Once More New York

A cover illustration of IF Science Fiction from July 1965. There's New York under water, maybe caused by Aliens.

Beautiful Disaster

Sure that the post-apocalyptic science fiction film Oblivion isn't the best of the genre, but there are some really beautiful views of destroyed Americans icons: the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, the Superdome, the Washington obelisk with the Capitol in the back and last not least New York as a landscape.

Definitely the USA

Two covers of the post apocalyptic comic Mighty Samson where the hero fights some strange enemies. It's easy to see that all happens in the USA. There are the emblematic ruins of the Chrysler Building and of the Capitol.

DMZ: Dystopian New York

DMZ is a comic book series written by Brian Wood, with artwork by Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. The series is set in a dystopian future. After a second American civil war the island of Manhattan is the DMZ (demilitarized zone) in the battle between forces of the United States of America and secessionist Free States of America.
Whatever, I like the dark artwork and always wonder less why 9/11 had to happen in New York.

Al-Qaeda Fantasy

When I saw these paintings by Boris Vallejo for the first time, I couldn’t avoid thinking of the 9/11. Maybe old Osama and the guys in Afghanistan were great fans of Boris Vallejo. But in the end I don’t think so. The big similarity derives from the fact that the best apocalypse has still to happen in New York.


Vallejo did the paintings in 1997 to illustrate a text by Philip José Farmer.

Desktop Ruins

Two more post apocalyptic cities. I found them as wallpapers in the web. No idea what for they were made. But anyway it’s nice to see what people like to see on their desktop. Besides they are a good contrast to the garden follies from above. Despite they are follies as well.


Here we see once more the Brooklyn Bridge, indicating New York the heart of the apocalypse.

Lady Liberty Ruins in Movies

"Planet of the Apes" (1968) was probably the first film using the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. Other movies followed, so that it is just an emblematic icon for the menacing end of the world. I just have mentioned "Deep Impact" (1998), "Artificial Intelligence" (2001) and "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004).

Here now three more:

"Escape from New York" (1981) directed by John Carpenter

"Dream Warrior" (2003) directed by Zachary Weintraub

"Cloverfield" (2008) directed by Matt Reeves

Lady Liberty Ruins in Pulp Magazines

When Hollywood started to use the ruins of Lady Liberty as an icon to illustrate the coming apocalypse these images were long popular in comics and pulp magazines. As an admirer of pulp illustration this is not a small satisfaction to me. Pulp does not always banalize popular trends and images it’s as well capable of establishing them.

Astounding (1941)

Fantastic Universe (1953)

Tales of the Unexpected (c.1957)

Amazing Stories (1964)

All these magazines were published long before the Planet of the Apes (1968).

Planet of the Apes

One of the most famous movie endings of all time is that of the Planet of the Apes in 1968.

As the film ends Charlton Heston discovers the remnants of the Lady Liberty, half-submerged on the shore. Today that wouldn’t be so impressive because the ruins of New are just well known icons. But in 1968 it was probably the first time that it was used by Hollywood.

Above all it was this image, which made the film famous, much more than the quoted apes.

Posthuman New York

Here a posthuman scenery by the Spanish painter and illustrator Luis Royo. It’s the typical fantasy painting decorated with a half naked sexy women in leather boots and a fantastic sword. What’s interesting is the Chrysler Building indicating that we are once more in New York.

But I think that the crossbeam is also a hint to the famous photograph by Charles C. Ebbets "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper".
Royo intended to confront his own dark (sweet romantic) vision of decay with that optimistic icon of the Thirties.

When the Apocalypse was still British

Today it may be mandatory to connect the Apocalypse with New York. But there was a time when the Empire still rueld the seas and Britain was still Great. In these glorious times artists loved it to illustrate the end of human civilization with the well known buildings of London.

Here an illustration from a magazine of 1911.

Artificial Intelligence

Very nice New York ruins can be seen in the science fiction film Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001) directed and produced by Steven Spielberg.



Here in part 12 can New York is under water and later covered with ice. It’s easy to notice that this is no tragedy. It’s beautiful, romantic death.

The Day After Tomorrow

In my opinion the film “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004) is a typical example for that fascination with ruins and the own decay. Sure it pretends to be a warning against the effects of global warming. But essentially the film itself and probably every viewer is much more attracted by the beautiful images of the destroyed New York. All that politically correct nonsense about global warming or cooling (who will believe that it could be happen like this?) is a lame excuse to present the frozen New York.

I think, it has to be New York, no other city in the whole world could provide this effect.

Fascination with ruins

When I am looking at Photos of 9/11 I can not avoid the thoughts that many people wished something like this to happen. Not the bad guys in Afghanistan or the envious guys in Europe and other parts of the world, no, the good Americans themselves.

Sure not because they wanted all that people to die, but because there exists a morbid lust for destruction and decay. And I’m not talking about the destruction of the enemy how it can be enjoyed in thousands of computer games, I am talking about the fascination and yearning for someone’s own end: The fascination with ruins.