these moral absolutes. That is why I
like Ellis so much.
MD: These foglets in Transmetropolitan have become post-human. So this brings to mind this
question that Nick Bostrom often attempts to answer. When you free yourself of you biological brain
to a cybernetic brain which can evolve exponentially, how can we possibly imagine what these
digital beings of the future will look like, think and therefore create? Could it mean the end of the
human race, at least in its biological form?
BC: A lot of transhumanists have very problematic ideas. But the heart of the problem is holding on
to what we call the human. Savages, I claim them all! But is that what you are actually doing? Would
we actually want that? Are we not going to try and eliminate hunger and disease and poverty and all
those things, simply because someone wants to romanticise them? It is a great question. I don’t
know how to deal with transhumanists, I enjoy it though.
MD: It is absolutely fascinating to read some of the texts by Max More, Ray Kurzweil and Nick
Bostrom presenting the philosophy behind it.
BC: I worked on the Olaf Stapledon archives at the University of Liverpool. He was one of the gurus
of the transhumanist movement. He has this book from the 1930s called Last and First Men, which
talks about 18 different human species and human species trying to improve itself across the 18
species. It is about how things go wrong at every stage but the goal remains perfection.
MD: As I said, I have these three scenarios. I am trying find out what these scenarios are based, what
theories, technologies and extrapolations they are talking about and how these effect the structure
of the cities depicted. So looking at transhumanist theory and technologies as well as retrofuturistic
ones and post-apocalyptic theory. At present these are very basic so looking at the isolation and
verticality of cities in The Incal.
BC: A very interesting term I learnt after I moved to Irvine in Orange County. It is filled with
billionaires and has been described as a “whitopia”. It doesn’t matter if they are all white, a lot of
them are Saudis who have built private estates there. The term is to refer to these exclusive inclaves
which are closed off from the rest of the world.
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MD: That links to the segregation of the city like in Transmetropolitan which has different district
that different societal classes claim. There is the district where the transient population live and then
the “gated areas” which similarly to these “whitopias”, the rich people live, closed off from the rest
of the city that is suffering, such as the council estate area which is being ignored by the powers that
be. Out of sight, out of mind. I think that is the angle I want to approach it from.
BC: I think the way in which you can relate it to the theory is by looking at time more than the
typology. It would be when. Is it an extrapolated when, a future city like Transmetropolitan 200
years into the future? Is it an else-when, is it a ucronia, is it an alternate history? A ucronia is a time
out of time place, used for alternate history and futures. When you look at things like Watchmen, or
Mister X, or Terminal City, or The Incal. When? What is the framework? Especially when you are
looking at human-centric stories like V for Vendetta, because the when effects the aesthetic. When
you talk about retrofuturism, you can only talk about retrofuturism only within a certain idea of the
future. In Terminal City, the map of the world is very different. It’s the same structure but it is
broken. It is hazy, it is unclear and they are constructing this trans-atlantic tunnel. Coherence of the
ages is born. Is it still happening in our world or is it a world that is like a parallel universe to ours? So
once you get into the question of time, from there you can jump into extrapolation. And then you
can talk about stuff like transhumanist futures. Because transhumanist futures are very strongly
human futures, even when they talk about AI and human emergence. So you can look at Katherine
Hayles How We Became Post-human which is a beautiful book. Then you can jump into these human
futures and look at Greg Egen’s Diaspora, with all these varieties of transhumans and Kim Stanley
Robinson Mars trilogy, a classic for both terraforming and transhumanism. When you have a
temporal framework to divide your retrofutures from your transhumanist and post-apocalyptic
futures. Post-apocalyptic is very interesting actually, what do you make of it?
MD: Yes, very interesting. The way I have defined it is based on the aftermath of what James Berger
calls the eschaton, which is an event marking the end of the world as we know, be it a natural,
technological disaster or even a religious apocalypse. It is an event that changes the world in which
the narrative takes place, an event that has a large impact on the built environment and the
structure of the cities depicted within the story. The aim here is to critique certain ideologies and
behaviours which could lead to the end of civilisation as we know it and therefore a new way of life
and city structure can be born. This scenario is not limited to all out worldwide catastrophe wiping
out most of the population, it also includes societies that have undergone major change after a
specific event acting as the catalyst of such a change.
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BC: The thing about the religious apocalypse is that there is no actual post-apocalypse, in the Jewish,
Christian, Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, perhaps in Islam too. There is an apocalypse but what
happens after the apocalypse is not post-apocalyptic because what happens after is not in time.
There is human time and it comes to an end with the apocalypse, thereafter it is permanent
rejoicing, at least in Christian mode of thinking. Within the Hindu and Buddhist mode, it’s cyclical, so
there is some kind of destruction and then a return to the golden age. So temporality, within the
Christian mode, there is no time after the apocalypse, it is eternity after that and it is undefinable. So
in terms of definition for the post-apocalyptic, then that is a world of undefined horrors and you can
talk about these undefined horrors in a nihilistic, “there is no god” kind of way, in a Nietzschean
sense. People walking through ruined and destroyed landscapes. Ballard’s New Wave fiction is
entirely in this post-apocalyptic mode. I reviewed this book not too long ago by Paul Williams called
Race, Ethnicity and Nuclear War which has a lot of discussion on the nuclear apocalypse. But
zombies are another important time aspect of this. Within the British mode, there is something that
has been called quasi-catastrophe. A quasi-catastrophe is when the world seems to end but there is
always this happy-go-lucky couple who ultimately sail into the sunset while the entire world is
behind them and destroyed, in ruins. But something is going to happen. Like in Brazil, that “love
conquers all” ending is silly but it is a happy ending. Similarly in Bladerunner, that happy ending
where Decker and Rachel are driving into the sunset and this beautiful music is playing. So those are
kind of weird post-apocalypses which are also known as quasi-catastrophe. All of Bladerunner
happens in the dark, but that scene is in the light. So post-apocalyptic time is a different kind of time.
It has that timeless quality in the sense that time has lost its relevance because history has come to
an end with the apocalypse. Within the religious mode it is eternity but in the secular mode it is
where time is no longer relevance. People are walking in these ruined landscapes where every day is
the same as any other but it is a world of untold and undefined horror.
MD: In Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, someone is in charge of counting what day it is and they
have to guess when events such as Christmas are because the count is roughly two weeks off.
BC: So in this speculation, there is this sense of history and time that is lost. So you can see why I
think time would be a good way of structuring these scenarios. Because the sense of time structures
the way you would construct these worlds. Whether it is in the extrapolative mode, the futures-
past/past-futures mode or in this dystopian atemporality. I think that is one way of talking about it.
Usually, retrofutures have a very positive spin. All three could operate in either utopian or dystopian
modes but post-apocalyptic futures are generally negative. Transhumanist futures are generally
positive. Retrofutures are nostalgic. Bryan Talbot’s Luther Arkwright is an event in steampunk
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comics. Steampunk is kind of a weird phenomenon because on the one hand there is a kind of
nostalgia of the past which makes this retrofuturistic perspective relevant but at the same time if
you operate in a world in which those ideas are retrograde and retrogressive then what do you do?
You cannot openly talk about Empire and colonisation as a positive phenomenon. So steampunk
becomes problematic because you are borrowing an entire extrapolative logic from the past that
could have unfolded had we gone down a different direction. But at the same time you’re restrained
because you cannot talk about Empire positively. So how do you deal with it? Usually what happens
is that it operates with a certain kind of elision of history.
MD: Wouldn’t you just ignore those negative aspects of history?
BC: I was reading this steampunk comic book called Lady Mechanika by Joe Benitez. It is set in the
city called Mechanika, steampunk has these fascinating cities. The way it avoid history is that the city
itself is this kind of atemporal space. So you still have all kinds of things like the arcane secret
societies that were operating in Victorian London, so you have those frameworks, but the city itself
is atemporal because there is no city called Mechanika. Once you separate it from a certain version
of history, then you can go about reclaiming the rest of the world in a new mode, from that set of
outputs. This is why Luther Arkwright was so special. It was openly steampunk and openly critical of
the Empire. So it was using steampunk as a mode to criticise the Empire. Why regain the Empire? It
is very interesting, how do you deal with this problem?
MD: So for him, he was using steampunk to criticise the romanticising of a past that was not so
perfect? Whilst still being nostalgic of it?
BC: You see, he has already framed it within that imperial context. I find that deeply problematic
about steampunk. This contradiction is at the heart of it. How do you deal with this atemporality?
Which is, when you talk about retrofutures, what you will keep coming back to. What was in the past
that was so positive that has to make your future similar?
MD: What about cyberpunk, with novels such as Neuromancer by Willian Gibson. Was that an
evolution of steampunk?
BC: No, I would say that steampunk was more an evolution of cyberpunk in some sense. At least
genre-literally rather than historically. There are different ways of framing this. It is how each genre
claims their history. If you look at steampunk and steampunk scholars, they claim that H. G. Wells is
a part of steampunk. So then you can say that steampunk preceded cyberpunk. But as a term, it is
later. So how do you retroactively create your own cannon?
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MD: As far as I’ve defined it in my paper, steampunk is looking at what H. G. Wells and Jules Verne
were imagining and seeing how you can retrofit it into a narrative.
BC: But it is an aesthetic. That is the whole problem. How do you call H. G. Wells and Jules Verne as
science fiction or as steampunk when there is no term at the time that they are writing? And before
you talk about steampunk or cyberpunk, when does punk come into it? What is punk about it?
MD: Why does punk come into it?
BC: Well, you might know, if you are interested in music, dance and counter-culture. That is where it
emerges. So punk aesthetic is extreme counter-culture. It has become mainstream but it is counter-
culture in the 1960s. Entirely resistant to orthodoxy and Empire. So when you bring it into that
context, what happened to punk? What is punk about it? That would be the question. Because punk
is a counter-culture movement. We are here in San Francisco, the main hub of technology and
industry, it is where influence radiates. And these people, whether it is Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, they
all have had their counter-culture background. Apple and Microsoft certainly have. The entire notion
of disruption and disruptive innovation. Disruption is innovation. But when it becomes disruptive
innovation, it is completely not counter-culture, it is how to make more money. The disruption of
the order of things is counter-cultural, but innovation is part of the corporate logic. So steampunk is
an elision of history, you remove that part of history and then you bring in some of the elements. So
this idea of time will give you a way of framing the different contexts within each scenario. So
transhumanist is future, post-apocalyptic is future, retrofuturistic is alternative.
MD: That is the problem with steampunk. You cannot say that H. G. Wells or Jules Verne are
steampunk because that is not what they were doing, they were not looking back and then forward,
only forward. They were futuristic in their own time, not retrofuturistic.
BC: Exactly, but when a genre emerges, it creates its own cannon and uses previous references to
form it. What is interesting is when Gernsback coined the term scientifiction, he says that by
scientifiction, he means the H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe type fiction. A fascinating
romance filled with scientific speculation. So it created its own history as well. So if steampunk does
it in the 1990s, no big deal, every genre does it.
MD: So finally, what do you think the positives and negatives of the transhumanist scenario are? Is it
a viable future trajectory?
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BC: I think we have dealt with this already. Savages, I claim them all! Is that a positive or a negative?
You cannot really answer that question with a yes or no, but it is a good question to ask. It is up to
the reader’s interpretation.
MD: This is true. It is not specifically clear in the literature whether it is positive or negative, it
depends on your personal opinion. So contemporary science fiction literature is a lot more
ambiguous about being utopian or dystopian. Perhaps those words have become obsolete.
BC: That is right.
MD: Thank you for the interview. It has been very informative for my research.
97

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LESSONS ABOUT CITIES FROM SCIENCE-

FICTION COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

[pp. 11-16] Introduction

[pp. 13-15] A Brief History of Science-Fiction Comics and Graphic Novels

[p. 15] Themes and Spatiotemporality

[pp. 15-16] City Types

[pp. 17-27] Literature Review

[pp. 18-19] Definition of Future Cities

[pp. 23-27] An Architectural History of Future Cities

[pp. 29-32] Methodology

[pp. 33-39] Overview of Science-Fiction Themes

[pp. 37-38] Retrofuturism

[pp. 38-39] Post-Apocalyptic

[p. 39] Fabulation

[pp. 40-57] Spatiotemporal and Thematic Matrices

[pp. 45-53] Else-When: The Alternative Reality

[p. 53] No-When: The Atemporal Reality

[p. 55] Else-Where: The Fabulated Reality

[pp. 58-73] City Type and Speculation/Extrapolation Matrices

[pp. 59-63] The Cyberpunk City

[pp. 63-65] The Uchronic City

[pp. 65-67] The Retro Modernist City

[p. 67] The Steampunk City

[pp. 67-71] The Subterranean City

[pp. 74-76] Conclusion

[pp. 77-81] Bibliography

[pp. 82-97] Appendix: Science-Fiction Futures

[p. 12] Figure 2

[p. 14] Figure 3

[p. 20] Figure 4

[p. 24] Figure 5

[p. 24] Figure 6

[p. 26] Figure 7

[p. 26] Figure 8

[p. 34] Figure 9

[p. 34] Figure 10

[p. 36] Figure 11

[p. 36] Figure 12

[p. 40] Figure 13

[p. 40] Figure 14

[p. 42] Figure 15

[p. 44] Figure 16

[p. 46] Figure 17

[p. 48] Figure 18

[p. 50] Figure 19

[p. 52] Figure 20

[P. 54] Figure 21

[p. 56] Figure 22

[p. 57] Figure 23

[p. 58] Figure 24

[p. 58] Figure 25

[p. 60] Figure 26

[p. 61] Figure 27

[p. 62] Figure 28

[p. 64] Figure 29

[p. 64] Figure 30

[p. 64] Figure 31

[p. 66] Figure 32

[p. 66] Figure 33

[p. 68] Figure 34

[p. 68] Figure 35

[p. 69] Figure 36

[p. 70] Figure 37