Earth, 2068
is an ongoing webcomic started in 2021 by Quark, set in a 2068 where what remains of humanity lives in an underwater dome containing Vancouver, Canada and Seattle, USA. A plot of much Time Travel and action ensues.
Earth, 2068 contains examples of:
- After the End: By 2068, the only humans surviving worldwide nuclear fallout are the residents of an underwater dome.
- Alternate Timeline: Whenever the STORMaDO is used for time travel into the past, it creates a branching timeline.
- Archnemesis Dad: Phil to Verm. Impressively, even though he's the comic's main villain and was seemingly responsible for killing everyone, Verm somehow sees him as even worse than he actually is.
- Bad Boss: Philemon Gacutan berates his employees and dismisses attempts at unionization. He only relents when he is held out of a window.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Leon is warm, friendly to almost everyone, and sympathetic to the shipping department when they go on strike. He’s also effortlessly intimidating to some of his coworkers and wrestled the CAfEPaTE into submission in seconds, without a weapon.
- Big Beautiful Man: Leon is delightfully large and an object of admiration for multiple characters, including the Big Bad, Phil.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Verm, possibly. Phil is evil, everything he does is evil, and killing him is morally good and will solve all problems with the world, because he is the sole source.
- Cast Full of Gay: Everyone in the main cast is queer in some way. Every member of ARACHNID is trans, as is every major character except for Phil.
- Color-Coded Characters: Every member of the main cast has an associated colour, used in the character's clothing or other elements associated with them.
- Creator Provincialism: The story is set in Seattle, WA, near where webcomic creator Quark lives.
- Forceful Kiss: Phil kisses Leon moments after accusing him of theft, to Leon's distress.
- Fun with Acronyms: Just about anything Phil or Vermillion have named is an acronym. Other characters are not fond of this.
- Holy Halo: Phil sees Leon with one of these while he's telling Phil to postpone the relationship talk.
- Morph Weapon: The PEMWAM is a handle which can become one of multiple weapons, including a sword, energy blaster, a shield, and a giant hammer.
- Mx Exposition: Vermillion spends several pages explaining their father's crimes to Flynn and the audience. They've got visuals and everything.
- Papa Wolf: As the cast page puts it, Leon has "papa-bear instincts that can reveal a great capacity for rage, which he normally hides."
- Parents as People: Leon Valakos, the father of protagonist Flynn, is the deuteragonist of the comic and his personal struggles with Phil are just as important to the plot as Flynn's time travel adventures.
- Playful Hacker: Lucille is a cheery teenage girl and an expert hacker who loves to play "pranks" on LION Robotics.
- Playing Nice for Now: When 2037-Leon sees Flynn and Winona knife-fighting, the two stop fighting and pretend they had been putting on an immersive theatre performance.
- Portal to the Past: When the STORMaDO portal is open, time passes at the same speed on both ends, and wireless communication through it is possible.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Vermillion's plan. Stop Phil from becoming an AI kingpin, and he won't start datamining, and the terrorist won't destroy the world.
- Take a Third Option: When faced with the decision of either open-sourcing his code or dying in a nuclear holocaust, Phil decides to do neither and sinks the entirety of Seattle under the Pacific Ocean to shield himself.
- Villainous Crush: Philemon has feelings for Leon. He is not subtle about this.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The terrorist had genuine concerns about LION's surveillance state causing problems for society, but nuking the entire planet is a bit harsh.
