Storyline Research 1: Apocalyptic Fiction

Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that depicts the end of human civilisation. When looking into my storyline development of my exhibition piece of a comic, I researched apocalyptic fiction, as the concept of creating a vast wasteland in a post-apocalyptic universe appealed to me and my ideas of understanding how illustration can become unsettling. The daunting idea of the end of human civilisation is something that really interests me, and I feel as though this could be a key concept in my comic work, due to how it relates to bieng 'creepy'. The idea of a small amount of people being the last people on earth relates to the fear of the unknown. The idea of making my work slightly fear-inducing is something I want to be successful.

I started my research by looking at different causes of apocalyptic scenarios, and the most popular ones seemed to be nuclear warfare, extraterrestrial attack, cybernetic revolt, dysgenics, divine judgement, ecological collapse or natural disaster.

Dysgenics looks into the study of the accumulation of defective genes and traits, and this idea of humanity degrading is the precise type of fear that I want to include as a background development in my comic. This idea of disadvantaged genes can also relate to the appearance of my characters, and provides suitable explanation for why they are strangely inhuman - in terms of both appearance and lack of emotions and heighten passiveness.

After researching other options for an apocalypse and settling on dysgenics, I had to focus on the time frame of setting my comic. Looking into a range of post-apocalyptic pieces of fiction, the time range can be varied from immediately after, or considerably later. These would both create different scenarios for my comic, as immediately after is more likely to be focused on the psychological impacts the end of the world has on survivors, whereas if my comic was set considerably later, civilisation before the apocalypse would be more mythological and forgotten. Technology is a key element I need to consider, as I need to include as serious lack of technology. This research has begun to shape ideas of a lone survivor who lives in an empty house with minimal essentials to survive.