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Neon Wasteland Is A Gory Animated AR Comic Book

Neon Wasteland Is A Gory Animated AR Comic Book

We’ve seen plenty of ideas for how comic books can be reimagined in VR, but what about AR? Neon Wasteland has one interesting approach.

Created by Rob Shields, Neon Wasteland is a cyberpunk-themed book that uses markers in a real comic to bring the panels to life through your iOS or Android smartphone. Simply point your phone at the pages and you’ll see animated versions of the illustrations, including gory head explosions and slick action sequences. It reminds us a little of will.i.am’s Masters of the Sun.

Better yet, you’ll be able to make choices within the app that actually change the course of the comic’s story and alter the panels you see. Set in the year 2088, Neon Wasteland depicts a world in which many humans have sort immortality through a digital metaverse and those that remain must survive on a ruined Earth.

Outside of the book, the free app will also offer bonus features allowing you to explore environments in more detail and even interact with characters from the story.

Neon Wasteland has already surpassed a Kickstarter crowd-funding goal of $4,275 for its first issue (it’s raised $6,055 at the time of writing). You can get a digital copy of the book, which is expected to ship in May 2019, for $10, whilst a physical version is going for $15. The latter also comes with a limited edition print that will also include AR animation. Backer pledges reach all the way up to $1,000, which includes a Hardcore edition that gets you in the book.

The idea behind this is definitely interesting, though we can’t help but think it will have more use once the tech reaches head-mounted AR devices like HoloLens and Magic Leap. Hopefully Neon Wasteland can find its way there in the future, too.

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