Back at WonderCon 2012 my friend Missy and I were walking around the Artist’s Alley and we stumbled upon a booth that had this comic with a wickedly illustrated cover. It had an awesome futuristic Tron cyber punk vibe that I totally dug. The man at the booth, artist Lee Wiley, started to chat with us and he told us more about this comic he illustrated called Expiration Date.
The more he told me about the story, written by Robert Zappia, the more I knew I had to check it out. Dystopian future, political conspiracy, assassination, and a hero with a haunted past? Yes, please! Lee was awesome enough to give me a copy to review for the site, and ever since I read that first issue I have been hooked (read our review for Expiration Date #1).
Here we are at 2016 and now the final issue of Expiration Date is going to be released in October. On top of that Wiley and Zappia are running a Kickstarter to fund Expiration Date: The Complete Edition which will over 200 pages of the entire freaking saga! Ahh! (Click here for the Kickstarter page.)
“Why do I need to check this out,” you ask? “Why should I throw my money at them,” you ask?
Well, let me tell you. Expiration Date takes place in a dystopian future where overpopulation is controlled by the SY9 capsule. It is implanted in the heart of every person and will randomly go off killing the host in their sleep, or, “expiring” them. One day a presidential candidate gains a lot of popularity on the platform that he wants to discontinue the SY9 system of population control.
Artist, Lee Wiley, talks about his latest project Expiration Date during Comikaze Expo 2012. Check out his work at www.wileyillustration.com. Click here to watch the video directly on our YouTube channel — don’t forget to subscribe!
“Our ability to achieve near immortality through the eradication of all disease and the cloning of human organs has bred an entirely new threat to the survival of mankind. Overpopulation has brought the human race to the brink of near extinction. Now, more than ever, a program of governed population control must be considered. It is time we realized it is not the quantity of our life that matters, but the quality of it.”Â
It is the year 2496 and the population of the United States has reached 8.6 billion. Every human being, by law, is implanted with an SY-9 chip. This chip controls overpopulation by activating at random and “expiring” the host. In so many words, it kills them. One day, a rising politician vows to end the reign of the SY-9 chips, but then sadly “expires” on the brink of his popularity. The investigation of his death begins to unravel a dark and devious conspiracy. This is the world of Expiration Date.Â
