Out now from Heavy Metal Publishing, writer/artist and architect Nir Levie’s graphic novel Bioripple is asking the tough questions about how our society is evolving.

Set in a not too distant future in which a technological enhancement network, known as “Geodesics,” have transformed human life into an efficient and emotionally idyllic utopia, Bioripple is a stunning and contemplative wonder of artistic vision as well as an innovative spin on the technological dystopia that will have readers hooked. Screen Rant has the exclusive preview, including the premiere of the official trailer.

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Bioripple takes place in a technological utopia where Geodesics, machines implanted in the mind and connected to a vast network of external drones, have turned society into a peaceful utopia where everyone is socially content, sexually fulfilled and professionally satisfied. Because of the level of sophistication programmed into the network, the human race is no longer obligated to work, and people are instead granted vestigial, auxiliary roles and dubbed “teachers.” The story follows Tim, an architect-teacher who joins a mysterious band of rebels known as The Manifold, and Emily, a police-teacher, whose job it is to track down criminals the Geodesics cannot find. Levie says his highly conceptual work dealt with the existential threat of societal stagnation.

Obviously, machines taking over human jobs in the workplace is also a real phenomenon and plays into this as well. The dichotomy between the architect, the creator of the future spaces, and the police woman, whose role is to preserve the current order, is my way of exploring entropy. In our current understanding of physics, the whole universe is in a constant shift to homogeneity. By starting the story with these strong contradictions—another one is nature as opposed to technology—we see a gradual change taking place in the characters towards each other, entropy in motion.

As the dreamlike narrative progresses deeper into the conspiracy to take down the Geodesics, Tim and Emily’s lives serve as philosophical and political mirrors to each other, exploring Bioripple’s criticism on the misuse of technology in modern times. “In BIORIPPLE’s world, the people became passive because of the gradual integration of A.I. into their lives. They didn't notice this integration and it made them blind to the negative effects,” Levie tells Screen Rant. Levie explained that the struggle he’s discussing is an examination of the choices people make in allowing technology such as smartphones to decide their actions, echoing the old Hebrew adage that 'all is known and choice is granted.' Levie added:

As a “true A.I.” Geodesics represents power and control and its objective is to preserve itself by keeping everything in order. In that way, it’s a conservative entity. It’s not acting against each person individually, it manipulates society as a whole to better its situation. Unfortunately we can see that happening in the real world today.

Check out this exclusive preview art by Levie, with a special pin-up by Gonzalo Ruggieri, and a dazzling trailer below:

In constructing the innovative and immersive look to the graphic novel, told mostly in first person narrative by the two lead characters, Levie said he was influenced by the original Doom from 1992, which depicted the hero’s floating head in the middle of the HUD to give the player their reaction. He also used a special technique he came across in the 2018 article “Natural Perspective: Mapping Visual Space with Art and Science” by Alistair Burleigh, Robert Pepperell and Nicole Ruta. “The study helped me develop a grid that better resembles how the human eye sees. The fish eye distortion helps convey more information in a specific view like a panel or a page, and helps explain more in less space.

Still the cutting edge of science fiction, check out Heavy Metal Publishing’s newest graphic novel Bioripple, out now wherever books are sold.

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