Of all the scenarios in science fiction, biological disasters are probably the most terrifying — and the most interesting. Stories of contagions and pandemics and zombie apocalypses thrill and chill in a way unlike anything else partly because of how plausible they can feel. After all, it wasn’t that many years ago we were dealing with the uncertainty of a pandemic in real life. But while most such stories give us disasters with mysterious causes that might make you think twice about what’s in the food or the water, a new graphic novel has a bigger question: in a world of misinformation, what happens when lying is lethal?

Arriving this July is The A.R.C., a new sci-fi satire graphic novel created by Tim Disney and written by Disney with JC Lacek with art by Vincent Jolas Dubourg. The graphic novel, published by GUNGNIR, begins when a group of global elites come together for a conference promising to solve the problem of climate change once and for all, but things soon go awry when they’re infected with a lethal, highly contagious virus — Amazonian Recombinant Cytoneuropathy — that has a very peculiar mechanism: it’s 100% lethal and activated by lying. As the A.R.C. wreaks havoc, an unlikely group of passengers on a sustainable cruise ship have to deal with the virus and more challenges to figure out how to survive.

ComicBook has an exclusive first look at the upcoming graphic novel about this unique take on the apocalypse and even had the opportunity to speak with Disney about the project, which features some real-world references as it takes on contemporary culture in this new adventure.

The A.R.C. Tackles Real-Life Challenges While Trying to Hang Onto a Sense of Humor, Dignity

ComicBook.com: How difficult is it to come up with a high-concept sci-fi adjacent story like this when real-life keeps swerving towards unregulated tech and the kind of powerful figures who used to only exist in comic books?

Tim Disney: Very hard. I personally feel very beaten down by a lifetime of disingenuous people and messages–messages that range from the ultra-whopper scale of obvious lies we hear from public figures, down to ads for “new and improved” dish soap. The dish soap is not new and improved. It just isn’t. It’s exhausting, and eventually we give up and give in. Maybe The A.R.C. is our desperate attempt to hold it all at bay. To hang onto our dignity for just a bit longer before we are overwhelmed by the flood.

Can you tell us about the decision to include real-world figures – anyone you’d like to shout out, and do you have any concerns over their reactions? Also, anyone who has emerged as someone who belongs on the page since it was originally written?

Yes, we have quite a bit of fun with a variety of folks out there, which I think is our job as writers and artists. And in our preface, we try to apply the same treatment to ourselves. Fair is fair. We’re all flawed, and frightened, and doing the best we can–which is one of the main points of the book. At the end of the day, it seems essential that we somehow hang onto our senses of humor, especially about ourselves.

Can we expect to see this adapted and would you want it to be?

I came up with the original idea a few years ago, just as the pandemic was ending (did it end?), and pitched it to my friend Sanjay Sharma as a movie idea. Sanjay suggested the graphic novel format and introduced me to my co-writer, JC Lacek. Very grateful to Sanjay for that.

So, it started as a movie idea. But in the years since it’s taken on a life of its own as a graphic novel, and I have really enjoyed the slow brewing process this form allows for. But to answer your question – maybe. I hope so! There are many ancillary characters and story lines to develop. It could take a lot of forms. I have a particular fondness for the impossibly good naval architect who designed the ship, Frederik “Fred” Frederiksen, and his impossibly bad nemesis Peter “Pete” Petersen. I would love to see where their stories go.

Where do you see the role of almost guerrilla art like this (these firebrand, anti-establishment art) in a world of corporate monopolies where AI advocates are seemingly pushing us towards a world of low-effort homogeneous IP slop? Can it break through longer term?

Our book was written and drawn by actual people. It isn’t the only or last one done that way. But there will be fewer and fewer, until there are none at all. Maybe. I want to believe that real things and real people will become more valuable in the world of the virtual, artificial, and digital. We have lived through a multi-decade era when people who could think like machines commanded premium value. Engineers, coders, nerds. Now, we are witnessing the industrialization of cognition. Just in the last week we’ve seen huge layoffs of software engineers, and tech stocks plummet. I think it’s possible that generalists, people who are good at just being people, might now possess the skill sets that are most valuable. I mean that culturally and economically. But maybe I say that to argue for my own relevance, when I have none. And a quick shout out to the great economist and writer Noah Smith who has important things to say about this subject.

As for AI, it’s upon us in full now. It isn’t going away. We are witnessing what is just the beginning of a profound shift in economic structures, labor markets, education, epistemology, and more. I am not an AI skeptic. I believe the technology will become as powerful and prevalent as the 7 or so dudes who control it all say it will. But I am extremely skeptical of their confidence when they spin tales for us about what forms it will take, what effects it will have on us, and their ability to control it. I would feel better if I thought they had our best interests in mind as they blunder ahead into the unknown.

We had to write this book because it feels like we’re just beginning the final act of a Greek play, and we’re not the chorus commenting from the sidelines.

The A.R.C. is available for pre-order now from GUNGIR. It is set to be released on July 21st. You can find out more information here.