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The first appearance of a real computer in a comic book

by ADavison2560 on 9/26/20, 9:05 AM with 23 comments

• by jim_lawless on 9/26/20, 7:09 PM

  Some comics used to try to pass off source code ... often BASIC ... as programs on the screens of the computers in the story's. I had seen a couple of these instances in Jim Starlin's "Dreadstar" comic. One of them was a printer dump routine from 80 Micro magazine for a TRS-80 that included the original author's contact info on the screen:

  https://jiml.us/i/dreadstar-basic.jpg

• by jmkb on 9/26/20, 1:40 PM

  I think the 4th head in the Batman comic is supposed to be Arthur Christopher Benson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Benson

• by robviren on 9/26/20, 12:32 PM

  A machine that we can ask any question and get an answer, aghast! Fun to realize what was top level science fiction at the time is now our mundane daily life

• by masswerk on 9/26/20, 7:48 PM

  Anyone noticed the reference "A colossal task!" in that Wonder Woman strip? (In 1948 this was highly classified.)

• by klmadfejno on 9/26/20, 4:17 PM

  > Later in the story, the "Poe" head is asked to deduce Batman's identity. Fortunately, Alfred (Bruce Wayne's butler) manages to throw a monkey wrench into its card reading slot. This causes Poe to malfunction, as depicted by assorted "pop", "crackle", and "bang" sounds, and it decides that Batman is actually Alfred.

  With some careful wording of the question, I'm almost certain you could get GPT-3 to say the same thing haha.

• by tyingq on 9/26/20, 2:59 PM

  Not an "early" comic book, but this Radio Shack sponsored Superman & Wonder Woman comic, featuring the TRS-80, is amusing: https://www.amazonarchives.com/all-titles/date/1980s/1982/su...