Dystopia

"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Jessica Hyde. Jessica Hyde had a daddy who was a genius scientist. Now, Jessica Hyde and her daddy were held by an evil villain named Mr. Rabbit..."

- Wilson Wilson reading from Dystopia, "Life Begins"

Dystopia was a comic created by the father of Jessica Hyde, first released in 2014. Although somewhat niche, it is prized by a certain slice of the comic fandom and fans of it have long awaited its sequel, Utopia. Although many fans simply like to discuss the mythos and characters of the series, there is a select segment, who believe, correctly, that the comic predicted real-world viral epidemics, such as the Zika virus and Ebola. Even fewer, if any, know the truth that the events depicted within it are actually entirely real and that the characters within it such as Jessica Hyde, Artemis and Mr. Rabbit are real people.

The mysteries of the comic are obsessed over by a group of online fans: Becky Todd, Grant Bishop, Ian Ackerman, Samantha J. and Wilson Wilson. Between them, there is a on-going debate as to whether Samantha or Wilson are more knowledgeable about the comic. Wilson keeps a large display, filled with Post-it notes, of the pages of the comic in his bunker.

According to Artemis, when Dystopia first surfaced, she realized that it could only have been created by Jessica Hyde's father. She knew that Mr. Rabbit knew this too, but allowed him to burn down the asylum she placed him in, wanting his brain gone.

Dystopia depicts the tale of Mr. Rabbit kidnapping Jessica Hyde and her father, the father then being forced to create terrible viruses. The two of them manage to escape with Artemis's help, but Mr. Rabbit sends his henchmen, the Harvest, after them. The Harvest succeed in recapturing Jessica Hyde's father, so she goes on her own quest to save him.

Behind the scenes

 * Both the Utopia comic and Dystopia were illustrated by João Ruas.
 * Whereas both Dystopia and Utopia appear as actual comics within the U.S. remake, The Utopia Experiments was only referenced within the original British version, but not actually seen. Gillian Flynn, creator of the remake, described this as a deliberate choice, stating that she wanted viewers to know why the characters were obsessed with the comic, both because of the secret clues hidden within and its beauty. She contacted Ruas after seeing his illustrations for Bill Willingham's Fables.