POOR CAMP
A Dystopian Graphic Novel · Volume One

POOR
CAMP

Everything has been taken care of.

In Greater America, no one has to face uncertainty alone. Every need has a system. Every citizen has a place.

Poor Camp, Volume One — cover art by Justin Ward: a burning gothic cathedral fused with a retro computer terminal displaying citizen faith-compliance scores beneath an all-seeing eye, a flaming hand over a cross, a modified American flag, and ragged prisoners flanked by armored guards.
The Story

In Greater America, no one has to face uncertainty alone. Every need has a system. Every citizen has a place. In Greater America, your faith compliance score decides whether you eat, whether you're treated, whether you're "relocated" — and sixty-four stars fly over a nation that has learned to call its cruelties virtues: sacrifice, purity, obedience, faith. The non-compliant are cleared. The unworthy are sorted. The powerful buy their way into eternity.

Alan built the machine that does the sorting. He didn't believe in it — he built it anyway. Then came Clara: a poet, a healer, a quiet weapon against a system designed to erase her, who made him want to build something that didn't end in fire. He promised her he'd never build monsters.

He already had.

Poor Camp is the story of a nation that wrapped its worst instincts in the flag and the cross — and the man who built its machine, forced to reckon with what he made.

Support Poor Camp

Poor Camp is an independent project created over many years. Donations help cover hosting, software, artwork, and production costs. Support is completely optional and greatly appreciated.

The Author

About

Justin Ward writes, draws, and makes music in Minneapolis, by way of Milwaukee. For eight years he was a software engineer at one of San Francisco's largest banks, where he helped build real versions of the systems Poor Camp is about — which is either a credential or a confession. This is his first book.

Poor Camp is published by Poor Camp Publishing.

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