tartysuz

Growing up, I didn't actually think we were going to have personal jetpacks or flying cars, although I do remember reading a short story about a boy and his dad trying to start their family rocket ship (if I knew then what I know after two weeks of -20C weather, I'd have recommended a battery warmer).

But I did grow up believing in the promise of more leisure time in the future. Little did I know that all that technology in the workplace was a good excuse to lay people off in droves. Yep, "leisure time" turned out to be a euphemism for unemployment and underemployment.

In any case, the future did not become as bright and shiny as people wanted. Reality just wasn't cooperating: the technology didn't come fast enough, society wasn't staying still, the economy tanked and people were less willing to believe in the big narratives. Brian Fies explores how all that happened in his graphic novel, Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow?, which is about growing up in America during the space age.

As part of Sequential Tart's MANuary month, I took a look at the book with a special focus on the gender aspects of the book:
http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=1903

Today, Brian Fies blogged about the article with some extra notes on the female characters in the book:
http://brianfies.blogspot.com/2011/01/appreciation-of-women-of-tomorrow.html

The book is chockful of other subjects to explore: consumer technology, research funding, politics, corporatism and nationalism, economics, comics, to name the biggest areas. It's a really great read and a very nice objet d'art, so I recommend it highly!