Which 5 comic book covers will be used by distant future historians? 1 1

[Knightsofold]

From a human history node in the year 4965:

COMIC BOOK   A once popular human commodity created in the 1930’s in what was known as the United States of America.  Thought to have birthed “super hero” fiction, the comic book was a paper publication that consisted of sequential juxtaposed panels of art that represented individual scenes.  As with all books, no known examples exist today.

 

Which 5 books would you pick?

[kav]

[1950's war comics]

[DanCooper]

This book will look so passé in the year 4965 (like by at least 2000 years!)

[kav]

"So different"-his weakness is water instead of kryptonite.  What an utterly massive difference.  Everything else is completely the same-reporter-wears glasses-has a lois who suspects he's superman-has robot Perry boss that yells at him-so very very different.

[Ken Aldred]

Although no physical paper copies exist in 4965, every comic book ever published is available in digital form, easily and cheaply accessed via a human history node, which implies the continued existence of digital or AI.

All of the greatest covers are available, and no need to limit oneself to just 5.

Additionally, assuming English is still a dominant language in the future, any text on the covers will be directly unreadable to most people as the language will have evolved into a form quite different to our 20th / 21st century version by then, requiring a translation.

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[kav]

2 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

Although no physical paper copies exist in 4965, every comic book ever published is available in digital form, easily and cheaply accessed via a human history node.

All of the greatest covers are available, and no need to limit oneself to just 5.

Additionally, assuming English is still a dominant language in the future, any text on the covers will be directly unreadable to most people as the language will have evolved into a form quite different to our 20th / 21st century version by then, requiring a translation.

 

Yep it will be much like this:
Take a lytyll earthen pott newe and put therin the mans uryn and cast therto an handfull of bran and stere it fast with a sticke about and take another newe erthen pott and put therin the womans uryne and put bran therto and ster it as the other, and let it stande so nine days or ten and loke than in whether pott that yow fynde wormes in. Ther ys the defaute that is baren, be yt the man or the woman, for the baren wyll be full of wormes. The vessel that the baren uryn is in wyll stynke.

[Ken Aldred]

6 minutes ago, kav said:

Yep it will be much like this:
Take a lytyll earthen pott newe and put therin the mans uryn and cast therto an handfull of bran and stere it fast with a sticke about and take another newe erthen pott and put therin the womans uryne and put bran therto and ster it as the other, and let it stande so nine days or ten and loke than in whether pott that yow fynde wormes in. Ther ys the defaute that is baren, be yt the man or the woman, for the baren wyll be full of wormes. The vessel that the baren uryn is in wyll stynke.

It's too early in the morning for me to be bothered about Googling what this actually is, but I was thinking initially about making the analogy between modern English and Anglo-Saxon.  It sounds about right. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[kav]

5 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

It's too early in the morning for me to be bothered about Googling what this actually is, but I was thinking initially about making the analogy between modern English and Anglo-Saxon.  It sounds about right. 

Yes it is a lytyll urlie at that-

[Ken Aldred]

1 minute ago, kav said:

Yes it is a lytyll urlie at that-

5am here.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[Randall Dowling]

6 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

From a human history node in the year 4965:

COMIC BOOK   A once popular human commodity created in the 1930’s in what was known as the United States of America.  Thought to have birthed “super hero” fiction, the comic book was a paper publication that consisted of sequential juxtaposed panels of art that represented individual scenes.  As with all books, no known examples exist today.

 

Which 5 books would you pick?

It’s an interesting question.  This is a list for today but values change quite a bit over time.  Think of the top 5 books in 1975 to today, probably only 2 of these would be on that list.  In a hundred years, the list could include Walking Dead 1, Spawn 1, NYX 3, or something else that we would find ridiculous today.  I don’t even know if people will even care about comics a 100 years from now.  They didn’t 100 years ago.  

[kav]

3 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

It’s an interesting question.  This is a list for today but values change quite a bit over time.  Think of the top 5 books in 1975 to today, probably only 2 of these would be on that list.  In a hundred years, the list could include Walking Dead 1, Spawn 1, NYX 3, or something else that we would find ridiculous today.  I don’t even know if people will even care about comics a 100 years from now.  They didn’t 100 years ago.  

But they did-in the old days books were illuminated manuscripts which were essentially big little books.  Words with picture every page have always been popular.

[Randall Dowling]

Just now, kav said:

But they did-in the old days books were illuminated manuscripts which were essentially big little books.  Words with picture every page have always been popular.

I guess I’m referring to sequential comic art as a definition of comic books.  If you broaden it to any image on a page, then I’m not sure it’s a useful discussion.

[Knightsofold]

1 hour ago, Randall Dowling said:

It’s an interesting question.  This is a list for today but values change quite a bit over time.  Think of the top 5 books in 1975 to today, probably only 2 of these would be on that list.  In a hundred years, the list could include Walking Dead 1, Spawn 1, NYX 3, or something else that we would find ridiculous today.  I don’t even know if people will even care about comics a 100 years from now.  They didn’t 100 years ago.  

Totally agree, although I think if it had anything to do with the invention of comics, there would have to be at least 1 or 2 from the dawn.  But maybe not.  

[Ken Aldred]

It’s difficult to decide even within a certain period or Age, let alone across many decades.

For example, as an EC fan, would I choose something approaching fine art, such as Frazetta’s Weird Science-Fantasy 29, or something more primal and visceral such as Craig’s Crime Suspenstories 22?

Would proof of our legacy matter either way, as the wasteful environmental consequences of turning trees into pamphlets might be the only concern about such a product by then, and physical copies, regardless of the artistry shown by any cover set we choose, might simply be mocked as caveman-primitive, Luddite and ignorant?
 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[Ken Aldred]

9 hours ago, kav said:

Yep it will be much like this:
Take a lytyll earthen pott newe and put therin the mans uryn and cast therto an handfull of bran and stere it fast with a sticke about and take another newe erthen pott and put therin the womans uryne and put bran therto and ster it as the other, and let it stande so nine days or ten and loke than in whether pott that yow fynde wormes in. Ther ys the defaute that is baren, be yt the man or the woman, for the baren wyll be full of wormes. The vessel that the baren uryn is in wyll stynke.

By then, I’d think a mash-up of American English with Chinese would be far more likely.

Properly integrated; not just oriental swearing.  Firefly reference.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[bronze johnny]

The War that ended all wars back in the 21st Century or birth of the Atomic Age and Cold War during the 20th Century?

(Not my copy)

Edited October 18, 2019 by bronze johnny

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, bronze johnny said:

The War that ended all wars back in the 21st Century or birth of the Atomic Age and Cold War during the 20th Century?

(Not my copy)

Similar thinking to me.

I was considering posting a couple of EC science-fiction covers, just in case we’ve been enslaved by that time by alien, machine or cephalopod-like overlords following aggressive first contact.

They might like those.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[Krismusic]

15 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

From a human history node in the year 4965:

COMIC BOOK   A once popular human commodity created in the 1930’s in what was known as the United States of America.  Thought to have birthed “super hero” fiction, the comic book was a paper publication that consisted of sequential juxtaposed panels of art that represented individual scenes.  As with all books, no known examples exist today.

 

Which 5 books would you pick?

very suspicious of the chosen date for your post and the statement of "no known example exist today"  I think your from the future . Are you a time traveller who got stuck here...  

 

Also to argue about the no known examples exist today... I'm just throwing out a theory though that some of the oldest surviving texts paper texts are 1400 years old with the crude paper production and storage they had back then I think our books can survive a lot longer possibly another 3000 years since we started to preserve and store them correctly and they havent been hit hard by the elements like some of the older books like the dead sea scrolls, gutenburg bible, etc.. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Krismusic

[theCapraAegagrus]

16 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

From a human history node in the year 4965:

COMIC BOOK   A once popular human commodity created in the 1930’s in what was known as the United States of America.  Thought to have birthed “super hero” fiction, the comic book was a paper publication that consisted of sequential juxtaposed panels of art that represented individual scenes.  As with all books, no known examples exist today.

 

Which 5 books would you pick?

I'm pretty sure you nailed it.

Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, and Amazing Fantasy #15 probably should be undisputed.

I can't argue against Wonder Woman's 1st Cover or Captain America #1.