Dreams and Nightmares of Future Tech

New York Comic Con This massive bobble-head guards the entrance to the convention. Marshall Louis Reaves

Catching up with artists and writers at New York Comic Con, we heard about new science and technology in comics, graphic novels, video games, and film. While many new stories hinge on emerging technologies, the best of the classic stories incorporate the newest science into ongoing sagas, often rewriting the past. In either case, these graphical genres can explore the consequences of scientific progress in the not too distant future.

Comics are science fiction at their core, but their visual component, devoted following, and constant production allow them to address pertinent fears by glimpsing into the future in a visceral way. For this futurist glance, less scrupulous titles employ flashy, bad science, but prescient science drives the higher-quality work. (We abstain from condemnation of some altogether awful new titles.) Many of the top writers we interviewed felt it was their duty to explore the worst potential future through villains and heroes alike. And even though a certain amount of fantasy -- mutants, aliens, and demi-gods -- inhabits comics, technology tends to be strongly grounded in popular science.

Although difficult to pinpoint, it is certain that some element insulates comics from the readership and job losses in the rest of the print media industry. Comics -- more than other circulated media -- are collector's items. No surprise, hundreds of adoring readers stood in line throughout the weekend to have the covers of their favorite comics autographed, and vendors sold decades old silver-age comics at exorbitant prices.

Here are five of our favorite science-inspired comics, games, and movies from the Con. Feel free to share your own.