Basically, it’s set in the future where cyber and robotic technology has been thrown aside for bio-technology. Cloning and stem cells are the building blocks for new and even more advanced forms of the science. In this future, everyone aspires to go into the medical field.
The main character is a doctor around the age of 21. He is just getting into the field and is already an incredibly skilled surgeon whom everyone wants their hands on. He gets hired by the leading company in genetic research.
Here’s the problem. Due to so many pollutants in the air, the human genome has deteriorated, but the general populace is left completely unaware out of fear of panic and rioting because so far it has no cure. Basically, this screw-up in the human code lies dormant and activates at an undetermined time after the age of 20. Once “active” you will fall apart at the cellular level very painfully and unexpectedly. The (now global) government has assigned certain doctors all over the world to secretly implant bio-chips into children from birth to monitor their genome. The screw-up can only be tested upon once it is active and the government wants to find a cure in secret. The only two symptoms are aggression and impulsive behavior. The government also has a secret group of assassins who all have clones made of themselves. The basic idea is for one of them to arrive at an “active” person’s residents and threaten them or their loved ones by pretending to be a mugger. The impulsive aggression will kick in and in self-defense, the “active” person will kill the undercover assassin. This will initiate an immediate swarm of police because (conveniently enough) a new law has been passed arresting all murders without trial. The “active” person will be sent straight to jail. In reality these jails are secret laboratories where the “active” person can now be tested on in gruesome ways. Meanwhile, the undercover assassin who was killed in self defense has a clone come to life that holds all of his memories right up to getting killed. The assassin will be handed a new mission.
The main character will eventually be hired to work at one of these secret jail-labs but will have his genome screw-up activate.
I’m not yet sure where the plot will go from there but it will basically be him going from being a standard doctor not knowing any of these horrible secrets to climbing up the ranks and learning everything. Once he “activates” he will be on the run attempting to expose these secrets as soon as possible because it’s only a matter of time before he painfully falls apart. Old friends he hasn’t seen since his college and high school days, and new friends will join him. Also, very possibly he’ll have a very on-edge friendship with an enemy. I don’t want to give out too many spoilers, but tell me what you all think about this basic idea for a graphic novel.