Although the original definition of ‘apocalypse’ has religious implications, the apocalypse is understood to be a destructive event that results in the end of the world or civilisation, as it is often portrayed in popular media. Post‐apocalyptic fiction is a sub‐genre of science fiction that often portrays a dystopic life in a world of ruin after a cataclysmic event. This study explores apocalypticism as influenced by religious eschatology and secular events, including the effects of Second World War cataclysms and post‐war experiences that may have influenced the United States and Japan’s perspective on the post‐apocalypse. With their history, this study calls into question the thematic relationship between the United States and Japan’s post‐apocalyptic fiction, using graphic novels as an area of interest in addition to how the medium allows the inclusion of visual semiotics to associate with the apocalypse and disaster which would be seminal to the development of the post‐apocalyptic imagination. A thematic analysis is encompassed for the examination of selected postapocalyptic graphic novels.
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