15 Must-Read Sci-Fi Comics involving Post-Apocalyptic Stories
At some point in our lives, we have all tried to imagine what it would be like to exist in a world dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic event that devastates humanity. What’s a better way to find out than reading a science fiction comic that tells the tale of characters struggling to live in the post-apocalyptic world?
As fans of the science fiction genre, these are 15 comics involving post-apocalyptic stories that should be on your read list.
1. Akira (1982-1990)
Katsuhiro Otomo’s stunning post-apocalyptic comic series is hailed as one of the best comic books ever written. Set in post-war Tokyo, the work uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to present a story of turmoil. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when paranormal abilities start to evoke in Tetsuo, creating him a target for a shadowy agency that will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like the apparent nuclear explosion on December 6, 1992, which destroyed previous Tokyo and started World War III.
2. Savage Highway (2017)
Savage Highway is a brutal post-apocalyptic tale of two opposites who are forced to unite to survive in a violent post-cataclysmic world. An ancient highway spans the wasteland. Its cracked surface has become a migratory route for the anarchic hunters and marauders who dwell in this barren, future Earth.
Along the highway, Helene, an educated young woman on a grave mission to save her sister, encounters Mo, a solitary hunter, and Jin, an Asian warrior. Together they begin a legendary journey to a Paris in ruins, where a new social “order” is being forged.
3. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1982-1994)
Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind depicts the story of Nausicaä, a princess of a small kingdom on a post-apocalyptic Earth with a bioengineered ecological system, who becomes involved in a war between kingdoms while an environmental disaster threatens humankind.
This is dystopian earth, a world almost unrecognizable from that in which we live. It is a tale about humanity’s folly, about hope.
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4. Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth (1975—1978)
Kamandi is one of the few survivors of a Great Disaster that has destroyed civilization. Humans have been reduced back to savagery in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals. He must proceed in a world swarmed by eerie mutated animals and other peculiar wonders! Considered one of Jack Kirby’s most creative works, Kamandi features a band of anthropomorphic supporting characters who tag along with Kamandi as he searches for answers and adventure across the wastelands of Earth.
5. V for Vendetta (1982-1989)
V for Vendetta is a post-apocalyptic comic series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. The series is set in an imagined dystopian England which has just come out of nuclear war and is being ruled by a fascist party called Norsefire that has eradicated all its enemies and established a police state. The main protagonist called simply ‘V’, is an anarchist revolutionary who conducts a sequence of brutal attacks against the party as part of a large-scale vendetta for the treatment he suffered at a concentration camp.
6. Wild Blue Yonder (2013-2014)
Set in the near future, mankind has destroyed the Earth. Pollution and war have made most of the land area of the world dangerous to live in. The only refuge from radioactive pollution can be found in the skies. Sadly, diminishing supplies and bloodthirsty air pirates make life all the harder. The story follows the lives of the crew of the Dawn as they battle their way through hazardous threats from other crews and deadly troubles.
7. Wasteland (2006-2015)
Written by Antony Johnston, this sci-fi comic series is set one hundred years after the Big Wet, an unspecified disaster that destroyed modern society and, it is assumed, changed the world’s coastlines. The story takes place somewhere in America, now a barren desert and dustbowl without modern technology.
People are surviving as best they can, forming small communities. They’re largely illiterate, trading for whatever they can. The residents have their secrets and pasts. The newest trader to come through, Michael, seems to have even more secrets than most.
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8. Wonder Woman: Dead Earth (2020)
Writer Daniel Warren Johnson mixes sci-fi and fantasy into a harrowing post-apocalyptic vision of Wonder Woman, unlike anything you’ve ever seen. When Diana awakens from a centuries-long sleep, she discovers Earth has been reduced to a nuclear wasteland.
Now she’s stranded in a dark and dangerous future, protecting what’s left of humanity from the mutated monsters known as Haedra and struggling to uncover the secret of this dead Earth and how she may have caused it.
9. Lazarus (2013-Present)
Written by Gregory Rucka, the story of Lazarus is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where Families strive for power and control. It’s the near future, resources are coveted, and the government is non-existent. Resources are managed by mafia-like Families, and serving a Family is the only protection you can get. Forever Carlyle, the military leader of the Carlyle family, has special regenerative powers and goes around exacting punishment on folks who betray her mafia-style clan.
10. Sweet Tooth (2009—2013)
Sweet Tooth tells the story of Gus, a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children who has been living in seclusion after a disease plagued humanity after hybrids came to be. Now, with the death of his father, he’s left to fend for himself until he meets a hulking drifter named Jepperd who promises to help him. Jepperd and Gus set out on a post-apocalyptic journey into the devastated American landscape to find ‘The Preserve’ a refuge for hybrids.
11. Y: The Last Man (2002-2008)
This post-apocalyptic science fiction comic follows the adventures of Yorick Brown, the only male left alive on Earth after a ‘Y-chromosome carrier killing’ plague sweeps the world along with his pet monkey Ampersand. Chaos ensues as women have to take over running the world.
Y: The Last Man was published in 2002 with ten-volume all in all, and its official run ended in 2008. It has received and won nominations from Eisner Awards thrice.
12. Grendel:War Child (1992-1992)
Matt Wagner’s Eisner Award-winning War Child tells the tale of the post-apocalyptic Grendel-ruled planet in ruins. War Child is a story about Grendel Prime, a cyborg created and trained by Grendel Kahn, Orion Assante. Grendel Prime’s purpose is to protect Assante’s sole heir in the event of his death. Prime must protect 10-year-old Jupiter Assante from zombies, mutants, rednecks, bikers, vampires, and worst of all his stepmother Laurel Kennedy Assante.
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13. Low (2014-2020)
Low, written by Rick Remender is another epic post-apocalyptic science fiction comic you should read. The series is set billions of years in the future of the Earth after the start of the sun’s expansion into a red giant has left the surface uninhabitable. It follows the lives of the two million survivors in the underwater city of Salus, its helmsmen, the Caine family, and its pirate enemies.
14. Animosity (2016-2020)
Every animal in the world suddenly gained sapience with the ability to talk and think like a human. The world is plunged into chaos as the newly-intelligent Animals fight humanity, and simply fight each other, for their own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. One year after the incident, an 11-year-old girl, and her dog, Sandor, begin a cross-country journey to California, where Jesse’s half-brother Adam North, her only surviving family member, lives.
15. The Walking Dead (2003-2019)
The Walking Dead, created by writer Robert Kirkman is undoubtedly one of the best post-apocalyptic comic book series. It follows the life of Rick Grimes, a Kentucky deputy who is shot in the line of duty and awakens from a coma in a zombie apocalypse that has resulted in a state-wide quarantine. After joining with some other survivors, he gradually takes on the role of leader of a community as it struggles to survive the zombie apocalypse.
What do you think of these Post-Apocalyptic comics?
What do you think of these Post-Apocalyptic comics? Have you read any of these? Let us know on social media.
