The Origins and Impacts of Science Fiction Stories and Strips in British Comics in the First Half of the 20C University of Dundee

Overview

Context

'A Vernacular Scientific Imaginary?' The Origins and Impacts of Science Fiction Stories and Strips in British Comics in the First Half of the 20C at University of Dundee will explore the idea of a distinctively indigenous and responsive tradition of popular SF aimed at a younger readership before the widespread influence of imported US comics and pulp SF after WW II. It would analyse the extent to which this tradition remediated Britain’s legacy and ongoing practice of literary ‘Scientific Romance’ and stimulated its audience’s interest in topical scientific developments.

Both Pearson's and Heinemann had been instrumental in publishing Scientific Romance stories in magazines and book form. Such illustrated formats are clearly influential on the initially text-heavy narratives of British comics, which gradually evolved into the image-driven strip sequence. Equally, in the Big Five, although SF themes were often introduced through hybridisation with adventure genres such as war, Western, school, sport and police stories, they similarly drew on the Scientific Romance and only more gradually on American influences. Hence such publications played a key part in shaping Britain’s ‘vernacular scientific imaginary’, projecting the hopes and anxieties of the time for several generations of young readers, before the UK developed its own dedicated SF periodicals aimed at older audiences in the post-War period. 

This trend took place during a tumultuous phase of transition in British and world history, from the Great Depression, the build up to the Second World War and into post-War imperial decline, decolonisation and social reconstruction. Analysing it would thus make an invaluable contribution to understanding a crucial period in cultural history as inflected through one of Britain’s most widely read and influential media.