The Greys

Storytelling is the art of playing “what if?” with the state of the world. What if aliens are real? What if we could bring dinosaurs back to life? What if a high school chemistry teacher started making drugs?

There’s perhaps no bigger “what if?” than aging. As an inescapable process that affects — and ultimately destroys — every one of us, it’s a tantalising subject to play around with. What if we were to age in reverse? That one was most famously covered in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but there are many other examples. What if some people were immortal? Would that be a blessing, or a curse? Science fiction is replete with examples immortality in various forms, ranging from Highlander (just the first one though!) to the Q Continuum, and arguably including various life and soul-sucking creatures (Vampires, the Wraith) that can prolong their existence indefinitely, provided they can find enough mortals to consume.

So, what if our lives were to be artificially cut short for some (long forgotten) political reason? That’s the premise behind Logan’s Run, the inspiration for our comic. With Earth’s population still growing rapidly it seems a more relevant idea now than ever before, yet a movie remake has been stuck in development hell for years. But there’s no rush — unlike us poor humans with our finite lifespans, copyrights seem to get a fresh lease of life every time a certain mouse’s time is due.

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