480 POST-APOCALYPTIC NARRATIVES
the population. Five genetically-corrected people (ex-mutants) are sent to help bring
hope to humanity, though with little success. Y: Th e Last Man (2002) illustrates the
plague theme in post-apocalyptic narratives. After the near-instant violent death of the
male population, Yorick, the sole male survivor in a world of women, works with others
to fi gure out what happened and how to keep the human race alive.
Th e series Deadworld fi rst appeared in 1987 and has continued to be published
sporadically through the 2000s. Here, a zombie apocalypse is triggered when a portal is
opened that ushers in King Zombie and a horde of zombies that wreak havoc upon the
world. Th e series has been praised more for its violence and gruesome drawings than
its plotline. By contrast, Robert Kirkman’s Th e Walking Dead series (2003–) focuses
more on the humans in the wake of zombies destroying the known world and has con-
tinued to receive acclaim from the industry.
Both British comics and Japanese manga have also had prominent infl uence in
shaping post-apocalyptic narratives for American comics. Th e British science fi ction
weekly comic series, 2000 AD (1977) has featured numerous narratives dealing life
after civilization’s demise. Yet the most infl uential series to come out of 2000 AD is
inarguable “Judge Dredd,” fi rst appearing in 2000 AD #2 and in every issue since. After
the “Apocalypse War,” the world has broken down into giant city-states barely main-
tained by the Judge system: law offi cials who act as judge, jury, and executioner to any
violators. Th ough the comic series never gained serious ground in American culture,
it was used as source material for a big-production Hollywood fi lm of the same name
in 1995. Judge Dredd in some ways evoked similar themes and landscapes to those
explored by authors such as Philip K. Dick and William Gibson, where despite a world
with increasing technology, world systems continue to break down in the face of cor-
porate greed and manipulation, a decaying public sphere, and increased dependence on
technology that reoriented life to the point of being foreign to its readers. To this end,
Tank Girl drew more on contemporary visions of the punk and popular culture when it
appeared in Deadline (1988). Th e series focuses primarily on a former bounty-hunter
who is now hunted by others. As the title suggests, she commandeers and drives a tank
through her adventures in the ruined landscapes of civilization. Finally, Alan Moore’s
V for Vendetta (1982–88), while perhaps best viewed as a dystopian narrative, depicts
a dystopia that arises in the aftermath of a nuclear war.
Manga became increasingly popular in the United States in the early 1990s, also in-
fl uencing the production of a number of manga-infl uenced American comics. Some of
the earliest and still most popular manga focused on post-apocalyptic situations; a genre
thoroughly explored by a culture that had witnessed fi rst hand the catastrophic eff ects
of nuclear power. In Akira (1982), a motorcycle gang in Neo-Tokyo is torn apart as one
member, Tetsuo Shima, gains psychic abilities and another, Shōtarō Kaneda, attempts
to stop him from abusing his power. Both are pulled into a larger range of events in
a post-nuclear war world with some people developing new abilities while others are
unwilling lab experiments. Fist of the North Star (1983) follows the exploits of Ken-
shiro, a martial arts fi ghter who roams a world destroyed by nuclear war, taking down
